Village Traditions

[helen]

They say that the Chinese in New Zealand is more Chinese than the Chinese. I guess its because we are stuck with what our parents knew before they left China pre 1949. My mother in law was telling me about "fun jew jook" sharing the pig. This was done a few times a year when the tai goon of the village purchased a pig at the market - and this was shared between all the male in the village. Does anyone know what this was all about?

Her father lived in Lane 9, and as such got the tail end of the pig. So it must have been to do with seniority in the village ie the first brother built at the front of the village, and subsequent males built further in?

[helen]

Can anyone tell me what happened when a male decided to move from the family village in order to start his own village. Did he divide the village up among his sons - how did the land ownership work in the past?

[laohuaqiao]

helen said:

My mother in law was telling me about "fun jew jook" sharing the pig. This was done a few times a year when the tai goon of the village purchased a pig at the market - and this was shared between all the male in the village. Does anyone know what this was all about?

I've heard of this from my grandfather too. Apparently the distribution of pork is related to the lineage system, see a description in article on Kaiping diaolou.

www.cefc.com.hk/uk/pc/articles/art_ligne.php?num_art_ligne=6601

Some lineages, as symbolized by the ancestral temple (citang in mandarin) own communal farm lands, as opposed to land distributed to individual members of the lineage. These communal lands are rented out and once or twice a year the income from the rents were used to purchase and slaughter a pig, pork was distributed to only males of the lineage by some hierarchical system, seniority and wealth (contribution to the ancestral temple).

See this book review (for specific mention of pork distribution go to bottom of second page of the review), www.jstor.org/view/13249347/di015572/01p0068m/0

The book is titled "Enquete Sociologique Sur la Chine, 1911-1949" by Hua Linshan and Isabelle Thireau. I'll try to get a copy of the book, it is in French.

If anyone knows where to buy or borrow one, please let me know.

[helen]

The first one is a great article - but I don't seem to be able to get into the second article as you need a password.

[laohuaqiao]

I'm sorry, I didn't realize that site is an archive service, so only accessible within academic and research institutions and libraries with subscription.

The book review, written by Eduard B. Vermeer, originally appeared in China Journal, No 39 (Jan. 1998), pp 212-214. Perhaps, the article can be found online.

The book included a case study of Mai lineage in Taishan, the following is an excerpt from the review (I'm retyping it, not cut and paste, because the pages are scanned images of the original):

"The Mai did not have much prestige, scoring rather low on membership, number of guns, successful people and wealth. As with other lineages in the coastal areas, collectively owned farmland was managed by different temples or groups. A temple founding marked the contribution of a wealthy (usually returned overseas) Chinese and distinguished his family from the village community and from the lineage. Material distribution from the lineages to its members did not amount to much. Twice a year, most temples would distribute pork to their members during ancestral ceremonies. ..."

Another very fascinating claim on effect of men going overseas:

"The emigration and prolonged absence of so many members overseas had important social and economic consequences: over one-half of the male children had been adopted, most having been bought from elsewhere, and there were great age differentials between members of the same generation. ..."

This is certainly true among my relatives, many males were adopted, all prior to 1949.

[helen]

True about the adoptions. I know of someone who was adopted out of his family into another village. He remembers his father, taking him to a house, away from his family. He was about 3 years old. The people in the family were celebrating his presence. He remembers his father sneaking away, and he ran after him. His father just ran, and he never saw him again.