Pitchfork

Item number Edz1203 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

U-shaped pitchfork with two pointed tines, each square in cross-section. No handle.

History Of Use

Used to pitch rice straw, which was stored in a large stack in front of each house and then used as fuel. After the mid-twentieth century the New Territories of Hong Kong began to undergo fundamental changes. The people who had been settled there before 1898, when the British colonizers claimed the area, began to give up rice agriculture and coastal fishing, turning instead to wage labour and increased employment overseas. By the end of the century, educational opportunities leading to the possibility of white-collar work also increased, together with western influences. These changes meant that objects and clothing once useful and appropriate were no longer needed and generally were discarded. Some were saved by their owners, who sometimes were willing to donate them to museums, sharing, also, their knowledge of how they were made and used.

Cultural Context

agriculture

Narrative

The iron parts of such tools were bought from specialists and the handles were commonly made by the owners. Collected from Tsing Faai Tong, a Hakka village that was occupied by families of the Fu surname who moved to a new village on the coast. Through the district officer, they gave permission for objects to be collected from the former village site. The original village of Tsing Fai Tong was abandoned n the mid-20th century because of its inconvenient mountain location. Its members established a new village on the coast. Because they then gave up agriculture, they left many tools and other objects they no longer needed in their abandoned village. With their permission through the District Officer, James Hayes, Elizabeth Johnson was able to collect abandoned tools and other objects from the ruined houses. They thus donated them to the UBC Museum of Anthropology.