HEBE HISTORY
HEBE HISTORY
PEARL FISHING IN
PAK SHA WAN Words Chris Davis
More than a thousand years before the appeal of sailing, the escape from turbo-paced city life, or maybe the call of a cold beer in the Hebe Haven Yacht Club (HHYC) enticed people to Pak Sha Wan, it was the highly sought-after seawater pearls that lay beneath the surface of the sheltered waters that provided the main attraction. According to Patrick Hase at S.Y. Consultancy Services, who in 2003 published a comprehensive study of the Sai Kung area, fishing for seawater pearls in the Sai Kung coastal areas, which included Pak Sha Wan, lasted about 400 years. Among the first gems known to early humans, from the Nanhan (907–971), Sung (972–1279 in the Hong Kong area) and Yuan (1280–1367) periods, natural pearls fished from Sai Kung waters were considered second only to those found around Hainan Island, where the pearl industry remains active today. In Chinese literature pearls have an extensive standing. Sai Kung pearls, according to Hase’s research, were transported north where they were used to beautify the robes of various emperors, embellish jewellery and to decorate imperial household’s porcelain. Often placed alongside mythical dragons as divine objects, in Chinese culture pearls are also associated with various virtues such as prosperity, wealth and wisdom. In addition to their natural beauty, traditional Chinese medicine reports claim that pearls can help to treat disorders such as indigestion and insomnia. Chinese emperors and their families including the last Empress of China Cixi also known as Empress Dowager Tzu-hsi (慈禧太后), applied powdered pearl to her skin as a beauty treatment. A pearl even played a part in Bernardo Bertolucci’s epic film, The Last Emperor, when a giant black pearl was placed in the Empress’ mouth the moment she died in homage to her as a precious jewel. However, while pearls in China are often associated with wealth, health and happiness, the Sai Kung people involved in harvesting pearls would most likely disagree. Unlike today when HHYC members usually associate a visit to Pak Sha Wan with fun, sport and relaxation, searching for pearls was extremely hard work and riddled with a smorgasbord of dangers. If the distinct possibility of drowning or a close encounter with a shark was not worrying enough, the hazards on land were equally as threatening.
64
HEBE JEBES • NOV/DEC 20177
The original letter to SCMP from L. F. G. Cosgrove Given the high value of the pearls, the industry was placed under the clam-tight control of the ‘Imperial Pearl Monopoly’, who governed the area from Sai Kung to Tai Po. Access to the pearl-fishing areas was closely monitored and heavily restricted. Local inhabitants lived under military-like discipline, and forced to work as pearl fishers, with few rights and hardly any opportunities to escape from the hardships of their life. In his study, Hase reports that Sai Kung pearl fishers and the Chinese soldiers and officials who controlled them were, for the most part, the only people allowed to live in the area. Without any evidence of wrongdoing, anyone caught without a pass issued by the Pearl Monopoly was guilty of a serious criminal offence, and would have been severely punished. Still, hundreds of years ago like now, the savvy local inhabitants found ways to indulge in a spot of smuggling. In 1324 pearl fishing was suspended for a few years when the scholar, Cheung Wai-yan (張惟寅) wrote an impassioned letter to the imperial court, denouncing the cruelties of a system which frequently resulted in death. The industry, however, continued in a stop-start way until the late fourteenth century, by which time the local pearl beds had been over harvested to justify the expenses of maintaining the local Imperial Pearl Monopoly office.
早在人們想遠離煩囂、熱衷揚帆出海或在白沙灣遊艇會 （HHYC）與知己暢飲冰凍啤酒前，千多年前，白沙灣已是個 非常吸引的地方，因為它擁有天然的海水珍珠。 根據 S.Y. Consultancy Services 的 Patrick Hase，在其 2003年出版的著作，對西貢地區有詳細研究，在西貢沿海一 帶（包括白沙灣）採集海水珍珠的歷史長達400年。在眾多人 類最早認識的珠寶之中，由南漢（907－971）、宋朝（972 －1279，宋皇帝期間在香港）至元朝（1280－1367）多個時 期，在西貢採集到的珍珠都非常有名，僅次於海南島珍珠，當 地的珍珠業現在仍是非常豐勃。
雖然珍珠在中國經常被視為是財富、健康和快樂的象徵，然而 參與採集珍珠的西貢人可能不會認同。與今天到白沙灣享受運 動和放鬆心情的HHYC會員有所不同， 採集天然珍珠的工作非 常艱鉅，而且經常要冒着生命危險。如果冒着被浸死或是遇上 鯊魚，還不夠可怕，在陸上處理珍珠同樣有一定危害。 由於珍珠價值高昂，此行業被朝廷嚴格監控，由西貢至大埔 一帶被劃為「皇帝珍珠專屬權」地區。採集珍珠的地方被嚴 密監控，且被高度限制。當地居民惟有活在嚴密軍事監控之 下，而且被迫作珍珠採集者，缺少權利，亦難以從此艱苦生 活中逃脫。
在中國文學經典中描述，珍珠是稀世珍品。西貢珍珠，按 Hase的研究所得，相信是會運往北方，供皇帝穿戴服飾的裝 飾之用，亦可配襯珠寶首飾及 點綴宮廷內的陶瓷器具。它亦同 時是神話化之龍的神聖之物，在中國文化中，珍珠亦經常象徵 豐饒、財富和智慧。
Hase之研究中表示西貢珍珠採集者與控制他們的朝廷官兵， 是這地帶的主要居民，因為他們是惟一准許在此處生活的人 士。因為即使沒有犯法，任何人如被發現沒有珍珠專利牌照而 出沒在此地，均被視為觸犯嚴重罪行，將遭受嚴刑處治。故 此，幾百年前，此地居民想盡辦法走私珍珠出外售賣。
除了其天然美態外，傳統中藥亦聲稱珍珠可醫治消化不良和失 眠症。中國皇帝及其家族，包括末代皇后（又名慈禧太后)， 均有採用珍珠末，發揮其美容功效。一顆珍珠更在Bernardo Bertolucci之史詩式電影《末代皇帝》具有象徵意義，當一顆 巨型珍珠被放在太后的口中，不但代表她死了，更表示國民視 她如珍寶一樣，對她絕對效忠。
在1324年，珍珠採集中斷數年之久。當時有一位學者名張惟 寅，寫了一封陳詞激昂的信函給皇室，遣責這是一個殘忍的 制度，經常導致採集者死亡。然而，此行業仍在十四世紀末 風行一段時間。其後，由於過度採集，珍珠床嚴重受損，珍 珠出產量無以為繼，無法再維持珍珠專利的朝廷部門，於是 逐漸沒落。
65