Ng Hung On

Ng Hung On had never seen his grandfather Ng Chun Man, he learnt from his father that he died at the age of 30 to 40, but he had seen his great-grandfather Ng Kam Tong when he was 4 or 5 years old. He believed that his great-grandfather was more than 80 years old then. In Ng Hung On’s memory he had taken food to his great-grandfather and had talked with him. His great-grandfather could not walk. Ng Hung On had never seen him out of his bed. Ng Hung On learnt from his father that his great-grandfather attended school when he was young, but he believed that did not have high academic qualifications. He had worked in the Whampao Dockyard in Kowloon and his duty was to distribute tickets to the staff who signed in for work. (Editor’s note: Similar to the time and attendance system adopted nowadays.) His great-grandfather had two wives. The principal wife’s family name was Tang and her family lived in the vicinity of Nga Tsin Wai. The concubine’s family name was Cheung. She left her family in Guangzhou for Kowloon and married his great-grandfather. Ng Hung On had games and conversations with the concubine. His great-grandfather dubbed her the ‘fresh water lady’ because Nga Tsin Wai was located in a salt water region. His great-grandfather used to make his concubine serve him, such as serving him with the ‘straw paper’ (toilet paper) which only the wealthy families could afford.

Ng Hung On’s great great-grandfather was called Ng Kwong Yip. He was born and lived in the house at No. 15 of the 5th Lane in Nga Tsin Wai. He had 3 sons. His eldest son was Ng Hung On’s great-grandfather Ng Kam Tong. Ng Kwong Yip Tso’s three sons lived in ‘Mau Chin’ (the site where the San Po Kong Mansion now stands) which was outside Nga Tsin Wai. Each of them occupied a large house enclosed by the walls. In those days, only the wealthy families could afford to build the bounding walls. When Ng Hung On was a child, his great great-grandfather’s 3 sons were each given a share of their father’s assets. They lived in their own house and had their own meals. Ng Kwong Yip lived in the house at No. 15 of the 5th Lane. He constructed a bed with a board and slept on it. It was basically his sons’ storehouse for keeping farming tools and other miscellaneous objects which they used in turn. When Ng Hung On was a child, standing grains were no longer grown in Nga Tsin Wai, the famers mainly grew watercress and sweet potatoes. Many villagers built a pig pen in Mau Chin and fed the pigs with sweet potato leaves, rice bran and hogwash. Ng Hung On’s family also reared pigs.

Ng Hung On’s father was born in Nga Tsin Wai, he completed his primary education in Lok Sin Tong Primary School in Blacksmith Street (now moved to Lung Kong Road). His father got married at 16. His wife’s family name was Chan. She came from Tseung Kwan O and was the eldest daughter of the family. She never went to school and was given the duties of planting standing grains, rearing pigs and taking care of her younger brothers since she was a little girl. Ng Hung On’s parents had an arranged marriage. Her mother was taken to her husband’s Nga Tsin Wai home in a wooden sedan chair carried by two bearers. It took about 2 hours to travel from Tseng Kwan O to Nga Tsin Wai via Ngau Chi Wan and Tseng Lan Shue on foot. Later on, his father worked on a ship (as a waiter on the RMS Queen Mary) and returned home once every 1 to 2 months. His father was the clansman of the eldest branch of the Ng Clan (Kwong Un Tso). Ng Hung On’s natural grandfather was poor, all he owned was a pig pen in nowadays’ Kai Tak Nullah but no farmlands for lease. (Editor’s note: His father was adopted by Kwong Yip Tso.) The Kwong Yip Tso branch was wealthy. When Ng Hung On’s great-grandfather Ng Kam Tong was alive, they owned many farmlands which they leased. One of the farmlands was leased to Law Sam Kee the sauce manufacturer. When Ng Hung On’s father got married, Ng Kam Tong had enough money to meet the expenditure of his grandson’s wedding by selling just a small plot of field. 

Ng Hung On’s father was originally a descendent of the eldest branch (Kwong Un Tso). He was adopted by the 4th branch (Yat Un Tso) when he was 7 or 8 years old. His new branch Hon Ko Tso was a sub-branch of the 4th branch. In those days, adoption of children was uncommon. When a family had too many children to support, they would have some of them adopted so the adopted children had better living. The eldest and 4th branches had a common founding ancestor. Although being adopted, his father kept in touch with the eldest branch (his family), but he was not eligible for inheritance of the eldest branch’s properties and attendance of their ancestral worships. Ng Hung On had never met his natural grandfather. His natural grandmother was a Sha Tin villager. He had heard about his natural grandfather’s children from his father. The eldest son Fu Hing died young and was never married and the second son Chuen Hing lived in the Model Village during the period of Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong. As someone informed against him, he was mistaken for a guerilla force member by the Japanese armies. He was arrested and tortured by being forced water down the throat, and he died shortly after being released.

Ng Hung On had close relationship with uncle Tei Hing, who was a member of the eldest branch. Uncle Tei Hing was 10 years older than him. When Ng Hung On was a child, uncle Tei Hing used to take him out for entertainment, they would have tea at a Chinese restaurant. After the Second World War, uncle Tei Hing worked in the military service where he was the ‘No. 1 of coolies’. Later on. He went to Britain where he worked and settled. At first, he worked as a waiter in the restaurants and later opened his own restaurant. When uncle Tei Hing was 70 years old, he returned to Hong Kong for celebration of his birthday. In those days, it was uncommon for the Nga Tsin Wai villagers to migrate to Britain. His uncle’s eldest son Sui Kuen returned to Hong Kong more frequently. He returns to the village every year for the ancestral worship. Occasionally, he would return with his younger brother for the Jiao Festival. A granduncle of Ng Hung On had moved to Britain many years ago. He used to return to Hong Kong in the period between 1950s and 1960s, but he could no longer be contact afterwards.

Ng Hung On’s father attended Lok Sin Tong Primary School in Blacksmith Street in his early years. He worked on a ship – as a waiter on the RMS Queen Mary. After the Second World War, he worked as a waiter for the British Admiralty and retired in his 50s because of disease. (Editor’s note: In the period between late 1960s and early 1970s.) His father died in 1992. Ng Hung On’s mother came from old Tseung Kwan O Village. His family owned farmlands and houses. She was the eldest daughter of the family and had one younger sister and four younger brothers. His mother and her younger sister got no education because the New Territories residents had preference for son over daughters. His mother made a living by growing standing grains and rearing pigs.

Ng Hung On’s parents had 5 sons and 2 daughters. Ng Hung On was the second child. He is of similar age with his elder brother and 3rd younger brother, with age differences of 2 and 3 years respectively. But, age difference between Ng Hung On and his other two younger brothers (4th and 5th brothers) is as great as 18 years. After his 3rd younger brother graduated from primary school, he started to work as an apprentice in the Whampao Dockyard. His other two younger brothers had attended evening schools. They worked in government departments and carried out mechanical duties. His 4th younger brother worked as an apprentice in the Admiralty Dockyard in his early years, and became a mechanical engineer later. His 5th younger brother had studied several years in Chi Tak Public School. He left Hong Kong for Britain to learn cooking through referral of Tei Hing, an uncle of the 1st branch. He eventually settled in Britain and he has opened his own food shop. Ng Hung On’s two younger sisters studied hard. The elder one had completed primary education while the younger one had completed secondary education. When they were students, the family was poor. As their father was sick and mother had no job, they had to work in the factory as sewers to help support the family.

Ng Hung On was born in 1935 in his home in Mau Chin, which was part of Nga Tsin Wai. The residential address shown in his birth certificate was No. 10 Nga Tsin Wai. The houses in Mau Chin were larger and more comfortable than those inside Nga Tsin Wai. Outside Nga Tsin Wai, the air was fresher and there was also large open space for drying the grains under the sun. The houses outside Nga Tsin Wai had a pigsty where the villagers reared pigs, cows and poultry such as chickens. In the earlier days, people even had a cowshed outside the house. The houses inside Nga Tsin Wai were small and had no toilets. There were only a room for sleeping and a wok for cooking.

Ng Kwong Yip Tso (the father of Ng Hung On’s great grandfather) was wealthy. He owned 5 houses in Mau Chin, each occupied by one of his 5 families. That is, one for great grandfather, one for grandparents, one for granduncle Kuen Sang and his elder brother, one for granduncle Wing Cheung and one for Ng Hung On’s parents. These 5 houses were enclosed by a wall. A large entrance was opened in front of Nga Tsin Wai, inside was a large yard for sun-drying grains, and chickens might walk about in the yard too. Granduncle Kuen Sang owned a 3-storey building at No. 59 Tak Ku Ling Road. He lived in the building on Tak Ku Ling Road, and his elder brother lived in the house in Mau Chin with his family. Ng Chin Hung’s ancestors and Ng Fat Chuen also lived in Mau Chin. Like Ng Hung On, they also belonged to Ng Hon Ko Tso branch.

Ng Hung On thought that the residents in Mau Chin led an affluent life with no financial worries. The families had superior status than the ordinary people. His father owned extensive farmlands in Mau Chin, and had leased one of them to Law Sam Kee the sauce manufacturer. Besides the clan house in Mau Chin, he also owned 3 to 4 houses which he leased out. Generally speaking, his family was better off than the ordinary villagers. Ng Hung On had celebrated various festivals in Mau Chin, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Lunar New Year. To celebrate the Lunar New Year, all households would prepare the rice flour cookies, New Year pudding and sesame seed balls. Ng Hung On was a little boy when he lived in Mau Chin and seldom played outside the house. When he grew older, he went up the mountain with other children to catch jumping spiders or play in the water of the gullies.

After the Japanese armies occupied Hong Kong, they razed Mau Chin to the ground, and resumed land for construction of roads and the nullah. (Editor’s note: Kai Tak Nullah) Ng Hung On moved to the Kwok Wah Textile Mill near Sung Wong Toi with his parents and brothers. The living conditions there were even worse than today’s subdivided units. The residents moved in with a bed or bed board. They were not allocated a room and the adults would screen themselves off with a curtain when they were sleeping. Later on, Ng Hung On’s family moved into a pre-war Chinese tenement on Kai Yan Road. The 3-storey building had 4 pillars, a kitchen and a toilet. His family shared the flat with several households. Some clansmen of Kwong Yip Tso also lived there, such as Ng Wing Cheung and his family. Ng Hung On’s mother worked as a cleanser for the Japanese armies, carrying out duties such as turfing, cutting grass and feeding the horses with them, and disposal of horse excrement. She left his 3 sons at home when she went to work. Ng Hung On was 7 years old then and prepared the congee himself. On one occasion when he climbed up the stairs with a bowl of congee, he had an accident and had his feet scalded by the hot congee. It was the hardest living the family had ever led because his father was unemployed.

The Chinese tenement was demolished less than one year after they moved in. Ng Hung On’s family was rehoused to Model Village in Kowloon Tong. The Japanese armies acquired the land in Mau Chin and compensated the house owners, including the villagers who lived inside Nga Tsin Wai, with accommodation in a house in Model Village. After Ng Hung On moved to Model Village, his mother worked for the Japanese armies, his father also did cleaning work for them occasionally. They faced great living hardship. Model Village was built with low-rise houses which had one bedroom and one living room. The design was similar to the temporary housing constructed after the Shek Kip Mei fire. Without water and electricity supply, the residents had to fetch water from nearby mountain gullies or wells, but the living conditions were barely satisfactory. Ng Hung On was 8 or 9 years old then. He stayed at home most of the time. The family reared several chickens outside the porch and he usually had congee for meals. After living in Model Village for 2 years, Ng Hung On was sold to Sai Kung as a child labour. His father earned the living as a hawker of preserved food such as salted fish. He would visit Ng Hung On when he hawked in Sai Kung.

Hong Kong was occupied by the Japanese armies when Ng Hung On was 7 years old. The villagers were too poor to have 3 full meals. In order to get money for food, Ng Hung On was sold to Sai Kung as a child labour when he was 9 years old. Ng Hung On’s grandmother was a villager of Sha Kok Mei, Sai Kung. When she got married, she left Sha Kok Mei for her husband’s home in Tseung Kwan O Village. His grandmother came to know that a household in Sai Kung wanted to hire a child labour and informed Ng Hung On’s parents of it. Through his grandmother’s referral, Ng Hung On’s parents sold him to Sai Kung for 300 military yen. In Sai Kung, Ng Hung On worked for the Tse family who was an indigenous household. The Tse family was his grandmother’s remote relatives. The members living in the same house included the great granduncle, foster father, wives of two elder uncles, uncle and aunt. Ng Hung On said he was as inferior as a beggar boy and worked as a slave. He carried out duties such as chopping firewood, herding cattle, feeding the cows at night and farming. The family owned standing grain fields and Ng Hung On had to do all kinds of farming tasks such as transplant, weeding, irrigation and thrashing. He worked in the fields with his elder uncles’ wives and his aunt, but he had never seen any men working in the fields. Ng Hung On’s maternal grandfather did little work, Ng Hung On had only seen him go fishing in a sampan. One of Ng Hung On’s maternal uncles had farmed. His elder maternal uncle worked in Kowloon. One day, when he returned to Tseung Kwan O from Ngau Chi Wan on foot, he was arrested by the Japanese armies and killed.

During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, Ng Hung On was sold to Sai Kung where he had worked as a child labour for more than 1 year. He volunteered it in order to survive. His duties included tending the cattle and taking care of the elderly. In the morning, he dug clams and caught oysters with his elder uncles’ wives and his aunt in Sai Kung Pier. Ng Hung On lived in a coastal rural village and the nearest markets were in Sai Kung Pier and Ngau Chi Wan. In those days, transportation was inconvenient. There were trucks going to Sai Kung Pier and Ngau Chi Wan only occasionally. Ng Hung On had never returned home during his stay in Sai Kung. Besides, his family would be too poor to feed him if he returned home. The villagers sold vegetables. They had to get up at 3am or 4 am and walked to Ngau Chi Wan to sell them. The villagers had no kerosene lamp, flashlight or other lighting devices. They burned bamboo shoots to generate light. The villagers called this device the mong. A mong was 3 feet in length and 0.5 inch in diameter. After chopping the bamboo shoots from the hills, the villagers immersed them in water and then sun-dried them. After repeating this procedure twice of thrice, a bamboo shoot could be lighted. Each journey might need several mongs. Many villagers in Nga Tsin Wai, including Ng Hung On’s elder brother, had not heard about the mong, but it was very common in Sai Kung.

Shortly after Ng Hung On was sold to Sai Kung, his younger brother was also sold to Yau Yue Wan through his grandparents’ referral while his parents continued to live in Model Village. In those days, buying and selling child labour was uncommon. Some wealthy people wanted to have a child to take care of the elderly, so they would not ill-treat a child labour. At least, a child labour was given full meals. Ng Hung On’s cousin aunt was sold to a rural village in Longgang. His aunt also married a Mainlander and settled in China. Her husband was a guerilla force member who was later executed by the Japanese armies.

During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, Ng Hung On worked as a child labour in Sai Kung. He lived in Kap Pin Long of Sha Kok Mei where only 5 to 6 households lived. He had been arranged to study in a rural school (The word ‘Public’ was shown in the school’s name.) He quitted school after a fortnight. His aunt would not let him study because she thought there was no need to support his studies. Ng Hung On had lived in Sai Kung for more than one year. When his elder uncle (Editor’s note: The cousin elder uncle of Ng Kwong Yip Tso.) who worked as a sailor returned from the US to Hong Kong after the War and was told the conditions of Ng Hung On’s family, he redeemed Ng Hung On from Sai Kung. He arranged Ng Hung On to live in his home on Tak Ku Ling Road, and sent him to school.

Two years later, Ng Hung On was seriously ill. His cousin elder uncle’s wife, who was a Buddhist, resorted to mediumship. The medium said it was unsuitable to keep him with the family, and he should be sent back to his parents’ home. At the time, Ng Hung On’s family also lived on Tak Ku Ling Road. Ng Hung On’s younger brother was also sold as a child labour in wartime. He was redeemed by a relative after the War. After Ng Hung On returned to his parents’ home, he took care of his younger siblings. At the time, her younger sister was a newborn, and her mother worked as a launder in the airport. Ng Hung On had attended the evening school for 1 to 2 years. It was a school run by The Boys' & Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong. The school taught subjects such as Chinese Language and Arithmetic; it had been inspected by officers from the Education Department.

During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, Ng Hung On’s parents lived in Model Village in Kowloon Tong. (Two years later, they moved to a room in a Chinese tenement at No. 57 Tak Ku Ling Road which they rented for $10 a month.) His parents’ house was about 700 sq. ft and had 3 bedrooms, 1 living room, 4 bunk beds and a large yard. The flat was shared by 7 to 8 households. The landlady came from a family in Tseng Lan Shue, her husband owned other houses in Sha Po Village. Ng Hung On believed that his parents could have lived in a self-built wooden hut, but worrying that a wooden hut might be vulnerable to fire that they decided to rent a flat in a Chinese tenement.

In wartime, Ng Hung On was sold to Sai Kung as a child labour for 300 military yen. After the War, his elder uncle (Editor’s note: The cousin elder uncle of Ng Kwong Yip Tso) who worked as a sailor returned to Hong Kong and redeemed Ng Hung On from Sai Kung with HKD $300. His elder uncle lived on the 2nd floor of the house at No. 59 Tak Ku Ling Road after he returned to Hong Kong. His family of three lived in a rented flat owned by Ng Kwun Sang. (Editor’s note: Ng Kwun Sang is his uncle.) Another relative who lived on Tak Ku Ling Road was Ng Chuen Luk. Ng Chuen Luk and Ng Hung On were members of the 4th branch of the Ng Clan in Nga Tsin Wai, but they belonged to the sub-branch of Ng Sz Ko Tso. In the 1950s and 1960s, Ng Hung On lived on Tak Ku Ling Road. He first lived in his elder uncle’s home, and then with his parents. His parents’ home was crowded but they had good neighbor relationship. In summer, they slept on cots set on the roadside. In his leisure time, Ng Hung On would go to the Dai Tat Street for storytelling. In the 1960s, he would go to the herbal tea shops for the Rediffusion broadcasting. His family supplied him with three full meals and supported his studies until he was 16 or 17 years old.

In the period between the 1950s and 1960s, Ng Hung On lived on Tak Ku Ling Road. The Carpenter Road, Blacksmith Street, Tung Tau Village and Sai TauVillage nearby were places where the average class lived. The streets were in poor conditions and unhygienic because they were scattered with dropping from pigs reared by many of the surrounding households. The relatively quiet Fuk Lo Tsun Road was a place for the higher class. Nga Tsin Wai Road was the busiest place with many sideway cooked food stalls selling cow innards, roasted geese, plain rice porridge and deep-fried twisted dough sticks. The shops on South Wall Road mainly sold clothing, daily necessities and cosmetics. Those on Nga Tsin Long Road and Nam Kok Road sold groceries and vegetables. Blacksmith Street was situated in the site where the Regal Oriental Hotel now stands (near Choi Hung Road and Ng Wah Catholic Secondary School). Besides smitheries, reserved fruit factories and glass bottle manufacturers were also operated on the Street.

In the past, there was a small market at the entrance of Nga Tsin Wai. The site where Regal Oriental Hotel now stands used to be a small market too. Before the War, Ng Hung On’s mother reared pigs in Mau Chin and needed a lot of firewood and grass as the fuel. She used to go to Diamond Hill and cut the grass with other Nga Tsin Wai women, including Ng Chin Hung’s grandmother, Lee Fu’s mother and Ng Chi Wing’s mother. They used some of the grass as fuel and sold the rest in the market. Later on, they took a harder journey to the Amah Rock for the grass. These markets had a long history and had existed since Ng Hung On’s great grandfather’s era. The barter system was still adopted in the markets after the War. When the War was over, his mother no longer reared pigs and cut grass. She worked as a launder in the airport. In the 1950s, Ng Hung On had studied in the Ng Clan Ancestral Hall, which was used as the classroom, for 3 to 4 years. There was a soccer pitch outside the Hall. Ng Hung On walked to school from Tak Ku Ling Road. But on rainy days, the road section outside the Ancestral Hall would become muddy and it could not be used.

Ng Hung On graduated from the evening school when he was about 19 years old. Through a friend’s referral, he became a neon sign apprentice in a shop in Kowloon City. He had to pay his master, who was also his employer, $200 before he could join the trade. It was a dangerous trade, occasionally there were accidents in which workers fell to death from heights when repairing the neon signs. He had worked in the trade for about 10 years. In 1964, through a friend’s referral he went to Malaysia and worked there for 2 years. Before departure, he earned a monthly salary of $200 in Hong Kong, but he earned $500 a month when working abroad. After he returned to Hong Kong, he continued to work in the trade for some time. In the early 1970s, Ng Hung On changed his occupation and became a red minibus driver, a job which he had worked until he retired at the age of 68. (Editor’s note: 2003.)

Ng Hung On got married when he was 36 years old. His wife was a sock knitter. He came to know her in a matchmaking meeting arranged by a friend. He hesitated at first worrying that he would be unable to support a family, but he attended the meeting under his friend’s encouragement. He dated his girlfriend for about 1 year and they got married. The couple had worried that they would be unable to build a family. After marriage, they had one daughter and two sons.

Ng Hung On got married towards the end of 1969. He came to know his wife through a master of his trade. His wife was born in Hong Kong. She was a factory worker and lived in Lockhart Road, Wan Chai before she was married. Before marriage, Ng Hung On lived with his parents at No. 57 Tak Ku Ling Road and moved to 4th floor No. 38 Tak Ku Ling Road . after marriage,. It was a 700-sq-ft flat with 6 rooms. Ng Hung On and his wife lived in the rear room. It was a flat sub-leased by Ng Hung On’s father. When Ng Hung On’s father retired, he received pension large enough to pay the principal rent of $500 and construction fees of $4,000. Later on, his father applied for public housing. When he moved into Ping Shek Estate, Ng Hung On collected the rent for him. He only lived in the room at No. 38 for one year because he had a bad tenant who caused him nuisance making it impossible for him to rest at home. Worrying that his work might be affected, he moved into the janitor dormitory of Chi Tak Public School through referral of a clan uncle for temporary residence. By then, he had submitted his application for public housing. One year after he moved into the school, he was allocated a flat in Lei Muk Shue Estate. The whole family moved to Tsuen Wan and returned the sub-leased flat on Tak Ku Ling Road to the landlord.

Ng Hung On had one daughter and two sons who were all born in the early 1970s. His eldest daughter worked in the accounting industry upon graduation from the university. His two sons were not interested in studies. They quitted school and work as vehicle repairers. Although none of his children had lived in Nga Tsin Wai, they would certainly return to the Village for ancestral worships and festive activities such as celebration of the Birthday of Tin Hau if they had the time. It is because Ng Hung On had told them that their ancestors came from Nga Tsin Wai. Ng Hung On said he had a strong sense of belonging to Nga Tsin Wai. He had personally repaired the ancestral hall jointly with Ng Siu Hung, a member of his branch. Although he lives in Tsuen Wan now, he always visits the Village for a chat with his uncles and granduncles. This gives him more fun than staying at home. It was his parents’ decision that they lived on Tak Ku Ling Road. His mother did not want to live in a rented house in Nga Tsin Wai. It is because the thought that others’ ancestors died in the house upset her. But, this is inevitable as far as their own ancestral house is concerned: Ng Hung On’s great great grandfather, great grandfather and grandfather all died in their ancestral house.

Ng Hung On had not heard anything about the life of Ng Hon Ko Tso, but it was his father who had exhumed and reburied Hon Ko Tso’s remains. As the ancestor had a strong build, Ng Hung On conjectured that he passed away in Hong Kong. Ng Hon Ko Tso owned farmlands in Wong Tai Sin and Diamond Hill. When the government resumed the land, it compensated the clansmen with several ten thousand dollars. The clansmen purchased a flat on the 5th floor of No. 50 Choi Hung Road with $20,000 of the compensation and rented it for $500 a month. They sold it for $180,000 several years later when the housing market boomed. The proceeds were made the fund for the annual ancestral worship and distribution of $100 or $200 to the descendents of each household at the end of each Lunar year.

Ng Hon Ko Tso’s posterity includes the following households: Ng Kwong Yip’s family, Ng Chin Hung’s family, Ng Siu Hung’s family and Ng Fat Chuen’s family. At present, Ng Hon Ko Tso has 4 managers, namely Ng Fat Chuen, Ng Hung On, Ng Cheung Wah and Ng Chin Hung. Some clansmen of Hon Ko Tso branched out to the Lamma Island, but they still return to Nga Tsin Wai for ancestral worships and meetings today. Ng Fat Chuen serves as their representative. A manager is not decided by election, the post is generally passed on from the father to the son or filled through the clan senior’s appointment of someone who has the time for it. There is no fixed number of managers. In the past, there were 5 managers, so when the property in Choi Hung Road was purchased, 5 copies of title deed were prepared. The managers do not have regular meetings. They only meet when there are issues for discussion. The ancestral trust had always been managed by Ng Hung On’s father and Ng Fat Chuen. Ng Hung On became the manager more than 20 years ago and represented the Kwong Yip Tso branch. His father had advised him against the appointment out of worry that he might not be able to make time from his occupation as a minus driver for it. But, Ng Hung On did not mind because it would be a service to the clan. Besides, it would not occupy too much of his time. So, under Ng Fat Chuen’s encouragement, he eventually took up the post.

Ng Hung On became the manager of Sam Sing Tso in 2004 in place of Ng Yeung Kin who died in 1996. Sam Sing Tso is the ancestral trust of the Nga Tsin Wai Clans of Ng, Lee and Chan. Their ancestors are Chan Chiu Yin Tso, Lee Shing Kai Tso and Ng Shing Tat Tso respectively. The Chan clansmen settled in Tseung Kwan O in the early period, while the Ng and Lee Clans continued to live in Nga Tsin Wai. The Ng Clan had the largest number of descendents, they owned a lot of farmlands for lease too. The Lee Clan had the least number of descendents.

The properties owned by Sam Sing Tso included the Temple of Tin Hau and the adjacent Chung Sho (common house). The fish pond might also have been part of their properties. (Editor’s note: The moat of Nga Tsin Wai.) Ng Hung On had heard about that from his father when he was in his twenties, it was the Lee Clan members who paid the crown rent. But, the elderly members of the Lee Clan preferred to save up money for claypot puddings to paying the crown rent. Eventually, the land was resumed by the government. When Ng Hung On was about 6 years old, the public hall was a place where the villagers played music and learned singing at night. When it collapsed after the War, a couple emigrated from Meixian rebuilt it. They installed several looms and operated textile business there. They paid incense and oil fee in place of a rent. In 2004, Ng Hung On, representatives of each of the 3 clans of Sam Sing Tso, Ng Kau the village headman and Leung Shek Lun had clarified with the old lady from Meixian if she had paid the rent. They asked the old lady to pay the rent at an amount to be decided by her. From then on, the old lady paid a monthly rent of $100 until the end of 2011. By then, the Sam Sing Tso had negotiated with the Urban Renewal Authority about the acquisition. The ‘public hall’ had an area of 0.01 acres, $1.5 is paid annually as the government rent.