Walled Villages in Sha Tin

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the shore of Guangdong in southern China suffered from pirate attacks. Locals built walled villages in order to defend themselves and of the few which have survived most can be found in the New Territories of Hong Kong. I recently spent an afternoon in Sha Tin District (沙田區) to explore some of their remains.

Tai Wai Village / Chik Chuen Wai (積存圍)

Tai Wai Village Gate

Tai Wai (大圍) occupies the southwestern end of the Sha Tin Valley and is the home of several walled villages, the oldest and nearest to the MTR station being Chik Chuen Wai, built in 1574. The original towers and walls have long been demolished leaving only the entrance gate and several old houses.

Entrance to Tai Wai Village

Even though the walls might be gone you can still find many villages with the word ‘wai’ (圍) in their name, meaning ‘walled’ in Cantonese.

Tai Wai Village Archway

Like with most walled villages, the village temple is aligned directly with the gateway – its red and yellow facade can be seen at the end of the narrow street.

Old House in Tai Wai Village

There are a few decrepit ancestral homes which looked unoccupied and overgrown with weeds but the intricate stonework and carved wooden beams provided hints of their former grandeur. In the background, you can see the ginormous Festival City (名城) apartments – each standing 50 stories high and containing over 4,000 flats. How times have changed.

Baron River

Walking east from the village you soon reach the tail end of the Shing Mun River (城門河) which is entirely dried up at this time of year and looks rather forlorn.

Hong Kong Heritage Museum

If you follow the path further along the north bank of the river the water eventually starts flowing and you’ll end up at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum which can only be described as an ugly monstrosity that looks totally out of place in its surroundings.

Woof Woof

As I walked across the pedestrian bridge which links the museum to Che Kung Temple MTR station I was chased by a furry four-legged friend!

Tai Wai Bicycle Path

Beside the river, cycle paths run below avenues of trees making it really nice for an afternoon out during the hot and humid summer weather here.

Sha Tin Tau Village (沙田頭)

Colourful Sha Tin Tau Village

To the south of the MTR station lies the small village of Sha Tin Tau which is now squashed between the Lion Rock Tunnel road and a high-rise housing estate. It’s not a walled village but interesting in its own right.

House in Sha Tin Tau

I like the way in China people put good luck banners (top – 横批, sides – 对联) around their doorways at Chinese New Year and then usually leave them up till the following year.

Shan Ha Wai Village / Tsang Tai Uk (曾大屋)

Tsang Tai Uk Exterior

On the other side of the Lion Rock Tunnel road is Tsang Tai Uk (“Big House of the Tsangs”), also known as Shan Ha Wai (“Walled Village at the Mountain’s Foot”). Built in the 1840s, by the wealthy granite merchant and stonemason Tsang Koon-Man as a stronghold for the Tsang Clan, it is one of the best preserved Hakka walled villages in Hong Kong.

Iron Gate

The village complex is rectangular and consists of three rows of houses enclosed by grey brick and granite walls with solid timber beams. The four corners each feature a three-story guard tower with openings in the wall through which guns could be fired back in the early days of the complex’s role as a defensive fortification.

Tsang Tai Uk Ancestral Hall

There are three-arched entrances in the northern wall. The main or ceremonial entrance is in the middle and leads to the ancestral hall where meetings and ceremonies take place. While I was there the village elders were in the middle of a discussion so I didn’t go inside.

Tsang Tai Uk Courtyard

In front of the main building is a long courtyard, where villagers traditionally dried their harvest but today only dry their clothes! All the houses are interlinked by passages and small courtyards. Visitors are permitted in the first courtyard (above) and ancestral hall; the remaining courtyards and buildings are private.

Goldfish Well

There are two wells, one at either end of the main courtyard, used in order to provide drinking water in times of siege but by the looks of the goldfish swimming in them, I don’t think they’re in active use today.

Internal Archway

I wish I could have explored further inside the compound – it’s like being in a world time forgot.

Tsang Tai Uk Inner Courtyard

Although these are historic buildings they are still in everyday use by their inhabitants, many of whom are descendants of the original clan.

Wooden Door Bars

Some of the stone doorways feature square holes cut into each side through which wooden bars can be slid across to close them.

Inner Courtyard

Although now empty it looks like some of the courtyards contained shallow pools which must have provided a very tranquil environment in its heyday.

Clearing Overgrown Plants

The buildings are in a fairly poor state of repair and clearly in need of constant maintenance – here a man was removing overgrown plants from the wall.

Work Inspection

Given that all the properties are privately owned it’s up to the villagers to handle preservation but a lot of recent renovations do not look very sympathetic.

Che Kung Temple

On my way back to the MTR station I popped inside Che Kung Temple (車公廟) which was built in 1993 and is not terribly noteworthy.

If you’re interested in this sort of history you may also like to check out Nga Chin Wai Walled Village near Kowloon Walled City and the amazing watchtowers in Kaiping near Guangzhou in mainland China.

David avatar

5 responses

  1. Thank you for this great photo walk, David. I loved the over-grown abandoned houses. To think that this is just a short train ride from the most densely populated district in the world…!

  2. Wendy Wai avatar
    Wendy Wai

    I will Definitely love to visit these places when I come to HK next.

  3. This year I visited kak tin village I believe my father comes from this area I was born in Liverpool uk in 1955 to tsang Ching my name is David tsang I have no history of my fathers family my father went to war in the uk he was a Chinese seaman I would love to hear from anybody who has any information thank you David tsang

    1. G. Bo Tsang avatar
      G. Bo Tsang

      Hi David,
      My father Bo Kwai TSANG is from the village. I have visited it so see my relatives. My father was a merchant seaman with the Blue Funnel Line for many years. I am fairly certain my father was married to someone in the village and no doubt I had some half brothers/sisters there but I never asked in detail. I was born in Glasgow but grew up in Liverpool 1 & 8.

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