3. History
The second day of our trip was a trip through the history of many generations of the Mak family. Fung Yuen was the home of the Mak's for over 400 years and I am the third generation to have lived away from HK. My grandfather left in the 1960s and soon after my father joined him in Britain. I was in 1978 one of the first generation of the Mak family to have been born in the UK.

Anyway, the first places my brother and I visited was the family temple next door to where we were living. It was a very old building which has managed to stay up, though it isn't really in great condition. Here were the ashes of many generations of the Mak's. Here we would pay our respects in traditional Chinese style. Gifts were lain on an altar, consisting of meat, wine and rice. Sticks of incense and candles were burnt, followed by money and household items (though these were fake and bought from a market so that they would burn more easily).

On the wall of the temple, there was a plaque. This was the pride of the Mak family which was awarded to my great grandfather at the turn of the century by the emperor for his scholastic excellence. Since then, no generation has been to a university nor had a brilliant education until mine. My cousin has graduated from City University in London, his brother is off to South Bank University also in London and my brother is off to a university in Lodon in October. Being at Oxford myself, I had also brought some honour and pride to my family.

Our next visit was to my grandfather's house. It was still in its traditional form, with many of the items inside still from the days of farming. It was tiny, though somewhat cosy. In the past, my grandfather would still use the house and keep it clean whenever he visited HK. But now the place was in a state of decay. Termites had settled in and almost stripped a complete beam. It wouldn't be long before the whole place would be in ruins.

In the old days, my grandfather was a farmer, working all day for the few dollars that he would receive. In the mornings there would be rice farming (not a profitable occupation), with fishing on the beach as an extra. This would earn a little money to buy land to grow more rice. But all in all it was a poor occupation.

In the house were still the old equipment that my father and grandfather would use, from the sickles to the hoes. At the back of the house were the sleeping quarters. My grandfather had 5 children, if I remember correctly, and looking at it it must have been a tight fit! There were still the old woks and cooking equipment, including a stove which used wood as fuel.

It wouldn't be long before the whole place would be derelict and I'm glad I've seen the place where my grandfather and father lived. We paid our respects to the spirits of generations before us who lived in the house at the altar there as we did before.

Two days later, we were joined by my uncle, the eldest brother of my father. We would then go up into the hills where the graves of some of our ancestors lay. These were in pretty poor condition, as noone had come here for several months if not years and had overgrown with grass. Our job was to clear it up, and as before pay our respects with wine, rice, meat and gifts. A second site was up on the side of a hill, whose path had been completely over grown with plants. There was no proper path there and we had to invade a field to get to it. In the end we got there and paid our respects.
 
 
 
 

HK Part I Contents | 1. Departure | 2. Arrival | 3. History | 4. Attractions | 5.Food | 6. Return
 

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