Ng Siu Kei

Ng Siu Kei was born in 1946 and had lived in Nga Tsin Wai ever since he was a child. His family members included his grandfather Ng Yun Chor (‘Ah Gong’), his grandmother (his grandfather’s fourth wife who was affectionately nicknamed ‘Ah Por’), his parents, his younger brothers and sisters and his father’s elder sisters. Ng Siu Kei’s father, Ng Kam Ling, had two elder sisters and a younger brother. Ng Siu Kei had never seen his uncle who was said to be a policeman before the war but had been arrested by the Japanese army the day after they began occupying Hong Kong in December 1941. Since then, the family had lost all contact with him. Ng Siu Kei was the eldest son and had three younger brothers and two younger sisters. As the family was very poor when he was small in the 1960s, Ng Siu Kei’s father went to sea to try and support his loved ones. After coming home from the sea, Ng Siu Kei’s father was out of work for a certain period, eventually taking a job as a clerk at Chi Tak Public School which had been set up by Ng Siu Kei’s father and Ng Yau Fat (editor’s note: Nga Tsin Wai village representative). At this point, the core members of Nga Tsin Wai Village and Ng Shing Tat Tso included Ng Siu Kei’s father, Ng Yau Fat, Ng Sung Fat, Ng Woon Yin and Ng Sai Ming. All of them were entrusted with overseeing the affairs of the village plus its school and ancestral trust.

Ng Siu Kei still feels that his father’s selfless devotion to the affairs of the village and the clan were second to none. As a result, he felt helpless and aggrieved when the older man was criticised by some clansmen following his death in 1979. After the worship of ancestors on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month of the same year after his father’s death, Ng Siu Kei’s younger brothers had a row with the various uncles who had criticised their father. Both he, his younger brothers and sisters were deeply wounded by such harsh criticism of their father so soon after his death. As a result, they outlined their feelings to the clansmen at the village gatehouse. After that, Ng Siu Kei’s siblings all reached a consensus that they would no longer take part in the affairs of the village or the clan. In those days, Ng Siu Kei was busy with his work and could not spare time to deal with village matters. As a result, he did not take part in communal affairs for a very long time. Since the ashes of Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather and parents had both been placed in the ancestral hall, his brothers only came to pay their respects during the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes.

In 2006, Ng Siu Kei returned to actively take part in the affairs of the village and the clan – a role he continues to play until today. His return was only made possible because Ng Chi Wing had just taken up his new office as the Village Headman and needed help to meet the deadline for organising the 29th Jiao Festival. As a result, he invited old childhood playmates such as Ng Siu Kei and Kong Chi Yin to loan a hand. In April 2006, Ng Chi Wing telephoned good friends such as Ng Siu Kei, telling them that they had only a few months to organise the Jiao Festival which was held once in every ten years! Due to their deep friendship with Ng Chi Wing and the incredibly tight deadline, no one he called felt able to decline his plea for assistance. By the time the first preparatory meeting rolled around, everyone felt that the festival would face many difficulties in terms of lack of money, resources and manpower. Biting the bullet, Ng Siu Kei, Ng Chi Wing and Kong Chi Yin all resolved to make it a festival to remember and came up with many useful suggestions and impactful proposals.

Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather, Ng Yun Chor, was a familiar figure in Nga Tsin Wai. Although he had never received any formal education, the old man was often called upon to serve as a witness for the sale and purchase of properties by fellow Ng Tsin Wai villagers. In those days, residents seldom went to the Lands Office to handle the formalities of their transactions. Instead they generally made paper yarn deeds with which to witness each transaction. Before World War II, Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather had owned a great deal of land and fields. However, he spent so much and this led to a steady decline of his lands and overall estate. By the time the generation of Ng Siu Kei’s father, Ng Kam Ling, came to take over, there was effectively nothing left to inherit. Ng Siu Kei lived with his family in 5th Lane when he was small while his grandfather and his fourth wife lived in 4th Lane where the old man smoked opium.

Ng Siu Kei’s eldest aunt remained a widow in her early years and returned to Nga Tsin Wai where she was looked after by her younger brother, Ng Kam Ling. Ng Siu Kei’s eldest aunt served various Westerners in Whampoa Dock as an amah. When she and a few other domestics pooled some money to buy ‘Cash Sweep’ tickets, they were amazed to win third prize! She subsequently used her portion of the prize money to buy three houses. Two of them were in 5th Lane while the remaining one was Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather’s residence in 4th Lane. The owners of all three houses were Ng Siu Kei’s eldest aunt and father, each of who held a 50% share. After Ng Siu Kei’s father passed away, his father’s good friend Lee Foo took Ng Siu Kei and his three brothers to a firm of solicitors to handle the change of name formalities and transfer the ownership of his father’s houses over to them. Ng Siu Kei’s eldest aunt also eventually transferred her own property to the four nephews in view of her old age. And so it was that Ng Siu Kei and his three brothers came to co-own the title deeds to all three houses.

House No. 3 on 5th Lane was a three-storey brick building which was widely reckoned to be one of the best looking homes in the whole of Nga Tsin Wai. Homes within the village walls usually occupied an area of 0.01 acres while house No. 3 on 5th Lane occupied 0.02 acres, of which half was given over to bedrooms while the remainder was reserved for the family’s sitting room. On the ground floor were located one sitting room and two bedrooms, one of which was occupied by Ng Siu Kei’s eldest aunt. There was also a ground floor toilet with a spittoon and a shower. During the colder winter months, it was essential to boil water if one wanted to take a bath. If someone used the toilet, they would pour the dirty residue in the spittoon into the night soil barrel placed at the end of 5th Lane for collection later that evening. The toilet had a double-deck rack to hold the family’s kerosene stoves.

The ground floor was also home to a stone staircase leading to the first floor, which was said to be the only passageway of its kind in the village. The staircase connecting the first and second floors was made of wood. On the second floor was a kitchen which led to a false rooftop. In the early days, this space was left open, but was later covered by asbestos tiles, gradually sealed up and used as a storeroom. The kitchen occupied an area of around 0.01 acres and contained two to three kerosene stoves. Back then, Ng Siu Kei’s mother usually prepared the family’s meals on the rooftop, leaving the kerosene stoves on the ground floor for the eldest aunt’s cooking convenience. There was also a space inside the kitchen where family members could empty their bladders which spared everyone from having to scramble to use the toilet.

The first floor was home to a sitting room and two bedrooms, one of which Ng Siu Kei’s parents occupied and the other of which was home to him and a younger brother. The family’s other younger brothers and sisters used the bedrooms on the ground floor where they all slept on bunk beds. The room on the first floor was eventually turned into a bride’s and groom’s room after Ng Siu Kei’s marriage. At this point, his younger brother moved to another room. The first floor also featured a combination cupboard built of angle iron that had been custom-made by someone hired by Ng Siu Kei’s father. The ancestor tablets and a Goddess of Mercy figure were placed on top of the cupboard while tea cups were placed on the two decks in the middle and the family’s cherished God of Land tablet was placed on the lowest deck.
The Goddess of Mercy figure, which had originally been placed inside the belly of the Ghost King (editor’s note: statue of ‘Tai Si’ made of paper works) at a Jiao festival, was invited and brought home by Ng Siu Kei’s father. Ng Siu Kei’s family was a big one by walled village standards and devoutly followed traditional customs such as worshiping gods during festivals. Small areas of shelving on either side of the combination cupboard were reserved for placing the family’s TV set and other sundry items and articles. There was also a sofa in the sitting room with a wooden chair placed near the bottom of the staircase which could be unfolded at night-time for someone to sleep on. Very early on, there was even a small balcony on the first floor with a laundry drying rack. A bit later, this balcony was sealed up to make way for a bigger sitting room.

The sitting room on the first floor was the place where the family came together for meals and other gatherings. When Ng Siu Kei returned to live in the house at 5th Lane, his father had ceased to work at sea and promptly installed a TV set at home. Both Ng Siu Kei and his father loved to watch football matches together in the sitting room. When watching games, Ng Siu Kei’s father used to sit comfortably in what he called a big arm-chair but which was actually a foldable seat made of plastic canvas with something underneath that could be used as a stool for the legs. At dinner times, a foldable wooden table would be set up in the sitting room and then covered by an iron plated table-top. Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather lived separately in the 4th Lane house. The two families prepared their own meals most days and only dined together on festivals or at celebration times. Ng Siu Kei’s second aunt lived in Kowloon City which was very close to Nga Tsin Wai. As it was so easy for her to get to and from her home, she only stayed overnight with Ng Siu Kei’s family during big festivals.

Ng Siu Kei got married at the age of 29 and his eldest daughter was born soon after in the same year that the sons of his third younger brother and fifth younger sister entered the world. Ng Siu Kei’s father loved his three grandkids very much. Regardless of their genders, he treated his grandsons and daughters the same without showing any favouritism. The kids were so close they all began studying at the same kindergarten, arriving home each day at between 3:00 and 4:00pm. To welcome them back, their grandfather would place three bowls of macaroni from Ngan Lung Restaurant in the table on the first floor of the 5th Lane for them. Ng Siu Kei’s mother had a very traditional mindset, taking better care of her grandsons than her granddaughters. Ng Siu Kei’s wife was unhappy about this and grumbled. Sometimes, the situation between his mother and his partner stopped just short of outright confrontation. As a result, his wife suggested they move out and set up her own home. As Ng Siu Kei and his third younger brother still lived in house No. 3 at 5th Lane after starting their own families, living conditions there had become more and more crowded. They had leased out the adjacent house (i.e. No. 2 at 5th Lane) and did not want to repossess it.

Ng Siu Kei eventually gave into his wife’s nagging and they bought and moved to a flat in Kowloon Walled City to avoid further arguments. Having to leave a place he had lived in for 20 to 30 years made Ng Siu Kei very frustrated and sad. The pair’s move also made his parents very unhappy. This was especially true of his father who hoped very much to maintain the traditional walled village bonds where the entire family, both young and old, lived together. Ng Siu Kei himself shared the same thinking. Although he now worked at the airport and had moved out of 5th Lane, he returned there regularly after work and only used his flat in Kowloon Walled City for sleeping in. He, his wife and daughter often also dined at 5th Lane, with his spouse loaning her mother-in-law a helping hand with the family chores. His mother, however, drew the line at asking her daughter-in-law for assistance with the cooking. In the 1970s, there were still a few households consisting of three generations living under one Nga Tsin Wai roof. They included Ng Chi Wing’s brother who continued to live in the house in which he grew up after starting his own family (editor’s note: Although Ng Siu Kei still lived in Nga Tsin Wai after his marriage, he had applied for public housing and was waiting to be assigned a flat. After spending two years in Kowloon Walled City, he, his wife and daughter were finally granted accommodation on Shatin’s Sun Tin Wai Estate.)

As of the mid 1980s, Ng Siu Kei’s family still owned three houses in Nga Tsin Wai, two of which were in 5th Lane and the remaining one in 4th Lane. The latter of these properties had a cockloft and was the place that his grandparents had first called home. This property had remained vacant after the old couples’ deaths in the mid-1980s. A friend of Lee Foo, the Village Headman back then, was a staff member of a real estate company which was a subsidiary of Cheung Kong Holdings (“CKH”). The real estate company’s parent group was very desirous of buying up the village houses in Nga Tsin Wai. Lee Foo’s friend promised him preferential terms which would allow owners to stay in their houses rent free until the complete demolition of Nga Tsin Wai. Attracted by the deal, Lee Foo himself had readily agreed to sell his house and asked Ng Siu Kei to do the same. Ng Siu Kei told his mother and younger brothers about the offer as he and his male siblings were traditional descendants of the walled village and always listened to and followed what their elders said. Having first asked for their mother’s advice, the boys saw Lee start to lobby the old woman. Their mother felt Lee Foo was both as good as his word and happily agreed to sell all three houses.

The two families of Lee Foo and Ng Siu Kei sold their houses in 1986 and became the first villagers to sell their homes to CKH’s real estate division. They did not talk too much about the sale because they felt they had been promised preferential terms and did not know very much about other residents’ sale transactions. In 1990, Ng Siu Kei’s mother passed away because of illness. Shortly before she died she instructed Ng Siu Kei and his brothers to take good care of their eldest aunt. At that time, all the brothers were busy raising their own families and moved out of the village. As a result, they all chipped in and arranged for the elderly woman to move into an old folks’ home after their mother passed away. Soon afterwards, the eldest aunt also passed away. Between 1995 and 1996, Ng Siu Kei’s second and third younger brothers emigrated to Canada one after another. Before they left Hong Kong, all four brothers had a meeting and decided that there was no point in keeping the three houses they had already sold. In view of how hard the distance made it to gather all four brothers in one place to sign the relevant documents, the siblings decided to deliver up vacant possession of the three houses and finalize the transaction.

When Ng Siu Kei was growing up, Ng Wai Chi and Ng Yun Chor, Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather (Ah Gong) were the undisputed leaders of Nga Tsin Wai. As such, they were greatly admired and respected by villagers, both young and old. As leaders, the two were given the responsibility of taking charge of the affairs of both the walled village and the ancestral trust. When he was still small, Ng Siu Kei dared not enter the Village Office but only hid under the staircase and tried to spy on what was going on inside. In those years, the elder generation was in charge of the affairs of the village and other residents could only listen and follow what their leaders were saying without making any comments or raising any objections. Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather used to speak very loudly and with real authority. As he had two moustaches and looked like Yuan Shih Kai, he was nicknamed ‘Red Hair Uncle’. Back then this was the common wording the walled villagers used to describe westerners. The old man had served as Village Headman until he passed away. As such, he was a high-handed and impulsive man who would knock on the heads of younger villagers and scold them as being ‘Dead Boys’ whenever they did something wrong. Ng Siu Kei village elders like Ng Tso Hing and Ng Woon Yin were among his victims!

Ng Wai Chi and Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather were both of similar standing and many elders now still regard him as being not only the glory of the clan but also a wonderful leader. During the Japanese occupation of 1941 to 1945, Ng Wai Chi used all his efforts to protect Nga Tsin Wai and had no fear of the Japanese soldiers who entered the village. In speaking with the invading troops in their own language he was able to stop the occupying authorities from forcing hardships on the village and its residents. He was also the founder of Hong Kong Seamen’s Union and had made great contributions to sailors’ lives which seamen still respect today. Ng Siu Kei feels that the characters of Ng Wai Chi and his grandfather were polar opposites. The former was gentle and self disciplined, calm, quiet, easy going and discreet. In maintaining a low profile, he encouraged younger villagers and only argued with them when they had done something wrong, never scolding or beating them. Ng Siu Kei respected grand uncle Ng Wai Chi so much that he was delighted to be asked to serve him tea at his wedding ceremony!

Ng Yun Chor, Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather, was a very authoritative person in Nga Tsin Wai Village. Sharing the tall posture of most Shantung people, he was nicknamed ‘Red Hair Uncle’ and liked to knock people’s heads when he lost patience with them. The old man took four wives in succession and Ng Siu Kei’s two elder aunts, father and younger uncle were all born by the man’s first wife. Ng Siu Kei had never met his natural grandmother, but had heard from his elders that his grandfather regularly scolded and beat her up badly. The woman worked hard on the farm and doing chores around the house until the day she died. Ng Siu Kei had no impression of his grandfather’s second and third wives and only met the fourth wife ‘Ah Por’ when he was small. The latter woman never officially married his grandfather but lived with him in the house at the end of 4th Lane. She subsequently served him until he passed away.

The marriages of Ng Siu Kei’s two elder aunts were far from ideal. His eldest aunt was widowed very early while his second aunt was bullied by her husband and his family after she married him and moved to the Mainland before the war. Ng Siu Kei’s father had great affection for his loved ones and took special care of his two elder sisters because his younger brother had disappeared during the Japanese occupation of 1941 to 1945. He persuaded the second aunt to return to Nga Tsin Wai, saying that the family should stay together no matter how bad or good their fortunes. However, the woman proved very stubborn and did not want gossips from the village to say that she was a cast off married daughter who had to rely on her maternal family for her living. She left subsequently her abusive husband in the Mainland and returned to Hong Kong where she harmoniously stayed with some kinder relatives of her ex- husband in Fuk Lo Tsun Road, Kowloon City. Conscious that he was influenced by his father and the traditions of the walled village, Ng Siu Kei invariably put family affection ahead of all other considerations.

When Ng Siu Kei was around 10, his grandfather, Ng Yun Chor (Ah Gong), passed away. This was a major event in Nga Tsin Wai at that time. Since Ng Yau Fat knew Doctor Ng Yat Fan who practised medicine near the village, Ng Siu Kei’s family asked the medic about the condition of their grandfather only to be advised to prepare for his death! In the 8 to 10 days before the old man passed away, the whole village was very busy preparing for his wake and subsequent funeral. The ground floor of the old man’s residence at 4th Lane had even been tidied up with a sedan chair stool and bed plank being placed in the centre of the house. Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather slept on the plank, struggling for each breath in a shroud the family put on him. At the moment of his death, he was still puffing away on his opium pipe in a fruitless attempt to extend his life. He was even storing marble-like opium cakes in the sides of his mouth.

After Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather finally exhaled his last breath, the family asked Doctor Ng Yat Fan to confirm that Ah Gong had in fact passed over. Some villagers banged on the gong to alert the people of all the lanes of the old man’s death, yelling “Red Hair Uncle has gone!” Elderly villagers subsequently took it in turns to enter the house and offer up their incense and pay their last respects. Meanwhile, the village women sang mournful songs in Punti in the lanes while crying and gathered around the gatehouse to sew mourning dresses made of white linen and sackcloth. Men like Ng Yat Fat and Lee Foo dealt with the matter of the old man’s death certificate and at the same time liaised with Hop Cheong Funeral Parlour in Fuk Lo Tsun Road regarding the burial ceremony. Hop Cheong had some connection with Nga Tsin Wai because Ng Kam Ling, Ng Siu Kei’s father knew the people there quite well.

After fixing the day for the funeral parade, villagers erected bamboo scaffolding in front of the gatehouse. Ng Siu Kei’s father and Lee Fu had ordered a custom-made wooden coffin which they carried on their shoulders back home and then placed their grandfather inside. The old man’s body subsequently lay in state in the coffin on the bamboo scaffolding for three days and two nights while Taoist priests performed their sacrificial rites. Nga Tsin Wai residents told friends from other villages nearby to come and pay their last respects. On the day of funeral parade itself, residents of Nga Tsin Wai bid farewell to the coffin in front of the gatehouse by performing the rites of ‘carrying the flag and buying water’. The coffin was then carried by the villagers on their shoulders for a parade through the village. A tricycle led the way and conveyed wreaths onto the streets with words ‘Mr. Ng Yun Chor lives forever’ and ‘Bliss and Longevity’ written on them. Immediately behind was a band of about 10 people blowing‘Di Da’ (trumpets) with about 200 family members and villagers bringing up the rear. The procession started from the gatehouse and went around Nga Tsin Wai first before turning into Tung Tsing Road, Kai Tak Road and Nga Tsin Wai Road. When it finally reached Hau Wong Temple, everyone bade their final goodbyes to the coffin. At that time, the seven-storey resettlement buildings of Tung Tau Estate had been built. Since Ng Yau Fat knew the Presiding Manager of Tsing Shan Monastery, his grandfather’s coffin was buried inside its walls. Ng Siu Kei thought that his grandfather’s funeral was as spectacular as anything he’d ever seen in his life.

In those days, all weddings and funerals were handled by the volunteers of the walled village without outside help of any kind. Each function was held in the open space in front of the gatehouse. Weddings would have 8 to 10 banquet tables, while coffins for burial at funerals would be displayed in the gatehouse and watched over by villagers for two to three days. During this time clan women would buy sackcloth and white linen to sew their mourning dresses. Tradition dictated that only people surnamed Ng, Chan and Lee were allowed to handle such matters. Those of other surnames did not follow the same belief structure, psychologically feeling that it “ought not to be so”. Having grown up with families of the three surnames and understanding the importance with which their friends viewed such activities, they could however pay their respects to the village’s traditions and customs. Such funerals and weddings continued to take place well into the 1970s. While the observances gradually dwindled away in the following decades, the atmosphere still exists to this day. That said, villagers now tend to attend funerals in undertakers’ parlours.

When Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather and father passed away, their funeral ceremonies took place in front of the gatehouse. Many villagers demonstrated their high regard for the two deceased elders by holding night vigils or helping to cook congee and frying noodles for late night snacks. When bidding farewell to her father-in-law’s coffin, Ng Siu Kei’s wife was pregnant. While not kneeling in line with clan rules, she still donned a sackcloth mourning dress and carried the traditional bunch of ginger, a ‘lai see’ red packet and also tied pine and cedar to her waist. In the past, villagers in Nga Tsin Wai were viewed as being indigenous inhabitants and had the right to be buried on the hilltops near the village walls. Such rights were subsequently abolished. If a burial is needed now, an application has to be made to the Government according to the law for burials governing either the Sha Ling or Wo Hop Shek cemeteries.

Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather was initially buried in the graveyard of Tsing Shan Monastery. As a result, his father who attached great importance to worshipping ancestors made it a rule that all family members must go to Tsing Shan Monastery to worship the old man at least once a year. Such visits usually occurred during the Ching Ming or Chung Yeung grave sweeping festivals. Ten or so years later, the graveyard was damaged. Owing to the difficulty and huge expenses involved in carrying out repairs, Ng Siu Kei and his brothers resolved to unearth their grandfather’s bones. Their plans also involved cremating the remains and then placing the ash in Ng Clan Ancestral Hall for worship. Ng Siu Kei’s father was buried in Wo Hop Shek and his bones were unearthed and cremated upon the expiry of the seven years’ tenure of the graveyard. His ashes were then reinterred in the ancestral hall for worship.

Since he started to understand things, Ng Siu Kei had had the impression that his father was working for the Village Office and the Ancestral Trust every now and then. Only for only a couple of years had his father been out of the village, sailing a ship for a living. After Ng Yau Fat (Uncle Fat) and others passed away, there was little wonder that the villagers constituted his father Village Headman as due to his dedication to serving the village. His term of Village Headman was not long, yet he cared not about the title but was only concerned with what he could do for his village. He cared about everything concerning the village, big or small. He was concerned even with trivial things such as the replacement of Chinese couplets on the village gate and the shortage of players in a mahjong game at Village Office. His handwriting was good, and he handled most of the clerical jobs of the Village Office. To Ng Siu Kei, of all his father’s contributions to the village, the most impressive one had to be the Pavilion of Wind and Rain. It was jointly funded and organized by his father, Lee Tong and Luk Ching Shan (running steel works at Nga Tsin Wai’s edge ) to provide shelter for villagers against bad weathers.

What’s more, Ng’s father was also enthusiastic about affairs of the Ancestral Trust. In the old days, when worshipping the ancestors in the graveyard, money would be shared among only the males in a clan. One year in the late 1960s, when the clansmen went to worship their ancestors in Shatin, Ng’s father voices out that any female who wanted to worship the ancestors should be entitled to a share of the money. This suggestion was agreed by the clansmen present, and was recorded in the Big Book (editor’s note: a book that records matters about worshipping the ancestors in graveyards and information about participants). That practice passed on to nowadays, and had a big influence over the Ancestral Trust. Ng’s father had always devoted himself in public affairs, and he only let go until he got really ill. Ng Siu Kei took his father as a role model, and was greatly driven by him to serve the village and the Ancestral Trust. He thought that his blood was from his father. Despite his frustrations in recent years, he was willing to continue his service as long as health permitted. He advocated the reconstruction of the Ancestral Hall in recent years. When seeing the reconstructed Ancestral Hall today, he felt greatly relieved and felt like he did not let his parents down.

A native of Shek Lung, Ng Siu Kei’s mother got married to his father in Nga Tsin Wai after the pair were brought together by a match maker. She came from a family who owned two ancestral houses in their home town and had a younger brother who later served in the British Navy. It was to Shek Lung that Ng Siu Kei recently returned with the wife of his mother’s brother and his cousin to try and resolve some land title confirmation formalities. Ng Siu Kei feels that his mother was a stubborn and hard-working woman who did well to adjust to married life in a traditional walled village. Her third youngest son was a fun-loving boy who wasn’t the slightest bit interested in studying. After school, this lad either went to Ma Temple (Tin Hau Temple) to pat picture cards or climbed the Lion Rock Mountain or Tze Wan Shan to catch jumping spiders. Once when he was playing in the temple, his clothes accidently caught fire when he brushed against an oil lamp. Following his return home, his mother tied him onto the drying racks in the balcony and caned him until his whole body was marred with scars! After his father got back from work and learned what had happened, he became very angry and threatened to throw her out of the house!

Ng Siu Kei thought that his mother was a family-focused and stoical woman. When his maternal grandmother fell ill and was admitted into Queen Mary Hospital, his mother carried Ng Siu Kei’s fifth youngest sister on her back and brought the old lady food at the hospital every morning. Ng Siu Kei’s father made his living during the 1950s and 1960s as a seafarer. While he was away at sea, his wife had to play the role of both father and mother. During the time of water rationing, this meant she had to go and fetch the family’s supplies from the public taps outside the village, taking the water back to not only her home but also that of her father-in-law. Ng Siu Kei’s mother was not sociable in the village and only cared about her own family’s business. That said, when it came to Tin Hau Festival or Jiao Festival, she would happily offer to help her neighbours with their work. In the Jiao Festival of Nga Tsin Wai in 1976, she even played the role of a ‘blessed woman’ and went into Tin Hau Temple to take the ‘Ma Lang’ (Tin Hau) outside. Traditionally, only female villagers recognised as being blessed women with husbands, children and grandchildren were entitled to play such a role.

Ng Siu Kei’s mother was very money-minded and thrifty. She had a habit of squirreling away bank notes in dark corners of her home in order to prevent her kids and grandkids from finding and spending them. In the days when Ng Siu Kei’s father worked as a clerk in Chi Tak Public School, he sometimes went to play mahjong in the Village Office. He would put a few jars of coins in the cupboard at home only for his wife to find them and hide them under the bed! When their mother passed away in 1990, Ng Siu Kei and his younger brothers and sisters went back to the old residence in the 5th Lane to clear the place up. While doing so, they found several thousand dollars in the gap of a nylon chair plus various other bank notes either rolled up inside or wrapped around paper napkins! In the end, their collective haul amounted to tens of thousand dollars, including some ‘big cotton blankets’ (as HK$500 bank notes were then known). Everyone took home their share of the unexpected cash windfall.

Ng Siu Kei’s mother did not have any hobbies to pass the time and used to mend clothes rather than buying new ones. Nor was she very happy if her children bought her new garments! The best way for the kids to show their filial piety was to give her money! When Ng Siu Kei’s father was away at sea, he mailed back some Doll Brand instant noodles from Japan which Ng Siu Kei and his younger brothers and sisters would fight over. Their mother did not like this and ordered them not to eat them without her permission. In those years, the family was very poor and mostly lived on vegetables and salted fish. Their mother was such a well planned woman that shortly before she died, she wrote her ‘will’ on red packets which she tore and turned inside out: “Gold earrings go to xx”, and “gold chains go to xx”, she wrote. To ensure proper distribution of her most cherished possessions she had written instructions on a few packets and briefed her children to use the money she had saved all those years wisely. Finally, she put the will inside a brocade box which was originally used to store ornaments.

Ng Siu Kei only studied lessons in the morning during his primary education and did household chores and looked after his younger brothers and sisters after he returned home in the afternoon. When he grew up and became aware of all the things happening around him, he realised that his mother was a traditional walled village woman who put all of her efforts into taking care of the family and preparing food for the children. It seems the poor woman seldom had any entertainment. Ng Siu Kei watched his mother do the household chores and, while she did not go out of her way to teach him, learnt her way of cooking and looking after the children.

While Ng Siu Kei was still living at the house in 6th Lane, his maternal grandmother fell ill and was hospitalised in Queen Mary Hospital. Selfless to the last, his mother went out very early every morning to see the old lady and bring her food. As a result, she did not have time to look after her children properly. Ng Siu Kei took over, carrying his fourth youngest sister on his back and preparing meals for the family by heating a pot over a charcoal stove. He also knew how to fold baby nappies out of thin white cloth which he used for his younger brothers and sisters. Ng Siu Kei’s father was also a very clean and tidy man and always ironed clothes by himself rather than asked others for their help. Ng Siu Kei took after his father and had developed exactly the same habit of meticulous cleanliness. Like his friend, Lee Foo, Ng Siu Kei’s father attached great importance to good grooming and always dressed up tidily before going out for afternoon tea. As such, the two became real role models for the whole village.

Ng Siu Kei’s mother was a native of Shek Lung in Dongguan. In the early years, Ng Siu Kei never went back to visit his mother’s relatives in her maternal home town because of the time and inconvenience of transportation in the Mainland. Ten years ago, however, he and the wife of his maternal uncle did journey back to Shek Lung in search of relatives and to see his mother’s family’s ancestral home. It was said that Ng Siu Kei’s parents once lived there while taking refuge from the Japanese occupiers between 1941 and 1945. Besides, a great joy in his life was the once-yearly trip to Shatin for grave sweeping in the hills during Chung Yeung Festival. While there, he and the other kids would have plenty of food and drinks and enjoy great fun on the hilltops. They would also receive a share of any money distributed. Ng Siu Kei ‘bargained’ with his mother, giving her part of the money he received and keeping the remainder as pocket money.

While Ng Siu Kei’s father had received very little formal education, he was skilled at Chinese calligraphy. As a result, he and Ng Siu Chuen were entrusted with clerical work for Nga Tsin Wai and the Ng Clan Ancestral Trust. Ng Siu Kei began his studies by reading the ‘Three Characters Classic’ at the Ng Clan Ancestral Hall and HKVNSAAPS. He was subsequently promoted to Primary 1 at HKVNSAAPS which used the ancestral hall to host classes. When Ng Siu Kei studied Primary 4, HKVNSAAPS got its own school building in Sai Yee Street in Mongkok and Ng Siu Kei thereafter began to study in Mongkok until his graduation from Primary 6. He was subsequently admitted into Lok Sin Tong Secondary School which ran both primary and secondary schools in Lung Kong Road conducting separate morning and afternoon classes from the same building. Ng Siu Kei found studying to be rather difficult and had to repeat Form 4 following fail marks in Mathematics and Chemistry. He just wanted to make money by working as soon as possible so that he would no longer have to rely on his parents.

In 1965 or 1966, Ng Siu Kei was actively starting to look for jobs a few months before his graduation. He did not read newspapers when seeking work. Back then, many people in Nga Tsin Wai were tempted by the stable incomes earned by policemen. Ng Siu Kei thought about applying for the force but his family were against it because of something bad that had happened to his paternal younger uncle during his own career as a cop. At that time, Ng Siu Kei’s maternal younger uncle worked in the British Navy’s Hong Kong base and took his nephew along to apply for a job. This was around the time Ng Siu Kei had applied for a ground service trainee job with CX. He was hired by CX while still waiting for news from the navy. Ng Siu Kei’s mother was happy about the CX job as she felt it was a big company which promised lots of job security. She also did not want her son to follow in his father’s footstep by leaving home to work overseas for long periods.

Ng Siu Kei loved to visit Hong Kong airport when small and had always wanted to join the several villagers from Nga Tsin Wai who already worked there. One of them was a neighbour surnamed Ho who lived next door to Ng Siu Kei. Mr. Ho helped to prepare in-flight meals, he had a relative in the village who repaired and maintained aircraft. Another resident who lived in 4th Lane worked as a cleaner inside planes’ passenger cabins. Mr. Ho recommended Ng Siu Kei for a job in CX as he realised that his young friend spoke and wrote some English. Ng Siu Kei’s secondary school level was very rare in Nga Tsin Wai. Today, Ng Siu Kei reflects that if villagers were to find work back then, they mainly had to depend on their own qualifications and circumstances. As a result, he felt rather confident about finding a job.

After joining CX, the thing he felt most proud of was his holding of a free pass which allowed him to freely enter and leave the airport’s restricted areas. In his job, Ng Siu Kei was engaged in ground services and knew the operations of taking offs and landings of planes inside out. Back then, it was customary for airport staff to speak in English. To brush up on his language skills, Ng Siu Kei spent two years studying at New Method Evening College while working at the airport. He ended up staying with CX for about 20 years and eventually had no problem in reading, writing, speaking and listening to English because of his exposure to the language in his daily work. Today, he tends to handle most English correspondence relating to village and clan affairs. By the late 1980s, he was promoted to a supervisory level job in the ground services department but he soon left CX. 

Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather was a man of great authority in Nga Tsin Wai Village who people used to greet as ‘Red Hair Uncle’ each time he went outside the village. Even Ng Siu Kei’s father and his friends revered the old man and always listened to and followed his lead. Perhaps because of his grandfather’s exalted status, Ng Siu Kei felt that there was a generation gap between him and the older man. As a result, he seldom talked to his grandfather who in turn rarely ever had an opportunity to tell the boy what to do. As Ng Siu Kei’s fourth and youngest grandmother or Ah Por and his mother were responsible for family chores, he only went to his grandfather’s home to collect HK$.050 or HK$1 in pocket money.

Ng Siu Kei’s childhood playmates included Ng Chi Wing and his brothers, Kong Chi Yin and Kwong Kwok Hung. Having all accidently met up outside the village gatehouse when still teenagers, it was hardly surprising the youngsters formed themselves into a gang. Ng Siu Kei claims now that he belonged to a neutral group whose members were scared about making trouble and avoided causing arguments. Generally, teenagers of the village did not like schoolwork and as a result, very few of them had attained any kind of academic achievement. Their attitude was to go out to work as soon as possible so as to make money to support their families. At that time, no remotely distinguished person had ever been brought up in the village. Parents back then mostly adopted an indulgent attitude towards their kids. Although they were willing to support their children’s schooling, they did not force them to achieve good results or academic records. Ng Siu Kei’s second younger brother could almost be said to be an exception. Quiet and gentle, he did not like to join gangs. As a result, he studied hard, scored good academic results and made a lot of money while still very young. While Ng Siu Kei’s parents saw the boy as the glory of the family, he did not really stand out from the crowd that much.

When Ng Siu Kei announced he planned to get married in 1973, his father decided to make the wedding a major event. As a result, he set about throwing a huge banquet for friends and relatives that reflected both his own and Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather (Ah Gong)’s high standing in the village. At first, the bride and groom’s families planned to host a joint wedding banquet. Sadly, Ng Siu Kei’s mother and his future mother-in-law quarreled about what wedding gift to buy and how they should send it to the bride-to-be. His mother prepared the gift according to traditional walled village customs and also accommodated the requests of the family of Ng Siu Kei’s intended wife. However, her communications with her future in-laws about the forthcoming marriage may well have been inadequate. The two parties were unable to achieve consensus on minor details such as wedding cakes and dried seafood. Well familiar with his wife’s stubborn character, Ng Siu Kei’s father did not want any hitches and left her well alone. He subsequently readily agreed to his future daughter-in-law’s family’s request to have a second wedding banquet. The groom’s loved ones later hosted a party in Seven Joy Restaurant in Prince Edward Road while the bride’s nearest and dearest held their own festivities in Golden Palace Night Club in Tsim Sha Tsui.

On the night before his wedding, Ng Siu Kei’s mother ‘combed his hair’ for him, after which he took a bath, put on new clothes and ate glutinous rice balls in line with the traditions of his elders. His brothers made a bed for him while his paternal aunts and the wife of his father’s brother scattered red beans, green beans, peanuts and lotus roots under the blanket shouting out auspicious words as they did so. The next morning, good friends like Ng Chi Wing and Kong Chi Yin decorated his wedding car and arranged for a fleet of four to five vehicles to pick up the bride and her family. The newly-wed couple went home to pay their respects to their ancestors and serve tea to Ng Siu Kei’s parents and paternal aunts and then went inside the Tin Hau Temple to worship.

Later that night, the newlyweds served tea to Ng Siu Kei’s elders at the restaurant. The list of those honoured with tea was decided by Ng Siu Kei’s parents with the elders being served according to their seniority. First, it was granduncle Ng Wai Chi who was the oldest and commanded the highest standing. He was followed by Ng Sung Fat, Ng Woon Yin, Ng Tso Hing, Ng Yeung Kin and Lee Foo. As the young couple were busy attending to their guests of honour the whole night, the bride collected a handsome amount with which to start their lives together in lai see lucky money. Afterwards, Ng Siu Kei and his new partner went to pay their respects at the ancestral hall. Ng Siu Kei’s father was well acquainted with Lee Foo and Ng Yeung Sum. As the two were somewhat more westernised than others, they regularly met up in Tsim Sha Tsui to take western tea whenever they were free. The men would then buy clothes in department stores such as Sincere and Shui Hing.

Ng Siu Kei was his parents’ eldest son and had three younger brothers and two younger sisters, the latter of who ranked fourth and fifth in the family. His second younger brother was a keen student, attending HKVNSAAPS and graduating from Lok Sin Tong Secondary School before furthering his studies at Baptist College. During his schooling, he made many friends who shared his ideals and eventually joined them in establishing an electronics business in San Po Kong after graduation from university. As his business included import and export and was very good, he soon grew quite rich. This was the brother who was last to get married and last to move out of Nga Tsin Wai to live in Shatin Park and City One Shatin. In the 1990s, this brother’s whole family emigrated to Canada.

Ng Siu Kei’s third younger brother was a terrible student and dropped out of school after his primary graduation from Bishop Ford Memorial School. In those days, Ng Siu Kei was working at the airport and he got his third younger brother a job as a kitchen helper who provided in-flight meals for various airlines with Dairy Farm. His third younger brother learnt western cooking at Dairy Farm and mastered a life-long craft. This brother was particularly good at ice sculpture. After marriage, he moved out of Nga Tsin Wai and emigrated to Canada where he is now in charge of a kitchen in a restaurant. Ng Siu Kei’s youngest brother (the sixth sibling) completed his secondary schooling and followed his friends to join Gammon Construction Company where he later became a licensed architect. This brother also moved out of Nga Tsin Wai after he got married.

Ng Siu Kei’s two younger sisters studied at a rooftop primary school in a seven-storey resettlement building and dropped out during their secondary schooling. Initially, his fourth younger sister took a job in a factory and then as a causal school worker in Chi Tak Public School, during which time, she lived in the dormitory on the rooftop of the school. She continued to work at the school after marriage. Ng Siu Kei’s fifth youngest sister had the most abundant and comfortable life. When she was small, she was pampered by her grandfather who often took her to Kowloon City restaurants for tea and gave her HK$0.50 in pocket money. Ng Siu Kei and his other brothers and sister, on the other hand, were lucky if they got HK$0.20 to spend from the old man! Ng Siu Kei feels now that although his parents were happy to support his and his siblings’ schooling, it was purely his brothers’ and sisters’ personal choice to drop out.

Ng Siu Kei thought that three families within the Ng Chuen Fung Tso branch had closer ties and contacts. They were: his own family and the families of Ng Kam Hung and Ng Hon Wan. Wherever it came to weddings or funerals, these families invited others to attend. In recent years, Ng Hon Wan and his son have played an active role in the meetings of Nga Tsin Wai Village Committee and also regularly met with Ng Siu Kei.

The Ng Chuen Fung Tso branch had a Manager who represented the branch when taking care of the affairs of Ng Yat Un Tso Limited. This Manager was also responsible for reporting proceedings at company meeting to branch members and collecting their feedback. Having first served as Manager, Ng Siu Kei’s grandfather was succeeded by his son because he was better suited to the post than his contemporary, Ng Kam Hung, who rarely participated in affairs due to his poor educational background. After Ng Siu Kei’s father passed away, Ng Siu Kei succeeded him as Manager of Ng Chuen Fung Tso. Ng Siu Kei subsequently served as Manager for around five to six years. After he emigrated to Canada in the 1990s, he was succeeded by Ng Hon Wan who in turn passed the post on to his son when he fell ill. Ng Siu Kei and his father and his father’s peers did not clearly understand the condition of Ng Chuen Fung Tso’s graveyard. On the tenth day of the ninth lunar month every year, branch clansmen went to Shatin to worship Ng Yat Un Tso as he was regarded as being the chief ancestor of the whole branch. Back then, Ng Chuen Fung Tso branch did not have its own genealogy. When Ng Wing Tong started compiling the genealogy of the Ng Clan, he collected information from elders like Ng Sai Ming and Ng Yeung Sum. Each man’s excellent branch connections and knowledge of descent lines amongst the Ng clansmen meant they were a reliable source of information about Ng Chuen Fung Tso.

In 2006, Ng Siu Kei was invited by Nga Tsin Wai’s Village Headman Ng Chi Wing to help organise the 29th Jiao Festival. Two years later, he also started to play an active part in the affairs of Ng Shing Tat Tso. In the old days, only people of the three surnames, Ng, Chan and Lee resided in Nga Tsin Wai. As the affairs of the village coincided with those of the ancestral trust, both were handled by the same group of people. While villagers with other surnames later moved into the village and joined the Village Committee, they did not take part in the affairs of the ancestral trust as its operations were independent from those of the Village Committee. In recent years, village affairs were mainly the preserve of people surnamed Ng, with villagers with surnames such as Chan or Lee rarely taking part. As a result, Ng Siu Kei first had to be endorsed by the Ng Clan Ancestral Trust before he could deal with village affairs.

When Ng Siu Kei began getting involved in ancestral trust affairs, he also had to face the issue of confirmation of the Manager post of which had remained unresolved since the 1990s. In 2008, the managers of the eldest, second and fourth branches did not have any status in law. Despite this, Ng Siu Kei was very confident about taking over the matter. In doing so, he followed the rules of Sai Kung District Office when dealing with the paperwork and other formalities involved in manager confirmation. In order to comply with the authority’s requests regarding the updating of the genealogy, Ng Siu Kei spent whole days in the ancestral hall alone, doing the copying and vetting work. During that time, he saw the dilapidation of the ancestral hall and proposed that he and his fellow clansmen start restoration work. The building’s eventual cleanliness and brightness were all a direct result of the clansmen’s positive response to his proposal. Looking back, Ng Siu Kei says that hard work was not a key to success in the handling of the affairs of the clan because of the unpredictability of external factors. As a result, the confirmation of the managers has still not yet been realised. Ng Siu Kei says now that while he always tried to do his best for his ancestors, he is now in a state of despair and disappointment. Although his heart is unwilling, all he can do is to face the reality and comply with the requests of the District Office as he has lost the ambition he had at the outset.

Ng Shing Tat Tso consists of four branches, namely, Ng Kwong Un, Ng Tung Un, Ng Tai Un and Ng Yat Un. Traditionally, each of which is represented by a Branch Manager. Consequently, the affairs of the ancestral trust were organised and managed jointly by all four managers and could not be deemed to have any kind of structure. Following people’s worship of their ancestors at the Chung Yeung Festival of 2009, the clansmen held a general meeting to set up the posts and titles of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Secretary-General and Financial Controller for the ancestral trust. Although he was not a Manager, Ng Siu Kei became CEO as attendees felt that he should have a title to demonstrate to outsiders the systematic and efficient way he went about handling their affairs. Some clansmen noticed that the Consumer Council had a CEO and were determined to follow its lead. Ng Chin Hung became the Secretary-General of the ancestral trust and having already done some clerical work there was enthusiastic about helping out. Ng Siu Hung, the Manager of the fourth branch, became the Financial Controller as he had been responsible for the accounts of the ancestral trust all along. As these titles were not officially registered with the Government, and in principle they had no legal status.

Since first becoming involved in the affairs of the village and the clan in 2006, Ng Siu Kei has accumulated many memories. Having inherited his father’s enthusiasm about village and clan affairs, he does his best to follow the old man’s examples of willingness and ability. He stressed that he had his father’s blood in his body despite the fact that his father had been criticised after his death and his younger brothers and sisters had quit communal affairs as a result. In 2006, Ng Siu Kei returned to handle the affairs of the village and clan until this day upon the sincere invitation of his good friend Ng Chi Wing. While he continues to discharge these duties, he regrets that the villagers are not united and he himself has lost heart and fallen in despair gradually. Resigned to a somewhat ‘go with the flow’ attitude, Ng Siu Kei reflects sadly that he can only do as much as he can.