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UMI A Bell & Howell Infonnation Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 THE TANGS OF LUNG YEUK TAU: A CHINESE LINEAGE IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL CONTEXT Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Zhiming Zhao, M.A. * * * $ * The Ohio State University 1998 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Chung-min Chen, Advisor Professor Erika Bourguignon Professor Richard Moore Advisor Professor Amy Zaharlick D it of Anthropology UMI Number: 9822396 Copyright 1998 by Zhao, Zhiming All rights reserved. inVH Microform 9822396 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 ABSTRACT The Tangs of Lung Yeuk Tau are a localized lineage in the New Territories, Hong Kong that once dominated the Fanling aiea for centuries; after being eclipsed for some sixty years under the British rule that began in 1899, the Tangs have staged a comeback to become a dynamic part of modem society. The history of this lineage is investigated, and so is its contemporary way of life in terms of settlement patterns, population demographics, family system, lineage organization, social structure, economic life, collective property management, traditional values and beliefs, religious rituals, and political activities. The ethnographic data are discussed fi’om a cultural perspective that looks into the symbolic and normative systems of the Chinese lineage or zong-zu. Composed of blood, land, and ritual, the symbolic system defines the fundamental ideology of the zong-zu, which, in turn, sanctions the rules of behavior provided by its normative system. The primary functions of the normative system are to cope with the problems of meaning, to offer a meaningful life and social order, and to adapt. But there is no one-to-one correspondence between the symbolic system and the normative system, where an aiTay of viable alternatives is available. In the case of the zong-zu, these alternatives can be subsumed in terms of blood tie, divine land ownership, and ancestor worship, which set the framework for examining the strategies adopted by the Tangs of Lung Yeuk Tau in the recent decades. It is shown that despite a decline in the traditional functions of the Tang lineage at Lung Yeuk Tau, its fundamental values and beliefs are very much alive. This gave rise to strategies that enabled the Tangs to stand up to the pressure of modernization for change. Not only has this lineage tightened its rank and file, reformed its corporate property, upheld the system of divine ownership, and persisted in ancestor worship, but the Tangs are actively engaged in the market economy and reclaim the dominance of local politics as well. The Chinese lineage is much more adaptable than has been assumed by previous studies. Ill ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research and writing of this case study would not have been possible without the encouragement, inspiration, and assistance from many individuals to whom I owe a great deal. Several of them merit special recognition. I am grateful to Professor Chung-min Chen, my dissertation advisor, who encouraged me to pursue graduate studies in anthropology when he was the Department Chair and the Director of the Center for East Asian Studies. The graduate work I did under his supervision inspired the research of this study. Over the years, no matter how busy he might be, he always made room in his schedule to have discussion with me. His support, guidance, and insight have seen me tlirough the completion of this project and my graduate career. I thank him for believing in my initiative and allowing me the freedom to attempt different lines of theoretical interpretation and iron out the kinks in the process. My gratitude also goes out to Professor Richard Moore, my Master’s program advisor. With his scholarship in human ecology and Japanese studies, among others, he expanded my intellectual horizons considerably. My graduate work under him enabled me to gain new insight into the Chinese society and kinship system, which is incorporated into this study. In addition, he directed my attention to the ecological dimensions of feng-shui side by side with Japanese and American folk beliefs. They became an integral part of my iv research as a doctoral student. Many thanks are due to Professor Erika Bourguignon for her careful reading of and judicious comments on this study. But my debt of gratitude goes far beyond that. In return for the impressionistic tales I had keyed out from the field via telecommunication, she sent me correspondence almost regularly. Couched in the form of questions, her advice was so stimulant of thinking that my appreciation cannot be overemphasized. Beneath the clarity of mind, which is a hallmark of her works and instructions, is the warm heart that makes her a wonderful scholar-teacher. Moreover, the impact of my training in ethnopsychiatry under her is transformed into my inclination to a cultural approach for the data analysis of this project. I also wish to express special thanks to Professor Amy Zaharlick, who exposed me to cognitive anthropology. It helped the crystallization of a cultural approach that is spelt out in this study. A considerable part of my research on symbolic classification systems and metaphor was initiated when I was doing coursework with her. I also owe to her my first employment of the ethnographic method in an individual project on the methodology and issues of fieldwork that she lectured. It prepared me for the fieldwork of this project. I am genuinely indebted to the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation which awarded me a Fellowship for Dissertation Research Abroad. A preliminary study for this project was supported by the Center for International Studies, Ohio State University with a Phyllis Krumm Scholarship and by the Sun Yat-sen Foundation with a Cai Wan-lin Award, not to mention my continual appointment of Teaching Associateship by the Department of Anthropology, OSU. They all have my sincere thanks. Furthermore, my deep appreciation goes to the institutes and individuals that facilitated my research in the New Territories. Among them are the Universities Service Center and the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Ctoese University of Hong Kong, the Department of Anthropology, CUHK, Chair and Professor David Yen-ho Wu, Professor Jian Hsieh and their colleagues, the North District OfiBce and its Senior Liaison Officer Ms. Janet Law, Dr. Patrick Hase, the Yuen Long District Office and its Liaison Officer in-Charge Ms. Michelle Cheung, the Fanling and Ping Shan Rural Committees, the Heung Yee Kuk, N. T. and its Executive Councilor Mr. Alfred K.C. Lam, the Antiques and Monuments Office of the Executive Administration and its Assistant Curator Ms. Cissy Ho, and the Archives of the Hong Kong Government. It goes without saying that I owe my greatest thanks to the Tangs of Lung Yeuk Tau and my informants at Ping Shan and Wo Hang. Special recognition is due to Mr. Tang Chuk-nam, Mr. Tang Kwok-yong, Mr. Tang Kun-nin, Mr. Tang Shin-shi, Mr. Howard Tang, Mr. Tang Nai-man, J. P. and Mr. Lee Shui-luen. Finally, I would like to thank my wife’s family and my own, both of which have stood by me with support. This thesis is dedicated to my wife Aifeng in particular, who has remained committed to my goal, endured so much in taking care of a family of three, and waited so long. To her I owe more than I can say. Let this work be a token of my love returned to her and to our son Zhan. In achnowledgement of my intellectual debts, it must be pointed out that any flaws or shortcomings in this case study are surely my own. VI VITA August 10, 1944 Bom, Shanghai, China 1965 B.A., Shanghai Institute of Foreign Languages, Shanghai, China 1988 M.A, Graduate Associate Department of English, Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Millersville, Pennsylvania 1988-1990 M .A, Graduate Teaching Associate Department of Linguistics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1990-1991 M.A. Graduate Teaching Associate Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1992-1998 Course Instructor Department of Anthropology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS 1.