To most Hong Kong people, Tiu Keng Leng is just one of the MTR stops on the Tseung Kwan O Line. But, for decades, this once-isolated stretch of New Territories coastline was the site of the staunchly Nationalist refugee settlement at Rennie's Mill.
Rennie's Mill was named for A.H. Rennie, a Canadian who built a substantial flour mill and ice works on the Junk Bay coastline in 1905-06. Soon after, the mills failed during a major economic downturn and Rennie committed suicide by drowning in Junk Bay.
Established in 1950 around the old flour-mill site, the Rennie's Mill squatter area was settled by thousands of Nationalist soldiers, their families and other supporters who decamped to Hong Kong as the Chinese civil war drew to a close in 1948-49. Initially, these refugees had established themselves around Mount Davis on Hong Kong Island. After some disturbances they were resettled in a remote corner of Junk Bay and a more permanent community, complete with schools, evolved here.
Even more than most refugees from China in those years, Rennie's Mill residents were virulently anti-communist. Violent clashes with rival political groups had occurred at Mount Davis and, as many had some element of military training and experience, confrontations could get out of hand.
Many post-war newcomers from China settled near existing village areas in hillside shanty towns known as mook uk kui (literally 'wooden house areas'). By the early 1960s, Rennie's Mill had evolved into one of the largest such squatter settlements in eastern Kowloon.
Rennie's Mill remained a Nationalist stronghold for decades, and every Double Tenth (October 10, the anniversary of the 1911 rebellion that led to the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty), the area was bright with fluttering red, blue and white Kuomintang flags, and noisy with officially banned fireworks. Unlike in other parts of Hong Kong - where residents were often paid to fly Nationalist flags at these times - at Rennie's Mill the sentiments were completely genuine.