Item Records

This page shows all the information we have about this item. Both the institution that physically holds this item, and RRN members have contributed the knowledge on this page. You’re looking at the item record provided by the holding institution. If you scroll further down the page, you’ll see the information from RRN members, and can share your own knowledge too.

The RRN processes the information it receives from each institution to make it more readable and easier to search. If you’re doing in-depth research on this item, be sure to take a look at the Data Source tab to see the information exactly as it was provided by the institution.

These records are easy to share because each has a unique web address. You can copy and paste the location from your browser’s address bar into an email, word document, or chat message to share this item with others.

  • Data
  • Data Source

This information was automatically generated from data provided by MOA: University of British Columbia. It has been standardized to aid in finding and grouping information within the RRN. Accuracy and meaning should be verified from the Data Source tab.

Description

Curved iron blade attached to a short wooden handle.

History Of Use

Grass-cutting was an important activity for women in Tsuen Wan District and elsewhere in the New Territories until about the 1950s. Women gathered in groups, often divided by age range, to go up into the hills to cut large amounts of bracken which was used as fuel for cooking food for people and for pigs. They piled the bracken up to dry, and then bundled it using hand-made rope attached to a wooden hook which allowed them to bind the bracken firmly. To protect their hands from being scratched, they wore hand-protectors either woven of flat rattan or sewn of canvas. In addition to the sickle, their fundamental tool was a carrying pole made of dense hardwood, pointed at both ends. One end was sheathed in iron so that the pole could be stuck upright in the ground and thereby not lost in the underbrush. This also prevented it from rolling down the hill. When a woman had made two bundles of bracken (the Chinese name of which was not distinguished from grass) she stabbed them with the ends of the pole in order to carry them down from the hillside. The wooden end was stabbed in first, and then the metal end, which was easier, was stabbed into the other bundle. It was usual for women to carry more than their own weight in the large bundles of grass, regardless of whether or not they were pregnant. The bracken was used as fuel in the large brick range that each house had. One or two large woks were inserted in holes in the top. Pine branches were another source of fuel. This fuel was also sometimes sold if a household had surplus. People with a special need for it were the boat-dwelling fishing people, who owned no land and need to burn it to bream their boats on a regular basis.

Narrative

According to Mr. David Chan, who had knowledge of folk tools, this sickle was in Tsuen Wan-Un Long style, and different from that of Shatin. Mrs. Yau Chan, Shek Ying provided detailed information on grass-cutting. 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. 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.
Twentieth-century 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.

Item History

With an account, you can ask other users a question about this item. Request an Account

With an account, you can submit information about this item and have it visible to all users and institutions on the RRN. Request an Account

Similar Items