Indigenous inhabitant

Indigenous inhabitant

Indigenous inhabitants (Chinese: 原居民; Cantonese Yale: Yun4 Geui1 Man4) refers to the residents in the New Territories of Hong Kong, whose ancestors were inhabitants there before the commencement of British rule in 1898 and have special rights to preserve their customs. When the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China in 1997, these special rights were preserved under the Hong Kong Basic Law.

Article Forty of the Basic Law
The lawful traditional rights and interests of the indigenous inhabitants of the "New Territories" shall be protected by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Non-indigenous inhabitant (非原居民) is a resident in the New Territories of Hong Kong, whose ancestors were not inhabitants there before the commencement of British rule in 1898 and do not have the same special rights as the indigenous inhabitants.

Special rights

Special rights are restricted the village the indigenous inhabitant is from. In order to protect the tradition of villages, male indigenous inhabitants have the right to apply for small house, known as ting uk (丁屋) in Cantonese. Properties are only inherited by male members of a village.

People living on boats

People have been living on boats in the New Territories for generations, and they do not usually own land or houses. They have no special rights because the Hong Kong government since 1898 only recognises established villages.

Conflicts between indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants

As a result of a large influx of non-indigenous inhabitants into the rural villages, conflicts between indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants are surfacing. Because the management of a village was only in the hand of indigenous inhabitants, non-indigenous inhabitants could not participate in the matters of the village.


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  • inhabitant — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ local ▪ early, first, original ▪ The island s earliest inhabitants came from India. ▪ aboriginal, indigenous …   Collocations dictionary

  • indigenous — indigenously, adv. indigenousness, indigenity /in di jen i tee/, n. /in dij euh neuhs/, adj. 1. originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country; native (often fol. by to): the plants indigenous to Canada; the indigenous… …   Universalium

  • indigenous — in•dig•e•nous [[t]ɪnˈdɪdʒ ə nəs[/t]] adj. 1) ant originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country; native (often fol. by to): plants indigenous to Canada; indigenous peoples of southern Africa[/ex] 2) innate; inherent; natural… …   From formal English to slang

  • inhabitant — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) One who inhabits Nouns 1. inhabitant, habitant; resident, [in]dweller, roomer, occupier, occupant; householder, boarder, renter, lodger, tenant; inmate; incumbent, sojourner, locum tenens, settler,… …   English dictionary for students

  • inhabitant — 01. Antarctica s [inhabitants] number about 1,000 people in winter, and about 2,000 in summer. 02. There are no rivers or lakes on the islands of Bermuda, so the [inhabitants] must use rain for water. 03. In our universe, there are thousands of… …   Grammatical examples in English

  • indigenous — adj. Indigenous is used with these nouns: ↑community, ↑culture, ↑inhabitant, ↑language, ↑people, ↑population, ↑tradition, ↑tribe, ↑variety, ↑wildlife …   Collocations dictionary

  • indigenous — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) adj. native; innate, inborn; inherent, natural (to). See intrinsic, inhabitant. Ant., alien, foreign. II (Roget s IV) modif. 1. [Native] Syn. domestic, autochthonous, original; see native 2 . 2. [Inborn] …   English dictionary for students

  • native — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) n. inhabitant, aborigine, countryman. adj. indigenous; innate, inherent; aboriginal; endemic, natal, natural. See intrinsic. II (Roget s IV) modif. 1. [Natural] Syn. innate, inherent, inborn, implanted,… …   English dictionary for students

  • List of villages in Hong Kong — The following is a list of villages in Hong Kong.Villages in the New TerritoriesNon indigenous villages are italicised . Composite villages are bolded.Each village has one resident representative and at least one indigenous inhabitant… …   Wikipedia

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