From Clan to Nuclear Family Transformation of Dwelling in Hong Kong 1940-1980
Bettina Chow MA Architecture Royal College of Art - History and Theory Studies Tutor: Francesca Dell’Aglio
INTRODUCTION
This essay is a discourse on the relationship between domestic spaces and family structure in Hong Kong through the lens of analysing my grandfather’s house and its transformation from the 1940s to 1980s. It is also a personal account documenting my family house, a dwelling that went through and witnessed drastic changes of the city’s development during the period.
The house is an epitome of the city, revealing common norms in aspects from social, culture, rituals to daily lives and gender roles. Changes are inevitable, but stories from the past could provide a better insight for the future of Hong Kong, re-imagining kinship and social relationships through new types of domestic spaces that we might call home.
The house was located in Kowloon City, built in early 1940s and demolished in 2000. Designed and built by my grandfather himself, it was tailored to a large family of more than 20 members of different ages and lifestyles. The spaces were organized with ideology that could be traced back decades ago into village houses of indigenous people in the New Territories and southern China. Tracing the genealogy and iterations of the house throughout the years would show how family life was shaped and how domestic spaces adapted to the evolving lifestyle and values to the bigger socio-political environment in Hong Kong.
Special thank you to Margareta Chau, Christopher Chau, Teresa Chow and Michael Chow
BEFORE 1940s
Hong Kong was an agricultural and fishing village until Qing Dynasty, when China lost the First Opium War and ceded Hong Kong Island to the British Empire in 1842. In 1860, China also lost the Second Opium War, ceded the Kowloon Peninsula and leased the New Territories for from 1898 until 1997. Before 1940, Hong Kong, especially in the New Territories, largely retained the original lifestyle and culture from traditional Chinese which was reflected in the layout and characteristics of houses and dwellings, some logic similar to Beijing courtyard houses.
Victoria Harbour entreport; HK Marine Department
Clan Family and Production Clan families living together were common in the days when people engaged in agriculture and fishery. It was a socio-economic unit at that time, when members co-depend on each other to make a living. Villagers were mostly from the same heritage, bearing the same ancestor’s family name. Individual families were mixed, they lived and worked together collectively, with men working in the fields and making common decisions on village issues like production and trade. Women and children stayed near the house doing chores like cleaning and cooking. This communal way of living was clan family based, which made villagers inseparable from each other. Through years of evolution,
Tsang Tai Uk Ancestral Hall; LWK+Partners
often the closed community developed collective rituals to worship gods and ancestors, asking for their blessings mostly importantly on crop yield, peace, health, safety and wealth. In 1898, Hong Kong gradually shifted from primary production to goods trading, for its gifted deep-water Victoria Harbour which allowed large cargo ships to dock. Trading first started with timber, later construction material and metals, then goods and products to be imported to mainland China. Trade partners also steadily expanded from the United Kingdom to the international market, which generated more income for Hong Kong.
Before 1940s
Indigenous Village House When Hong Kong was developing in the earlier days, indigenous villages settled behind hills where the natural landscape provided shelter from the weather and access to natural resources like rivers for water and fertile soil for farming. Since families of that time largely depended on agricultural production, Feng Shui was the key factor to decide the location of the house in relation to nature. The orientation of the house then determined access doorway and position of ancestral hall hence the layout of the rest of the house. Traditional village houses in New Territories such as Tsang Tai Uk in Tai Wai was a housing complex occupying more than 6000 square feet and built 3 storeys high. The complex was originally surrounded by a moat, walled with granite and four watchtowers at all corners, armed to prevent attack from outsiders. The layout of the complex was symmetrical with a central axis leading to the ancestral hall behind 3 courtyards. 99 rooms, taking the pronunciation similar to ‘longevity’ in Cantonese, were arranged on both sides of the axis, kitchens and washing area were located further to the periphery. A large courtyard was located behind the centre arched gateway, it was also the ‘wet room’ for laundry, food preparation and washing dishes, spotted by two wells on both ends of the long and narrow space.
Tsang Tai Uk aerial view; MingPao Long courtyard internal view: Olivia Parker Feng Shui diagram; kknews
1940s
Migrants From Southern China
Urbanization
From 1941 to 1945, Hong Kong was occupied by Japan which caused many locals to die from execution, famine and diseases. The population plunged by more than half of the original and the instability of society greatly threatened Hong Kong’s position as an entrepôt. In the late 1940s, due to the unsettling political environment in mainland China, many Chinese migrants brought skills and cheap labour to Hong Kong, recovering the economy with a shift towards industrial production. Many businesses and factories, especially in the crafts and textile field were built on the Kowloon Peninsula and eastern area of the New Territories. The shift in economic mode also liberated women from housework and family production. As a huge labour force, they worked in factories, such that textile and garments became Hong Kong’s major exports, later constituted up to 64% of GDP in the 1970s.1
Under this societal change, many people saw better opportunities in the city to earn more stable income. Since extended families were no longer bound to live and work together, some nuclear families of the working class moved to where the jobs were – the city centre; while others began to start their own business, buy land and build houses in the city centre
Garment Factory Workers; oceandeep 1 Schenk, “Economic History of Hong Kong”
Toy Factory Workers; oceandeep
Location
Spatial Layout
My grandfather was one of the migrants from southern China who escaped to Hong Kong at that time. He started his business as a steel window frame manufacturer and later in the construction industry, where he acquired skills and knowledge to design and custom-build the family house himself. The house was located in Kowloon City, near the former Kowloon Walled City, Kai Tak Airport and the boundary street of lease to the British Empire. It was a vibrant neighbourhood proximal to the main commercial district, Mong Kok but not lacking street and market life of locals.
In the early days after the battle with Japan, the family was small with only the parents, 2 children and a servant. The ground floor of the house already provided sufficient living space at that time, therefore the first and second floor was rented out to other small family tenants. Each level was designed to be self-sufficient with all the domestic spaces needed for a small family to dwell, similar to high-rise apartments nowadays. The two upper levels had an identical arrangement of living room, kitchen, washroom and 4 bedrooms.
The house was influenced by western functional and minimal modernist integrated with spatial style2 characteristics of traditional village house. It was geometrical and had 3 storeys, including a garage and outdoor backyard on the street level, terrace on every level and a rooftop area.
2 Knott, “Bauhaus Architecture in Hong Kong: On Modernist Movement’s Centenary, Buildings to Celebrate”
A staircase was located in the centre of the house, next to the main door. The independent enclosed staircase was also the main route to enter different levels, which allowed a house to be shared without compromising safety and privacy.
1940s Upper floor plan with adjacent housing 1940s Ground floor plan with adjacent housing
Access Located in a residential area, public transport was not as convenient as nowadays, there were no railways to the city centre so my family heavily depended on private cars to go to work and the city centre. Compromising the facade, there was no entrance for people from the street, only a side steel gate that allowed cars to drive directly into the garage. The garage was a long and narrow space designed to fit 3 cars in a row for the 3 families. The main entrance for people was located inside the garage, middle of the long wall and just steps away from the passenger seat. The central axis of the house was perpendicular to the garage, extended behind the door gate. The only entrance for people with direct access to outside was the backdoor behind the kitchen, mainly for servants to take out garbage, walk the dogs or to markets. The entrances differentiated roles and hierarchy of members living in the house through distinct means of approach.
For security, the house was walled by a short concrete wall along the periphery and there was no front garden, this selfdefencing approach could be traced back to guard walls of village houses. Also, the gated garage and drive and trees along the façade segregated visions of movements in the house from the streets, this enhanced privacy by shying away from neighbour’s sights. As an uprising entrepreneur in post-war times Hong Kong, my grandfather was opportunistic in catching the upheaval of the economy but still decided to keep a low profile in daily life.
Economic Bloom The success in industrial production continued to bring wealth and good reputation to Hong Kong, which attracted foreign firms and investments to the market. Tourism and entertainment industry also started to bloom, which promoted the growth of the servicing industry in Hong Kong.
1940s
External view of the house; Christopher Chau
1960s
Migrants From Southern China
Family and Religion
The 1960s were times that Hong Kong advanced the most, all sectors in the job market needed extra labour to cope with production demand and expansion. The city had great opportunities and was relatively safe and stable for living. Many people, especially from Guangdong province of China and Vietnam, immigrated to Hong Kong in search of a settlement. The population influx is even notably greater during the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) when even more Chinese refugees fled and settled in Hong Kong. With half of the population under 25 and the continuous influx of migrants, population increased drastically.
The new mode of making a living brought challenges to the traditional concept of family, people were working longer hours and the workplace became workers’ ‘second home’. A family house, in that sense, played an important role in grounding people’s sense of identity and emotion, similar to the value of ancestral hall in village houses, reminding people that the house, the home and the family were one.
Chinese immigrants queueing to take Kowloon-Shenzhen train back home to bring food for relatives suffering from famine in mainland; dwnews
Although my grandfather moved away from his village in southern China when he was young, he brought the tradition of worshipping ancestors and gods with him to Hong Kong. These rituals were important to keep him grounded as he began his new life in the city. The importance of family and lineage were reflected by how the house was designed. There were spaces that were dedicated to rituals and festive celebrations carried out collectively as a family like village houses, though compromised in a relatively more restricted living space.
Ancestral Hall; Christopher Chau
1960s
Shrine – ancestors and gods The most prominent space was the area after the main door gate, the ancestral hall. At the far end of the wall was a full height shrine painted red which symbolized good fortune. The upper part of the shrine held a religious portrait of the Holy Emperor Guan in the centre. Confucianism and Buddhism was deeply rooted in my grandfather’s belief, which influenced his emphasis on family connection, importance of filial piety and respect towards gods who gave blessing to life, work and wealth. To the left hand side of the portrait was a tablet of ancestors of the family, and after my grandparents passed away, their tablet was placed to the right hand side. Each tablet had an incense pot placed in front, members of the family would burn incense as a gesture of respect and connection to the spirits. The shrine was lit around the clock with red-tinted bulbs, a modern version of candle light, so that gods could overlook and protect the family. Offerings were also placed in the shrine, including fruit, wine, tea and rice. In special occasions and festivals, meat dishes and traditional cakes were also placed to celebrate with the gods and ancestors The lower part of the shrine held a tablet, incense pot and offerings for the God of Earth, the protector of the house. In Chinese culture, the
God of Earth was who blessed the land, crop yields and the livelihood to most people who were farmers. Modern days, it was also equivalent to wealth and peace for businessmen. The shrine was placed in the centre of the house, directly facing the main door not only for religious causes, but more importantly for family members to be constantly mindful of ancestors’ contributions. They were paid respect when a person left or came back to the house, these rituals were practiced daily, so to be always reminded. Throughout decades and periods of renovation and reconfiguration of the house, the shrine and the ancestral hall was the only thing that remained unchanged, beliefs and respect were persistent in the core values of the family and reflected in this domestic space.
Formation of the Family Polygamy was legal in Hong Kong until 19713, where a man can have more than one wife. Family size in the past tended to be larger than nowadays, in this case my family had 26 members including my grandfather, 3 grandmothers, 22 uncles and aunts, more cousins and generations after. A large family was like a collective, individuals had more roles and responsibility to take. The hierarchy and figure of each person was demonstrated through the subdivision of spaces in the house, such as sizes of bedroom, location within the house, access and the level of privacy.
3 Marriage Ordinance 1971
1960s
Family Photo 1970s; Michael Chow
Bedroom – power and hierarchy Parents
Children
It was a tradition that the man goes out to work and earn a living while the woman stayed in to manage the house, servants and take care of children. In the earlier days, my grandfather was the only person who worked and provided for the family. As the master of the house, grandmother and he shared the biggest bedroom which faced the streets with a terrace on the top floor, best view and sunlight. The room was detached from other rooms on the same level, separated by the hall and the central axis. In a normal workday, grandfather would work during daytime in the city and come home for dinner in the evening. On the other hand, grandmother would stay home to manage the house, give orders to servants in doing chores, cooking and other housework. She would also accompany grandfather in business meetings and arrange parties and entertainment for his guests and clients during weekends.
For children, they occupied the smaller rooms clustered on the other side of the axis, sharing a corridor and a washroom. Rooms were divided with gender and roughly with age. Older siblings tend to move to individual bedrooms on other floors as they grew up, while younger ones still share rooms. As the family grew bigger in the late 1960s, extensions were built at the back of the house, above the garage. Bedroom arrangement for children was constantly shifting, sometimes there was a newborn, and other times a sibling went abroad to study or got married and moved out.
1960s
Study Abroad
Marriage
The political environment and the economic growth of Hong Kong during that time was stable and impressive, there was a constant inflow of wealth and opportunities to the city. My family was fortunate to be able to live a comfortable life and had the chance to provide different and more choices of education and environment for children to grow up. Under increasing international influence, grandfather was open to western thoughts and willingly sent children overseas to study. Living in Hong Kong, the younger generation took the advantage as a bilingual speaker to reach out to the world, travel, study and work around the globe. They brought back different insights and values from other countries.
There were many children in the family and the age gaps between siblings can be great. Oftentimes, the older siblings were married and had their own family while younger siblings were still in school. Married sons who retained the family name would move in the house with their wives but daughters would move out with their husbands. These changes led to constant reshuffling of room configuration so as to re-adapt the house to multi-generations’ collective living. On the other hand, some uncles and aunts were in fact of similar age with their nieces and nephews, therefore they grew up together more like siblings than a generation apart.
Patriarchal Family The subdivision and use of spaces in the house portrayed a patriarchal family structure of traditional Chinese families. Translated directly from Cantonese, grandfather was the ‘male master’ with the most power overall and grandmother was the ‘female master’ who supported. It was a traditional notion that the more wives and sons the man had, the more blessed and capable the person was. Hence, in the construction of the house, the proportions and arrangement of spaces already reflected hierarchy and relationship between members of the family.
Servants - chores For house servants, they were mostly single women from Guangdong Province, who had decided to remain unmarried and self-dependent for the rest of their lifetime. They were often introduced by acquaintances and came to work in Hong Kong fulltime for better income compared to mainland China, and their pay had already included food and accommodation from the employer. Female servants (‘majeh’, direct translation from Cantonese, ‘mothersister’) left home and started to serve the family at the age of around 15 until her retirement. During the course of decades, the relationship between master and servant was committed, and the caregiver was often so close to the family like a part of it. In a large family, majeh often was the person who provided care and acted as the motherly figure of children, ‘young masters’, while the mother / female master of the house was busy managing the family and family business. This special relationship between majeh and young masters was beyond kinship, radical and very unique in the 1960s scenes of Hong Kong.
Female servants in my family lived together in the smallest room backof-house, next to the kitchen and near to the children’s rooms on the ground floor. They were divided to perform different tasks, cleaning, cooking and looking after young masters. Although their rooms were small, they were private with an independent toilet and shower. Access was also separated, servants often only use the backdoors to leave the house. Usually, they dine separately in the small courtyard with other colleagues. This spatial arrangement was new to the lifestyle in 1960s Hong Kong when the female master of the family was liberated from housework. Instead of doing chores by herself, she managed the house by giving tasks to servants. Another type of servant was drivers. He also lived in the house in another small room above the garage. Throughout the day, he would send children to and from school and standby when grandmother needed to go out.
1980s
Diversity in Economic Activities The Open Door Policy of China announced at the end of 1978 was the first significant moment when Hong Kong became an international trade and finance city. Factories were moved to mainland China where labour and land were cheaper than Hong Kong. Younger generation of the period also started to avoid going into the industrial and manufacturing sector, instead turning to international trade, logistics and service areas. With the gradual established economic system and government’s non-interventional market policy, GDP by economic activity escalated. More international businesses were attracted to the city to set up headquarters in Central, which generated job opportunities and growth in the retail and hospitality sector. The economy completely shifted from secondary to tertiary production in finance and services. Land price and population continued to increase for the city’s good prospects.
Hong Kong Stock Exchange Trading Floor; Wall Street Journal
In the past, family business and assets were commonly passed on from father to son, like farmland, shop or restaurant. However, in the 1980s when my uncles and aunts were all grown up, they had more diverse choices of jobs and ways of making a living. Some moved to other countries, some worked as professionals, only a few were left with the family to continue grandfather’s business after he retired. One of the most significant changes observed in the house was the daily activity - how people ate together.
Serving area; Christopher Chau Cooking area; Christopher Chau
1980s
Kitchen When the family grew to more than 10 people to feed, the kitchen was a challenge to grandmother and the cooking servants. Located at the back-of-house, the kitchen operated like a mini restaurant. There were three zones, nearest to the hall was serving and storage, then a courtyard for washing, and further back stoves for cooking. Each zone had different characteristics and furnishing for different purposes. The serving area was lined with wooden tables and cabinets on the sides. As dishes in the Chinese cuisine were normally served all at once, especially for parties and big dinners, this zone gathered all plates before being brought out to the guests. Cabinets were also filled with dry food, drinks and snacks. The area sometimes was also used for quick lunch and snacks on normal days. Behind the serving area was the open courtyard. A ditch was dug in the ground with drainage and lined with ceramic tiles. It was surrounded by fresh water taps for food preparation and dishwashing. The ditch restricted washing water and rainwater from spilling over the kitchen floor. The area is also large enough to allow a few people to prep
and wash together at the same time, increasing efficiency of cooking. Vegetable leftovers and scraps from cooking were left in the ditch to feed pet turtles living in the courtyard. The cooking area was located behind the washing area. As stoves were fired by canned natural gas, the room was well ventilated with multiple windows facing the backyard. During these years, my grandmother, the female master no longer needed to cook, so her living area was nowhere close to the kitchen. The back of house area for chores, including the kitchen, backyard and backdoor were mainly zones of the servants, which was also proximal to their bedroom and living spaces.
Dining Room Eating was an important part of dayto-day life in Chinese culture since the agricultural times, which a farmer’s day started with sunrise to the fields and ended with sunset back home. Farmers would return for rest and home cooked food as a reward for the day’s hard work. Dinner was usually the most elaborate meal of the day with meat dishes, it was also family time for bonding and chatting over what happened in the day. The dining room of my grandfather’s house used to be the hall where the shrine was when the family was small. A folded table would be stretched out in the centre by servants, and stools would be arranged around the table. A typical dining table was round, when all dishes were served together, it would allow everyone to see everything on the table. Also, the circle symbolizes unity, it was more convenient to share different dishes and serve each other. Later when the family grew bigger, one table was no longer enough to fit everyone, so the largest room on the ground floor was demolished, and turned into a proper dining room to fit two round tables comfortably. When
the children grew up, most left and fewer stayed in the house, the dining area retreated to the kitchen serving area, which was just large enough to stretch a small folded table. It was a norm that servants do not eat with the family on the same table, as they were not part of the family. Servants would dine separately in the kitchen courtyard. With another folded table, the courtyard was turned into a dining room for them. They would also gather together to have dinner and serve each other like a family.
1980s
Dining Room; Christopher Chau
View from Ancestral Hall to Grandmother’s en-suite; Christopher Chau
1980s
Rearrangement - Bedroom En-suite In the 1980s, most children grew up and left the house, leaving some bedrooms vacant. The house was back to the quieter times when it was first built. When grandfather died later and grandmother had grown old, she decided to move down to the ground floor to avoid climbing stairs. It was decades since the house was constructed, so she refurbished and reconfigured the ground floor. The rooms next to the staircase where the children used to be, were demolished and turned into an en-suite with a private washroom, bedroom and a small lounge. A metal gate was installed in the doorway to the ancestral hall, such that separated the en-suite from the rest of the house for herself. Grandmother’s ‘apartment’ within the house signified her for being the new master of the family. As for the upper two levels, they returned to being apartments like when the house was first built. Two uncles and their families occupied the upper floors, though some bedrooms were still kept as guest rooms, when family members from overseas came back to visit.
During this period, the household shrunk a lot and did not require as much servants compared to before. Most of the servants hired since the 1940s had already reached the age of retirement and went back to their hometown. In 1974, the Philippines government started exporting labour as resident domestic helpers for the relatively wealthier families in Hong Kong. From the early 1980s onwards, grandmother only hired one foreign helper to take care of her and some house chores. There was plenty of space in the house, so the back of the dining room was reconfigured to a big bedroom for the helper, now detached from the children’s room, washing and kitchen area.
AFTER 1980s
Festival and Rituals Hong Kong transformed rapidly in the past century and the colonial days facilitated the emergence of its unique culture, one that merged the essence of the Chinese and western. Hong Kong people valued the concept of family and until nowadays, extended families would still come together to celebrate festivals like Chinese New Year and Winter Festival every year. Rituals like tomb sweeping and worshipping gods in Spring and Autumn Festival were also important festivals to express filial piety to ancestors, traced back to when the society was based on agriculture and fishing. On top of Chinese festivals, Hong Kong also listed western festivals as public holidays, such as Easter and Christmas, for family and friends to get together and celebrate.
Communal Spaces Grandfather was the master of the family. Naturally, his house was the anchorage of family members gathering in important festivals and events. The main hall along the central axis was where festival celebration took place. For Chinese New Year, the hall and shrine would be cleaned thoroughly and decorated with red paper ‘Faichun’, flowers, fruits and sweets. The family would also gather in the house on New Year’s Eve. Dinner at the hall symbolizes re-unite and blessing to family members and ancestors, they would also light firecrackers in front of the main door to chase away evil spirits and bad luck from the previous year. For New Year’s Day, the family, especially male members, would gather again to worship gods for blessings in the coming year, wear new clothes and offer incense, food and wine to gods. This worship was finished with a meatless meal as a ritual of respect. Children would also get red pockets and play with cousins, while adults would play mah-jong and catch up with others.
At peak time of the family size, the reconfigured dining room would cramp 3 tables of twelve for festive meals, scenes which were incredibly noisy but cheerful. For Mid-Autumn Festival in September, the family would gather to watch the fullest moon of the year, also known as the harvest time for farmers. Dinner would be served on the rooftop, and children would run around the house with lanterns and candles, from main gate to garage, backyard to rooftop. The house was spacious enough for large family gatherings and celebrations to take place.
After 1980s
Entertainment Spaces
Demolishment
Apart from special occasions, weekends were also time to bond with family and friends. Different from the busy people nowadays, possibly working overtime on the weekends, it was time to go to restaurants to have dim sum or hold parties at home.
After the house was demolished in the 2000s, the shrine no longer fit modern apartments, the rituals of worshipping ancestors and gods were shrunk to minimal. There were no longer room for dishes of offerings and smokey halls that allowed days and nights of incense burning. Festival meals were moved to restaurants since apartments could not fit the whole family. There were no longer private outdoor spaces to play lanterns and mah-jong playing was reduced to one’s own family in high-rise apartments.
There was one living room on each floor, which meant friends of grandfather, uncles and aunts could come over to party at the same time. In parallel to the rise of legendary movie stars and singers like Bruce Lee, the entertainment industry of Hong Kong in the 1980s was at full-bloom. People had taste and demand for quality entertainment at home, increasingly more people could afford gadgets like televisions and hi-fi at home. With new technology, family and friends would watch movies together, dance with music on turntables and play mah-jong for the day, while servants served snacks and drinks. The house was a stage which facilitated social interactions and communal living.
1980s
Living Room; Christopher Chau Dining Room; Christopher Chau
NOWADAYS
In 1984, then United Kingdom Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher signed the SinoBritish Joint Declaration for the Handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule on 1 July 1997. This political uncertainty created a wave of emigration from Hong Kong to western countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Together with the Tiananmen Incident in 1989, more Hong Kong families feared Chinese governance and fled before 1997.
Nuclear Family and High-rise Apartments Nowadays, nuclear family is the dominant type of household in Hong Kong, consisting of 62.8% of all families4. At this point, more than 90% of GDP is generated from the tertiary sector, which jobs are offered by corporations rather than people running family businesses. Lineage and labour in a family was no longer critical to maintaining social status and generating income, hence family size shrunk significantly. In 2018, the average domestic size is 2.8 persons, which 27.6% was 2 people households5 and 23.9% was 3 people households6.
4 Barnett, “The Census and You” 5 HKGov, “Distribution of Domestic Households by Household Size” 6 HKGov, “Distribution of Domestic Households by Household Size” Night 12; Michael Wolf Photography
The role of Hong Kong as an international finance hub far-reached to the world, causing the scarce land more valuable and homes more costly. High-rise residential buildings were built to accommodate housing demands and apartments became the next choice of dwelling. Flats were much smaller compared to houses, which well-suited nuclear families of less than 5 members. Since a majority of people worked in offices, production at home is minimal, the home was
reduced to a place of relaxation and privacy. The lack of space moved rituals and celebrations outside of home and simplified preparation which did not require involvement from extended family members. This gradually diluted the importance of family gathering, and lost valuable time to pass on some of the beliefs and ritual practices to later generations. These were intangible heritage and stories of the uniqueness of Hong Kong.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Front corridor; Margareta Chau