The Fu Tei Au Tsuen Village of Sheung Shui
Many villages in the New Territories only come into the media spotlight when the government takes action to resume the land. Such is the case of the Ping Yeung Village in Fanling, where villagers painted murals in the village as part of their effort to garner support from outsiders by an artistic display of their struggle.
The Fu Tei Au Tsuen Village has to confront the same reality of land resumption. When the Hong Kong Government made plans for the North East New Territories New Development Areas (NENT NDA), Fu Tei Au became part of the plan. About a third of the village will be subject to government resumption.
Photo: These numbers on the houses indicate that the Hong Kong Government will resume this structure.
I learned from a few news reports about some of the interesting sites in the village. I was intrigued and so I took a walk there.
The Story of Fu Tei Au Tsuen Village
The Fu Tei Au Tsuen Village is a village in Sheung Shui. However, it is perhaps closer to Man Kam To. Its location is rather remote even for a village. Yet this is the reason why the village ended up becoming the settlement area for “new immigrants” beginning in the 1950s. They only had to cross the Shenzhen River to arrive at Fu Tei Au Tsuen. At first the villagers came from Chiu Chow. Then came the Hakka and Dongguan settlers too in the 1960s and 1970s. Their numbers grew and the village became a mixed Chiu Chow and Hakka village.
Fu Tei Au Tsuen village is very different from the long-standing walled villages that have indigenous inhabitant status under Hong Kong law. Most villagers do not own the land on which their homes, mostly squatters, stand. The land belongs either to the Hong Kong Government, or the villagers rented from the indigenous inhabitants in the area.
The Fu Tei Au Story Room
Due to the pandemic, the Fu Tei Au Story Room was closed when I visited the village. It is a great pity, for I think visitors will only see the “KCR bricks” there (more below), for many of the original KCR bricks in the village were stolen.
Photo: The Fu Tei Au Tsuen Story Room
The Visit
There are quite a number of significant sites in the village. I managed to find a few on my own. I must say, however, that the village is relatively hard to navigate as compared to the walled villages that I have visited. The village spans a good 30 acres, and the sites of interests are rather scattered. Needless to say, most of the interest points are also not found on Google Map.
The Stone Plaque of 1957
I parked somewhere by River Indus. Then I headed over to the village proper on foot, absorbing wonderful riverside views of River Indus.
Photo: On this sunny day views at River Indus seemed like somewhere abroad
At the village entrance I came across the stone plaque commemorating the stepped rock gradient works on River Indus commissioned by the Old District Office in 1957.
The Fu Tei Au Tsuen Village lies on the low plains next to River Indus, known locally as Ng Tung River. River Indus collects water from the other waterways in Sheung Shui, including the Shek Sheung River and Sheung Yue River.
The terrain had serious flooding problems due to this river. Yet the villagers also relied on the water for irrigation. According to the stone plaque, raging waters destroyed the original embankment of River Indus. The name of this rocky embankment was Pak Shek Po, and it took a whole village’s effort to build it. The Government stepped in during the 1950s to build the stone gradient to ease the flooding problem. In 2000, even this stone gradient of the 1950s was demolished, but the village requested that this stone plaque be preserved as a historic relic.
It is believed that the River Indus acquired its English name from the Indian officer that surveyed the river for the Hong Kong Government.
Ponds of Pontederia Crassipes
I took a leisurely walk and saw the two large ponds that give home to Pontederia crassipes. In May and October each year, this blooming species will turn the ponds into seas of violet. It is not yet time for blossom, but I did observe an egret happily resting amidst the dried bulbs, showing that this village habitat supports wildlife.
The Ruins of KCR’s Stone Quarry
Perhaps one thing that the village wants to be known for is the “KCR bricks.” In 1911, the Kowloon-Canton Railway set up a stone quarry in Fu Tei Au. The materials that the workers mined became the “KCR bricks.” These bricks had the initials KCR engraved on them.
This photo shows the remains of the anchor for the stone crusher. The stone crusher turned the mined rocks into smaller pieces, with which the workers made the KCR bricks.
The Colorful Old Well
The villagers think of the Colorful Old Well as a main attraction in the village. With help from the Lutheran Church Hong Kong Synod and volunteers, the villagers built a new pathway to the well. They also put up a very colorful sign. This is perhaps the best illustrated site in the village. The house next to this pathway has a mural painting too.
This area of the village was the living quarters for the KCR workers during the early 1900s. The workers dug this well for fresh water, using the stones that they could find nearby. It is a living proof of this village’s interesting past. However, the colors seem to be faded by now, and it seemed to be just an old well.
The well remains functional now, although it only serves as a heritage site in the village.
The Ruins of Man Ming Temple
The Liu’s of Sheung Shui built the Man Ming Temple of Fu Tei Au Tsuen in 1924. The resident deities of this temple were the Man and Mo (the Civil and Martial) Gods. Fui Sing, the deity that blesses the examinees of the imperial examination in ancient China, was also worshipped here. The temple is very much in ruins now, so the resident deities moved home to the Liu Man Shek Ancestral Hall in Sheung Shui.
One cannot miss the marvelous sighting of the aerial roots of the banyan tree there. The hollows of the root shows the shape of the angular roof that the tree has formerly grown over. Super typhoon Mangkhut destroyed the failing structure beneath the tree. Now only the aerial roots showing the hollow remains.
Besides this Angkor Wat-like view, I also note that this temple is quite special because it used to have two storeys. The structure was once determined a Grade 2 Historic Building, but after the final destruction it was downgraded to Grade 3. The temple had a three-hall format, which, besides its height, is quite unusual for village temples.
Tak Yeung Tong
Quite unlike the Man Ming Temple, the Tak Yeung Tong of Fu Tei Au is a well-built, well-attended and well-known temple. The resident deity is Lu Tong Bun, who is one of the eight immortals in Chinese folklore. He is also a key figure in Taoism.
According to the South China Morning Post, the celebration of the Yu Lan festival at Tak Yeung Tong on the 17th and 18th of the seventh month of the Lunar calendar is on the Hong Kong Government’s list of intangible heritage in Hong Kong. There are three days in a year where outsiders can participate in a guided tour in the village, and that is during the Yu Lan festival. It is unclear whether the pandemic has disrupted this festival.
Reminder
Besides the fact that the sites of Fu Tei Au Tsuen Village are scattered in a large area, another difficulty with this walk was the village dogs. Most villagers keep the dogs behind tall fences, but there were some unleashed ones. They did look very fierce and I almost gave up. A villager who lived right by the temple ruins told me that these loose dogs do not bite, and she advised me to slowly walk through them. If not, I would not have been able to see the temple ruins. In the end I did walk slowly through them without incident. It was very scary though.
Sources
I learned about the Fu Tei Au Tsuen Village mostly from two newspaper articles:
An Exploration of Historic Relics in Sheung Shui’s Fu Tei Au Tsuen, Epoch Times, 22 January 2020.
Touch the Bricks: Fu Tei Au’s Effort to Preserve Village History, Ming Pao Daily, 12 December 2021, at
See also the Facebook Page of Fu Tei Au Revitalization Cultural Centre.
The Wikipedia on Ng Tung River.
The South China Morning Post, Living Heritage of Hong Kong.
How to Get There
I went by private car and randomly parked where I thought was safe. This practice is not encouraged and be very sure to post a sign with your phone number if villagers need to contact you.
By public transport, Bus Route 73K runs between Sheung Shui and Man Kam To. Get off at the Fu Tei Au stop.
