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HISTORY
As told by the village head Tsang Hin Wing
The history on this page is solely told by the village head of Tsang Tai Uk, Tsang Hin Wing. He is 65 years old and has lived in the village his whole life.
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The Tsang’s family register is from the Guangdong, Meiyuan (梅園). During the Hakka Migration, they migrated to Meiyuan which was a suitable geographical location to stay at. When the Hakka people arrived, some of them started farming. However, Tsang Koon-Man, the founder of Tsang Tai Uk, only acquired stonemasonry techniques. Unfortunately, the place they stayed at (梅園) was not suitable for quarrying. At the same time, the Hong Kong Island was ceded to the United Kingdom by the Qing dynasty of China. Therefore, Tsang Koon-Man went to Hong Kong Island, starting his stonemasonry business at the A Kung Ngam, the northeast of Shau Kei Wan.
The name A Kung Ngam comes from the Hakka language. In Hakka the boss, in this case Tsang Koon-Man, is called ‘a kung’, which literally means maternal grandfather. The word ‘ngam’ means rocks. People still call the place A Kung Ngam to this day. Also all the Grade I historic buildings in Hong Kong and other famous places, such as Pottinger Street and Pok Fu Lam Reservoir, have been built using the stones of A Kung Ngam.
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At that time, all the building material of the construction sites were made from the Quarry of A Kung Ngam. As such, Tsang Koon-Man made a huge profit because of that. When he became wealthy, he wanted to build a house for his descendants. It was because he came to Hong Kong with his two brothers, no other family members.
Tsang Koon-Man then used his money to buy a bureaucratic title for himself in the Qing Empire. With this he acquired a high social status and got the power to choose what land to buy from the villagers. He built himself and his family a big house, Tsang Tai Uk, and decided to settle down in Sha Tin Wai. After that Tsang Koon-Man moved into Tsang Tai Uk. It took 26 years for the building to be finished. He also owned farms and lands nears Tsang Tai Uk and other businesses at Shau Kei Wan Main Street East, which is near A Kung Ngam. The street was near the sea and there were lots of stores, hotels, restaurants and banks, which all are belonged to my great-grandfather Tsang Koon-Man.
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After Tsang Koon-Man died, his family divided the inheritance between themselves. The inheritance was evenly divided between six family units. However since some of the units had more members, some members of the family got more inheritance than others. One of his sons inherited his businesses in Shau Kei Wan and his other sons inherited most of the money. Because Tsang Koon-Man was a tycoon, three generations of the Tsang family after him did not have to work as they could live off the inheritance. This was until the fifth generation, which is the generation of the current village head, Tsang Hin Wing. Since the number of family members had increased greatly and there wasn’t much left of the inheritance, the fifth generation is on their own to earn their living.
Tsang family history
Arriving in Hong Kong
Early years in Hong Kong
After Tsang Koon-Man
History of the village
Early years and Second Sino-Japanese War
Back to the old days, when building the Tsang Tai Uk, the house was near the sea. Back in those days, there were pirates, like the famous Cheung Po Tsai. Although Cheung Po Tsai was dead at that time, there were other pirates. Therefore, the four corner towers of Tsang Tai Uk are designed for the fortification, to protect the Tsang Tai Uk to fight against the pirates. There were guns, cannons and ammo in the towers. Fortunately, those weapons were never used. Even during the Second Sino-Japanese War, those weapons were never needed to fight against Japanese soldiers.
During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, a few months before Japan surrendered, Tsang Tai Uk served as the military hospital. Some of the dead bodies, including both Japanese soldiers and other people, were burned in the village, as the Japanese government needed to deal with them. However, to burn the bodies, wood is needed to light the fire. Therefore, some of the doors, windows and other furniture were used to for the fires needed for burning the bodies. After the Japanese occupation, the Tsang Tai Uk had to redecorated.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Chinese refugees also came to Hong Kong for shelter, as Hong Kong was not part of the war at that time. The refugees walked down to Hong Kong and when they arrived they rested at Sha Tin Wai. Sha Tin Wai was a suburb at that time and they saw the big house there, which was Tsang Tai Uk. After that, they went to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, where the refugees’ relatives lived. When the refugees arrived, they told their relatives that there was a big house at Sha Tin Wai, which belonged to the Tsang family. Since then, people have called the big house Tsang Tai Uk and that is where the name of the village came from.
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People can’t farm in Sha Tin Wai anymore and most of the villagers have moved out. When the members of Tsang family increased, some of them moved out, finding new houses and jobs in the urban area. The location is not far away from the urban areas, so most of the villagers would rather move out to the urban area to find jobs and houses rather than be farmers. The wealthier ones would buy houses. In the 1960s, the Hong Kong government begun to develop new towns and the government bought the land used for farming. The government has decided that farming can no longer develop in Hong Kong. At the same time, there was not enough water for both farming and the needs of people in Hong Kong. So they build up reservoirs, collecting all the natural water from the mountains, as well as rainwater. As a result, farmers were only able rely on well water and another sources of water. It was not enough for farming, as farmers used to collect water from the mountains and rivers. Later, the government needed land for building houses, in order to solve the housing problem. The Planning Development Department restricted the village area, and the lands outside of this area now belong to the government.
Before the restriction almost the whole Sha Tin Wai belonged to the Tsang Tai Uk villagers. The villagers used the land to build houses, farm and fish from the river. When the government set up the restriction for Tsang Tai Uk and confiscated the land, they paid a very low price for compensation. The government didn’t pay the villagers in money, but instead gave them a document called New Territories Land Exchange Entitlements, known as letters B. At the time property developers could use the letters B to exchange to other land in Hong Kong and the letters were very profitable.