港史文本 - HK In Texts: 香港文物志 - 市政局出版

SOLOMON BARD'S

IN SEARCH OF THE PAST: A Guide To The Antiquities Of Hong Kong

【香港文物志》

PUBLISHED BY THE URBAN COUNCIL

HONG KONG

Study the past: divine the future

Confucius

刂

THE AUTHOR

Born in Russia, Dr SOLOMON BARD was educated in Harbin and Shanghai, partly in the Harbin School of Music, and subsequently qualified as a medical doctor in Hong Kong, where he has lived most of his working life. He served with the Hong Kong Volunteers in the Field Ambulance Unit during the Second World War and after Hong Kong fell was imprisoned by the Japanese.

After two post-war years in England, he returned to Hong Kong where for several years he was engaged in private medical practice and then joined the University of Hong Kong as the head of its newly-established Student Health Service.

He developed a strong and lasting interest in archaeology and local history during the early years of his medical practice, and in 1955 was one of the founders of the University's Archaeological Team, to become in 1967 a founder-member of its successor the Hong Kong Archaeological Society. A sabbatical leave in Australia, spent almost entirely working in the Anthropology Department of the Australian Museum in Sydney under the then curator, David Moore, further strengthened his grasp of the subject and gave him the necessary professional experience in field-work.

An ordinance to regulate Hong Kong antiquities and monuments, of which he had long been a prominent advocate, provided him with his chance to pursue archaeology as a full-time occupation and following his retirement from University service in 1976 he was appointed the first Executive Secretary of a newly-established Government Antiquities and Monuments Office. Though he retired from this post in 1983, he still maintains close links with the Office.

Music has been another life-long interest, and more recently Chinese music. From 1983 to 1987 he served as Assistant Music Director of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.

For his continued service with the Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) he was awarded the Efficiency Decoration in 1952 and the MBE (Military) in 1967, and elevated to Honorary Colonel of the Regiment for the years 1982-84. He has been a Justice of the Peace since 1975. In 1976 he was appointed OBE in the civil list, and the same year the University

of Hong Kong conferred upon him an honorary doctorate.

His wife, Sophie, is a medical doctor and they have a son in Australia and a daughter in England.

The following organizations are thanked for permission to reproduce photographs from their collections:-

Antiquities and Monuments Office: Plates 1-6, 8-10, 12, 14-30, 33-37, 41, 43, 44, 46, 48, 50b, 52-55, 57-65, 71, 74-76, 80-83, 85, 87, 88, 90, 91, 93-95, 97, 98

Hong Kong Museum of History: Plates 7, 40, 42, 47, 49, 50a, 51, 67-70, 72, · 73, 77-79, 84, 92a

Government Information Services: Plate 45

Public Records Office of Hong Kong: Plate 67

To my family with love

CONTENTS

Foreword

Page

Preface

General map of Hong Kong and the New Territories

1. Introduction: archaeology and history : AL

2. Villages **........

3. Chinese buildings

(i)

Ancestral halls

(ii)

Study-libraries

(iii) Other buildings

4. Rocks and stones AZE

(i)

Rock carvings

(ii) Rock inscriptions

(iii) Stones, boundary

foundation

.61

.....65

milestones others

.67

5. Western-style buildings *

.91

6. Forts

7. Some other structures #*

Appendices

A. Elements of some local place-names

Legislation and conservation policy

Gazetted items

100

Traditional Chinese architecture: brief notes

. 101

Fung shui

104

Chinese dynasties and reigns

105

Further reading (select bibliography).

... 106

Index of names..... Detailed maps

. 107

115

FOREWORD

It is sad that as an accompaniment to progress, much colour and many old customs and old places disappear. Woods and fields are replaced by buildings which in their turn have been destroyed or relegated to obscurity. As the process has gathered momentum, fortunately so has an awareness of the need to preserve tangible evidence of the past.

Hong Kong came to this awareness late, but now pursues a policy of preserving the best from the past wherever realistically possible. Through its Museum of History, the Urban Council focuses on the territory's rich. past. Dr. Solomon Bard, the author of this book is a long-time resident of Hong Kong who has pursued research in these fields for many years: there can be few in Hong Kong who can match his enthusiasm for Hong Kong's past. This has been enhanced by the years spent in the service of the Government as the first head of the Antiquities and Monuments Office.

Into this book he has gathered the fruits of his investigations. Its scope is wide and illustrated with photographs and maps. The extensive information in its pages will lead the reader by many unfamiliar paths to unexpected treats, and provide the reader with a fresh view of what Hong Kong still has to offer.

January, 1988

H.M.G. Forsgate, CBE, JP Chairman, Urban Council

PREFACE

The need to preserve at least some of the local heritage is now generally accepted in Hong Kong, not only for its aesthetic or historical appeal, but also because it helps to make history into a valuable living experience. In 1976 the Government put into effect laws to protect the antiquities, at the same time establishing an Antiquities and Monuments Office to give practical effect to a conservation policy. It has been my task,¦ as the officer-in-charge of this Office at the time and for some seven years ¦ thereafter, to search for, to record, and to protect the antiquities (using the term in its widest sense).

As I was taking up my new post, wreckers were busy demolishing one of the finest of the old buildings on Hong Kong Island, the General Post Office. It quickly became clear that, despite legislation, historical relics would often remain in danger of destruction to make way for new develop- ment, and that no conservation policy could fully succeed unless the interest and the support of the community were assured. The Antiquities and ' Monuments Office therefore has generated a good deal of publicity, with the intention, and the effect, of developing public awareness of the importance. of conservation. The discovery of new relics, the restoration of ruined structures, the debates that surrounded the preservation of old buildings, have all been fully reported in the media. Heritage became news, and the public eager enough for more.

Many people have enquired where to read about and how to find Hong Kong's historical places. In this book I hope to share with them and others the knowledge stored in the Office. Research into local antiquities. proceeds apace, and now more than 300 items are on record there. It is unnecessary, indeed impossible, to include all of them: I have therefore selected only those that I believe to be of more general interest. The choice is personal, of course, and the responsibility rests with me alone. There are two notable omissions: Chinese temples and archaeological sites. There are so many interesting temples that nothing less than a separate book would do justice to the subject. Archaeological sites are omitted for quite a different reason; though important, reflecting as they do some thousands of years of local pre-history, their relics remain sealed deep in the ground or have been moved to a Museum. So, except where an excavation is actually in progress, sites present little to interest the visitor.

―

This book is no academic work and does not seek to deal with its subject in depth. It is intended to be a practical book for the non-specialist, the person with interest in, but perhaps little knowledge of, Hong Kong's heritage, an invitation to go and look at the items described. So, there are also maps which though in different scales are selected so as to be of maximum help, and contain references to the text, which itself provides references to appropriate maps. Some few items of somewhat less importance, perhaps half a dozen in all, have been included at the ends of some chapters, but without either map-references or photographs.

―

I have used the Hong Kong Gazetteer to provide the Western ren- derings of Chinese place-names in Hong Kong territory, and the Wade-Giles' Romanization for the reign-titles of Chinese dynasties, and for the rest the locally-accepted Cantonese transliterations. For those who read Chinese, the

Chinese characters for places and names are useful and these will be mostly found in the Index at the end of the book. A bilingual text tends to be disjunctive.

Without the interest of the Urban Council and the full co-operation of the Antiquities and Monuments Office, this book could not have been written. I am thus deeply grateful to Mr C.H. Yip, Mr S.Y. Yim, and their staff, for putting at my disposal the research material on which this book is entirely based, for their help and advice, and for the hospitality of their office; to Mr Geoffrey Somers, Mrs Erica Cheung, Mrs Claudia Cheng and Miss Isis Mei, of the Urban Council's Public Information Unit, for the ready help and advice with the production of the book. Mr Brian Wilson, formerly Director of Urban Services (now retired), and Mr Darwin Chen, formerly Director of Cultural Services, gave guidance and encouragement with patience and wisdom, during my tenure with the Antiquities and Monuments Office. My old friend and former colleague, Dr Bernard Mellor, has not only read the manuscript and suggested many improvements, but has helped in every aspect of its preparation for the press. I am grateful to Dr James Hayes, whose expert advice on points of local history has been of the greatest use. The Curator and the staff of the Hong Kong Museum of History have assisted in preparing some of the maps and have supplied historical photographs. I would also like to acknowledge most gratefully the help of Mrs Joan Zirinsky, Miss Yvonne Choy, Miss Maria Ko, Mrs Elizabeth Heinz, Miss Pauline Yau and Miss Rebecca Chan. My wife, Sophie, has stood by me as a stimulus whenever the writing (a spare-time occupation) seemed irksome.

There are, of course, many relics of Hong Kong's past still undis- covered; the reader may accept the book as the start of a personal quest for its vestiges.

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION:

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY 【導言:考古與歷史

Hong Kong has a great deal to offer to resident and visitor alike, who may seek interest from exploring its past and visiting the examples of its heritage. Its spectacular growth and success during almost a century and a half of British administration should not obscure its six millenia of human, activity, starting long before the coming of the British and even before the arrival of the Chinese from the north; nor its geography and the historical and cultural background that it shares with the adjoining Chinese mainland. Though the territory became separated from China politically, culturally its affinities remain; if Hong Kong's special heritage is to be fully appreciated, it is only in that context that its historical background may be profitably examined.

may

Though much study has been made of local history, many gaps still exist. Archaeological search began in the 1920s and has revealed artifacts of the Stone Age on many sites, mostly located in the winding indentations of its shoreline, in its sheltered bays. At least two neolithic cultures, one following the other, were brought to attention. The earlier culture have emerged some 6 000 years ago from contact with the Stone Age cultures of North China; the later culture, characterized especially by its pottery, probably began about 3 500 years ago. Geometric designs stamped on the pottery of this later period so resemble the bronze motifs of the early Chinese dynasties of the North the Shang and the Chou as to show that inspiration came from the North. Archaeological finds in Hong Kong sites are abundant and include a wide variety of stone tools, stone ornaments, and pottery, as well as bronze objects of still later periods.

The origins of early inhabitants of the region remain uncertain. It is generally believed, however, that they were members of the ancient tribes aboriginal to South China collectively known as the Yüeh, and probably of Malay-Oceanic stock. The profusion of sea-shore sites and an apparent absence of permanent habitation sites together suggest that they were seafarers: living on boats, making frequent but brief landings ashore. One interesting group of rock features found along the coast is the carving of geometric and zoomorphic patterns almost certainly cut by them (Chapter 4).

It may therefore be assumed that occasional contact between them and the northern Chinese from the Yellow River valley took place as far back as the Chou dynasty or even earlier, but there is no evidence of any significant Chinese presence in this area before 200 B.C. After then in the North, under the Ch'in and then the Han dynasties, a loose confederation of many feudal states had become united into a single state. Both dynasties pursued their conquests and unifications far to the north and to the south, creating a vast and powerful empire that stretched from Korea to Burma, including Kwangtung and Hong Kong.

The Chinese have always considered the Han dynasty to be a period of signal greatness, so supreme that for centuries after they proudly referred to themselves as "the people of Han". Finds of Han-type pottery in Hong Kong have occasionally been recorded, but it was not until 1955 that a

discovery of much greater impact was made in Kowloon: a tomb dating from the late or Eastern Han period. The uncovering of this tomb, with its wealth of clay and bronze objects typically Han, was the first firm evidence of the arrival in this area of the people of Han (Chapter 7). Many Han tombs have been found near Canton and elsewhere in Kwangtung Province, but no others in Hong Kong.

The colonization of the South by the Chinese in this period was by conquest; their presence was temporary, represented chiefly by soldiers, officials, traders, and perhaps political exiles. Today we should refer to them as "expatriates", since many returned to North China after periods of service in the region. The early Chinese chronicles, admittedly scanty, contain no record of permanent settlement until much later, in the 11th century A.D. during the Sung dynasty.

There is as yet no evidence of continuous rural settlement during the Tang dynasty; but garrisons, probably repatriated after the collapse of the Han, had been re-established at various points. The earliest local place- name noted in T'ang records, the district of Tuen Mun, means “garrisoned entrance"

A local tradition of Tuen Mun relates of the visit made in the 5th century A.D. by the Buddhist saint Bui To, who performed miracles in the district. The present monastery, Ling To Tsz, in Ha Tsuen, is reputed to stand on the site of an earlier one built in Bui To's honour.

Tuen Mun is dominated by the imposing Castle Peak, which was formally declared to be a Sacred Mountain by an Imperial decree of 969 A.D. Early travellers wrote extolling its scenic beauty, among them being the famous Confucian scholar Han Yu, who was exiled to the region in the 9th century A.D. for criticizing the Emperor's tolerant attitude to Buddhism. Some centuries later Han Yu's supposed visit to Tuen Mun was commemor- ated by the four characters carved on the rock now in the grounds of the Castle Peak Monastery (p. 59).

Other interesting relics found in the territory are the structures built of clay which researches undertaken by the Hong Kong Archaelogical Society established as lime kilns of the Tang period. Remnants of such kilns have been revealed in large enough number to indicate the presence of a flourishing lime industry during that period. It is now known that the local production of lime continued in modified kilns right into the 20th century (p. 93).

Local aboriginal people were by no means overwhelmed by the increasing Chinese presence in this area. They had not been subjugated even by the 10th century A.D., when Chinese sources report tribal harassment leading to skirmishes with local groups. Contemptuous of "barbarians, the Chinese empire-builders have left no significant description of these aborigines in their records of events.

The Sung dynasty that followed left an abiding imprint on local history and folk-lore. Sites rich in Sung pottery are recorded, and Sung relics of striking quality found from time to time, such as the bronze dagger of superb workmanship and the cache of coins found on Lantau Island. Behind the temple at Tai Miu Wan or "Joss House Bay" there is a large rock bearing 108 characters from the Sung dynasty (p. 57). Among local traditions, the richest relates to the end of the dynasty and the flight south of its last two boy emperors pursued by Mongol invaders. The royal princes are believed to have rested briefly on the site of the "Sung Wong Toi" hill in Kowloon

Bay. A portion of the large rock, which carries these three characters, can be viewed in a small garden close by the original site (p. 57). The last battle fought between loyal Imperial forces and the Mongols was set in the Pearl River estuary, where the Sung army and fleet were finally defeated. It was during this dynasty that farmers from the North embarked upon the first of the large-scale migrations. Unrest created by the Mongol invasion was its immediate cause. By 1127 A.D. the Mongols had over-run! most of North China and the Chinese Emperor had moved his capital south. to Lin-an (modern Hangchow).

The newcomers were quite different from the temporary colonizers. of the early period; they settled permanently in the fertile valleys of the territory and established farms, villages, and market towns, bringing with them a new social order and new customs and traditions that were to endure until now. These farmers were the founders of a large community which came to use the Cantonese dialect and to call themselves collectively as the "natives of the land" or Punti.

Salt production in the region, which probably began before the Sung dynasty, is referred to in a rock inscription at Joss House Bay (p. 57), and lasted until the 1950s. One attempt made by the Government during the succeeding, short-lived Mongol-Yüan dynasty to enforce a total monopoly on local salt production is reported in Chinese sources, an attempt resisted in a minor uprising, though its outcome is not known. The traces of early salt fields finally abandoned can still be discerned at Tai O on Lantau Island.

The Ming dynasty brought the strengthening of maritime defences along the coast. Ruined Chinese forts still extant in the territory, however, seem to have been built after the end of the dynasty, as far as can be ascertained (Chapter 6). The so-called "Kowloon Walled City" is repured to have been built as a stockade during the Sung dynasty, though not for ified until 1843. Its stone walls, not a trace of which now remains, could still bet seen in the 1930s. A similar structure with walls still intact is the "Tung Chung Fort" on the north shore of Lantau Island (p. 86). Many of the villages and buildings in the New Territories were built during the Ming dynasty.

The defences were strengthened for two reasons: against the in- creasing menace of piracy, the plague of the south China seas from early times; and against the new threat posed by the appearance in local waters of Europeans supported by heavily armed ships, ostensibly to establish trade but at the same time, the Chinese suspected, to gain footholds on the main- land. Foreign trading contact had been made in the Han and Tang dynasties, but this had been mainly with India and the Arabs from the Persian Gulf. The European threat was a new one. The first were the Portuguese who landed in 1514 A.D. at Tuen Mun, whence after repeatedly unsuccessful attempts to establish themselves they withdrew in 1521. Some 36 years later, however, they finally succeeded in founding a settlement at Macau. Of the Portuguese presence at Tuen Mun not a trace remains; there is a story that a stone obelisk bearing the arms of Portugal was erected there, but this cannot be confirmed.

After the Portuguese came the Spanish and the Dutch, with little success in gaining foothold, opposed both by Chinese and by Portuguese wishing no competition. The British were the last to appear, arriving in local waters by the end of the 18th century.

The Ming dynasty was overthrown in an invasion from the North by the Manchus, who established the last of the Imperial dynasties, the

*The actual sequence of events was as follows: the British occupied Hong Kong Island in January 1841. This was converted into possession by the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842. The treaty was ratified in June

1843 when the Island was declared a British colony.

Ch'ing. One of the early dynastic actions in the South was to cause a disaster remembered in Hong Kong to this day. Suspecting that the coastal population remained loyal to the deposed Mings, the Ch'ing Government in 1662 ordered the total evacuation inland of the coastal communities of Kwangtung and other Provinces to the North. Whole towns and villages were uprooted, and the suffering of the inhabitants was unrelieved. Among the affected districts was San On, which included Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories. By the time the order was lifted in 1669, people had perished in large numbers. The Governor of Kwangtung, Wong Lai-yam, and its Viceroy, Chou Yau- tak, on whose urgent plea the order was finally lifted, are still worshipped in the New Territories (p. 41).

It is generally believed that after the end of this infamous evacuation, the Hakka people, encouraged by the Government and lured by the land left vacant by the evacuees, arrived as a new wave of settlers in the area. The Hakka came from Fukien and Kiangsi Provinces and brought with them their own dialect and their own distinctive dress traditions. "Hakka" means "stranger" or "guest people", reflecting this late arrival to the area. These in- dustrious and skilled peasants were a welcome, invigorating infusion into the reduced rural population returned into the New Territories. With the Punti, literally "locals", they still form the two largest land-farming communities.

Of the Ch'ing period the territory contains many historical structures: its villages, ceremonial buildings and temples, forts, and commemorative stones are described in the chapters that follow.

The late 16th century brought the publication of the San On District Gazetteer. In it were recorded the important events taking place in the District, which had been established as a separate administrative entity in 1573. These include the construction of a fort on Tung Lung Island in the reign of Emperor K'ang-Hsi (p. 88); and of early instances of the pirate menace which reached its height early in the 19th century. One of the accounts in the Gazetteer relates how the famous pirate Cheung Po-tsai was persuaded to surrender and join forces with the Ch'ing government. Local folklore makes him out to be a colourful, Robin Hood-like outlaw. Cheung Chau (Island) boasts a "Cheung Po-tsai cave"; there is no evidence, however, to connect the island's cave with any of his exploits.

In addition to the two land-dwelling communities, the region has been the home of two seafaring communities, the Tanka and the Hoklo. The Tanka have sailed in local waters from the earliest times and are believed

to be descended from the aboriginal inhabitants. The Gazetteer refers to their ancient origins and tells how they were granted citizens' rights in 1729, thus becoming officially absorbed into the Chinese community. The small Hoklo fishing community came from Fukien Province and made its base in the area much later, and now operates mostly in Mirs Bay.

The Gazetteer was published for the last time in 1819, after which local history was largely dominated by the Sino-British conflict. In 1842 the Opium War brought the cession of Hong Kong Island as a colony to the British* The southern portion of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island were annexed to the new colony in 1860 in the wake of the Taiping Rebellion. The New Territories were added by lease in July 1898 for a period

of 99 years thereafter. The general history of the territory under the British is especially well related elsewhere. For this and other further reading, the reader is referred to the list on page 106.

---

CHAPTER 2

VILLAGES 【村落》

Before the population explosion of the years following the Second World War, rural life had for many years been centred in the villages scattered i throughout the territory and the surrounding islands. The chief sources of livelihood were farming and the raising of livestock. Here and there villages that were grouped closely together formed into small towns such as Sai Kung, Tai Po and Yuen Long, to serve as markets where produce brought from the villages was sold.

In the present urban districts of Hong Kong and Kowloon there were once villages, mostly to be absorbed into these rapidly developing cities after the British take-overs respectively in 1841 and 1860. Names still in use day, such as Shau Kei Wan, Pok Fu Lam and Chai Wan on the island and Ma Tau Kok, Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok on the mainland, were once the names of villages.

Confronted with a vast influx of population and rapid industrial development, the Hong Kong Government has during the past 20 years embarked upon the task of building New Towns and converting the former market towns into large urban centres, providing new incentives for people to move out of the congested cities of Hong Kong and Kowloon and re- settle in the New Towns. This urbanization of the New Territories has been so successful that the old rural life has radically changed: farming is now a minor means of livelihood and in many areas has ceased entirely, and the former market towns have become huge population centres of high-rise buildings and industrial occupation.

Villages still exist, and even thrive, in close proximity to the New Towns and major roads, but many of their traditional-style houses have given place to modern buildings. Other villages that are remote and inaccessible are now either deserted and falling into ruin or occupied by small groups of old people. Most of the young have moved closer to populated centres where there is work more attuned to the purposes of modern Hong Kong, Others have left in search of a future abroad. After enduring for centuries, the old village life is rapidly disappearing in the course of a few decades. Massive town development has fundamentally changed not only the population structure and local social traditions, but the very landscape.

Villages are normally built neatly and with a well-balanced layout. Many of them are still based on single clans, especially on the big clans; smaller clans, on the other hand, have tended to combine and form multi- clan villages. Many of them were once surrounded by protective walls; few today show these intact, though some have contrived to preserve the entrance gate. These walled villages are called wai; those that have never had the protection of a wall are called tsuen.

There are some hundreds of villages spread around the territory. A few are described here, selected for their authentic appearance or historical interest. The choice is personal: the reader should try to visit as many others as possible, even those that are deserted, for there is something to be learned from all of them.

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Tsang Tai Uk 會人屋

PL 2

Map 2

Nai Wai 泥圍

Pl. 3

Map 3

Sited in the heart of Tsuen Wan in the New Territories, Sam Tung Uk is no longer a living village. In 1980 its inhabitants were moved to a resite village. The old village is now being restored and converted into a folk museum, having been declared a historical structure. Only a brief note will be included here, as there will no doubt be a full description when the project has been completed and the village is re-opened to the public.

It is a square, walled village built about 200 years ago by the family Chan. Initially, as its name indicates, it contained three rows of houses, a fourth having later been added at its rear. The ancestral hall is in the centre. This is an excellent example of a single-clan walled village and will be well worth a visit after it has been restored.

Among the best preserved of the walled villages, Tsang Tai Uk lies on low ground in the Sha Tin valley near the Lion Rock Tunnel. It was ready by 1850 for the Tsang clan to occupy as a single-clan village, and is said to have taken 20 years to build, not too surprising in view of its massively high walls.

Tsang Tai Uk is an outstanding example of a fortified village. It is rectangular in shape, measuring 46m x 137m, and has high thick walls with a tower at each of the four corners. There are three entrances in the northern wall, the main or ceremonial entrance being in the middle and leading directly into the area of the ancestral hall. The village is constructed of granite, grey brick and solid timber. Within the courtyard are two wells, which once provided drinking water but are now used mainly for washing. Except for some minor alterations — and for the mass of television aerials protruding from its roofs its basic structure and layout have not changed since the time of its construction.

―

Family tradition has it that the head of clan, Tsang Koon-man, first settled in Shau Kei Wan village, where he so prospered from the operation of a stone quarry that he was able to build this walled village at Sha Tin for his family. In a more romantic version of Tsang's sudden prosperity, he was visited one day by pirates, who left behind in his care several jars filled with fish. When the pirates failed to return, he removed the fish, revealing below a cache of silver coins. Fear of the pirates' return determined Tsang to use the money to build a strongly defended village. Other stories exist to explain Tsang's sudden prosperity.

The village was initially called Shan Ha Wai. It was only after the Second World War, when it opened its gates to many refugees, that it took its present name of "Tsang's Big House", a likely homage to the clan's hos- pitality. Though the village remains the property of the Tsang family, many of its present residents do not belong to the clan.

One interesting feature is the metal trident placed on the top of each tower, presumably as protection against the intrusion of evil spirits.

Nai Wai is one of several villages established by the clan To that straddle the Castle Peak Road in Tuen Mun. Its history dates from the 14th century, early in the Ming dynasty, when To Ming-chi journeyed from Kwangsi Province to settle in the area and founded the clan. Its plan is square, within which neat rows of houses are separated by narrow lanes. Its main entrance is in the south wall and framed by fine granite blocks. Unfortunately many of its original houses are either in ruins or have given way to modern

•

Pl. I, Sam Tung Uk in 1977, before the

residents were resettled.

Hakka Wai

客家圍

Pl. 4

Map +

Yuen Tun M XXX

Pl. 2, Tsang Tai Uk.

Pl. 5 Map 5

Pl. 3, Nai Wai; one of the corner towers.

Sheung Yiu

上窰

Pl. 6

Map 6

buildings not in the Chinese style. A replacement ancestral hall was built as recently as 1971. Nai Wai's towers still stand but are in poor condition. Traces of the moat which once surrounded the village can still be seen.

The villagers have always farmed in the adjoining fields, growing mostly rice and vegetables, but farming is now becoming its minor occupation since the younger generation prefers to work in urban areas. This village provides an instructive example of the changes now taking place in the New Territories villages.

The reader visiting Nai Wai may also visit several other villages close by. Tuen Tsz Wai and Tsing Chuen Wai, which are across the road from Nai Wai, are in the main occupied by members of the same clan. Sun Fung Wai, which is immediately north of Nai Wai, is a multi-clan village.

Hakka Wai lies in Sheung Shui immediately south of Tsung Pak Long, close to the Fan Kam and Castle Peak cross-roads, and is approached by a narrow road branching from the main road. Built in 1904-5 by a Hakka family named Wong, the village itself is comparatively recent. The family, on the other hand, previously inhabited Lai Chi Wo, a remote coastal village on the Sha Tau Kok peninsula. The reason for their move is obscure, but may have followed a dispute with neighbours.

Hakka Wai comprises two rows of houses and a small but excellent ancestral hall sited in the front (north) row. At the end of the village and opposite its entrance rises a fine three-storeyed tower. The whole village is enclosed by a well-preserved wall.

Though it has but little historical significance, it would be difficult to find a village in better condition. Its architectural style and its rich wood and terracotta decorations are all in the best Chinese tradition: especially fine are the terracotta figures of frogs and fishes that disguise the roof drains. It is clean and tidy. There is not one architecturally modern building to mar its uniformly Chinese character. Hakka Wai is an architectural gem which should not be missed.

Yuen Tun, which means "round mound", lies on high ground above the Tuen Mun Highway north of Tsing Lung Tau in Tsuen Wan. It was first. settled some 300 years ago by a single Hakka clan called Chung, who subsisted mainly from rice grown in the adjoining paddy fields. Its inhabitants were re-settled in 1972 at Tsing Lung Tau, where part of the clan was already in residence. The village itself is now allocated for use by the Civil Aid Services as their camp. In this process some houses were demolished and the rest. renovated and restored as close as possible to the original style. Apart from its use by the Civil Aid Services, the village is also operated as a small folk museum with original furniture, farming tools, and other village paraphernalia on display in the restored houses. Permission to visit the village can be obtained from the Civil Aid Services.

Sheung Yiu is situated in picturesque surroundings in North Sai Kung on the eastern shore of Pak Tam Chung estuary. The village is un- inhabited and has been developed as a folk museum open to the public.

Originally it was settled by a Hakka family called Wong which started a kiln industry producing bricks, tiles and lime. At first the family prospered; later, competition from cement and brick factories brought its decline, to

Pl. 4, Hakka Wai, view of the interior.

Pl. 5, Yuen Tun.

Pl. 6, Sheung Yiu; derelict, before

restoration.

Kut Hing Wai 吉慶圍

M./

May 1

Tai Hong Wai 泰康圍

Map 12

Wing Lung Wai

永隆圍

Map 12

the extent that by 1965 their village was completely deserted.

It is small and compact, and consists of eight residential units and an open communal courtyard. Though not a walled village, it is sited on a five-metre-high raised platform as a measure of protection. Entrance is through a tower once serving as an observation post.

One of the kilns used by the village to make lime is visible from the approach path; it remains in good condition. Lime was made by burning coral; a notice near the kiln explains the process in detail. Lumps of coral can be seen scattered around its top.

Aware of its potential as a historical feature, the Government entered into prolonged negotiations with the absent owners, finally acquiring it and restoring both the village and this one kiln. The many interesting folk items on exhibit in the village make a visit an exciting educational experience.

Kat Hing Wai⚫ Tai Hong Wai⚫ Wing Lung Wai

The three villages Kat Hing Wai, Tai Hong Wai and Wing Lung Wai, chiefly inhabited by members of the Tang clan, are closely linked together by tradition and history. All were settled early in the Sung dynasty by the Tangs, who comprised the first of the five great clans to migrate into the New Territories (Chapter 3).

Sited at Kam Tin close to the Kam Tin Road, the three villages have for many years played an important role in the local scene. Unfortunately all three have been so extensively modernized that few of the original buildings have survived.

Among all the walled villages in the territory, Kat Hing Wai is probably the best known and has become a regular stop for tourist buses. Its main attraction today lies in a splendid brick wall, which though repaired many times is complete with four corner towers. A glimpse of the interior, however, is disappointing: most of the houses are newly-built, and not in the traditional Chinese style. Along its main alley, stalls for the sale of cheap imitations of "antique" objects give a totally false atmosphere and owe nothing to village life. At the end of the alley is probably the best feature inside the village, a small temple in which the worshipper has the choice of 15 gods. Kat Hing Wai is particularly proud of its iron gate, finely wrought in heavy chain links. There is a story that during the take-over of the New Territories in 1899, British forces carried the gate away as a war trophy after a local skirmish. Later traced, it was returned to the village in 1925 through the personal efforts of Sir Reginald Stubbs, then Governor of Hong Kong.

The village contains little of interest: its new houses outnumber its old; most of the original wall has disappeared, and few people live in the village. At the end of its main alley, as in Kat Hing Wai, stands a temple. dedicated to several deities.

The village is sparsely populated and presents a sad appearance of general neglect. Most of the old buildings lie in ruins and few have been replaced by new ones. The entrance gate is well enough preserved to remind the visitor of its better days.

Hoi Ha

海下

Pl. 8

Map 7

Pk Sha O

Pl. 7. Kat Hing Wai in c. 1920

Mup 7

Pl. 8, Hoi Ha; small ancestral hall of the

Yung clan.

Pl. 9, Pak Sha O.

San Wai

新圍

Pl. 10 Map 13

The village of Hoi Ha is two centuries old and settled by the Yung clan. Sited on the picturesque shore of a small sea inlet, Hoi Ha Wan (Jone's Cove), it is a favoured spot for hikers and picnickers. A few of the old village houses still remain, but are becoming rapidly outnumbered by modern buildings.

In spite of its sea-shore location the villagers seem never to have engaged in fishing as a livelihood. They were once farmers of crops and poultry, and produced lime in specially constructed kilns. On the east side of the village, two of these kilns have been restored by the Antiquities and Monuments Office for the benefit of the public. Visitors to the village may turn aside to try and find the "game-board" carving incised in a large boulder on the beach, described on page 55.

One of the most attractive of the New Territories villages, Pak Sha O lies on the slope of the hill that faces a valley in Sai Kung West Country Park. It is a multi-clan village established about 150 years ago by the six families of Ho, Chan, Lau, Wong, Yip, and Yung. Being remote from the large centres, it has suffered from an exodus of inhabitants, in common with many other villages, especially after 1960. A few old people continue living in the village and farming has ceased. The houses are solidly built and well preserved, and several of them are rented out to Europeans as weekend homes. An outstanding feature is the ancestral hall of the Ho family, richly decorated with murals. The hall itself is enclosed within walls and surmounted by a

tower.

Somewhat incongruously, an old Catholic church stands behind the village, and is a reminder of the once strong Roman Catholic presence in Sai Kung. As its congregation gradually dispersed, the church was abandoned and fell into ruins. It has now been renovated for use as a recreation centre. While at Pak Sha O, the visitor may take time to pay a visit also

to Pak Sha O Ha Yeung, a tiny hamlet located nearby on the east side of Hoi Ha Road. Worth a brief inspection are two houses built by the same Yung family of Hoi Ha between 1908 and 1918.

To be found on the north side of Sha Tau Kok Road about two kilometres northeast of the Fanling roundabout, San Wai was settled about 250 years ago during the reign of Emperor Ch'ien Lung by a branch of the Tang clan, one of the five great clans.

Inside the village many fine houses remain in their original condition; but it is clear that they cannot stand for long unaffected by the changes which have taken place in the surrounding New Territories. Modern houses have been gradually replacing old; most of the original village wall has disappeared; the old moat around it is barely visible, and the surrounding fields lie fallow. There are, however, still more than 30 families living within, though few now are of the Tang clan.

Its most conspicuous feature is a superb entrance gate which has survived intact and now dominates the west facade of the village. It has been designed as a double structure of two unconnected towers, the outer tower taller and narrower than the inner. The ridge of the outer tower is boat-shaped and finely decorated; a carved stone tablet above the entrance carries the two characters "Kun Lung", the original village name.

Pl. 10. San Wai; the entrance gate towers.

Pl. 11, Lo Wai.

Pl. 12, Wun Yiu village; remains of an old

pottery kiln.

Lo Wai

老

衛

PL. 11

tap 13

Wu. Yiu

碗魚

M. D

Niap

Ping Kong

丙崗

Pl. 13

Map 8

The double Kun Lung Gate is the finest surviving walled village entrance gate in the New Territories; this alone is sufficient incentive for a visit.

The little-known walled village of Lo Wai is reputed to be the oldest (Lo means "old") of the group of Tang clan villages dating from the Sung dynasty which are collectively known as Lung Yeuk Tau. Well off the beaten. track, it is approached by a long, narrow, and winding path that branches. off the Sha Tau Kok Road.

Lo Wai is small and contains three rows of closely-packed houses and narrow lanes. Its inside aspect is impoverished and neglected; most of the houses are in poor condition. The few people still living in the village are mostly employed in the urban areas. Near the entrance is a small village shrine.

Much of the exterior of the village wall is still intact, and this gives the village an ancient, unspoiled look, a redolence of the past, fast becoming a rare enough feature in the New Territories. Near it is the large ancestral hall of the Tangs and the temple to Tin Hau, the former described on page 35.

Wun Yiu, unremarkable in itself, has had a special association with.

a group of pottery kilns that once produced pottery famous over a large part of Kwangtung Province.

Wun Yiu, which means "bowl kiln", is sited in the hills south of Tai Po town and has become divided into Sheung Wun Yiu and Ha Wun Yiu, or upper and lower Wun Yiu respectively. The densely overgrown hill that rises immediately northwest of Sheung Wun Yiu contains the remains of two old kilns, now almost totally destroyed, as well as large dumps of mis- fired and discarded pottery debris. The Wun Yiu kilns are reputed to have been in operation some three centuries ago and ceased production at the beginning of this century. As a historical site, the whole area is protected by a fence.

In school grounds east of Sheung Wun Yiu stands Fan Sing Kung, the interesting temple built in 1790. Local tradition holds Fan Sing to be the patron god of potters, and workers at the Wun Yiu kilns are said to have worshipped in the temple.

South along the Fan Kam Road and immediately after the Police Camp, a narrow road branches off to a small but impressive walled village named Ping Kong, settled some four to five centuries ago by the single clan. of Hau. The wall is still largely intact, and inside it all but a few of the houses are in the authentic Chinese style. The Haus now state with some pride that farming was never an important occupation of the village, but that the clan has long been known as a source of officials for the Chinese Government. About 40 families now live in the village. Like other villages, Ping Kong has been affected by the exodus of its members either to the urban areas or abroad.

An ancestral hall once stood outside the village wall: according to villagers it was demolished a long time ago; and the present hall standing within its wall was built about a hundred years ago. At the end of the main central alley stands a Tin Hau temple, whose presence in the village is strange. Tin Hau is generally associated with a sea-faring community, and the villagers can offer no satisfactory explanation.

Pl. 13, Ping Kong village.

CHAPTER 3

CHINESE BUILDINGS 【中式建築》

The Five Great Clans

From the 10th to the 15th centuries A.D., successive waves of Chinese settlers descended from the north and established themselves in the fertile valleys of the region now known as the New Territories. Among the first new settlers were the five great clans of Tang, Hau, Pang, Liu and Man, later to be followed by many smaller clans. Hard-working farmers, they established long-lasting traditions and customs in the New Territories. Land was the source of wealth: as the clans prospered, they built houses and ceremonial buildings of increasing splendour in their villages. Though most have since been re-built or at least renovated sometimes with doubtful skill - many still retain features of the finest Chinese architectural traditions and craftsmanship.

The Tangs, who formed the vanguard of the major clans to settle, migrated in the 10th century, first settling at what is present-day Kam Tin and later branching out into neighbouring areas. According to local tradition the Hau clan, second of the great clans to settle, arrived in the New Territories in the 12th century. Their original village of Ho Sheung Heung, in what is now Sheung Shui, remains the clan centre, though the clan has since branched into villages in other areas. The Pang clan claims to have arrived from Kiangsi Province during the late Sung dynasty to settle at some time between 1120 and 1280 in what is now Fanling, but did not spread far beyond. The Liu clan settled mostly in Sheung Shui during the Yüan dynasty in the 14th century, but did not branch out to any great extent. Especially notable were the clan's scholastic achievements, many members having successfully passed in the Imperial Civil Service examinations. The Man was the last of these great clans to migrate, at some time between the middle of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th centuries. Shortage of good fertile land compelled them to settle in what is now San Tin, at that time marshy and water-logged. As the land gradually rose and grew fertile, so the clan prospered and increased in size. Though many of its members now live and work abroad, it remains a tightly-knit community, joined in worshipping its ancestors and celebrating its festivals.

祠堂)

Ancestral Halls (Tsz Tong Z)

Ancestor worship is among the deepest tenets of Chinese religious life. It is an expression of filial piety which applies equally in death as in life: respect for elders while living (especially parents and grandparents) becomes by natural extension worship of them as ancestors when dead. The living and the dead offer mutual help and intercede one for the other. This sense of community between ancestor and descendant, past and present, pervades Chinese thought and custom. In practice, it demands the ritual care of ancestral graves and worship in ancestral halls. Ancestor worship. practised by an individual family gains strength in a village community, where most members belong to the same clan, descended from a common ancestor. The ancestral hall is the centre of the clan's religious life: in it are the soul

;

Pl. 14, Tang Hall at Ha Tsuen, Yuen Long.

(a) Front view.

(b) Detail of roof decorations.

Pl. 15, Two Tang Halls stand side by side, at Ping Shan, Yuen Long.

國臺辦鄉

HA TELEN KURAT

COMMITTEE OFFICI

tablets of past generations, arranged in rows on an altar. It serves as the clan's social centre, where festivals and other important occasions are celebrated. As the clan proliferates, other ancestral halls are built to serve its new branches. In competition for higher position and prestige, clans built their halls in increasingly imposing dimension and more lavishly decorated by skilled craftsmen. Many of these ancestral halls have suffered the neglect of poor maintenance, but continue to play an important part in religious and social life.

The typical design of an ancestral hall is laid in a simple triaxial plan, as a central chamber with compartments on each side. This basic plan, its origins in the distant past, grew out of practical need. It is present in many Chinese architectural forms, ranging from the simple dwelling to the imposing ceremonial building. An ancestral hall may consist of one, two, or three chambers, with internal courtyards open to the sky. An intricate system of wooden brackets set to support an overhanging roof, a decorative cover of ridges and tiles, the whole supported by stone columns, and the special treatment of a gate as an ornamentation, are the distinctive features that make these ancestral halls visually impressive and wholly functional (Fig 1).

Playm

Side

room

Side room

Entrance hal!

Courtyard

Central hall

Main hall

Court

Plan 1300

Section

x-x 1:300

Fig. 1, Layout of a typical ancestral hall

(the Tang Hall at Ha Tsuen, Yuen Long).

Though the clans began to settle in the New Territories in the 10th

century, most of their halls appear to have been built between the late 17th and the 19th centuries. The explanation may lie in the infamous evacuation

Pl. 16, The Tang Hall at Ping Shan: carved

wooden brackets and beams in the central hall.

Pl. 17. Tang Hall (Ching Lok Tang Kung

Tsz) at Kam Tin, Yuen Long.

(a) Side view from the south. ❖

(b) One of the murals depicting a scene from

the life of eight immortals.

facing each other on the inside of the

entrance door; they have been removed during recent renovation.

eng Si Chung Tsz 周氏宗飄

Bng S Chung Tsz

Kiu Yi Kung Tsz

念喬公司

Ps. 15 & 16

Map!

of the coastal areas of Kwangtung, ordered by the Ch'ing Government and lasting from 1662 to 1669. Whole communities were then uprooted, without relief, and the misery and suffering of the people was said to have been deep. Earlier ancestral halls may have existed before this evacuation; if so, they were either demolished by the departing clans or being untended fell into ruin, new halls being constructed when the exiles returned.

The Tang Halls

One of the branches of the Tang clan established itself at Ha Tsuen in Yuen Long in the 13th century, and is said to have built a Hall nearby, though nothing is left of it now.

The present Hall at Ha Tsuen was built about 1790 in the reign of the emperor Ch'ien Lung and later rebuilt in Tao Kuang's reign. It stands prominently on the main road to Lau Fau Shan, a splendid building consisting of three chambers with two courtyards. Its walls are of traditional Chinese grey brick laid with white mortar. Its roof has delicately carved supporting brackets of wood. In the main hall two large tablets bearing the characters Hau() and Tai() exhort Tang clansmen to follow the two principles of filial piety and fraternal love. The soul tablets are laid out along a finely carved altar. The whole design is noble and harmonious. Outside, in front of the Hall and some distance away, is a low brick fung-shui (A/K) wall, built to prevent evil spirits from entering (see notes on fung-shui, p. 104).

In 1979 a large iron cannon, which had been found buried behind the village, was placed in the porch, as if to guard the Hall from some unseen danger. It has no discernible marks but is likely to be of Chinese origin and was probably cast in the early 19th century. Since this Hall is known to have been one of the centres of organized resistance to the British take-over of the New Territories in 1899, it is tempting to speculate on the cannon's possible connections with this event.

The Ping Shan area is close to Ha Tsuen and was settled by the Tang clan about the same time, in the 13th century.

These two large and imposing Halls stand side by side in Hang Mei Tsuen, Ping Shan. Tang Si Chung Tsz on the left (as one faces them) is the older and finer and was built about 600 years ago by Tang Ying-tung, who was seventh generation Tang and apparently a high-ranking official. The building has three chambers and two courtyards. Its carved beams and their supporting brackets are of excellent workmanship. Its roof ridges and eaves are adorned with dragon-fishes and lions from the Shek Wan kilns in Kwangtung.

Two unusual features of this Hall are the absence of a threshold step (F) at the entrance, and an elevated pathway () crossing the front courtyard, both said to be features of a building of importance visited by high dignitaries.

The Hall on the right is similar and was reputedly built by Tang Ying-tung's grandson. In recent renovations some of the original features of the building have been destroyed, making it less attractive.

Outside the two Halls are several upright granite "scholar slabs" erected in honour of Tang clansmen in important official positions; their names are carved on these slabs but are now mostly illegible (p. 39).

Pl. 18, Tang Hall (Chau Yui Kuen Tang

Kung Tsz) at Kam Tin, Yuen Long.

Pl. 19, The interior of the Tang Hall at Tsz Tong Tsuen, Kam Tin, Yuen Long

[

Ching Lok Tang Kung Tsz 清樂鄧公司

Chau Yui Kuen Tang

Kung Tsz

鐘銳鄧公祠

Pls. 17 & 18

Map 12

Lung Yau Wun Chuen Am Tang Kung Tsz

瀧游开泉菴鄧公司

PL. 19

Map 17

Chung Ling Tang Kung Tsz 松嶺公司

Pl. 20

Map 13

These two Halls are one at the eastern end and the other at the western end of Shui Mei Tsuen, a village in Kam Tin which contained many original Chinese village houses until recently. The western was built in honour of Tang Ching-lok, an important member of the clan who lived during the Ming dynasty, although how long after his death is not clear. The building has the typical layout of three halls and two courtyards. The entrance chamber is its most decorative, with finely carved brackets and beams, possibly the best to be seen in the New Territories. The central chamber bears the name Sze Shing Tong according to a sign dated 1794. The main chamber contains a magnificent altar on which carved ancestral soul-tablets rest. Its roof is decorated with dragon-fishes, the main and side ridges being beautifully carved. There are several fine murals. One interesting feature is the variety in the style of the Hall's stone columns and bases. Several wooden boards hang in the Hall, mostly dated in the Ch'ing dynasty and bearing the names of distinguished Tang clansmen.

The eastern Hall dates from the 17th century and is said to have been built in honour of the three uncles of Tang Ching-lok and bears their names - Chau, Yui, and Kuen. Subsequent renovation has lessened its artistic merits.

Both Halls were last renovated in 1981. Ching Lok Tang Kung Tsz, where expert advice was sought on the renovation, has fared much better than its eastern counterpart. Despite this, the old but beautiful warrior-gods that were painted on the main gates have been erased and replaced by crudely painted new figures -- an irreparable loss.

This is an important Hall of the main Tang lineage, built about 1770 in Tsz Tong Tsuen, Kam Tin, and largely spoilt in 1977 by inexpert renovation. The original carved wooden beams have been replaced by concrete, murals have been crudely repainted, and the altar very poorly restored. Except for a few of the granite columns, hardly any of the original features remain.

The Fanling branch of the Tang clan is said to have moved from Kam Tin to Fanling in the 13th century. They settled in the locality known as Lung Yeuk Tau, which today comprises 11 villages. In one of them, Tsz Tong Tsuen, (the same name as the village in Kam Tin, in the paragraph above) they built their main Hall in honour of ancestor Tang Chung-ling. The local people claim that the Hall is between 600 and 700 years old. However, its precise age cannot be established, since many renovations. - the last one as recently as 1978 have obliterated some of the original features of the building.

It stands some distance from the main road and is set in picturesque surroundings among the relatively unspoilt villages of Lung Yeuk Tau, all of which it serves. It is one of the largest in the New Territories, with the traditional layout of three halls and two courtyards but without aisles.

A screen door (dong chung ) lets into the central. chamber, but is not near the entrance as in most other Halls. Carvings on the wooden beams, bracket supports and eaves, and of the dragon-fishes and lions decorating the roof, are all excellent. Unfortunately, some of the original murals have been lost under plaster applied in later renovations.

Pl. 20, Tang Hall at Tsz Tong Tsuen,

Fanling.

(a) Front view.

(b) Ancestral tablets in the main chamber.

彭氏宗洞

Pl. 22

Map 1

Pl. 21, Hau Hall at Ho Sheung Heung,

Sheung Shui, Tai Po.

Kui Shek Hau Kung Tsz 居石候公司

PL. 21

Map 14

Pang Si Ci

ལྦུ

Tsz

Man Shek ng 萬石堂

Pl. 23

Map 4

Man Lun Fung Kung Tsz 麟峯文公司

Pl. 24

Map 16

The Hau Hall

The Hall forms a prominent feature at the northern end of Ho Sheung Heung, in Sheung Shui. It was built in honour of Hau Kui-shek, probably in the mid-18th century. Little is known about him except that he donated the money for its construction.

Built in the traditional pattern of three halls and two courtyards, the building has suffered badly from neglect and poor maintenance. The wooden brackets are elaborately carved but damaged, and the murals have mostly faded away. In spite of the wear and tear of time, it can still be seen that the building was once imposing. One of its special features is the shape of the gable wall in the end chamber, which is sometimes described as “a cat crawling" (

The Pang Hall

Tradition has it that the Pangs built their first Hall soon after arriving in Fanling, but no trace of it remains. Some of the clan elders relate that it was demolished because of its unfavourable fung shui location; to this day the Pangs are well known for their strict observance of the fung shui principles (p. 104).

The present Hall in Fan Ling Tsuen, Fanling, was, it seems, built in 1854. It is the clan's sole Hall and enjoys the wide support of its members. It has two chambers, side rooms, aisles and a courtyard. Although smaller than others, its fine decoration of carving and mural and splendid archi- tectural style make it one of the most important traditional buildings in the New Territories.

The Liu Hall

The main Hall of the clan, Man Shek Tong, was built in 1751 in Sheung Shui Tsuen, Sheung Shui, after the clan prospered and earned its position of importance in the area.

Built on the traditional three-hall and two-courtyard plan, it has good carved wooden decorations, murals, and Shek-Wan ceramic figures topping the ridge of its roof. The original layout, typically spacious and open, was altered in 1932 for use as a school. Early in 1985 the Hall was restored to the original design and now is undoubtedly one of the finest Chinese traditional buildings in the New Territories. It is a gazetted historical building.

The Man Halls

The village of Fan Tin Tsuen in San Tin is the heart of the Man clan and abounds in Ancestral Halls: at least five can be counted in the village.

This Hall was built in Fan Tin Tsuen in honour of Man Lun-fung who according to tradition was the son of Man Sai-gor, an important ancestor of the clan whose twentieth generation lives today. The precise date when the Hall was built is not known, but is believed to be towards the end of the 17th century. The building has three halls and two courtyards, its entrance hall being known as To Shu Tong. Soul tablets rest on an altar placed in

Pl. 22, Pang Hall at Fanling, Tai Po.

(a) Front view.

(b) Detail of roof decorations.

Map 16

Pl. 23, Liu Hall at Sheung Shui Tsuen.

Sheung Shui, Tai Po.

(a) Front view.

(b) Detail of carved brackets supporting the

roof.

H7TH

校燮立公

Kung Tsz

Man Si Che

Tsz

文氏宗祠

Man Shui

萃野文公腦

Ming Yuer

Ming Tak

TE 明德堂

明遠堂

the central chamber, not in the rear chamber as is normally the case. It is a fine Hall, with well-carved supporting brackets and stone columns. Due to neglect and lack of funds the building has badly deteriorated. In 1982 some essential structural repairs carried out by the Government have helped to halt its further decline, and it is now gazetted as a historical building.

Other Man Halls

The other four Man Halls may be visited in the village.

Man Si Chung Tsz, Man Shui Yeh Kung Tsz, and Ming Yuen Tong have much in common with Man Lun Fung, though they are architecturally inferior to it. The fourth, Ming Tak Tong, is an entirely new Hall erected in 1972 on the site of a former Hall. It is interesting to compare this with

the old Halls. It has the same basic layout of two chambers with an enclosed,

open-sky, courtyard, but otherwise it is entirely modern in materials, structure,

and facilities. The sole component rescued from the demolished Hall is the

granite entrance gate-frame, now in position in the new Hall.

書室)

Study-Libraries (Shue Shat #)

Scholastic achievement is traditionally held in the highest esteem in China and teachers are respected and honoured. From earliest times there existed a system of Imperial Civil Service examinations through which its officials were recruited. Success not only conferred the title of scholar but often opened the route to high position and power. These examinations -- exacting, rigorous and encompassing a wide range of knowledge - were set at different levels, the lower reaches being held in local and provincial centres and successful candidates proceeding to the capital city itself for the finals. Young and old competed from all over the country, sometimes repeatedly, in pursuit of distinction and prestige.

Aware of the advantages and prestige of scholarship, rich clans of the rural New Territories built large study-libraries where promising youngsters were tutored in the required subjects and encouraged to sit for the examina- tions. Some of them, in particular those planned for the young of the Tang clan, were designed in grand style and executed by the finest craftsmen in the district, matched only by the ancestral halls in their architectural splendour. To some were attached dormitories where the students lived.

This patronage of scholarship bore fruit. The New Territories genealogies contain many records of those successful in the examinations. and subsequently occupying official rank in the Chinese Government. Stone slabs erected in their honour are still in place in front of some of the ancestral halls.

After the Imperial examinations were abolished early in the 20th century, the study-libraries were emptied. Many of them remained out of use; some were converted into ancestral halls, and the rest left to fall into ruin. A contributing factor to the demise of study-libraries in the New Territories was the increasing popularity of modern education offered by the Hong Kong Government and in private religious schools after the British. took control of the New Territories. Today, there are few left in reasonable. condition.

Pl. 24, Man Hall at Fan Tin Tsuen, San

Tin, Yuen Long.

(a) Front view.

(b) Interior view. ☎

Pl. 25, The entrance gate of Shut Hing

Study-Library.

Pl. 26, Kun Ting Study-Library; interior

after partial repairs in 1984.

Shut Hing Shue Shat 述卿書室

Pl. 25

Map 11

Kun Ting Shue Shat 覲廷書室

Pl. 26 Map 11

Sin Shut Shure Shat 善述書室

Pl. 27

Map 13

Chou Wong Yi Kwong Shue Yuen

周王二公書院

Pl. 28

Map 12

Shut Hing Study-Library in Ping Shan, Yuen Long, was built by the Tang clan in 1874, and with the exception of its entrance gate demolished in 1977. The gate itself is so splendid a structure that it is worth a visit. Hemmed in on all sides by recent buildings of pedestrian design, the gate offers a large and imposing example of the great architectural traditions of China. Its tall granite columns, its fine carved wood and stonework, and its murals are all of the finest craftsmanship, and possibly the best to be found in the New Territories.

There were once plans for the Government to acquire, dismantle and re-erect it as a historical monument in a prominent place in Yuen Long. But the idea came to nothing and it seems likely that this grand gate will one day be pulled down to give its owners space for development.

A mere stone's throw away from the Shut Hing Study-Library stands the Kun Ting Study-Library reputedly built about 1760 by Tang Ying-shan, whose descendants are still living in Ping Shan. As the building has nor been used for many years, its interior has suffered badly from neglect, though its facade remains in good condition. The roof has collapsed and several decorated panels have been defaced or broken. In spite of such extensive damage and decay, many details of a superb craftsmanship can still be descried.

The building contains a central portion once devoted to ancestral worship, an entrance hall separated from the main hall by a courtyard, and three rooms on each side of these. There is also a large annexe, probably built originally as living quarters for students. In this annexe are stored wooden boards recording prominent Tang clansmen.

Temporary and partial repairs done recently have somewhat improved the condition of the building, but its ultimate destiny remains in doubt.

Sin Shut Study-Library in Fanling is one of the Tang clan buildings. It consists of two halls, a courtyard, side aisles, and an attached kitchen, and is richly decorated with fine wood carvings and wall paintings.

Its date is uncertain. A Chinese date, which corresponds to 1840, is carved on the stone lintel above the entrance, and probably marks the date of an extensive renovation. As it has been used as an ancestral hall, its general condition is better than that of other study-libraries, but some of its fine original features have succumbed to recent renovation. The carved wooden beams, for instance, were replaced by plain concrete, and the murals are very poor reproductions.

Chou Wong Yi Kwong Shue Yuen at Kam Tin, near Yuen Long, was erected in the 17th century in honour of Chou Yau-tak and Wong Loi- yam, the two Kwangtung dignitaries largely responsible for the lifting of the infamous evacuation order of 1662 (p. 17). Built originally as an ancestral hall, it was later used as a study-house (shue yuen 書院 may be translated as "college").

It is a two-hall building with an attached kitchen. Architecturally it has suffered badly from an inexpert renovation carried out in 1975, when its carved wooden beams were replaced with concrete and its decorations repainted in the worst possible manner. Then, as part of a Ta Chu festival

Pl. 27, Sin Shut Study-Library.

Pl. 28. Chou Wong Yi Kwong College.

Pl. 29, Chih Kuei Study-Library.

Chih Kuei Shue Shat 植桂書室

Pl. 29

Map 17

Tai Fu Ta.

大夫第

PL 30

Map 16

celebrated in 1985 by the Tang clan of Kam Tin, it was once more renovated, but with little improvement. It retains, however, the historical significance derived from its dedication to the two men, who are held in the greatest reverence by local people.

Chih Kuei Study-Library, sited at Pat Heung, near Yuen Long, is comparatively recent, having been erected in 1904 by a man called Lai Kam- tai. Mr. Lai's was a story of success for in the second half of the last century he had emigrated to Australia as a common labourer, prospered there during the gold-rush, and returned to Hong Kong a rich man. Apart from the study- library, he also built in Pat Heung a residential mansion for himself and several rows of village houses marked on the map as Sheung Tsuen Lai Uk Tsuen.

The study-library itself is a fine building, though in poor condition, but with some striking art-work and well-carved granite columns. It is now apparently used as an ancestral hall for the villagers living close by.

Mr. Lai's mansion is also worth a side-visit. It is a two-storeyed residential building with a walled-in courtyard and a side-entrance. Within its central portion stands a fine altar for ancestral worship.

Other Buildings

One of several villages established in San Tin by the Man clan is Wing Ping Tsuen. In the fourth year of the reign of Tung Chih of the Ch'ing dynasty (or 1865) a prominent member of the clan called Man Chung-luen built in the village a stately residence for himself known as "Tai Fu Tai". Man Chung-luen is reputed to have achieved the highest grade of chun tsz (literally "advanced scholarly status") in the Imperial Civil Service examinations and was addressed by the honorific Tai Fu (“important person”). He probably held an official position in the district, but his duties are unknown.

An imposing house, Tai Fu Tai stands in spacious grounds, with a large open space in front and a garden behind, the whole surrounded by a wall. Above its impressive entrance hangs an old wooden board carved with its name. The base of its facade is constructed of granite blocks, the rest being of typical Chinese grey bricks cemented with white mortar. Niches under the eaves and the ridges of the roof are adorned with colourful terra- cotta figures.

Connected to the house through a circular opening is the original kitchen. The garden at the rear has many old lichee trees which may have been planted when the house was built.

Its interior is elaborately decorated with terra-cotta mouldings, wooden carvings, and murals. Suspended from the ceiling, two old and worn wooden tablets provide a record, in Chinese and Manchu, of its history the only known example of Manchu script in Hong Kong. Above an altar in the central ancestral hall hang the portraits of Man Chung-luen and his family.

Tai Fu Tai, however, is but a sad reminder of its past splendour. The house is in dilapidated condition; its decoration is mostly damaged and original colours have faded. The surrounding ground is cluttered with rubbish and overgrown with vegetation out of control, giving a general picture of

Pl. 30, Tai Fu Tai; front view.

Pl. 31, So Lau Yuen newly renovated in

1985.

Pl. 32, Cheung Chun Yuen; "fung shui"

wall in the foreground.

So Lau Yugo

泝流園

Pl. 31..

Map 12

Cheung Chan Yuen

長春園

PL. 32..

Map 12

Pun Uk

潘屋

Pl. 33..

Map 18

House on Lot 917

Pl. 34.. Map 19

neglect and decay. The Government has been trying to have this unique building preserved, and negotiation with the owners has recently shown some progress. Restored, it will be one of the most inspiring historical buildings in the New Territories.

The building known as So Lau Yuen, built in Kam Tin by the Tang clan, was designed originally as a school, with two halls and a central courtyard, similar in layout to an ancestral hall (p. 31). There are also two mezzanine rooms and a small kitchen attached. It has been vacant for

many years.

The age of the building is believed to be between 200 and 300 years. It was extensively renovated in 1985 by the Tang clan in Kam Tin as part of the clan's Ta Chu celebrations. Though not altogether in faith with its original style, such of its original architectural features as have survived are of excellent quality. One unique feature of the building is its elaborately carved stone brackets and beams, normally fashioned from wood. A table in the main hall is also finely worked in stone.

In the same village as So Lau Yuen, Cheung Chun Yuen is a small, finely-decorated, two-hall building, also built by the Tang clan. Though some 120 years old, it has survived in good condition. It is believed to have been at one time in use as a school for the martial arts, and as evidence of this it still contains several heavy old iron training weapons. The altar which stands in its main hall suggests that it was also used as an ancestral hall.

Pun Uk, built in 1933, is the home of a Hakka family named Pun, and located immediately to the west of Pok Hoi Hospital in Yuen Long. Originally from Meihsien, the Hakka homeland in north-east Kwangtung, the founder made his fortune in Indonesia and like other Indonesian Chinese of his time— chose to settle in Hong Kong rather than return to Meihsien.

The mansion is a remarkable complex of 16 rooms, six halls and two internal courtyards, the whole occupying some 600 square metres. Still occupied by members of the family, the house is in an excellent condition, with splendid wooden panel-carvings, murals and finely-worked masonry.

Though its principal merit lies in its architectural features, it has played a minor role in history, having in the late 1930s received as a guest Marshal Ye Jian-ying, an important figure in the emergence of the People's Republic of China.

Pun Uk is not unique. If the reader feels inclined to explore, two other Hakka mansions similar in construction to Pun Uk can be found south of Kam Sheung Road in Pat Heung. They are Shum Ka Wai and Ling Mui Chong. They are, however, artistically inferior to Pun Uk.

One fine house, identified only by a Lot number, is to be found in the area of what was once Hoi Pa village in Tsuen Wan. The village itself has been cleared and its area converted into a district open space. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century and belongs to the Yau family. The building is a fine traditional Chinese residence and contains two halls, with a small internal courtyard, and side chambers for kitchen

Pl. 33, Pun Uk; view from above.

...

喜鴻

No. 10 Wong Chuk Hang

San Wai

黃竹坑新區

Pl. 35

Map 20

Hung Lau

紅樓

Pl. 36

Map 21

and bedrooms. Its original owner Yau Yuan-cheung had the reputation of being a local gentry scholar; his collection of rare books and personal papers, previously housed there, was recently donated to the Government by his son. The house is to be preserved as an historical building. Included in the preservation plan are also two other buildings close by on Lots 972 and 956: an old ancestral hall of the Chan family and an annexe, both built about 1890, which may be visited at the same time.

Wong Chuk Hang San Wai is a village on Hong Kong Island between Aberdeen and Shouson Hill. Its gradual decline has prompted a plan to clear it, resettle its inhabitants, and convert the area into a recreation park a plan still on the drawing-board.

Among the village houses, most of which are dilapidated, No. 10 is in an excellent condition and is conspicuous as something of an architectural wonder. Its style is authentic, its decorations rich and colourful. As is customary, the central section within is set aside for ancestor worship, and contains a finely-carved altar with ancestral tablets. Built of good-quality grey brick standing on solid granite base stones, the house is a specially good example of a well-to-do village home. Roof drains shaped in the form of fishes surmount the side walls, and immediately in front of the house is a small fung shui wall (see notes on p. 104).

The village has long been associated with Chow clan and the house, built about 1890, belongs to Mrs. Chow Chan Yuet-kin, who married into the Chow clan and became related to the late Sir Shouson Chow, a high-grade member of the Mandarinate in China who became a well-known local community leader. An area clearance plan provides for the preservation of this splendid house. Until the plan is put into effect and the house opened to the public, visitors may approach Mrs. Chow, who still occupies it, for permission to view the interior.

Hung Lau ("The Red House") is reputed to have an association with Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Chinese Republic (1912) and a man of the greatest renown in modern Chinese history. This is the reason for its inclusion here, though it is not a traditional Chinese house in the strictest

sense.

The two-storey building, sited close to Shek Kok Tsui village in Tuen Mun, is constructed of red brick in a mixture of Chinese and Western styles. It is architecturally undistinguished, and is now in poor condition.

It was probably built between 1885 and 1890, but accurate historical records are difficult to obtain. Originally part of the Castle Peak Farm, it belonged to a man called Li Kei-tong, a keen follower of Sun Yat-sen, and seems to have been a secret meeting place for the Chinese revolutionaries. Though there is some doubt if Sun Yat-sen himself ever set foot in it, stories that link him with this house have become stronger with the passage of time. Visitors are shown furniture and other objects reputedly used by him, and in its grounds he is represented by two large and crude terra-cotta statues. Some distance away is a memorial obelisk erected in 1967 by the Sun Yat- sen Association, and near it are three tall palm trees said to represent Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of nationalism, democracy, and the people's livelihood - and to have been planted by Sun's close associate, Wong Hing. Despite the uncertainty of Sun Yat-sen's personal connection with

時和世泰

人壽年

Pl. 34, House on Lot 917: entrance porch.

Pl. 35, No. 10 Wong Chuk Hang Sun Wai.

Pl. 36, Hung Lau; Dr. Sun Yat-sen's statue

in the foreground on the right.

Tsui Shing Lau

聚星樓

Pl. 37

Map II

Law Uk 羅屋

Pl. 38

Map 22

The former Tai Po Market Railway Station

the building, there is no doubt that it assumed a historical role as one of the early seats of the revolutionary movement that resulted in the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty and the founding of the Chinese Republic.

The Pagoda is thought of as a characteristically Chinese building;

it achieved its greatest development as the marker of a sacred Buddhist relic or as a place of Buddhist devotion.

There is a paucity of pagodas in Hong Kong compared with the Mainland, where splendid tall pagodas are a common enough feature of the view. Among the few, Tsui Shing Lau is the sole authentically ancient pagoda. It stands in Ping Shan in the heart of the Tang clan district. Though small and modest by any standard, it enjoys a special and honoured place in local tradition, which sets the date of its building in the 14th century, early in the Ming dynasty. Local people relate that it was built as a protection against “unfavourable influences from the North". Its location in alignment with Castle Peak mountain was later interpreted as being propitious for scholarship and distinction. The Tang clan of Ping Shan claims, with historical truth, that among its members have flourished a number of distinguished scholars and high officials.

The Pagoda is a six-sided structure, about 10m wide and 20m high, built of Chinese grey brick. Granite blocks frame its entrance. The intricately arranged brick corbels separating the three storeys form a pleasing architectural feature. Of a graceful and dignified aspect, the Pagoda is nonetheless simple in style with little embellishment.

It is said to have been originally seven storeys high and subsequently to have lost the four upper storeys in two separate incidents, presumably caused by the violence of typhoons; a geomancer had then advised the villagers to let the Pagoda remain at three storeys.

Its name of Tsui Shing Lau, which is carved on one of the tablets decorating the Pagoda, may be translated as the "building of many stars". Two other stone tablets claim for it a heavenly connection, and within is an altar with wooden deities; nonetheless, the Pagoda is neither temple nor Buddhist shrine, but principally a fung shui structure (p. 104).

Law Uk (or "Chai Wan House") is a plain village house standing on a plot between Chai Wan Road and Cheung Lee Street on Hong Kong Island. Reputed to be 200 years old, it has remained in the possession of a family named Law, and is the sole surviving example, albeit incomplete, of a Hakka dwelling in the heavily built-up and redeveloped modern Chai Wan. It is the Government plan to preserve it as a small folk museum, and develop its surrounding land as a park.

The Station was built in 1913 in the style of a Chinese temple, and in 1985 converted into a Railway Museum after a new railway station was opened.

555

visible signs of planned restoration. 1986; still used as a factory with no

Pl. 38, Law Uk (Chai Wan House) in

元朗

廣東省

CHINA

Pl. 37, Ping Shan Pagoda (Tsui Shing Lau).

新出

San Tin

Yuen Long

Kam Tin

屯門

Tuen Mun

大嶼山

Lantau Island

右豐

Shek Pik

上次

Sheung Shu

吩耀

Fanling

Tai Po

新界

New Territories

Tsuen Wan

Cheung Chau

Lamma Island

田市

Sha Tin

九龍

Kowloon

香港島

Hong Kong Island

藏竹坑

Wong Chuk Hang

西爾

Sai Kung

蕭台鹦

Po Tor

Island

"Kau Sai

Chau

Lung Ha Wan

Big Wave Bay

Tung Lung

1sland

Hong Kong

Fig. 2. Location of ancient rock carvings in

Shek Pik

石壁

Pl. 39

Map 23

Cheung Chau

長洲

Pl. 40

Map 24

CHAPTER 4

ROCKS AND STONES

《古代石刻與石碑

Rock Carvings

Among the many manifestations of ancient times to be seen in Hong Kong territory, rock carvings hold perhaps the greatest fascination and mystery.

Eight sites are known where carvings occur. Most are cut into vertica rock surfaces, and usually found close to the coastline overlooking he se (Fig. 2). With one exception, on Tung Lung Island, their designs are imilar chiefly geometric and patterned. Some of them resemble stylized anin il face and so are usually described as "zoomorphic". They seem to have beer: ncised with a pointed tool, possibly a stone pick, used first to chip small

I ts and then link these together into the lines of a pattern. Many are also deeply eroded from long exposure to the weather.

While there is no doubt either of their antiquity or of the arch- aeological importance, their exact origins and ages remain a myste y and may never be fully determined. A probable hypothesis is that they were carved two thousand to three thousand years ago by early seafarers who in abited the area and were intended as magical symbols for the appeasemen of the powers of the sea and to invoke their protection.

In other parts of the world where prehistoric man has been raced, rock carvings of the same type are by no means uncommon. Exper s who have studied rock carvings emphasize their ritual function: many rega: them as stimulated by the religious impulses of prehistoric man to commune with the forces of nature. But no one can be certain of their real meanings.

Whatever their purpose, rock carvings in Hong Kong must ha e held as deep a spiritual significance for the people who carved them. They are found on Lantau Island at Shek Pik, on Cheung Chau, Po Toi, Ku Sai Tung Lung, and Hong Kong Island, and on the mainland at Lung Hs Wan A brief description of each follows.

The Shek Pik carving was first reported in 1938 by Chen Kung-chi, a local amateur archaeologist who perhaps was told of its existence by villagers The carving is located near the base of the Shek Pik Reservoir dam on Lantau Island. It is now some distance from the sea, but may have been cut when the sea-level was higher and the inlet extended as far as this point. The designs consist mainly of concentric squares and circles and are not unlike patterns on some of the Bronze Age pottery found in Hong Kong.

Cheung Chau (Long Island) is an island shaped like a dumb-bell, with its narrow isthmus running north and south. A carving first reported in 1970 by the geologist Dr C. J. Peng, and apparently unknown to local inhabitants before his discovery, is sited on the east side of this isthmus.

It is in three separate series, each engraved in flowing lines interspersed

by animal-mask shapes.

Po Toi

蒲台

PL. 41

Map 25

Big Wave F 大浪灣

Pl. 42

Map 26

Kau Sai 滘西

Pl. 43 Map 27

Lung Ha Wan 龍蝦灣

Pl. 44 Map 28

On the site immediately above the carving a hotel was recently built.

Around the carving itself is a protective screen, and it may be approached

from the path below by way of a flight of steps.

Rock carvings can be seen on the south-western coast of Po Toi Island. They have been known locally for some decades, but there is no record of when or by whom they were first discovered.

The geometric and zoomorphic patterns are clear and of excellent quality. What appear as two sets of carvings were probably once continuous, but are now separated by a smooth surface from which a sliver of rock became detached some time ago. Immediately to the left and some distance from the main group of carvings as one faces it, is a somewhat different group of simpler and more linear design. It is not clear if these two groups were connected in time or theme.

They can be reached from the footpath above by a newly-renovated flight of steps.

Perhaps the finest of all the rock carvings is to be found on Hong Kong Island itself, overlooking the popular beach of Big Wave Bay. It is therefore surprising that is was not discovered until 1970, when police officer B. Haigh reported the carving. In spite of considerable weathering, its geometric and zoomorphic patterns are still clear and very striking, especially a number of pairs of concentric circles possibly representing animal faces.

The best time to view it is early in the morning, when the sun shines obliquely from the east. It was the first antiquity officially to be protected after the new Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance came into effect in 1976.

A stepped concrete path has recently been constructed to afford at safe approach.

In 1976 W. Meacham reported a rock carving he had discovered on a small promontory of the north side of Kau Sai Chau. It is cut on a flat vertical rock surface at the head of a small beach and consists of a single design similar to the other zoomorphic rock carvings. Due to extensive weathering the carving is not easy to discern; it is most clearly visible in a rising or setting sun.

This carving appears on the vertical face of a large boulder over- looking Lung Ha Wan, a small bay east of the Clear Water Bay peninsula. It was discovered in 1978 by hikers and first reported in a Chinese newspaper, but news of the discovery did not reach the Antiquities and Monuments. Office until 1980. It has a pattern of flowing lines with some zoomorphic features resembling those of the Big Wave Bay and Po Toi Island carvings. An occasional "eye" pattern is clearly visible. The carving has so extensively suffered from weathering that some doubt has been expressed whether the cuts are the freakish result of natural erosion or deliberately made by man.

リ

Pl. 39, Rock carving at Shek Pik, Lantau

Island.

Pl. 40, Rock carving on Cheung Chau.

Pl. 41, Rock carving on Po Toi Island.

Wong Chuk Hang 黃竹坑

Pl. 45

Map 29

Tung Lung

東龍

Pl. 46

Map 30

The "Games-boards' Pls. 47 & 48

Though the carvings at Wong Chuk Hang were known to the villagers for some years, the Antiquities and Monuments Office was not told about them until 1983, when a passing reference was made to them. by local residents during a meeting with district officials. The carvings comprise three main groups located on one flat vertical rock face at the side of a watercourse in the village of Wong Chuk Hang on the south side of Hong Kong Island.

They show a close resemblance to the others, especially those on Cheung Chau and on Po Toi Island, featuring the same flowing spiral designs and the zoomorphic "animal faces". However, the Wong Chuk Hang carvings are located about 1.5 kilometres distance from the shore, and it is unlikely. that they were ever close to the sea, even allowing for their antiquity and for changes in topography.

The carvings are especially good and well worth a visit, though access to the rock is at present difficult and unsafe, lying as it does across a maze of squatter huts.

The Tung Lung carving is on the northern coast of Tung Lung Island overlooking Tai Miu Wan or Joss House Bay. Of the known rock carvings. it alone is recorded in the local Chinese gazetteer, and that from the early date of 1819. This record and the different design together may be taken. to imply that the carving is different in origin from the others and of more. recent times.

In design it shows complicated and tortuous lines, described perhaps fancifully by local people as representing a dragon. But in China the dragon is a royal emblem, and there is a strong local tradition that the last two boy- emperors of the Sung Dynasty visited the area in their flight south from the invading Mongol forces (p. 15).

A carving which appears on a small boulder high up above the reservoir at Shek Pik, designated the "Upper Shek Pik Carving" to distinguish it from the carving at Shek Pik described earlier in this chapter, has been known for some considerable time. This upper carving shows two "grid" designs resembling games-boards. Similar carvings have been observed recently in Tung Chung on Lantau Island, in Ting Kok village, and on Hoi Ha beach. They all comprise two basic patterns: a simple square grid, and concentric squares with radiating lines (Fig. 3; and Pls. 47 & 48). Both strongly suggest games-boards. The latter is frequently seen in local parks in a game called saam gei (E), played on a patterned square scratched in the ground or on a bench. Interestingly, the same pattern has been in use in England during the last four centuries, as the board for the game of "nine men's morris".

Fig. 3, (a) for the game of "luk tsz gei"

(六子棋 )

(b) for the game of "saam gei"

( 三棋 )

(b)

(a)

55_

Pl. 42, Rock carving at Big Wave Bay,

Hong Kong Island.

Sung Dynası

宋朝

PL. 49

Map 31

Sung Wong Toi

PL. 50

Map 32

In Ting Kok village, where both patterns are to be seen, the villagers say that the games-boards were for playing popular games about 80 years ago.

It is unlikely that they are as old or hold the same arcane meanings as other rock carvings described above. By their inclusion here with the others, the reader is made aware of their existence, and it is probable that more of them will be found.

Rock Inscriptions

One of the most remarkable of the historical relics in Hong Kong is an inscription of 108 characters carved on a large boulder behind the Tin Hau Temple on the north shore of Tai Miu Wan (Joss House Bay). The Chinese date in the inscription corresponds to 1274 AD in the Southern Sung dynasty.

Skilfully carved in a style consistent with the date, each of its nine vertical columns comprises 12 characters. With the exception of a few ideograms partially obliterated by erosion, the whole inscription is well preserved and easily discerned, though its ancient literary style may make interpretation difficult. A plaque offers a paraphrase in modern Chinese and a translation into English.

The inscription refers to a visit of one Yen 1-chang, an officer directing salt production in the locality. It also speaks of the constructing of a pagoda at Nam T'ang, which is now known as Tung Lung Island, and of the occasional renovation of two temples then located to the north and the south of the Bay, of which the former is the Tin Hau Temple.

The inscription is of particular historical interest, as it is the oldest known inscription in Hong Kong with a precise date. From it we learn that in Sung times the government controlled salt production and that there was a temple on Tung Lung Island some seven centuries ago, though where we do not know (the small temple near the pier is of recent construction).

The inscription boulder may be approached either by land along a new road skirting Clear Water Bay or by sea by way of a new pier below the Tin Hau Temple. Steps past the Temple lead to the inscription.

The Sung Wong Toi inscription was for many years an important historic relic, much esteemed and protected by the local population. The boulder which carries its three large surviving characters" E

宋王臺 once stood prominently on the top of a hill above Kowloon Bay.

During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong in 1942-45, this boulder became dislodged while the hill was being levelled for an extension to Kai Tak airport. The part of the boulder displaying the three characters, about one-third of its original size, survived the blasting operations and after the war it was rescued and placed in a small park especially constructed for it close to the original site.

The inscription has been interpreted as "Terrace of the Sung King", by local tradition connected with the temporary sojourn in the area of the two boy-emperors referred to on p. 15. Smaller inscriptions on the same stone but of little importance were added at a later time.

Local historians believe that the characters were cut during the Yuan dynasty long after the Sung dynasty had fallen and after the Imperial visits.

Pl. 43, Rock carving on Kau Sai Chau.

宋王臺

Pl. 44, Rock carving at Lung Ha Wan,

Clear Water Bay peninsula.

Pl. 45, Rock carvings at Wong Chuk Hang,

Hong Kong Island.

Pl. 46, Rock carving on Tung Lung Island; someone had outlined the carving with an aluminium paint.

Pl. 47, "Upper Shek Pik Carving" on

Lantau Island.

555

"Crane" and "Goose"

鶴,鵝

Pl. 51

Map 33

"Ko Shan Dai Yat" 高山第一

PL. 52

Map 34

Middlesex Regiment

Pl. 53

Map 35

They note that the ideogram E meaning "king" is used in the inscription and not meaning "emperor" The choice of a lower-ranking title may have been intentional if in fact the inscription was engraved in the Yuan dynasty, which had toppled the Sungs. When the Hong Kong Government gave the name Sung Wong Toi Road to the street that passes near the park, the ideogram meaning "emperor" was used, and thus what is believed to have been the correct title of the royal boys was restored after a degradation lasting several centuries.

Behind the Temple in Kowloon City dedicated to Hau Wong, there were once two ideograms cut into a rock (hok) meaning the crane- bird and (ngok) the character for goose. According to local tradition, these two characters were cut by the famed scholar Cheung Sau-yan in the 13th and 14th year of the Emperor Kuang Hsü or 1888-89, each in a single movement without once lifting his hand. Later, the poet Lai Hing-tong added couplets to both sides of each of the characters. Both characters comprise many strokes and must have been chosen for their complexity, to demonstrate a remarkable feat of calligraphy.

The part of the rock that bore the ngok ideogram was destroyed during the Second World War. After the war a replica of that character and its couplets was set in the Temple garden. The original hok ideogram remains in place, a triumph of a master's craft.

These four characters are cut on a rock boulder in the grounds of Tsing Shan Sin Yuan, the Castle Peak Monastery in Tuen Mun. The in- scription, literally translated as "high mountain number one, appears to extol the beauty and special holiness of the Peak. Castle Peak was proclaimed a Sacred Mountain in an Imperial Decree of 969 AD, but has been associated with Buddhist traditions since the 5th century AD.

Local tradition attributes the carving to the hand of the famous Confucian scholar and poet of the Tang dynasty, Han Yu, who was believed to have admired the great Peak on a visit to Tuen Mun during his exile to the southern provinces in the 9th century. A modified theory holds that the inscription, while a quotation from Han Yu, was carved not by him but in his memory some 200 years later by one of the founders of the Tang clan. There is no doubt that the inscription is ancient and of the greatest historical interest.

An inscription of an entirely different genus and era is cut on a small boulder at the junction of Harlech and Hatton Roads on the Peak, Hong Kong Island. The inscription reads :—

25th Batt Middlesex Regt. "Tyndareus" Feb. 6th 1917

The spot is a favourite one among strollers, and many who pass by the inscription must ponder its meaning. The British Middlesex Regiment was itself disbanded after the Second World War, but the Middlesex Asso- ciation provided some details, from which an account of the event was set

Pl. 48, Games-boards carvings at Ting Kok

village, North District.

Pl. 49, Sung-dynasty inscription on a rock boulder at Tai Miu Wan.

Pl. 50, "Sung Wong Toi"

(a) Original boulder in 1930.✦

(b) Portion of the boulder at present resting

in the garden.

遺

out in 1981 on a plaque fixed to the boulder, as follows :-

This stone memorial was erected by Lieutenant Colonel John Ward, Commanding Officer, in memory of those men of the 25th Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment, who died when the troopship TYNDAREUS struck a German mine off Cape Agulhas, South Africa, on 6th February 1917. The Battalion had embarked in England and were en route for Hong Kong to carry out garrison duties. There is no doubt that the exemplary conduct of all ranks after the accident contributed in considerable measure to the Master's ability to prevent his ship from sinking with further loss of life.

The 1st Battalion of the Regiment subsequently fought with distinction during the defence of Hong Kong - December 1941.

City of Victoria

Pl. 54

Map 36

Stones

Stones having historical connections are fascinating relics which often tell us a great deal about a place such as its old boundaries, important events, local customs, or old roads which may have long since disappeared. Hong Kong has a variety of stones of this kind, many of which are worth at least a quick look.

Boundary Stones

During the last century and early in this, the limits of the City of Victoria on Hong Kong Island were defined by law and reinforced by six identical stones placed along its boundary. All six still exist, five in the original position and one (stone A on the map) later moved slightly for better display. They are cut from granite, pointed on top, and stand between Im and 1.2m high above the ground. They carry the incised inscription :-

City of Victoria 1903

As the city expanded, its boundary and so the stones marking has lost legal significance. The stones are sited as follows - Stone A: In the playground on the waterfront, north of Victoria Road Stone B: On the west pavement of Wong Nai Chung Road opposite St.

Paul's Primary School

Stone C At the east end of Bowen Road about 1/2Km from its junction

with Stubbs Road

Stone D: On the Old Peak Road about 40m from its junction with Tregunter

Path

Stone E: On Hatton Road about 400m from its start at Kotewall Road Stone F: On the east pavement of Pok Fu Lam Road, close to lamp-post

No. 3987

SANAZ

Pl. 51, Characters "Hok" and "Ngok"

carved on a rock in Kowloon City; "Hok" is still in situ, but "Ngok" exists as replica in the garden of the temple.

(a) "Hok" ➡

(b) "Ngok".

Pl. 52. "Ko Shan Dai Yat" characters in Castle Peak Monastery, Tuen Mun.

Li Family Taxation Stones

Pls. 55 & 56

Map 37

In 1955 a stone marker bearing Chinese characters was discovered

at Mui Wo (Silver Mine Bay) on Lantau Island. The stone, lying loose on the ground, had clearly been displaced from its original position. On its flat top were the two characters meaning "The House of Li", followed

by four carved vertically on each of its four sides, £ERII), which may be translated as "taxable mountain-land”.

Some years later an identical stone, apparently in situ in Man Kok Tsui, a locality on the northern tip of Silver Mine Bay, was recorded by the Antiquities and Monuments Office on information supplied by Dr J.W. Hayes. Scholars who have studied the stones agree that they were erected to mark the boundaries of land granted by the Sung Emperor Ta Tsung to a Cantonese official named Li Mao-ying in about 1265 A.D. It is likely that more than two stones were originally erected, in which case more may yet be found.

The Mui Wo stone is now displayed in a small rest-garden on the new ferry concourse at Mui Wo. The Man Kok Tsui stone is stored in the Hong Kong Museum of History and may eventually be replaced on its original site.

Anglo-Chir Boundary Stones

Pl. 57

Map 38

Lantau Island Boundary Stones

Pl. 58

Map 39

There are eight of these all placed along Chung Ying Street in Sha Tau Kok village, which serves as the boundary between the Chinese side on the east and the British on the west.

The stones are of granite, rectangular in cross-section, and wider at the base. Erected when the New Territories were leased to Britain, each stone on the British side carries an inscription in English :-

Anglo-Chinese Boundary

1899

and the number of the stone. The side facing the Chinese side bears the same inscription in Chinese with the date expressed as the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Kuang Hsü. The stones are still legal frontier markers. Of the eight, the most accessible for viewing is stone No. 5, but the visitor is reminded that the whole of Sha Tau Kok village is in the closed Frontier Area and a special permit for a visit is required.

Two identical stones on the north and south shores of Lantau Island mark the points at which the sea boundary with China touches the Island. The stones are granite, pointed on top, and standing on stone bases. A carved inscription on one of the faces of each base states that the stones were fixed in position by Lieutenant-Commander EM. Leake, R.N. and officers of H.M.S. "Bramble" in 1902 in the longitude of 113°52'0". The opposite face bears a corresponding inscription in Chinese.

Both stones are marked as obelisks on the ordnance maps. Though not of great historical importance, the stones hold some interest and are worth a visit, as they are located in picturesque surroundings.

The text differs slightly on the two stones. The full English text on the North stone is as follows :—

On the south face of the base:

Pl. 53, "Middlesex Regiment" Rock on the

Peak, Hong Kong Island.

Pl. 54, City of Victoria Boundary Stone on Wong Nai Chung Road, Hong Kong Island (Stone B).

Pl. 55, Li Family Taxation Stone in situ at

Man Kok Tsui, Lantau Island (this stone has been removed to the Hong Kong Museum of History).

CIT

BOUNDARY 1903

1902

This stone is in longitude 113°52′0′′E fixed by Lieut. and ComdTM FM. Leake, R.N. and the officers of H.M.S. "Bramble”.

From here the boundary line extends due North until

it meets the parallel of the Southern extremity on the Nam-Tau Peninsula. Southward the boundary follows the western shore of Lantau Island.

On the west face of the base:

This stone is placed 380 feet above H.W. mark for the purpose of protecting it from possible inroads of the sea

Cheung Chau boundary Stones

PL. 59

Map 40

Victoria Road and Victoria Hospital

Pls. 60 & 61

Maps 41 & 42

An interesting set of boundary stones may be seen on Cheung Chau. Originally numbering 15, they were fixed in place along the boundary separating the southern peak area from the northern portion of the Island containing the village. The stones are of well-dressed granite with pointed tops, and bear an inscription in English only :-

Ordce No. 14 1919

The number of the stone is carved above the inscription. Ordinance No. 14 referred to a boundary south of which permission to reside had to be obtained from the Government. This Ordinance, no longer in force, was clearly designed to limit residence in the southern part of the Island, considered to be a better-class residential area than the rest of the island. Old residents of the Island are convinced that the Ordinance was introduced to keep Chinese out of the peak area of the Island.

Of the original 15, six stones have been recorded and more may still hidden in the thick undergrowth. One of the easiest to see is No. 13, in the grounds of House No. 1A on Cheung Chau Peak Road.

Foundation Stones

On the 22nd of June 1897, Hong Kong celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign, together with the rest of the British Empire. Two foundation stones were laid on that day to mark starts of two projects, both bearing Her Majesty's name. One was placed at the western end of Hong Kong Island, at what would become the start of the new Victoria Road; a similar one is located where a former Victoria Hospital for Women and Children once stood on Barker Road.

The Victoria Road stone, forgotten over the years, was re-discovered in 1977 in a sadly neglected state. Since renovated, it has been moved to a new and more suitable site on Victoria Road at its junction with Mount Davis Road. A re-dedication ceremony was held on the 22nd of December 1977, which also marked the end of celebrations held in honour of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee.

The Victoria Hospital stone still stands on its original site, though

Pl. 56, Li Family Taxation Stone from Mui Wo, re-erected for display at Mui Wo ferry pier concourse.

Pl. 57, Anglo-Chinese Boundary Stone

No. 5, Sha Tau Kok Village.

Pl. 58, Lantau Island Boundary Stone; the

North stone overlooking Tai O.

BOUNDARY FRONT

THE CANADA

Duke of Connaught

PL. 66

Map 43

"Kwan Tai Lo"

絫帶路

Pl. 62

Map 44

Memorial Stones on Basalt Island

PL. 63

Map 45

the hospital itself was demolished many years ago and has been succeeded by another building.

This stone was laid on the 2nd of April 1890 by the Duke of Connaught, who was then visiting Hong Kong, and marked the start of work on a major waterfront reclamation on Hong Kong Island. Originally set close to the fence of the Hong Kong Cricket Club Pavilion (then in the Central District), it was dismantled in 1975, stored when the Club moved to its new location, and recently relocated close to its original site in the new Chater Garden.

Milestones

Shortly after Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain in 1842, part of the British garrison in Hong Kong was stationed at Stanley, at that time. linked to the City of Victoria only by a horse-path. This path was duly upgraded into a road, probably between 1845 and 1850, following roughly the present Pok Fu Lam and Wong Chuk Hang Roads then swinging north. to Wong Nai Chung Gap and reaching Stanley by way of the Tai Tam area. Old maps of Hong Kong Island show milestones erected along this road, and most were thought to have been lost. Recently, however, three came to light. One was discovered in 1966 embedded in the wall of a squatter hut near Kellett Bay (probably not in its original position), on the south coast of Hong Kong Island. Its existence seems to have been forgotten until 1979, when it was re-discovered and extracted from the wall of the hut. The second was discovered in 1981 in situ close to Tai Tam Road north of Turtle Cove, and had to be removed in the course of construction work in the area. The third stands in its original place in the Tai Tam Reservoir area.

These stones are the earliest milestones from the British period and are therefore of considerable historical interest. They are large granite stones, triangular in cross-section, the dressed portion measuring 1.5m in height above the ground. Two of the faces of each carry the distances one way to Stanley and the other to Victoria, in English and Chinese, in miles and lei (E) respectively. The lei is a Chinese measure of approximately 0.3 of a mile. The Chinese name on the stone, Kwan Tai Lo (K) is puzzling and has caused much speculation and several theories. One has it that this was the Chinese name for Hong Kong Island used during the Ming and early Ch'ing dynasties; another claims that the name refers to a villager called Chan Kwan () who showed the British the path through Pok Fu Lam into Victoria City, with a variant version that it was a boat girl by the name of Kwan (# ).

Others

This remote, uninhabited island in Hong Kong waters was once the scene of a tragic event now marked on its northern part by two memorial stones. On the 21st of December 1948 a Chinese National Airline plane carrying 26 passengers and seven crew from Shanghai to Hong Kong crashed in thick fog on Basalt Island, killing all on board. Among its passengers were Paul Yung, a well-known Hong Kong industrialist, and Quentin Roosevelt, grandson of the former American President Theodore. The two stones were erected in their memories on the site of the crash.

Pl. 59, Cheung Chau Boundary Stone

No. 6.

Pl. 60, Victoria Road Foundation Stone in

its new location on Victoria Road

Pl. 61, Victoria Hospital Foundation Stone

on Barker Road, Hong Kong Island.

VICTORIA HOSPITAL

„FOR WOMEN ANO CHU DREN

FLT. SIR WILLIAM ROGIRS

KOM

QUEEN VICTORIA

The "Rain Prayer" Stone

Pl. 64

Map 46

Tai Tam Obelisks

Pl. 65

Map 47

The Roosevelt stone is a single plaque set in granite with inscriptions on the two faces in English and Chinese. About 100m away the memorial to Paul Yung is much more elaborate; it consists of a large flat horizontal plaque with a long inscription in English and Chinese, a tall cylindrical stone pillar, and a stone elephant of unclear significance.

This interesting stone is located on Top Hill in Sheung Shui Wah Shan in the New Territories. It is a flat, dressed granite slab measuring 60cm high and 32cm wide, with Chinese inscriptions carved on both faces, both sides, and top. The inscriptions state that it was erected in 1839 during the reign of Emperor Tao Kuang, and dedicated to the god of "rain and cloud". It is reputed to have been placed by the Liu clan during a particularly dry season which threatened the crops. Since then, special ceremonies have from time to time been conducted near the stone, with prayers for rain.

The stone can be reached by way of a very narrow road branching off Ping Che Road; a visitor by car is advised to travel in a small one.

Two large obelisks, each nearly 10m high, one north and one south of Tai Tam Bay on Hong Kong Island, may be mistakenly taken for stones commemorating an historical event, and are included here but briefly for that reason. They were in fact fixed in position by the Royal Navy at about the turn of the century, as navigational aids. They are "in line" - that is, they are on the same longitude and exactly one nautical mile apart.

PL. 62, "Kwan Tai Lo" Milestone at Tai

Tam Reservoir.

Pl. 63, Memorial Stones on Basalt Island.

In the foreground the stone to Quentin Roosevelt; in the distance on the left can be seen the column to Paul Yung.

Pl. 64, The "Rain Prayer" Stone on Top

Hill in Sheung Shui.

Pl. 65, The north Tai Tam obelisk.

Flagstaff House

Pl. 67 Map 48

St. John's Cathedral

Pl. 68 Map 48

Bishop's House

PL. 69

Map 50

CHAPTER 5

WESTERN-STYLE BUILDINGS

西式建築

Western-style buildings in the territory date from 1843, when Hong Kong Island became a British colony. The number of such buildings of historical interest and architectural merit has rapidly diminished; in the wake of Hong Kong's vast re-development programme during the post-war years many have been demolished and replaced by new. Among them were some of the best examples of early British Hong Kong. The process has not yet been halted, and some buildings described here may soon suffer the same fate.

This building, thought to have been designed by M. Bruce, whose fine drawings of early Hong Kong are well known, was built by the Royal Engineers between 1844 and 1846 as the residence of the senior military officer in charge of the local garrison; it continued to be so used, even during the Japanese Occupation of 1942-45, when it was occupied by the Japanese admiral, until it was handed over to the Government in 1979. Its first occupant was Major-General G.C. D'Aguilar, after whom a street in Central District and a large promontory on Hong Kong Island are named.

It is the oldest remaining Colonial-style building in Hong Kong, and its garden setting in the old Victoria Barracks area enhances the elegance of its style.

In 1982-83 it was expertly restored to its original condition and in the following year opened to the public as a museum for a large private collection of Chinese tea-ware.

Another of the oldest Western buildings in Hong Kong, the Anglican Cathedral was completed and consecrated in 1849 as the founding church of the newly-created diocese of Victoria. A new choir added in 1872 completed its layout as it appears to-day. Its design is Gothic, with a bell-tower above its main entrance. The plan is cruciform with central nave and side galleries. The building suffered badly during the Japanese Occupation, and after the Second World War was extensively re-built and restored, in particular its high altar, the seats in the chancel, the lavishly carved teak pews, and the stained glass windows; a new organ was erected in the chancel. For further reading, reference may be made to the guide book published in 1976 by the Cathedral office.

Sited in Lower Albert Road on Hong Kong Island, the Bishop's House was built in 1851. Since in the early years, the Bishop usually assumed the duties also of Warden of St. Paul's College, it accommodated both him and the school, which operated under the patronage of the Anglican Church. The earlier part of the building was completed in 1848 for the Anglican school. From about 1871 the House was recognised as the Bishop's official residence.

The design and proportions of the House are simple but dignified: it stands on granite foundations with its north-west corner graced by a

Pl. 66, Duke of Connaught Foundation

Stone.

Pl. 67, The Flagstaff House in c. 1897.

Pl. 68, St. John's Cathedral and Beacons

field House (the future Victoria District Court) in c. 1890,

Government House

PL 70 Map 50

Victoria District Curt

PL. 68

Map 48

Stanley Police Station

Pl. 71 Map 49

handsome, three-storey, octagonal tower. The basement has a fine arched. gateway above which are carved the three Chinese characters for "protestant" (#). While its exterior facade is still largely the original, its interior has been totally altered and modernized.

Also in upper Albert Road is the official residence of the Governor of Hong Kong. Government House has undergone several major changes during its existence and today bears little or no resemblance to its original form. The plans of the building were prepared in 1851 by S. St.G. Cleverly, the Surveyor-General, and its construction completed in 1855, by which time Hong Kong had its fourth Governor, Sir John Bowring, the poet and writer of hymns.

Of the alterations the two most radical were in 1900-2, and during the Japanese Occupation of 1942-45. In the latter a tower was added and parts of the building given Oriental features.

Though Government House is in this way the result of an odd mixture of architectural features, its general appearance is imposing and elegant. As the residence of the Sovereign's representative in Hong Kong for over a hundred years, its occupants and guests have bestowed upon it a rich history.

The attractive, red-brick building standing at the top of Battery Path in central Hong Kong offers a varied history. Though a building on this site appears on maps as early as 1848 and 1853, it is not clear if it has any connection with the existing structure. Between 1868 and 1877 the building was the subject of a Crown Lease; and in 1880 it was leased to R.E. Belilios, a well-known Hong Kong philanthropist. Since at this period the general appearance of the building on the same site was much the same as at present, it may be assumed that it was essentially the same building. In about 1890 the house took the name Beaconsfield, apparently as a sign of Belilios's admiration for Disraeli. In 1915 it was sold to the French Mission (Mission Etrangères), and then in 1917 extensively re-built with a chapel added to the north-west corner.

Following the contraction of the Mission's operations in China after the Communist take-over (see also the section on University Hall below), the building was sold in 1953 to the Hong Kong Government for use as the headquarters of the Education Department, and from 1965 as the Victoria District Court. Between 1980 and 1983 it was temporarily occupied by the Supreme Court.

It is a three-storey building with a basement, constructed in red brick and granite and possessing many attractive architectural features. Its past as a building was also varied. After several adaptations at different times. it assumed more or less its present form in about 1870. The name Beaconsfield was dropped when the house was sold to the French Mission, and later bestowed upon a relatively recent building now standing on Queen's Road immediately below it.

This building can be found on the main road in Stanley Village, at the narrowest part of the Stanley peninsula. At first glance it appears to be an undistinguished two-storey building apparently erected early this century, and quite unlike the earlier arched Colonial structures of generous

Pl. 69, Bishop's House on Lower Albert

Road in 1881.

Pl. 70, Government House on Upper

Albert Road in c. 1870.

Pl. 71, The Former Stanley Police Station.

University Hall

PL. 72 Map 51

The Roman Catholic Cathedral

PL. 73 Map 50

The Marine Police

Headquarters and Round House

Pl. 74 Map 52

proportions. It was in fact built in 1859 and is the oldest surviving police station building in Hong Kong. During its useful service of more than a century it has earned a warm place in the hearts of the local residents of Stanley and is said to have been one of the last pockets of resistance against the Japanese at the end of December 1941. It is no longer in use as a police station, having been vacated in 1974. The new police station is across the road.

It is now a gazetted historical building, in which several Government agencies are accommodated.

University Hall stands on a prominent hill above Pok Fu Lam Road, close to Pok Fu Lam Reservoir on Hong Kong Island. It is a residential hall for Hong Kong University students. Few of Hong Kong's historical buildings can boast as chequered a history.

In its first guise in the 1860s, it was Douglas Castle, a smallish residential mansion built for Douglas Lapraik, a rich, eccentric Scottish ship- owner. Unconventional in style, it earned its ostentatious name from its three still-surviving turreted towers.

The Castle was sold in 1894 by the Lapraik family to the French Mission, by whom it was extensively re-built, enlarged by the addition of a chapel with crypt and a complete wing (since demolished) for use as a publishing house, and renamed Nazareth.

In 1953, at much the same time as the Mission sold its town head- quarters (see Victoria District Court above), the University of Hong Kong purchased Nazareth. With further alterations it was converted for student residence and is now known as University Hall. The chapel and the elegant crypt beneath, which serve students respectively as dining hall and games room, comprise the finest part of the complex.

With such diversity of functions and so many alterations, there can be little wonder that the final product has been described as a "splendid anachronism", for it conforms to no one style, displaying Gothic, Tudor, ecclesiastical and Colonial features, all jostling for pre-eminence in this remarkable building.

It is understood that the first Roman Catholic church on Hong Kong Island was built in 1842 on Wellington Street and badly damaged by fire in 1859. The Cathedral itself was built between 1883 and 1888 as the centre of Catholic worship in Hong Kong, and stands on a hill above Caine Road. It was badly damaged during the Second World War and extensively renovated shortly after its end.

Built in the standard cruciform shape, it is a good example of continental Gothic style. The front entrance has three archways with a floral design. Architecturally the building is undistinguished, though there are some excellent internal features, such as the fine altars.

Built in 1884 for the headquarters of the Water Police — later named the Marine Police - the building stands on a well-wooded hill close to the Star Ferry pier in Kowloon.

It is of fine construction, with arched verandahs on the ground floor and a colonnade above. Originally two storeys high, a third was added to the building in the early 1920s. Interior alteration has been made necessary

Pl. 72, Douglas Castle in c. 1880; greatly changed, it eventually became University Hall, a hostel for students of the Hong Kong University.

Pl. 73, The Roman Catholic Cathedral on

Caine Road in c. 1897.

Pl. 74, The Marine Police Headquarters in

1950.

ויריד

over the years; the exterior appearance remains essentially unchanged, however, and provides a good example of Victorian Colonial architecture.

The time-ball signal-tower built at the same time and in use up to 1907 still stands at the south end of the ground (see The Signal Tower below). This tower was renovated in 1981, is now called the Round House, and contains a small maritime museum. Visitors to the main building are advised also to visit the Round House.

The Royal Observatory

PL. 75

Map 53

Western Market: North Block

PL.76 Map 54

Signal Tower

PL. 77 Map 53

The methodical study of meteorology and weather observation started in 1884 with the building of the Observatory on a hill in Kowloon, off the present Nathan Road,

The building is a rectangular, two-storey brick structure in the Colonial style, with arched windows and long verandahs. The essential style of the building has remained close to the original, though its expanding functions and new scientific demands have brought many alterations and additions. The intensive development that has taken place in recent years round the Observatory somewhat obscures the fact that once its hill dominated the surrounding flat ground. But inside the grounds nothing has altered the wooded charm of the Observatory hillside, standing in the heart of modern Kowloon's city blocks.

The Royal Observatory has played a vital role in the development of Hong Kong as one of the key seaports of South Asia and contributed - consistently valuable data for the observation of coastal meteorological conditions. These services were specially recognized in its centenary year of 1984 by the issue of a commemorative stamp.

The Western Market on Hong Kong Island consisted originally of the two separated south and north blocks. They were constructed in the same style but at different times and on different streets. The South Block was built in 1858 and demolished in 1980. The remaining North Block, smaller and more compact than was the South, was built in 1906. Located between Des Voeux Road Central and Connaught Road Central, its north facade faces the waterfront. It has walls of red brick on a granite base, and a large and handsome granite arch over its main entrance. It stands prominently among the surrounding high-rise modern structures as a ́small building of fine quality and style.

Though markers may not be as historically inspiring as other buildings, they are nonetheless important since they offer insights into the daily life of ordinary people.

This familiar landmark, built in 1907 to accommodate a time-ball apparatus, stands on a rocky hill in Kowloon known as Blackhead Point. Before 1907 the apparatus was housed in a similar tower in the grounds of the Marine Police Headquarters above. A time signal was given daily at 1 pm by the dropping of a large hollow copper ball suspended from the top of the Tower. The chronometers of ships at anchor in the harbour were checked against this time-ball manoeuvre until 1933, when it was replaced by radio signals.

The Tower is a handsome three-storey, red-brick structure surmounted by a dome suggestive of an astronomical observatory; though part of the

Pl. 75, The Royal Observatory Building.

Pl. 76, Western Market: the North Block.

Pl. 77, Signal Tower on Blackhead Point in 1910. The signal ball is at the

bottom of the mast; the fourth storey

and the dome have not yet been added.

FIN

*WESTERN MARKET

District Office North

Pl. 78

Map $5

Island House

PL. 79

Map 55

Supreme Court Building

PL. 80

Map 48

Royal Observatory complex, it has never been used for astronomical purposes, but a plan recently mooted would convert it into an astronomical observatory as part of the nearby Space Museum project.

Originally 13 m high, the tower was increased in height in 1927 with the addition of a fourth storey and a dome of 5 m, so that the time-ball signals might be visible from a greater distance.

When the New Territories were leased to Britain in 1898, the first offices of the new administration required in consequence, were provided in a few mat-sheds hastily erected in April the following year on a hill above Tai Po village. These were later destroyed in a fire and the present building was erected in about 1907 on the same site.

The building is a Colonial-style structure typical of the turn of the century. Simple in design, finished in red brick and with open verandahs, it must then have been a spacious haven of cool comfort. Later the working space was increased through extensive internal alterations, though externally the building has suffered little change.

One of the finest Western-style buildings in the New Territories, it reflects much of the development of the New Territories in the past years. It was last used as the District Office North and is now a gazetted historical building.

The Island House at Tai Po stands alone on an islet now connected to the mainland by a causeway. It was built in about 1905 as quarters for Government officers employed in the newly-installed administration of the New Territories.

This elegant two-storey residence has Colonial-style open verandahs and is constructed in red brick covered for the most part in white plaster. At the corner of its main wing a tower leads into a loft from which in the old days a beacon used to light the way for vessels using the Tolo Channel. From time to time in the 1930s a gentle game of croquet could be observed being played on the lawn, imparting to the House the sort of leisured Colonial air seldom encountered these days. Set in its charming garden, the Island House served until recently as the residence of the Secretary for the New Territories.

The Courts of Law began to operate immediately the Colony was established, remaining in temporary premises until the early 20th century. The foundation stone of the Supreme Court Building was laid in 1903, though the construction was not completed until 1912. The architect's plans were prepared by the London firm of Webb and Bell and its construction supervised by the local Public Works Department.

The result was the splendidly imposing building seen today facing Statue Square in the centre of the city on Hong Kong Island. The style of the building is said to belong to the "English School", but features the classical elements of tall granite lonic columns and an armoreal ballustrade. It is surmounted by a graceful dome and four pinnacles at each angle.

The building housed the Supreme Court until 1978, when the effects of constructing the new underground railway system made it temporarily unsafe and the Court was moved, first to Victoria District Court (p. 73)

Pl. 78, The District Office North in 1920.

It was then called "The Magistracy and Land Office, Tai Po".

Pl. 79, Island House in c. 1910.

Pl. 80, Supreme Court Building in 1930.

#30

Main Building: University of Hong Kong

PL. 81 Map 56

Clock Tower:

Tsim Sha Tsui PL. 82

Map 52

and finally in 1983 to the new building in the Victoria Barracks area. The original building, repaired and renovated, was re-opened in 1985 as the official home of the Legislative Council,

And so, after seven decades as the centre of the judicial life of Hong Kong, this imposing and dignified building now houses the Legislature. Flanked by Statue Square to the west, by the Cenotaph to the north and by Chater Garden to the east, it is indeed an ideal setting for our law-makers.

The earliest of the University's buildings, the Main Building is a conspicuous structure sited at mid-level on the north-west slopes of Hong Kong Island. It was a gift to the people of Hong Kong by a local Parsee businessman, Sir Hormusjee Mody. A local firm of architects, Leigh and Orange, designed and supervised the construction of the building, started in 1910 and completed in 1912. It is a large, imposing institutional building of brick and granite. Described as "Renaissance" in style, it presents external and internal colonnades on two floors supported by rows of large granite pillars, and is surmounted by a tall clock-tower and four turrets. Within there are open courtyards, two of which contain tall palm-trees planted in its first year of existence. An extension carried out in 1952 followed the original plan, lengthening the Great Hall (now the Loke Yew Hall) by about a half and adding sections at the rear and on each flank. The original style, though in a simplified form, has been continued to such good effect that it is difficult to detect the break. An extra floor was added to the rear part of this extension in 1958.

The Main Building is the centre of one of the oldest of the Far Eastern universities and one which is acknowledged as the foremost bearer of Western culture, science and learning to the youth of the Orient. Among the many thousands of its students have been graduates of great distinction who have left their marks not only on Hong Kong but in China, throughout South- East Asia, and elsewhere in the world. They include Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese Republic in 1912, who was an 1892 graduate of the Medical College which formed the nucleus of the University. The building is gazetted.

Dominating the Kowloon waterfront at Tsim Sha Tsui, this familiar edifice is all that remains of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Terminal Building, which was demolished in 1978 to make way for the construction of the new Cultural Centre started in 1985.

The terminal and its Clock Tower were built in 1916 and came to be regarded by many as a building of great public interest and historical importance. It was in effect the Eastern terminus of a railway link all the way to Europe, and for many years was the gateway to China for a multitude of travellers. The decision was taken to demolish it only after a long and bitter controversy between the Government and local conservationists. The Clock Tower, however, was spared as a compromise, and a decision on its future postponed for later assessement after the completion of the Cultural Centre.

For the first few years the Clock Tower stood without its clock; then, during 1920-21, an electrically-operated clock with a one-ton hour-bell was installed in the turret and started on the 22nd of March 1921.

The clock ceased to function during the Japanese occupation and was re-started on the 2nd of October 1945. The bell was disconnected from

Pl. 81, Main Building: University of Hong

Kong in 1930.

Pl. 82, Kowloon-Canton Railway Terminus

and the Clock Tower at Tsim Sha

Tsui in 1917; the clock has not yet been installed. Note the rickshaw

rank in the foreground.

Helena May Institute

PL.83

Map 48

Main Depot:

Dairy Farm Company

Pl. 84 Map 50

The Ohel Leah Synagogue

PL. 85 Map 57

the clock in 1950, though the dials continued to show the time and still

do even if not always the same time on all four faces. The bell is now an exhibit in the new Railway Terminal at Hung Hom.

The Helena May (as it is now called) was built in 1916 as a hostel for "working women of moderate means". The idea (and the quotation) originated with Helena, Lady May, the wife of Sir Henry May, then Governor of Hong Kong. Mr (later Sir) Elly Kadoorie and Mr Ho Kam-tong, both noted philanthropists, provided the funds.

It is a handsome three-storey building and its white main facade faces Garden Road on Hong Kong Island. Its architectural style may be described either as Late Victorian or Edwardian Classical Revival. The main entrance shows specially fine decorations.

In addition to accommodating single working women, the Helena May has contributed much to the cultural life of Hong Kong as a venue for concerts, lectures, and a variety of classes, and through its library.

This interesting building stands at the junction of Wyndham Street and Lower Albert Road on Hong Kong Island. Its architectural history has been complicated by many alterations and additions made from time to time. The Dairy Farm Company itself was established in 1886. Company records show that a central depot building was first built on the site in 1892; extensive reconstructions made later have completely changed its appearance. It is likely that the two blocks which today comprise the building, bearing the dates 1913 and 1917, are the result of total re-building.

The two blocks are of brick on stone foundation and stand on split levels following the steep slope of Wyndham Street. Its style is simple and Colonial. Though only of minor historical significance, it holds some interest as a reminder of old Hong Kong, of which not many are left. After 1981 it ceased to be used by the Dairy Farm Company and now houses the Foreign Correspondents' Club.

There has been a Jewish community in Hong Kong since the 1850s, a time when it was small and almost entirely Sephardic, originating from the Middle East. Religious services were held in a variety of temporary premises until 1901, when the present synagogue was built on Robinson Road, Hong Kong Island, as a permanent house of prayer. The cost of its construction was borne by Sir Jacob Sassoon, the head of a large banking company, in the memory of whose mother, Leah, the synagogue was dedicated.

A simple yet distinguished looking, two-storey building, it is said to have been designed in the Eastern-Sephardic style. Two towers standing at the sides of the front facade frame an imposing entrance hall. Within, in the centre of its hall stands a platform, from which the scriptures are read and prayers conducted. At the far end of this hall a second platform. leads to a curtained niche containing torah scrolls.

The upper storey consists of an inside balcony for women, since in orthodox synagogues men and women are separated during prayers. The furniture is made of heavy teak wood and is exquisitely carved.

Pl. 83, The Helena May on Garden Road.

Pl. 84, Dairy Farm Company: Main Depot on top of Wyndham Street

in c. 1908.

Pl. 85, The Ohel Leah Synagogue.

ዝነ

LOBIEE

The Wan Chai Post Office

Pl. 86

Map 58

The Peak Cafe

Bethanie

Victoria Barracks

This post office is sited in Queen's Road East on Hong Kong Island.

It was opened as such on the 1st of March 1915, after having been erected some months before. Architecturally undistinguished and of minor historical importance, it is nonetheless the oldest surviving post office in Hong Kong. It is an L-shaped building with pitched roof over one storey. Though small, it is well constructed and possesses an undeniable charm. Essentially a building in the Western style, its facade shows some Chinese decorative features.

On the Peak opposite the Peak Tram terminus, on Hong Kong Island, stands the Peak Cafe, a one-storey bungalow constructed about 1900 of granite blocks. There is evidence that it occupies the site of a shed used in the nineteenth century as a station for sedan-chair bearers.

This large, stone building on Pok Fu Lam Road on Hong Kong Island was built in 1875 for the French Fathers (Mission Etrangères) as a retreat for retired or sick missionaries. Extensively rebuilt in 1961, it is now used by the University of Hong Kong.

In an area to the east of Cotton Tree Drive on Hong Kong Island there stands a group of old-style buildings, originally about 20 of them, built as a barracks for the military forces between 1867 and 1910. The whole area, together with the buildings, reverted to the Government in 1979.

Pl. 86, Wan Chai Post Office.

555

WAN CHAI

POST OFFICE

Tung Chung Fort

東涌炮台

Pl. 87

Map 59

Tung Chung Battery

東涌小炮台

Pl. 88

Map 60

CHAPTER 6

FORTS 【炮台

The ruins of several old forts of Chinese and British origin exist: the territory. Chinese archives contain records of the South China coast defences as far back as the Ming dynasty, indicating that they were sit chiefly to protect areas from pirates, but also to control the foreign tradi ships that were appearing in local waters in increasing numbers. None the existing Chinese forts in Hong Kong, however, can be dated beyo the early years of the Ch'ing dynasty, early in the 17th century. The Brine forts were constructed as defence against enemy naval action during them. World Wars.

This Fort is a large walled enclosure measuring 60 in by 80 m, ar located about 1 km south of Tung Chung village on the northern she of Lantau Island. Its walls are constructed of large, well-dressed granite block Three arched gates are located to the east, to the west, and as a ma entrance to the north, each surmounted by a Chinese inscription. Abor each gate is a small superstructure, a feature common to Chinese walled cite A carved granite slab over the main entrance bears the date 1832, whic appears to be the date of construction. Local records show, however, the the plans were drawn up in 1817.

Its massive stone walls, ramparts and superstructure all point qu clearly to its military purpose. Its position on such low ground and sofr from the sea channel, however, make it doubtful if it had any strategic functio as a fort, and this is borne out by existing Chinese record, in which ite designated a “military administrative centre" exercising control over a numbe of coastline forts. Still, it has long been known as Tung Chung Fort and the name has been retained.

On top of the north wall are six cannon with Chinese inscription: two are dated 1843, two others 1805 and 1809; inscriptions on the remains two are illegible. There is, however, some doubt if the cannon belonge originally to the Fort.

Following the lease of the New Territories in 1898, this Fort was firs occupied as a police station and later used as classrooms for Wah Ying Colleg It now houses the local Rural Committee Office and the Public Primar School of Tung Chung. Some portions of the original buildings inside

enclosure have survived.

The remains of this Battery were discovered in 1980 lying close Tung Chung village and covered by dense undergrowth. They consist of L-shaped wall on a hill slope facing the sea near the Tung Chung ferry pie The Battery was one of the coastal fortifications described in the Chinese Gazetteer as being under the control of Tung Chung Fort. Other await discovery. The term "battery" is not entirely satisfactory, but is use: to distinguish it clearly from what has become known as Tung Chung For At the time of writing, the Battery had not been explored and the

abou are no clues of the date of its construction; it was probably built at

Pl. 87. Tung Chung Fort in 1938.

Pl. 88, Ruins of Tung Chung Battery, overlooking Tung Chung Bay.

Pl. 89, Fan Lau Fort in 1958.

די-

Fan Lau Fort

分流炮台

Pl. 89

Map 61

the end of the 18th or the beginning of the 19th century. It is for the

preser

fenced off while awaiting repair and restoration, after which it will be open

to the public.

The ruins of Fan Lau Fort, referred to in the Chinese Gazetteer Kai Yik Kok Fort, are located on the south-western tip of Lantau Island 70 m above sea level. The Fort overlooks an important strategic sea passe leading into the Pearl River Estuary and on to Canton.

Rectangular in shape, measuring 21 m by 46 m, its walls are be of semi-dressed stones, giving them extra strength, the southern being mi thicker than the other three. Its entrance gate is in the east wall.

Little is recorded about this Fort; it probably formed a part of the coastal defence chain built about the middle of the 17th century. The Chines Gazetteer refers neither to the year of its construction nor to that oft evacuation. British sources describe it as in ruins by 1841-42; in contradictio of this, however, Chinese sources provide evidence that it was manned unti 1898, the year the New Territories were leased.

The Fort has been recently repaired and partially restored. Whit remote and difficult to reach, it is well worth a visit.

Pl. 90, Tung Lung Fort 1979, before

partial repairs and restoration.

Tung Lung Fort

佛堂門炮台

Pl. 90

Map 62

Though the existence of a ruined fort on the northern promonter of Tung Lung Island was known for many years, little interest was show until 1979, when the Government Antiquities and Monuments Office clear: the dense vegetation surrounding it, to undertake repair and parti restoration. With the help of many volunteers this work was completed it 1982, and the Fort is now open to the public.

According to the Chinese Gazetteer it was built in the Ch'ing dynas in the reign of Emperor Kang Hsi (1662-1722 AD) with the purpose d suppressing pirates and those of the rebels who remained loyal to the precedin Ming dynasty. It is therein described as containing 15 guard-houses – ₫ which evidence has been revealed in excavation and manned by a detach ment of one officer with 25 men and eight cannon. Located on high ground it not only overlooks the narrow Fat Tong Mun passage, but could also har exercised control over trading vessels sailing into the sheltered waters of Hon Kong. The difficulty of keeping the Fort supplied and maintained on so remo an island caused its evacuation in 1810, after which it gradually fell into nut The fort is named Fat Tong Mun in the Chinese Gazetteer and in current Chinese usage.

It is rectangular in shape, measures 22.5 m by 33.5 m, and has single entrance, in its north wall, and an 8 metre-thick south wall. Like Fr Lau Fort, it is built of undressed stone cemented together with lime mort An unusual feature is a platform measuring 4 m by 15 m which has bee added against the east wall, probably to accommodate cannon (Fig.

Tung Lung Island is rugged and sparsely populated, and offer some of the most picturesque scenery to be found in Hong Kong: this an its interesting fort make a visit a rewarding experience. There is, howere no public ferry service to the Island; a small private local ferry or kai to ple to and from Shau Kei Wan, usually on weekends.

P. 91, Fort on Devil's Peak.

[

Devil's Peak Fort

PL 91 Map 63

Fig. 4, Plan of Tung Lung Fort.

There is a fort, built by the British, which stands on the top of Devil's Peak on Kowloon Peninsula. In its construction of stone and cement, advant age has been taken of the natural rock formation which the builders have incorporated into its design. Carved on a stone in one of the narrow recesses of the Fort, an inconspicuous inscription says that it was built by the 40th Company of Royal Engineers in 1914. This inscription was not discovered until 1983, when a group of volunteers was exploring the Fort

At the beginning of the Japanese invasion in 1941 the Fort was manned by Indian troops, but early in hostilities it was evacua:d, events having overtaken its defence usefulness.

East wall platform

South wall platform

Han Dynasty Tomb,

Lei Cheng Uk

李鄭屋漢-

Pl. 92

Map 64

Ping Mo Bridge 便母橋

Pl. 93

Scale 1:150

Map 12

CHAPTER 7

SOME OTHER STRUCTURES

K 其他建築

The ancient tomb discovered in Kowloon in 1955 is the clearest evidence of the presence of Han Chinese in the area (p. 14-15). The tomb was uncovered by workmen while levelling a hill slope to make a site for the Lei Cheng Uk housing estate. Professor ES. Drake of the University of Hong Kong and his team subsequently excavated the tomb.

It is built of thin bricks, and consists of four chambers arranged in cruciform, with a corbelled dome over the centre. Several ornamental designs adorn the bricks, as well as three stamped inscriptions. The inscriptions are: Great Fortune to Panyu (

), Peace to Pan-yu (Kit), and Master Hsueh ( A ). Pan-yu is the name of the county to which the area belonged during the Han dynasty, and Hsueh probably the name of the brick-maker.

Inside the tomb were found 58 pottery and bronze objects including cooking pots and food containers, models of houses and wells, and several fragmented bronze pieces, all reflecting the daily life of the Han people. The fact that no body was found is not unusual, since such tombs were sometimes constructed more by way of memorial than as graves for the dead.

Both the design of the tomb and the nature of its contents indicate

a date of Eastern Han (25-220 AD). In the last few decades, many similar tombs of the period have been unearthed in Kwangtung Province.

The tomb and its contents now form a branch of the Hong Kong Museum of History. The display should be visited as the tomb is one of the most significant of the ancient structures in Hong Kong,

Ping Mo Bridge is in Kam Tin near Shui Tau village. Its rudimentary components consist of two spans of long, rough-hewn granite slabs placed across a stream. Its story, on the other hand, as recorded on a tablet erected close by, teils of a moving act of filial piety. The slabs were set in place in the 49th year of K'ang Hsi (1710 AD) by Tang Tsuen-yuen of the Tang clan, so that his old mother might visit him and his family whenever she wished. He was not a rich man and it took him many determined years to save enough money to have the slabs cut and placed, thus earning the admiration of his neighbours recorded on the tablet for posterity.

Simple but ancient bridges like the Ping Mo are not uncommon in the territory; they appear in the course of some of the old paths that previously connected the market towns, and which the visitor will find interesting to explore.

Dragon Pottery Kiln

Pl. 94 Map 65

This remarkable kiln is located in Tuen Mun off the Castle Peak Road near the 191⁄2 mile-stone. It is still occasionally in use, operated by the Leung() family, which took it over in 1950. The kiln itself was constructed of bricks probably in about 1940, is vaulted, and has a length of about 20 m. Its long firing chamber climbs up the hill and so earned it the name of "dragon kiln". Two doors lead into the firing chamber for the

Pl. 92, Han Dynasty Tomb at Lei Cheng

Uk.

(a) The tomb shortly after its discovery on 9th August 1955 showing the entrance chamber exposed. This is a historical photograph depicting an event of immense importance in local history.✦

(b) Diagram showing the structure.

Pl. 93, Ping Mo Bridge.

!།

ון

Central Chamber

North Chamber

West Chamber

Entrance

East Chamber

Lime Kilns

Yi Long Wan 二浪灣

PL 95

Map 66

stacking of pots. The kiln is fired with wood. An experienced operator can gauge temperatures by watching the fire through holes in its roof. Firing temperatures normally range between 1200°C and 1300°C. As this kiln fires an especially large load of pottery, its use is infrequent. The products are village-type pots, cooking utensils, flower pots, and small oil saucers. The vessels are turned on a single electric wheel which takes moulds of different sizes.

The kiln is a rare working example of a type in early use in China, peculiar to Fukien Province and later adopted in Korea. As far as is known it is the sole example of this design in the territory and may possibly be unique in the whole region.

The remains of many ancient kilns for the making of lime are found in many locations in the Territory either singly or in clusters, and usually on the seashore. Most are cylindrical and made of fired clay. It was generally known that the making of lime was an ancient industry; recent researches carried out by the Hong Kong Archaeological Society have clarified their structure and confirmed their antiquity, some of them dating from the Tang dynasty (7th-10th century AD). There is evidence that they were once domed, though in none has the upper structure survived. Lime was produced by the burning of sea-shells and coral from the sea close by. The great abundance of these old kilns indicates that there was a flourishing lime industry in the area in early times, probably for a variety of purposes such as for the production of cementing material, the careening of the hulls of junks, and as an agent for decreasing the salinity in coastal soils for successful planting.

Perhaps the best of the sites where a concentration of lime kilns may be seen is the beach at Yi Long Wan in front of the new Sea Ranch estate on Lantau Island. Here three of the many kilns have been protected and are on display.

A different type of lime kiln has been referred to in connection with Sheung Yiu and Hoi Ha villages (p. 21 & 25). Such kilns appear to be much more recent in origin and are more solidly constructed, having the inner clay brick shell supported by an outer stone wall. It is not clear whether this type evolved from the more ancient type or there was a period during which lime production ceased in the area and then revived; the later kilns ceased operating as late as the 1950s.

Stone Circles:

• Lamma Island PL. 96 Map 67

•

Lantau Island

Pl. 97 Map 68

High on a western slope about 100 m above sea level in the north- west part of Lamma Island lies a stone circle, the origin and purpose of which remain unknown. It was first noted in 1956 by K.M.A. Barnett, then District Commissioner for the New Territories, and at first was thought to be an atypical Chinese grave. This idea, however, has not been substantiated, for the lack of any evidence of a burial. Some 28 unhewn stones form the circumference, which is actually an oval measuring 2.5 m by 3 m slightly constricted in its middle. It is usually concealed by tall grass and so difficult to detect.

A similar circle was found on Lantau Island in 1980, about 40 m above sea level on a hill slope overlooking a small bay at the south-western tip of the Island. Smaller than the Lamma circle, it consists of a number

三

Pl. 94, "Dragon" Pottery Kiln at Tuen

Mun.

Pl. 95, Remains of an ancient lime kiln at

Yi Long Wan, Lantau Island.

Pl. 96, Stone circle on Lamma Island

photographed from the air in 1958;

inset shows the position of the stones.

The Steps and Street Lamps on Duddell Street

Pl. 98 Map 50

The Ston Structure on Wan Tsai Peninsula

Map 69

The Tung Wah Smallpox Hospital Arch and the Foundation Stone

The Race-Course Cemetery and Fire Memorial

of unhewn stones also laid out in an oval; but as it is now protected by a fence it is much easier to find.

Both circles remain a mystery. They are clearly man-made and not a natural freak alignment of stones; local people have been unable to shed any light on their origins. In the absence of any other evidence one is tempted to speculate that they may have been ritualistic structures similar to those found in the West and firmly dated in the late Neolithic or early Bronze Ages. A pair of smaller stones, 1.5 m apart and set 5 m from the lower end of the Lamma Island Circle, seems to be part of its whole design. In their resemblance to "portal stones", they lend weight to the "ancient circle" hypothesis.

A small area of old Hong Kong in the Central District of the Island has been preserved as a monument. It consists of fine, broad granite steps leading down from Ice House Street to the end of Duddell Street below. It has not been possible to fix the date they were built, but from maps of old Hong Kong it can be safely assumed that it was between 1875 and 1889.

An added historical feature is the street lamps, two of which adorn the top and two the bottom of the steps. They are the sole surviving street lamps still employing gas. Installed about the beginning of this century, they are relics of an age when the lighting of all streets was done by gas. Originally lit manually, they are now operated automatically.

The steps and their lamps, both recently renovated, offer a brief moment of special pleasure in a corner of the old Hong Kong now largely vanished.

Stone ruins on Wan Tsai Peninsula in Tai Po are marked "Fort" on some maps and this has puzzled many hikers in the past. They consist of a partially collapsed stone wall shaped like a trapezoid, with a trench on one of its sides. Its inclusion here will serve to dispel further conjecture about its origin. It was a firing range built by the British before the First World War. The earth bank in front of the range has yielded a number of spent bullets, all dated before the First World War by a ballistics expert. Leading south from the range and along the crest of the peninsula are several stone platforms at regular intervals, which were used as fixed firing positions.

From Hoi Ha village a footpath leads to the range; the surrounding countryside is beautiful and unspoilt. After a visit to the village and its lime kilns (p. 25) a walk on to the range is recommended.

The Arch and the Foundation Stone are all that remain of the former Tung Wah Smallpox Hospital. The Hospital was built in 1910 in Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island and demolished after the Second World War. These remains were salvaged in 1978 and re-erected in a small garden near a bus terminus in Kennedy Town, a grim reminder of the days when severe epidemics ravaged Hong Kong.

A little-known compound situated on the hill above the Hong Kong Stadium at So Kon Po on Hong Kong Island contains a small cemetery and a memorial to the victims of a disastrous fire which occurred at the Race Course at Happy Valley on the 26th of February 1918, claiming the lives of more than 600 people.

DOLG

Pl. 97, Stone Circle on Lantau Island.

Pl. 98, Steps and Gas Lamps on Duddell

Street.

Appendix A

Elements of Some Local Place-Names

The following are some of the common elements which make up local place-names mentioned in the text:-

CHAU

( H ) — island, e.g. Cheung Chau, Kau Sai Chau CHEUNG ( § ) — long, e.g. Cheung Chau, Cheung Chun Yuen CHUNG (iĩm ) — stream or estuary, e.g. Pak Tam Chung, Wong Nai

(H)

Chung

( F ) — below or lower, e.g. Hoi Ha, Shan Ha Wai (海) — sea, e.g. Hoi Ha, Hoi Pa

( *I ) — red, e.g. Hung Lau (Red House), Hung Hom \{ # ) — horn, e.g. Mong Kok, Sha Tau Kok, Ting Kok

( § ) — temple (Taoist), e.g. Fan Sin Kung

(樓)

―

house/building, e.g. Hung Lau, Tsui Shing Lau

( ₺ ) — old, e.g. Lo Wai

( ¡§ ) — Wave(s), e.g. Yi Long Wan

(#) — dragon, e.g. Lung Ha Wan, Lung Yeuk Tau, Kau Lung

HA HOI HUNG KOK KUNG LAU

LONG LUNG

MUN

NAM

PAK

(白)

SAN

SAI

SHA

SHAN

SHEK

(Kowloon)

(F9) — gate/entrance, e.g. Tuen Mun, O Mun (Macau)

(A) — south, e.g. Nam Tau

()sea inlet/shelter, e.g. Pak Sha O, Tai O

(Ė) — white, e.g. Pak Sha O

(#) - new, e.g. San Tin, San Wai

(西) west, e.g. Sai Kung

()sand, e.g. Sha Tin, Sha Tau Kok, Pak Sha O (山) mountain, e.g. Shan Ha Wai, Lau Fau Shan ()stone/rock, e.g. Shek Kok Tsui, Shek Pik

SHEUNG ( _1: ) — above, upper, e.g. Sheung Shui, Sheung Yiu

SHUI

ΤΑΙ

(*) — water, e.g. Shui Tau, Sheung Shui

(水)

(大)

(*) — large, e.g. Tai Po, Tsang Tai Uk

( ) — head, e.g. Tsing Lung Tau, Shui Tau

( II ) — field, e.g. Kam Tin, San Tin

( * ) — hall, large building, e.g. Ming Yuen Tong, Ming.Tak Tong ()—hall (used usually in conjunction with “tong"ancestral (祠)

hall) e.g. Tsz Tong Tsuen, Tang Si Chung Tsz (††) — village (unwalled), e.g. Hang Mei Tsuen, Tsz Tong Tsuen (*) — east, e.g. Tung Chung, Tung Lung

TAU

rty.

TIN TONG

TSZ

TSUEN

TUNG

WAI

WAN

( ) — valley, e.g. Lai Chi Wo, Mui Wo

YIU

( * ) — kiln, e.g. Wun Yiu, Sheung Yiu

YUEN

(圓)

() house, e.g. Pun Uk, Law Uk

—

() - village (walled), e.g. Hakka Wai, Kat Hing Wai, Nai Wai

圍)

(#) - bay, anchorage, e.g. Tai Miu Wan, Chai Wan

() garden, e.g. So Lau Yuen, Cheung Chun Yuen

(Q) — circle, round, e.g. Yuen Tun

*In 1986 the membership of the Board was increased to 13, all unofficial.

Appendix B

Legislation and Conservation Policy

Legislation relating to antiquities is set out in the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance (Chapter 53 of the Laws of Hong Kong), which came into force on the 1st of January 1976. The main purpose of the Ordinance is to prescribe controls for the discovery and protection of antiquities in Hong Kong.

Briefly, the Ordinance :

(a) provides for one Authority for the whole of the Territory, and for an Antiquities Advisory Board of nine members, of whom four are official and five unofficial* The duty of the Authority is to submit to the Governor-in-Council, after consulting the Board, items for legal protection;

(b) provides for the declaration of any place, building, site or structure as an "historical building", a "monument" or an "historical site" thus to become legally protected. An antiquity so declared may not be interfered with in any way by any person except in accordance with the terms of a permit granted by the Authority;

(c) sets out the procedures for the issuing licences to excevate and otherwise search for antiquities, the effect of which is to forbid all such activities being undertaken without a licence; (d) provides for the penalties exacted for infringement of the

Ordinance, including fines and imprisonment. This is no more than a summary, and should not be taken as an official legal reference, for which the text of the Ordinance itself should be consulted.

Conservation policy is based on this Ordinance and is developed from the systematic recording of historical items. It is put into effect by the Antiquities and Monuments Office in co-operation with other Government departments. Two procedures are used in protection. In one, items of un- disputed importance are submitted for formal protection under the Ordinance. Approved items are published in the Government Gazette as "historical buildings", "monuments", or "historical sites" (Appendix C). In the other, less important items are protected by direct administrative action, a protection having no legal enforcement. Protection is usually followed by conservation in the form of repair and restoration to some degree, depending on the state of the protected item.

It is impossible to achieve the ideal and preserve all historical heritage. Priorities are therefore observed in the selection of items. Buildings, for instance, are graded by age and historical significance. A high degree of priority is usually accorded to Chinese traditional and ceremonial buildings and villages, since they hold more significance for the majority of the people of Hong Kong.

Conservation policy has not been consistently firm, however. Though the Ordinance is explicit and simple to apply, the Government has introduced safeguards that tend to make the Ordinance less effective than its terms imply. In the protection of privately-owned buildings, for instance, the consent of owners is always sought, though this is not required by the Ordinance. A frequent result is protracted negotiation with no outcome. The cautious.

approach is specially applied in the New Territories, where it has been justified on the grounds that its population preceded the present administration by many centuries,

Conservation policy is confronted by many obstacles, in particular the pressure for re-development intensified by scarcity of land and density of population, by a lack of funds and shortage of experienced craftsmen, and by the unhelpful attitude of most owners of historical places. The Government itself, however, is committed by the mandate of the community

it serves, to the conservation of its historical heritage.

Appendix C

Gazetted Items

(as at 1st January, 1986)

1. Duddell Street Steps and Gas Lamps

2. Rock Carving at Big Wave Bay, Hong Kong Island

3. Rock Carving at Shek Pik, Lantau Island

4. Rock Carving at Po Toi Island

5. Rock Carving at Kau Sai Chau

6. Rock Carving at Cheung Chau

7. Rock Carving at Tung Lung Island

8. Rock Carving at Lung Ha Wan, Clear Water Bay Peninsula

9. Rock Carving at Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong Island

10. Rock Inscription at Joss House Bay

11. Tung Chung Fort, Lantau Island

12. Tung Lung Fort

13. Fan Lau Fort, Lantau Island

14. Sam Tung Uk Village, Tsuen Wan

15. District Office North

16. Sheung Yiu Village, Sai Kung

17. Tin Hau Temple, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island

18. Island House, Tai Po

19. Site of Chinese Customs Station, Junk Island

20. Man Lun Fung Ancestral Hall, San Tin

21. Royal Observatory Building

22. Remains of Pottery Kiln, Wun Yiu Village, Tai Po

23. Stone Circle at Fan Lau, Lantau Island

24. Old Stanley Police Station

25. Tung Chung Battery, Lantau Island

26. Main Building, University of Hong Kong

27. Supreme Court Building

28. Man Mo Temple, Tai Po

29. Old Railway Station, Tai Po Market

30. Man Shek Tong Ancestral Hall, Sheung Shui

Appendix D

Traditional Chinese Architecture: brief notes

Chinese architectural styles have their roots in remote antiquity, and as elsewhere developed from practical need. A basic principle of symmetry and balance gave rise over the centuries to an elegance of style, but without sacrificing the practical aspects, until by the Han dynasty the style had already attained its highest degree of maturity. The tri-axial plan of buildings demonstrates clearly how these basic principles dominate the design: the central hall flanked with chambers can be recognised in the humblest of dwellings and in the most imposing of ceremonial buildings (Fig. 1).

In the typical traditional Chinese house, a central hall is reserved for ancestor worship, its side rooms for day-to-day activity, and a mezzanine for sleeping. In front of the central hall there is frequently a small courtyard with a sky-well.

Such a house is generally solidly constructed and rests on stone foundations. Material for walls ranges from mud bricks and rubble in the poorer village dwellings to stone and green-grey baked bricks in the richer houses. Grey bricks bonded with white mortar are distinctly Chinese in character, specially attractive, and therefore often left unplastered. The typical roof is a timber frame supporting tiles, either free-lying or sealed with mortar. Decoration, as an integral element of architectural style, is probably the most distinctive feature of Chinese architecture, and generally comprises subjects such as animal forms, both real and mythical, though sometimes abstract designs also.

The most characteristic decorations are those associated with gable walls, eaves, roof ridges and supporting brackets.

—

The upper portion of a gable wall may be designed from two gentle curves meeting at a sharp but graceful point, or from straight lines, or simply rounded outlines (Fig. 5). Eaves may show corbelling the over-hanging of rows of bricks a most attractive feature often separating storeys. The ridge of the roof is usually decorated richly with stylized animal figures, and specially so in the ceremonial buildings (Fig. 6). Where timber fascia boards occur, they frequently contain elaborate carvings of plants, animals or human figures. Wall friezes may be decorated with relief carving or with painted fresco work. Timber joint-brackets that support the roof have developed into complex crossing structures, which are often so elaborately carved and so lavishly decorated as to form one of a building's most arresting architectural features (Fig. 7).

100

101

Fig. 5, Gable wall designs:

(a) pointed,

(b) rounded ("cat crawling"),

(d) straight.

Fig. 6, Roof ridge decorations:

(a) boat-shaped,

(b) stylised animal (lion), (c) curling end.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 7, Supporting joint bracket.

(a)

(b)

(c)

102

THE

Fig. 8, An il "fung shui" village layout.

hills on

the right

(white tiger)

103

hills at back

fields

village

hills on

the left

(green dragon)

stream

Appendix E

Fung Shui

Fung shui, literally "wind and water", is a geomantic doctrine providing a complicated set of interacting guidelines for the placing of graves, for the building of houses and for the orientation of all manner of products serving the living and the dead. To observe its tenets ensures good fortune and the favour of ancestors and the spirit world. Though largely empirical, and certainly not amenable to scientific explanation, the doctrine is not simply the superstition of an unsophisticated people, but is rather akin to a philosophy founded on faith in the divine power of Nature. It is practised professionally as reputable craft; its practitioners, usually referred to as geomancers, are much sought-after for advice and are highly respected. The knowledge of their craft tends to be passed on between generations within the family.

Among the more general guidelines, a few examples may be men- tioned here: Orientation: North to South orientation is generally favoured for buildings, though this may be varied according to the geomancer's interpretation of related surroundings.

Natural features: Hills should surround a dwelling or a village at the back and both sides. The shapes of hills can assume the forms and qualities of animals, real or imaginary, which may be interpreted as harmonizing or antagonizing. Auspicious animals are the white tiger and the green dragon. Gentle slopes are preferred to steep; winding rivers and streams to straight. Trees, specially bamboos, are very important in ensuring auspicious feng shui, and should always be planted behind a dwelling-place (Fig. 8). Constructed features: Circling or winding lanes are more auspicious than straight. Doors and windows should never appear directly opposite. Dates and times: The guidelines of fung shui extend also to the choice of propitious dates and times for starting important undertakings, such as a building or a renovation, and for weddings, celebrations and other special ceremonies.

Today, as in the past, fung shui continues to exert a strong influence upon most aspects of Chinese life and behaviour, and at all levels of society in villages and cities alike. All manner of personal and social decisions may be taken care of by the one arbiter, the geomancer, thus reducing the potential for friction between individuals and groups. Fung shui seeks to harmonize the elemental forces, the most common being the winds and the waters, and so serves the essentially commonsense object of securing a healthy and comfortable environment free from discord.

Appendix F

Chinese Dynasties and Reigns

HSIA

SHANG

(unconfirmed by archaeology)

?2205 1766 B.C.

?1765 - 1123

CHOU

1122 - 256

"Spring and Autumn" period 722 - 481 Warring States period

481 - 222

CH'IN

221 - 207

206 B.C.

―

A.D.220

Western Han Eastern Han

206 B.C. - A.D.5

A.D. 25 - 220

220 - 589

220 - 265

265 - 316

317-589

HAN

SIX DYNASTIES

Three Kingdoms Chin dynasty

Northern and Southern

SUI

TANG

dynasties

FIVE DYNASTIES

SUNG

Northern Sung Southern Sung

YUAN (Mongol)

MING

CH'ING (Manchu) Shun Chih

590 - 617

618-906

907 - 959

960 - 1279

960 - 1125 1126 - 1279

1280 - 1367

1368 - 1643

1644 - 1912

1644 - 1661

K'ang Hsi

Yung Cheng

1662 - 1722

1723 1735

Ch'ien Lung

1736 - 1795

Chia Ch'ing

1796 - 1820

Tao Kuang

1821 - 1850

Hsien Feng

1851 - 1861

Tung Chih

1862 - 1874

Kuang Hsü

1875 - 1908

1909 - 1912

1912 -

Hsuan Tung

CHINESE REPUBLIC

104

105

香港文物志 - 市政局出版 | 1991