Kat Hing Wai
Just outside the town of Yuen Long is the Kat Hing Wai Walled Village, built about 500 years ago during the Ming dynasty. The rectangular-shaped village constructed mostly with blue brick walls, is still inhabited by the descendants of the Tang clan, one of the five big clans to settle in the New Territories. The villagers, Hakka people, who still wear wide-brimmed hats covered with black cloth, built walls around their villages to keep out rival clans and marauding bands of pirates.
This village dates to the 1600’s when it was built as a fortress for the Tang clan. The Tangs were some of the first inhabitants of the region when them moved from central and southern China over 800 years ago. Today the villagers farm the adjacent land and rice fields The village with its protective walls and moat stand as a reminder of a typical Cantonese village of several hundred years ago when walls were needed to protect the inhabitants from the bandits that roamed the area.
The village has a fascinating history and a tour around is a great glimpse into the intriguing past of these settlers. Once upon a time, even tigers prowled this area. While some of the old houses have been replaced with more modern dwellings, this walled village features guardhouse towers and a moat.
When the British occupied the New Territories, the British army looted the village’s iron gate and shipped it back to Britain. The British government returned it to Kat Hing Wai in 1924.
Courtesy of Hong Kong Tourism Board
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