Ha Tsuen is located at Northwest of Yuen Long in Hong Kong. Historic records show that the Tang lineage has settled at Ha Tsuen for more than six centuries. Nowadays, Ha Tsuen is where rural meets urban area and tradition meets modernity. In 2016, the government designated Ha Tsuen for village type development and a heritage trail under the plan of Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area. The district is about to experience dramatic changes in a few years.
Ha Tsuen
History
Ha Tsuen (厦村), or Ha Tsuen Heung (厦村鄉), is one of the six heungs (a group of hamlets) in Yuen Long of the New Territories. Ha Tsuen lies along the tidal lands of Deep Bay between Tuen Mun and Tin Shui Wai, facing the mouth of Pearl River. Historic records show that the Tang lineage (鄧氏) moved from Nanyang to Shum Tin (now Kam Tin) of Yuen Long during northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). During early Ming Dynasty (Hongwu years; 1369-1389), the 14th generation ancestors Tang Hung Chi (鄧洪贄) and Tang Hung Wai (鄧洪惠), as well as their agnatic kinsmen branched out and began to settle at Ha Tsuen.
Evacuation and Economic Boom
Hong Kong was part of the Dongguan County and later administered under Xin’an (San On; 新安) County. According to Xin’an Gazetteer (1819 edition), Xin’an suffered from epidemics and droughts in the first half of the 17th Century. Residents were also attacked by pirates and bandits. As such, some residents began to build walls around their villages for better protection. Some hamlets in the New Territories still keep the walls, e.g., Sik Kong Wai in Ha Tsuen. The population of Xin’an continued to drop especially after Qing Dynasty overthrew Ming Dynasty. Qing Dynasty was founded by the Jurchen (女真族) living in now Northeast China. Some ethnic Han (漢族) fled to the South. The Qing Court (imperial government) then enforced the Great Clearance (遷海令; 1661-1669) to ban residence at the coastal area in Southern China to prevent anti-Qing movement. Villagers were forced to destroy their buildings and farmlands too. Most villagers in Xin’an moved to the mainland and were allowed to return in 1669.
Partly because of the increase of foreign trade, economy of Guangdong expanded rapidly since the second half of the 17th Century. Ha Tsuen Market (Ha Tsuen Shi), located at the Pearl River estuary where accessible by boat through the marshes at Tin Shui Wai, became one of the important periodic markets of agricultural produce in Pearl River Delta around the 1760s. Most villagers were not involved in trade, but still involved in agricultural production and fishery activities until the 1960s.
The Tang lineage
The Tang Lineage Anthropologists used the term “lineage” to describe the group of people with traceable common ancestors. Yuen Long’s Tang lineage is “one of the five great clans” in the New Territories. Besides familial ties, the lineage established strong bonding for economic and political interests. Anthropological studies suggested that the kinship of Tang lineage helped them minimise loss during this evacuation period. Since the Great Clearance was lifted, the lineages in the New Territories began to claim large areas of fertile plain and dominate local affairs. The Tang lineage also organised different hamlets (tsuen) to establish heung, so as to consolidate their economic and political power. Tang Ancestral Hall (also named as Yau Kung Hall, meaning “Hall of Fraternal Reverence”) completed construction in 1750 and Yeung Hau Temple underwent major renovation in 1811. Both buildings symbolised the Tang lineage’s wealth dominance at Ha Tsuen.
A survey found that 44% of Ha Tsuen’s land was by owned the richer members of the Tang lineage in 1905. Other villagers either rented the lineages’ land for agricultural activities, or moved to remote hillside areas. With land ownership and influence in local affairs in the New Territories, the “five great clans” of the New Territories established themselves as the gentry class. This landlord-tenant relationship was common in other regions in Southern China.
The Colonisation of Hong Kong
British colonisation marked the beginning of Hong Kong’s modern history. As a result of Qing’s defeat in the First Opium War, Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking. After the Second Opium War, Stonecutters Island and part of Kowloon Peninsula as far as now Boundary Street were ceded to Britain in 1860 under the Convention of Peking. But the New Territories was still administered under Xin’an County of the Qing Court.
Shortly after Britain acquired part of Kowloon, some public opinions in local communities demanded further territorial expansion beyond Boundary Street for military purpose. The Governor William Robinson supported this view while the British Minister to China Claude MacDonald showed reservation. However, the territorial expansion of other imperial powers (e.g., France, Russia) in the 1890s threatened Britain’s interest in China. In early 1898, MacDonald began to negotiate with the diplomats of the Qing Court on further land acquisition of the northern part of Kowloon, the New Territories and some surrounding islands. The Chinese diplomats defended the Empire’s interest by emphasising that such a territorial expansion is on a 99-year lease. As a result, the Convention between the United Kingdom and China, Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory (also known as the Second Convention of Peking) was signed on 9 June 1898. Britain’s “new territory” of Hong Kong consisted of around 3/5 of the size of Xin’an County.
Being far away from the provincial capital (Guangzhou), the landlords (i.e., the lineages) at the New Territories dominated local economic and social affairs for centuries. Yuen Long also had a long history of organising self-defence corps for law and order. British colonisation of the New Territories meant the conclusion of the lineages’ dominance. Headed by the lineages of Ha Tsuen, Kam Tin, Ping Shan and Tai Po, the inhabitants of the New Territories organised armed opposition against the colonial government. The uprising was not supported by the Qing Court. The war lasted for six days (14-19 April 1899) and ended soon after the British troops arrived. Britain formally took possession of the New Territories on 16 April 1899. The Land Court (New Territories) Ordinance was then enacted in 1900 to recognise the colonial government’s land ownership at the New Territories.
In 1898, Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong Stewart Lockhart worked with the Acting Circuit Intendant of Guangdong Wong Tsun-shin to carry out a survey at the New Territories and confirm the exact area of territory expansion. Photo/ National Archives, UK
The Great Difference
The Great Difference In a document submitted to London in 1898, the Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong Stewart Lockhart stated that the existing colony and the newly-leased territory showed “great difference”. There was no road connecting Kowloon to the New Territories, where the latter was still predominantly rural. In the early days of colonisation, the government regarded the New Territories as a buffer between the City of Victoria (political and economic centre on Hong Kong island) and China. Before the Second World War, the New Territories was administered under District Office (理民府) to handle land dispute cases, but governance was minimal. The lineages began to act as the middleman between the colonial government and villagers. For instance, under the facilitation of the Governor Cecil Clementi, Heung Yee Kuk (鄉議局) was established by the rural elites in 1926 to handle some local issues including civil disputes. The lineages continued to dominate local affairs of the New Territories. Urbanisation at the New Territories was limited until Hong Kong began to rapidly industrialise in the 1920s. The colonial government removed some villages for infrastructure projects including the construction of roads, railway and reservoirs. Ha Tsuen remained generally rural. But the completion of the Kowloon-Canton Railway in 1911 reduced the cargo trade of Ha Tsuen Market. A large number of refugees fled from the Mainland to Hung Shui Kiu and Lau Fau Shan during Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s. Local villagers provided support and shelter to them. Some temples and schools at Ha Tsuen also sheltered a lot of refugees during Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (1941-1945).
After the Second World War, a large number of Mainland Chinese immigrants moved to live in the New Territories. The colonial government began to play a much more significant role in the governance of the New Territories since then. Heung Yee Kuk was no longer assumed the status to handle civil disputes.
When the New Territories was leased to Britain, the City of Victoria was already developed. This postcard (c.1900s) showed that Des Voeux Road was dominated by European architectural structures. Tramway also began to operate in 1904. Postcard collected by/ Gary Wong
Urbanisation
Yuen Long began to urbanise rapidly since Yuen Long New Town commenced construction in the 1970s. In 1987, the colonial government planned to extract the sea sand at Deep Bay for the construction of Tin Shui Wai New Town. Ha Tsuen opposed with the ground that oyster bed there was Tang Ancestral Hall’s property (purchased from Qing Court in 1727). After Tin Shui Wai New Town was completed in 1992, water transport to Ha Tsuen was completely blocked. Under New Territories Small House Policy that implemented in 1972, an indigenous male villager (a descendent of a male resident in any recognised village in the New Territories in 1898) aged over 18 year-old has the rights (“ding” rights; 丁權) to build a small house once in a life time. The lease of the New Territories to Britain expired on 30 June 1997. The People’s Republic of China then resumed the exercise of the sovereignty on 1 July 1997. Article 40 of the Basic Law reads that “[t]he lawful traditional rights and interests of the indigenous inhabitants of the ‘New Territories’ shall be protected by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region”. Heung Yee Kuk claimed that the “ding” rights of indigenous villagers shall be protected, though this view is not without challenge. The then Secretary for Development Carrie Lam once suggested to terminate the policy after 2046. Yet, the government does not have any timetable to review the policy. Though Ha Tsuen has relatively less development projects, some land has been transformed from farmland to container yards. Most villagers of Ha Tsuen no longer work on the land now. The 2016 By-census showed that only 1.1% of the working population there was involved in agricultural and fishery activities. The century-long landlord-tenant relationship no longer exists. However, some traditional practices are still preserved. Ha Tsuen continues to celebrate traditional festivals like Tai Ping Ching Chiu (太平清醮) and Tin Hau Festival (天后誕).
Hung Shui Kiu Development Plan
The surrounding area of Ha Tsuen is expected to have tremendous changes in the coming decades. The 2007-08 Policy Address announced the development project of Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area (HSK-NDA; 洪水橋新發展區), where Ha Tsuen lies within. The government proposed to develop HSK as a regional economic and civic hub in the Northwest New Territories. In 2016, the government published the Revised Recommended Outline Development Plan of HSK-NDA, which designated Ha Tsuen for village type development and a heritage trail. The government planned to complete it by 2037 or 2038. What is the role of heritage tourism to the future of Ha Tsuen?
Reference
Reference
Chiu, S.W.K. and Hung, H.F. (1990) “State Building and Rural Stability”. In T.W. Ngo (ed.) Hong Kong's History: State and Society Under Colonial Rule. London; New York: Routledge, pp 74-100.
Esherick, J.W. and Rankin, M.B. (1990) Chinese Local Elites and Patterns of Dominance. Berkeley; Los Angeles; Oxford: University of California Press.
Faure, D. (1986) The Structure of Chinese Rural Society: Lineage and Village in the Eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Hase, P.H. (2008) The Six-day War of 1899: Hong Kong in the Age of Imperialism. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Hayes, J. (2006) The Great Difference: Hong Kong’s New Territories and Its People 1898-2004. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Hong Kong Museum of History (2014) The Aftermath of the First Sino-Japanese War: the Lease of the New Territories and Weihaiwei. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Museum of History.
New Territories West Development Office, Civil Engineering and Development Department (2017) Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area Planning and Engineering Study - Investigation. Hong Kong: Civil Engineering and Development Department.
Watson, R.S. (1985) Inequalities among Brothers: Class and Kinship in South China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wong, W.L.P (2014). Good practice in restoration work: the case of restoring the roof of the Tang Ancestral Hall at Ha Tsuen, New Territories, Hong Kong (Thesis): University of Hong Kong.
蔡思行，2016年。《戰後新界發展史》。香港：中華書局。
馮志明（著）、洗玉儀（編），1996年。《元朗文物古蹟概覽》。
香港：元朗區議會。
Useful Resources
Antiquities and Monuments Office
http://www.amo.gov.hk/
Ha Tsuen Rural Committee
http://www.hatsuenrc.org/
Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area
http://www.hsknda.gov.hk/
“Village for Life” by Hulu Culture
had1617.huluhk.org