ABSTRACT
This chapter examines in a discussion on the agricultural-economic transition which has taken place in the Sha Tin valley. It argues that from the point-of-view of the social anthropologist rather than from that of the rural economist and focuses on such social activities as may be seen as connected with economic phenomena. The appearance of the new urban districts encouraged the cultivation of cash crops in the surrounding rural areas, which were to become the New Territories. A feature of change which is easily observable in the New Territories is that the cultivation of rice has been replaced by horticulture and floriculture. For instance, the Hakka-speaking mountain peasants in the relatively inaccessible mountains surrounding Sha Tin and Tide Cove have traditional forms of vegetable cultivation. Possibly the catch-water system has brought about a shortage of water in some areas/ this is vigorously maintained by many farmers in the Sha Tin.
