The regulation of customary practices under colonial administration: Kinship and mortgages in a Hong Kong village

Abstract

This article examines two Chinese customary forms of mortgage, dian (典) and diya (抵押), in a Tang (鄧) lineage village in rural Hong Kong under British colonial rule. It finds that the colonial government was active in imposing a set of standardized administrative rules and legal measures to regulate these two customary practices. And, an examination of 314 records of mortgages in a lineage community during the period 1905–65 reveals that diya was a common form. This form of mortgage bears the following characteristics: non-kin ties played a more active and dominant role; Tang mortgagors did not receive special interest rates from kin mortgagees; both grain and cash were used as means of paying interest, but the latter was more common; one-year loans were the most common in both land and house mortgages; the majority of cases had a one-year redemption period; and monthly interest rates were usually in the range of 1 per cent to 2 per cent of the principal loan. The findings of this article complement the current literature on the nature of British colonial rule and on the role of non-agnatic ties in mortgage practices in a Chinese lineage village.