The Old Tai Po Police Station
The Old Tai Po Police Station is a Declared Monument in Tai Po. I joined a guided tour in order to learn its history. Green Hub is the NGO that runs the operation and maintenance at the Old Tai Po Police Station now and it offers guided tour of the site.
I came across many pleasant surprises during this guided tour. Although the venue is open to public visit, I highly recommend joining the guided tour because the tour guides provide interesting narratives of the New Territories that only serious students of Hong Kong history would know about.
The History of the Old Tai Po Police Station
The history of the Old Tai Po Police Station began after the Six-Day War of 1899. The confrontations between the indigenous villagers of the New Territories and the British officers that sought to exercise the act of sovereignty in 1899 occurred at the flagstaff established at a temporary police station in Tai Po.
Photo: Flagstaff at the Old Tai Po Police Station, but NOT the flagstaff where the British exercised their sovereignty in 1899.
In 1898, the British signed the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory (also known as the Second Convention of Peking) with the Qing Government to lease the New Territories for 99 years. This Convention was a result of negotiation, and not a direct consequence of the two Opium Wars, which gave rise to the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 (the ceding of Hong Kong Island to Great Britain) and the Treaty of Peking in 1860 (the ceding of Kowloon up to the Boundary Street).
Rumors about the British exercise of sovereignty in the New Territories were circulating in 1899 when police superintendent Henry May established matsheds for the purpose of flag raising. The villagers were very worried that British arrival would result in coerced changes in the customs being practiced then, both in terms of land relationships and cultural practices.
When the British officers were attacked at the matsheds and the site was burned down by the villagers in April 1899, the Six-Day War of 1899 drew its curtains. The British retreated after the matsheds were burned down. They soon came back with more troops and engaged in six days of fighting throughout the New Territories, first from Tai Po in the east all the way westward throughout Yuen Long. Many villages were involved in this war. This history was previously discussed in my review of Professor Patric Hase’s book.
After the British claimed victory in the Six-Day War of 1899, they imposed a number of policies both to pacify the villagers and to solidify the British administration of the New Territories. The Old Tai Po Police Station was established as one such initiative.
When it was established, the Old Tai Po Police Station accommodated five British, high-ranking officers, and 32 Indian and Chinese constables. It was the very first permanent police station in the New Territories. It was also the Police Headquarters for the New Territories until the new Tai Po Police Station began its service in 1987. During the Japanese Occupation years (1941-1945), the Old Tai Po Police Station was turned into a military encampment by the Japanese forces.
Together with the Old District Office building also on this same hill, the Old Tai Po Police Station sits on an area that used to be called “Government Hill.”
The above history of the Six-Day War of 1899 was well-documented in Professor Patrick Hase’s fascinating book, The Six-Day War of 1899.
A Tour of the Old Tai Po Police Station
This site in Tai Po was selected for both the flag raising and the location of the permanent police station for two reasons. First of all, this location was easily accessible both by land and by sea. Secondly, the small hill of Wan Tau Kok (formerly known as the Flagstaff Hill) provides the vantage point to look out to what used to be the Tai Po Sea (now we call it Tolo Harbour). As such both patrol of land and the sea was possible at this location.
I found the small museum at the back of the Main Building to be the most interesting part of the Old Tai Po Police Station. You would first enter the former reporting room of the police station.
Next door is the ammunition bunker, and the ledger blackboard of the weaponry hanging on the wall there is the actual original.
Going further is the police detention room. There are interesting descriptions there about taking mugshots for suspects. Another interesting feature there is that the toilet is flushed outside of the detention room, meaning that the practice was for the detainee to request toilet flushing by the police officer. This was done so to prevent the detainee access to any kind of rope that could enable a suicide.
Although the Old Tai Po Police Station is open for public visits, the guided tour will lead you to one area that is off-bounds for public visitors. Within the main structure there is a former staff quarters, which surround a courtyard. That section is now reserved for people who rent the rooms for short stays at the Old Tai Po Police Station. The courtyard is well-restored with a small pond in beautiful landscaping. If you are interested in renting rooms at the Eco Guesthouse, inquire with Green Hub. Do note that the rooms do not come with air conditioning (in line with the practice of a sustainable lifestyle that Green Hub advocates), and the bathrooms are shared.
The Architecture of the Old Tai Po Police Station
The Old Tai Po Police Station consists of three main structures: the Main Building, the Staff Quarters Block and the Canteen Block. It was built as a typical colonial building, a one-story structure in the Utilitarian style. A key feature of the colonial building is the veranda. In all colonial buildings the verandas serve the primary function of keeping the heat and dampness away from the building during the summers. In my opinion, I think the verandas are what give the colonial buildings their classy, stately appearance.
Besides the beautifully restored veranda, there are a number of other architectural features from the colonial era. For example, the arched windows and the adornment above, the window sills and the classic fireplaces and chimneys that may or may not have served practical heating purposes.
One particularly interesting point to note is that, while the structures are mostly built in the colonial style, the roof of all the structures are distinctly “Chinese,” in the sense that they are tiled roofs. Even as tiled roofs, however, they are quite different from the common tiled roofs of, let’s say, old temples. The roofs of the Old Tai Po Police Station are “double roofs.” The two layers of tiles serve additional water and heat proofing functions. The roofs of both the Main Building and the Staff Quarters are double roofs. The Canteen Block does not carry this feature, perhaps because it was built in a much later time period.
At the lawn, you will see the brick incinerator. It used to be the fire “shredder” for police documents, of course, by burning them.
The Staff Quarters Block next to the lawn and the Canteen Block are believed to have given home to the lower-level staff members of the police. This fact is observed by noticing that this block is built to a lower height, with much less elaborate European architectural features, as compared to the staff quarters for the highest officer in the Main Building. The Staff Quarters Block is now the workshop area for Green Hub.
Where possible, the original red bricks of the Staff Quarters Block were preserved. If there were broken bricks that must be replaced, the red bricks were sourced as much as possible from the United Kingdom, before considering local sources. If the bricks do not match the profile of the original bricks well, then in some cases the bricks would simply not be replaced.
One very interesting history I learned about the restoration of the Old Tai Po Police Station is the main color of the painted walls of the Main Building. The current color of the paint is a light and creamy yellow. I was told that when the restoration began, layers and layers of paint were scraped off the walls and some of that sample was tested in the lab to determine the original color of the walls. The old photographs of the Old Tai Po Police Station, although in black and white, clearly do indicate that the original paint was a shade darker than pearly white. Having reference also to the other typical colonial government buildings in Hong Kong, the restorers of the Old Tai Po Police Station determined that the current color was likely the closest to the original.
I do think that the heritage restoration was well done. The Old Tai Po Police Station received an Honourable Mention from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, and it is well-deserved.
The Old Tai Po Police Station Today
Needless to say, the Old Tai Po Police Station has fully retired from its historic role by now, but the collaboration with Green Hub has breathed new life into the venue, beyond its nature as a heritage site.
Green Hub is an NGO that advocates environmental conservation, sustainability and healthy living. It is associated with the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, which is also located in Tai Po and advocates awareness of environmental and animal issues. As a winning applicant in the Hong Kong Government’s Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme, Green Hub has had its hand in both restoring the heritage at the Old Tai Po and reshaping the site into a community-friendly venue for healthy lifestyle and positive culture.
One very special ecological feature on site is the egret garden. Behind the Canteen Block, an area on the hillside was blocked off as the nestling area for different kinds of egrets. All the original trees there were preserved as the primary habitat for the egrets, and the area is off bounds to humans most of the times. When this initiative began, there were 50 egret nests. The year before, there was another count and there were 250 egret nests then.
The Eat Well Café
Given that Green Hub advocates sustainable living, the restaurant on site, Eat Well Café, is the very practice of the philosophy that Green Hub seeks to promote to the community. Eat Well Café only serves vegetarian food, and it is so well made that the food itself is the advocacy –showing amply that vegetarian food is satisfying and tasty.
The Eat Well Café is located in the former Canteen Block of the Old Tai Po Police Station. The former Canteen Block became part of the old police station in a much later time than the police station itself, only in 1961. The police officers that stationed there induced the demand for a proper dining space.
There is a garden next to the canteen area and there is some practice of “from farm to table.” Of course, the produce there does not sustain the demand of the kitchen, but the restaurant also sources from other organic producers, including the Kadoorie Farm and other trusted organic food suppliers.
I would like to give a special note of thanks to Mr. Kaiser Ng, who was the volunteer tour guide that took me through the Old Tai Po Police Station on this guided tour. It was a pleasant conversation throughout and he really told me a whole lot more about the heritage and Green Hub’s ecological initiatives than what I could have observed on my own. Please sign up on Green Hub’s website for a guided tour.
Sources
Guided Tour of the Old Tai Po Police Station.
Descriptions on site at the Old Tai Po Police Station.
Patrick H. Hase, The Six-Day War of 1899 (2008).