Guarding the Shoreline: Oyster Farming, Salt Production, and Fishing Along the South China Coast (1667–1978)

This article explores the shoreline industries (oysters, salt, fish, lime) that emerged along the Laufaushan coast in Hong Kong's New Territories, in the period 1667 to 1978. The shoreline in question was controlled by a local security force, staffed by young men from a nearby lineage. The study draws on ethnographic research carried out by the author and local documents (of village and government origin) gathered on site.

Millet arrived in the South China Coast around 5,500 years ago

<p>Crop dispersal has long been recognised as an important topic in agricultural archaeology and food globalisation. One of most pressing questions facing archaeologists is determining when and where millet arrived in the South China Coast. Our study focused on the millet phytoliths remains from three Neolithic sites in southeast coastal Fujian. Multiple dating methods, including charred carbon dating, phytolith carbon dating, and optically stimulated luminescence were used to construct the chronologies of the sites. The dating results showed that BTS was initially occupied at approximately 5,500 cal a BP. The millet phytoliths recovered in this study are likely the earliest millet remains found in Fujian, suggesting that millet arrived in the South China Coast at least 5,500 years ago. However, questions about whether millet agriculture in northern China dispersed southward through the inland or coastal routes remain unanswered. Given that millet remains were found in Jiangxi and northern Fujian – two important gaps in the inland route – no earlier than 5,000 cal a BP, it seems that the millet remains recovered from the coastal sites of Fujian might have dispersed following a coastal route from northern China. Nevertheless, Fujian is an important junction of the coastal route for the dispersal of millet from northern China. These findings not only provide new insights to millet dispersal routes in China, but also have significant implications for crop communications between Taiwan and mainland China during the Neolithic age.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

Asymmetric Relationship Between Mid-latitude Eurasian Circulation and Summer Rainfall in Hong Kong in Different Phases of ENSO

During the period 1979–2019, the interannual variation of summer rainfall in Hong Kong (HK), located on the South China coast, is weakly correlated with tropical forcing, including the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Instead, HK summer rainfall is strongly correlated with the mid-latitude circulation over the Urals and the preceding spring sea surface temperature (SST) over the North Atlantic (SST-Atl). The above relationship is stronger in negative ENSO summers, where the SST-Atl anomaly tends to persist from spring to summer. The persistence of the warm SST-Atl anomaly is associated with a Rossby wave train propagating from the North Atlantic to East Asia, with a low over the Urals and a high over the high latitudes of Asia. Correspondingly, the upper-tropospheric westerly jet in East Asia becomes stronger and shifts southward toward South China. The enhanced westerly wind over South China is accompanied by an anomalous Philippine Sea anticyclone, which transports more water vapor to the South China coast and causes more rainfall in HK. On the other hand, during positive ENSO summers, HK summer rainfall is affected by variation in the subtropical westerly jet over South China, which is related to water vapor transport from the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. This is also associated with a height anomaly over northeastern China and the spring sub-polar North Atlantic SST. Therefore, it is important to investigate the impact of mid-latitude forcing on summer rainfall on the South China coast.