by Lian Slayford-Wei

Created on: October 27, 2009

Pre-Historic Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of the most recognisable countries in the world. It is mostly known for its role in the Opium Wars between Great Britain and China, when in 1941 it was given to the foreigners. As of 1st July 1994, Hong Kong became Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. Yes before this, China has a wealth of ancient history that has largely gone ignored.

In recent years there has been a surge of interest into the pre-history of Hong Kong. Archaeologists have found a marine-oriented culture occupied the coastal sites, principally back-beach sand dunes and elevated sand bars, from Middle Neolithic times (c. 4000 BCE), right into the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 CE).

Archaeologists have determined that there is a major break in the archaeological record for around 700 years from 400 BCE to 300 CE. This 700 year period is quite puzzling to scholars and it has been suggested that it "may derive in some unknown way from the impact of the Ch'in-Han southern expansion in the third to second centuries BCE". Not only is this, but the re-emergence of the population is equally as baffling.

When they did re-appear around 300 - 400 CE, the conditions were very much similar to when they disappeared - "no discernible villages or fixed habitation sites, hardly any penetration of the interior, and virtually every available beach site utilized". Despite this, experts have agreed that there was a continual population in the coastal regions of Hong Kong from pre-historic times to early historical times.

There is no evidence of human occupation in Hong Kong around 8,000 BCE. There are, however, Middle Neolithic settlements dating from at least 4,000 BCE according to radio-carbon dating. The presence of human settlements is attributed to the people from the south China mainland and the coastal regions around Hong Kong mainland.

At around 4,000 BCE the evidence clearly shows that there was a well-developed culture that was developing into a Marine Neolithic culture. This was at a time when rising sea levels rose during the early Holocene, perhaps even mainly because of the rise of sea. "Certainly the environmental changes associated with the inundation of the coastal shelf had an intimate relationship with the material cultural change of the same period, stimulating (especially in the need for transport) or retarding (perhaps in the provision of ample new resources for gathering) improvements in technology".

During the Warring States period, there was an influx of the Yue people (a term used by the northern Han people for the southern Han) into Hong Kong. This was probably to avoid the conflicts in the north. Fishing and marine collecting were the major sources of sustenance and archaeological evidence have shown that only Pomadasys hasta (headgrunt) and Arius leiotetocephalus (catfish) were really sought after.

The 700 year gap between the disappearance and the re-emergence in Hong Kong pre-history has long baffled scholars, but despite this, Hong Kong's long history is as fascinating as her people and culture.

Bibliography:

Meacham, William (1984) Coastal Landforms and Archaeology in the Hong Kong Archipelago, World Archaeology, Taylor & Francis Ltd.

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