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Cultural Context

daily use

Narrative

Hakka people are one of the two original land-dwelling groups that settled the area that became the New Territories of Hong Kong. Their spoken language, and some customs, differed from those of the other original group, the Cantonese or Punti. The Cantonese arrived first and settled on the best rice-growing lands, while the Hakka began to arrive after the late 17th century and settled the more hilly lands. Mrs. Ng donated this muzzle to the Museum of Anthropology because she was elderly and was no longer able to carry out rice agriculture, especially after her most recent crop had been burned in a house fire. The muzzle had been woven for her by her brother. In 1980, the remote villages of Sai Kung District were inhabited primarily by elderly people who were unable or unwilling to emigrate with their family members and depended on small-scale farming and hoped-for remittances..

Description

Cow muzzle. Thimble-shaped, open weave basket-like object; thin grey cord tied to two metal loops on opposite sides of the rim.

History Of Use

Muzzles like this were used to prevent a cow from grazing in the grass beside the fields as it was working. Such muzzles were in common use, being employed primarily by women but occasionally by men. Until the 1960s Hakka women had primary responsibility for subsistence farming, as the men often worked elsewhere, or at occupations such as fishing. In the remote areas of Saikung, by the mid-twentieth century younger men often emigrated to urban areas of Hong Kong or overseas, to try to make a living. In such cases any women left behind had to continue subsistence agriculture as well as depending on hoped-for remittances. Saikung was a poor area in which people depended on the gathering of marine resources as well as farming. As the fields were small, they used cows rather than water buffalo to pull the ploughs and harrows. 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.