Ng Sai Ming

Ng Sai Ming grew up in a rural family. His grandfather had two wives.  The first wife was named Yuen, and came from Man Wo village, Ho Chung.  She gave birth to Ng’s father and his father’s elder brother, but she passed away when Ng’s father was seven years old.  The second wife, named Pang, came from Fanling and gave birth to only one daughter.  When Ng Sai Ming was four years old, Nga Tsin Wai Village held a Jiao Festival.  His grandfather and his step-grandmother carried him on their backs and brought him to watch a puppet show.  At the age of 10 or 11, his father would occasionally bring him to visit his step-grandmother’s brother in Fanling.  Ng Sai Ming liked the white sugar cake the most, which were made by Fanling villagers.  The villagers made a living by farming and once gave Sai Ming’s family gifts of sweet potatoes, taro and other kinds of crops.  The Sha Po villagers in those days were rural residents of the New Territories.  They lived and dressed in the country way. 

From his great-grandmother, Ng Sai Ming heard stories about Kowloon City.  His great-grandmother, named So, came from So Uk Village, and married Ng’s great-grandfather at the age of 21 – a time when the Kowloon Walled City was being built.  The stone used for fortifying the City came from Inverness Hill (the present Kowloon Tsai Park).  Stone were not quarried from the hill behind the City for the protection of the City. Both Ng Sai Ming’s mother and grand-aunt had the surname Chan.  The two women knew each other very well.   The grand-aunt also learnt many stories from Ng Sai Ming’s great-grandmother, which she would share with Ng’s mother in detail.  Ng’s mother in turn retold the stories to Ng.

Ng Sai Ming pointed out that the Kowloon Walled City was built 150-160 years ago, but Nga Tsin Wai predated the Walled City.  He stressed that the name "Nga Tsin Wai" has nothing to do with the Walled City.  Ng Tak Ko Tso bought land from the Chan Brothers in Nga Tsin Long during the era of Emperor Qianlong.  "Nga Tsin" already existed then, before the Walled City was even built.  Nga Tsin Wai was formerly known as Hing Yau Yu when it was constructed (Editor’s note: the beginning of the 18th century).  The Qing Government used to collect taxes for the military at an office behind the village during the era of Emperor Jiaqing, hence the villagers called the place “Koon Ying”.  When the New Territories’ villagers were on route to Kowloon, they would see the “Koon Ying” yamen, and in relation to that, they called the village Nga Tsin Wai (walled city in front of the yamen).

Kowloon City’s rural villagers were facing many big changes before Ng Sai Ming was born. Ng Sai Ming's great-grandfather's generation made a living on both fishing and growing grains.  On the hill behind the present Morse Park (Editor's note: the small one occupied by Bishop Ford Memorial School), there used to be a rock where fish were dried.  He heard that his great-grandfather once owned a fishing boat, but from his grandfather’s generation, none in the family went fishing at sea any longer. His grandfather’s generation made a living by growing mainly standing grain.  The farmland was spread over two locations - one at the junction of today’s Prince Edward Road and Choi Hung Road; the other at the present Tung Tau Estate.  The ancestral home was located at the former Block 23 of Tung Tau Estate (Editor's note: the present Tung Wui Estate).  The villagers’ lifestyle changed after the British Government leased the land north of Boundary Street.  Job opportunities increased.  Some worked for the government, whilst others became seamen.  Less and less people were engaged in farming; they simply leased the land out to other people for growing vegetables or flowers.   

When Ng Sai Ming was a teenager, he played with the Sha Po children and rarely got to know other children in the village.  Children from different villages were hostile to each other.  One day at the age of 10 to 11, he went to Ma Tau Wai Village to visit his aunt who was married into that village.  When passing the Pak Tai Temple on Lomond Road, he was surrounded and beaten up by local children because country children were not friendly to strangers.  He sometimes played with his friends in Kowloon Tong, and often got into fighting with the “Western Boys” (Portuguese children) whose fathers mostly worked in the government or banks.  He rarely went out alone; instead he travelled together with four to five friends from the same village, including the Lees and Chans.   

When Ng Sai Ming was small, people in Sha Po Village married not only people in neighbouring villages, but also, with help of the matchmakers, those as far as Ho Chung, Siu Lek Yuen, Tin Sum Village, etc.  It was inconvenience to travel in those days.  Shatin Pass Road and Fei Ngo Shan Road did not exist until 1939.  When a bride was married into Ho Chung from Kowloon City, the send-off team needed to depart at 10am to avoid missing the auspicious hour for wedding.  Regardless of weather, the carriers of the bride’s sedent chair had to arrive at Ho Chung by 3pm.  The bride would worship the village ancestors upon arrival, and then the groom’s family would immediately initiate the wedding banquet.  The bride’s family returned to Kowloon City after the meal.   

Ng Sai Ming and his wife fell in love at first sight. During the Japanese Occupation, Ng Sai Ming worked in a grocery store named Yee Fat  in Kowloon City.  His wife was a vendor of vegetables on Lion Rock Road.  Since she frequently visited the grocery store, she and Ng Sai Ming left each other a good impression.  Although the two did not talk, each time they had eye contact when they met.   One time, the two were walking back to back in opposite directions.  By coincidence, they both turned around to glance at each other.  From that, both of them knew that they were in love.  A matchmaker contacted them later on, not knowing that they had been acquainted before.  When asked whether he would accept the proposal, Ng said yes straight away. 

The villages of Nga Tsin Wai League of Seven held a Jiao Festival every ten years.  The seven villages include Nga Tsin Wai, Nga Tsin Long, Sha Po, Tai Hom, Chuk Yuen, Kak Hang and Ta Kwu Leng. The seven villages were close geographically, so the villagers knew each other well and many of them were relatives. Before the war, the rural practice was to choose an auspicious days in advance, on which a woman from Nga Tsin Wai, who were thought to be blessed and lucky, would bath and dress the “Ma Leung” (Tin Hau) statue.  On the day of the festival, villagers would carry the statue from Tin Hau Temple to a theatre where people performed a puppet show for Tin Hau.  Then, the statue would be put onto a sedan chair, led by a white horse, and paraded around the villages including Ma Tau Wai, Nga Tsin Long, Chuk Yuen, Po Kong and Yuen Ling.  Sheung Shou (the elderlies) also got to sit on sedan chairs. The statue would be brought into each village’s temple, such as Tin Hau Temple in Po Kong Village and Pak Tai Temple in Ma Tau Wai. Each village must prepare refreshments for the parade team. In 1936, when Ng Sai Ming was 14 years old, the last parade took place.  

Ng Sai Ming thought the happiest festival was the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Kwong Sin Festival. Every 15th day of the 8th lunar month, Sha Po would hold Pok San Ngau Tsai in the evening in the open square.  The villagers gathered around to watch performance that was similar to Spirit Possession.  The atmosphere was very lively. During the performance, someone would play the percussions.  A group of possessed people then started to tremble all over their bodies with ferocious eyes and grim faces, calling themselves "Maoshan Masters". They also burnt themselves with incense sticks, but did not show any pain.  They also fought with real blades and spears.  Someone could even pick up 100 kilos of iron rods.  After the performance, they would shout "let’s go back to the mountains”, and then casually exit. These people were ordinary villagers living in the vicinity such as Meng Tsai, Chan Po Tsai who looked like ordinary people except during their performances on the festival days.  Ng Sai Ming thought that Pok San Ngau Tsai was amazing and that it was difficult to distinguish between what was true and what was not.  People could not help but believe in what they saw.  Ng grew up watching this show, which only ceased when the Japanese came to Hong Kong. 

Ng Sai Ming missed the lives in ancestral house. He moved out of Sha Po when the village was demolished.  He was upset that the ancestral home was gone.  The site became Block 23 of Tung Tau Estate (Editor's note: now Tung Wui Estate), he often returned to Sha Po to reminiscence the past days at the ancestral house.  He believed that it was better to live at the ancestral home because the neighbours were be closer to each other and it was easy to see and talk to each other.  Communication was convenient.  Before the war, villagers went to sleep and get up early.  They had dinner at around 4pm to 5pm.  After dinner, the elderlies sat on the stone benches in the square to relax in the shades and chat.  The atmosphere was very lively.  At 8pm to 9pm, people would go to sleep.  Very few households had lamps in those days.