Tsang Tai Uk
In the indigenous villages of Hong Kong there is this idea of the “wai,” wherein the villagers built their villages surrounded by a brick wall. “Wai” means a girdle, and these villages are usually referred to as “Wai villages,” or “walled villages.” These walls were meant to be fortifications, chiefly to protect the villagers from both pirates and wild animals.
I have visited a number of Wai villages in Hong Kong, including the famous Kat Hing Wai of Yuen Long, the Hakka Wai of my home village of Tsung Pak Long, the Lo Wai of Lung Yeuk Tau in Fanling etc. I do find the Tsang Tai Uk of Shatin to bear some unique features as compared with its counterparts in the New Territories.
The History of Tsang Tai Uk
The reasons for Tsang Tai Uk’s unique features in its layout are closely tied to its history. The founder of the village, Tsang Koon Man, built this walled village in 1847 with the typical village layout of his own Hakka hometown in mind. He came from Ng Wah.
Proper historic accounts tell the story of Tsang Koon Man, a mason in trade, who had a quarry in Sai Wan Ho and a masonry in Shau Kei Wan. He began his business by serving as an apprentice in the then-thriving quarry businesses in Lei Yue Mun. Then he founded the Sam Li Masonry. At the time, the Hong Kong Government had plans for many infrastructure projects that required granites. As such he prospered greatly from his businesses.
Legend has it that one day, some pirates approached Tsang Koon Man with 12 large urns of dried salted fish. They asked for $800 per urn, and so Tsang bought them. He later found out that, beneath the dried salted fish, the urn contained all silver and gold coins. The pirates never returned and he kept these 12 urns of treasures.
With enormous wealth, he decided to contribute to the good of his clan by constructing a village. Although the surname Tsang does not belong to one of the “five great clans” of the New Territories, this clan of the Tsang’s have settled down in Hong Kong for 300 years, as early as the 17th century.
As residents of Shatin, the Tsang’s were also prominent members of the community. They supported the construction of a few key infrastructures and buildings in the New Territories, including the neighboring Che Kung Temple, the Kwong Fook Bridge in Tai Po, and most importantly, the construction of the Tai Chung Bridge in Shatin, which provided throughway over the Shatin Sea (now Shing Mun River) during the early 20th century.
The construction of the walled village began in 1847 and it took some twenty years to complete. During WWII, the Tsang clan provided refuge to the people that were seeking refuge in Hong Kong from the war in the mainland. As such, people gave it the respectable name of Tsang Tai Uk, meaning the Big House of the Tsang Clan.
Tsang Tai Uk is rated a Grade I Historic Building.
Architectural Features of the Tsang Tai Uk Walled Village
The Tsang Tai Uk as a village compound spans a total area of more than 60,000 square feet. It was built in a shape of a rectangle. The original Tsang Tai Uk had five courtyards surrounding a beautiful ancestral hall.
The wall was built in granite and blue bricks. On the four corners of the wall stand four gun towers, each three stories high. Needless to say, they come with gun and observation holes at the towers. These towers were meant to guard against the pirates that ran rampant in Hong Kong until the early 20th century.
The ancestral hall adopts a three-hall structure. The upper, middle and lower halls are separated by a courtyard. This is the proper entry into the village. The main hall served the purpose of receiving guests, and the “Chung Shu Tong” was a communal meeting space, where the Tsang clan held their conferences.
Photo below: the wooden plaque with the wording “auspicious omen for millions of blessings” was the calligraphy of Zhang Yutang, the Vice General of the Walled City of Kowloon.
Perhaps the most unique feature of the Tsang Tai Uk walled village are three formal entries into the village now, all with a proper arched gateways. They are very beautiful.
The two wells used to supply drinking water to the whole village, and they are close to the first and third entry gateways.
The descendants of the Tsangs still live in the village today, but like so many residents of walled villages, most of them have chosen to live abroad already. Those who bear the surname Tsang but still living in Tsang Tai Uk number a mere one hundred or so.
The public may visit the Ancestral Hall, the arched gateways and the two old wells, all of which lie on the northern section of the walled village. I only managed to see two raised gun towers there from the ground level.
How To Get There
The closest MTR station for Tsang Tai Uk is the Che Kung Temple Station on the Tuen Ma Line. The official name of the village is Shan Ha Wai, as the road signs call it.
Sources
Hkedcity, Tsang Tai Uk’s Lantern Lighting on the First Month of the Year.