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Description

Roughly rectangular piece of dark brown wood with a straight, short handle protruding from one end; carved from a single piece of wood. A curvilinear shape with scalloped edges is carved into the top of the rectangular section of wood; floral motifs are carved on the bottom of the shape.

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.

History Of Use

These moulds were used to imprint sweet or savory cakes called chah gwo made as special treats at major birthdays, such as a 60th birthday, to express a wish for long life. These cakes were made of finely-ground rice flour dough, apparently raised with a sourdough process. Those most commonly made were sweetened with brown sugar, but other types were made for particular festivals. Those made for Ching Ming were also flavoured with a plant called gaai si tahn, which made them black. Those made for the Winter Solstice were savoury because of being filled with grated daikon, preserved meat, green onion, and chopped Chinese sausage. Cakes imprinted with this mould likely were not filled, and they may have been dyed the auspicious colour red. They mere pressed into the mould, and then knocked out and steamed. Each cake was about 3 inches across, and placed on a piece of banana leaf for steaming. They were arranged in two layers in a large steamer loosely woven of bamboo, which was then placed in a large wok which had water in it. The wok was then covered with a coopered wooden lid while the cakes were steamed. Large woks like this could only be used on large ranges with holes for the woks. The ranges burned wood or grass and bracken. In the 1970s, people in the Tsuen Wan villages began to demolish these stoves, often to make room in their kitchens for washing machines, and began instead to use kerosene or propane burners. As a result, chah gwo could no longer be made at home. 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.