Life of Ng Akew, enslaved person, drug dealer, business woman, negotiator with pirates, and real estate magnate in early Hong Kong,

Looking at a marginalized woman who achieved success in 1840s Hong Kong

Greetings,

Thanks for returning for your weekly Asian Studies Fix. This week, I got longer than I like, but, honestly, it’s largely because I have been very busy. Nothing big, just considering some things like a new part time job and sorting through clutter. Paradoxically, when I get behind schedule, these things tend to be longer, not shorter, but I think it’s interesting and what you now have is one of the most complete pieces you will find anywhere on the subject of the life of a woman often but not always named Ng Akew ( .吳亞嬌 ).

One original motivator for this column was to use it to maintain momentum and drive interest in several planned projects, among them a book on the Tong wars of the Old American West. Then I discovered that not only was the history of Tong wars in the Old American west was entirely misunderstood by everyone I have read, but the entire history of the Chinese in the Old American West can only be properly understood if one understands events in the region of southern China during that period, and no one seems to have done that either, at least not for a popular audience. And the research on these things has gone on and on, but it has been rewarding and fascinating. At this point, and I could be wrong, I think I have all the books needed but the challenge is to read and absorb and analyze the contents. Plus to find an agent for such a book or create a decent marketing and publishing plan.

For these reasons, do not expect the Thursday columns. Maybe they will happen, maybe they won’t. I do expect to continue with the political columns. Honestly, there’s just too much craziness going on and therefore those will continue. As always, thanks for stopping by and spending time reading this. Please feel free to leave likes or comments and consider a paid subscription.

When the island of Hong Kong became a British colony in 1842 following the Opium War, it soon developed into a major seaport and trading center. This resulted in foreign ships visiting the region, and sometimes foreign sea captains, sailors, and merchants lived in there for long periods of time, sometimes years, decades, or life long. When they did, they often established long term relationships with local woman, who while not wives were known as “protected women” This week I look at the life of one such woman.

There was a time, many years ago, when I had little interest or respect for “niche” history. Women’s history, gay history, minority history in all its many stripes and flavors, it was my naive view that all these subjects, if history is properly done and properly presented, should be subsumed as part of the greater flow of history. In other words, if American history is properly presented then the history of all of America’s many minority groups while in America should be included in the general history of the nation commonly known as “the United States of America.”

Do I still believe this? No, I haven’t believed this for decades. And there are many reasons why. Nations are big, history books, even if large, are still rather small when compared to the topic or topics they cover. A process of selection always happens when a historian chooses which topics or aspects of a subject to focus on. And this inevitably means things get skipped and ignored and left unpresented. And one could argue that it’s an important part of being a historian, or any research oriented professional, to check and if the stuff that’s out there that’s being skipped and ignored, is important or not.

Which requires knowing what is being skipped and ignored, This involves the question of determining how much of the stuff out there that we could know is known and how much of it is yet to be known. Heavy, stuff, almost cosmic in its implications. WHOAH!!

But seriously a good historian should try to look at the subject of their interest from many different angles. This means if you want to understand a culture and its history and structure in a deeper way, look at it from a new angle or point of view. And one way to find a new angle is to find someone or something or some part or some aspect of the area that one seeks to understand, and use the study of that aspect or individual that has not been studied before as a focus for study.

And thus it is that the study of the more marginalized, and/ or less studied members of a society can be part of a path to better understanding.

Which brings me to the study of the life of a woman often known as “Ng Kewen,” or lower class, Tanka slave girl in the early days of the British colony of Hong Kong.

Who were the “Tanka” people?

Long time readers and people with a general background in Chinese history should know that on the Southern Coast of China for several centuries the population has been high and resources overstretched. Many people had trouble finding homes and places to live. Therefore, many families who lacked resources and homes lived on boats. While living on a boat in Hong Kong harbor or Canton ( Guangzhou) always looks kind of cool on TV or in the movies, in fact, it was considered highly undesirable and about as appealing to the people familiar with it as being homeless and living in a car.

Nevertheless, some families did it, and did it for several generations, and ultimately in this part of the world people who lived on boats instead of land for several generations were seen as a distinct ethnic group. These people were commonly referred to as “Tanka” ( 蜑家 ) and while they still exist today, the term “Tanka” is now widely seen as an offensive slur (you could compare it with something like the American term “trailer park trash” for people who live in trailers or mobile homes, if you’d like, only picture all the trailers floating in the south China sea with sails on top and oars on the side. It sounds silly, but it will help you get the idea of why the term is not used any more in polite Chinese speaking society.) The new, accepted term is “Dan” ( 蜑 ) although other terms are used and preferred in some circles. For ease of recognition, I am simply using the historical term “Tanka,” especially as I don’t think my readership will contain many people personally familiar enough with the problem of south China seas homeless boat people to take offense. Today and in the late twentieth century, there has been a major, on-going effort to get these people homes or residences on land as their existence has been considered a major social problem for centuries.

I’ve written about these people and their history and social role here before on at least three occasions. See Sometimes Piracy Makes Good Economic Sense or Pirates of Xinan County, the Hong Kong area before the British. Part 1 and On Again, Off Again Piracy in Southern China. "Oh isn't it cute that people in Hong Kong live on boats?" and More on the Tanka People and Intermittent Piracy in Southern China . There’s also a wikipedia page on them: Wikipedia - Tanka people

The Tanka people speak Cantonese although with some distinctly different phrases and an accent.

A map of the area discussed. The distance from Hong Kong to Macao is about 38 miles or 61 kilometers as the crow flies and from Hong Kong to Guangzhou is about 80 miles or 129 kilometers, again as the crow flies.