The Tang Clan (Chinese: 鄧族; pinyin: Dèng zú) is one of the Great Five Clans of Hong Kong (新界五大氏族 - 鄧文廖侯彭). The others are Man (Wen), Hau (Hou), Pang (Peng) and Liu (Liao). The Tangs originated from Jishui (吉水) of Jiangxi province and are considered to be native Hong Kong people, as they were the first immigrants to settle in what is now Hong Kong from what is now mainland China in the 11th century. Many of the Tangs settled in Kam Tin, New Territories. The most famous Tang village is Kat Hing Wai, a walled village with a moat. This was the last village to fall under British control in the late 19th century.
The Tangs in Lung Yeuk Tau (龍躍頭), in Fanling, have the strongest claim to the royal descent among their fellow clansmen, because they are the descendants of the eldest son, Tang Lum (鄧林) of the princess of the southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279).
The father of the princess was Emperor Gaozong of Song (June 12, 1107 – November 9, 1187), born Zhao Gou, was the tenth emperor of the Song Dynasty of China, and the first emperor of the Southern Song. He reigned from 1127 to 1162. He fled south after the Jurchens overran Kaifeng in the Jingkang Incident, hence the beginning of the Southern Song dynasty 1127-1279. Gaozong re-established his seat of government in Lin'an (臨安; today's Hangzhou).
When the princess took refuge in the south, she was married to Tang Wai-Kap (鄧惟汲) of Kam Tin by Wai-Kap's father, Tang Yeun-Leung (鄧元亮). The eldest son of the royal couple moved to Lung Yeuk Tau at the end of the Yuan dynasty. As the clan prospered it further branched out to the neighbouring area, establishing the present-day "Five Wais and Six Tsuens" within a few hundred years.
The "Five Wais (walled villages)" (五圍) include Lo Wai, Ma Wat Wai, Wing Ning Wai, Tung Kok Wai (also known as Ling Kok Wai), San Wai (also called Kun Lung Wai). The "Six Tsuens (villages)" (六村) are Ma Wat Tsuen, Wing Ning Tsuen (also called Tai Tang), Tsz Tong Tsuen, San Uk Tsuen, Siu Hang Tsuen and Kun Lung Tsuen.
The Tang family is the oldest, largest and most famous of the New Territories' Chinese lineages. It has been settled in the area for just over 900 years and has a long history of local dominance. It has also produced many famous scholars and officials in the tradition of large, wealthy Chinese lineages.
The Tangs of the area still practise traditional village customs. Apart from the communal worship in spring and autumn and Tin Hau Festival, a lantern lighting ceremony is also held for the new born baby boys on the fifteenth day of the first Lunar month. On the first day of the second Lunar month there are ancestral worship ceremony and vegetarian feast. Moreover, Tai Ping Ching Chiu Festival (meaning "the Purest Sacrifice Celebrated for Great Peace") is held once every decade and celebrated by the whole Tang Clan as well as people from the neighbouring villages.
The Tangs are one of the region's oldest families and can trace their lineage back 30 generations in Hong Kong and 86 generations in China. In the New Territories, the clan stands about 25,000 strong.
Read more about Tang Clan: Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall, Significant Members, See Also, External Links
Famous quotes containing the words tang and/or clan:
“The art of cursing people seems to have lost its tang since the old days when a good malediction took four deep breaths to deliver and sent the outfielders scurrying toward the fence to field.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“We cannot think of a legitimate argument why ... whites and blacks need be affected by the knowledge that an aggregate difference in measured intelligence is genetic instead of environmental.... Given a chance, each clan ... will encounter the world with confidence in its own worth and, most importantly, will be unconcerned about comparing its accomplishments line-by-line with those of any other clan. This is wise ethnocentricism.”
—Richard Herrnstein (1930–1994)