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Cultural Context

domestic

Description

Length of natural bamboo; cut diagonally at one end, splintered at the other end.

Narrative

This object is one of a number of old and no longer used objects collected from relatives of Mrs. Yau Chan, Shek –ying. She understood the purpose of the museum and of developing its collections, and encouraged her relatives to donate them. It is extraordinary that such a fragile and ephemeral an object should have been kept by its owners for so many years. Chik Wai Koon Village was about to be destroyed to make way for the development of Shatin new town, and its residents moved to new housing.

History Of Use

Used by households at night during the Japanese occupation (1941-45) to provide light, e.g., if going outside to bathroom, or to give extra light. Lit with matches, then stuck in a crack. Also could be made into a bundle and used as a torch outdoors at night. 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.