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SCMP Reporter

FOR residents of Nga Tsin Wai, a traditional walled village in Wong Tai Sin, paddy fields and fish ponds are a far cry from life in the concrete jungle outside.

    Theirs is the only well preserved traditional rural village in the Hong Kong and Kowloon area.

  The village, surrounded by a mass of residential buildings and Kai Tak airport, is typical of the territory's rural areas.

  Its leader, Ng Kau, says the villagers farmed and fished in Wong Tai Sin and nearby San Po Kong for several hundred years after their village was established at the end of the Song Dynasty.

  'To escape from the torture of the Yuan Dynasty established by the Mongolians, our ancestors moved south about 600 years ago. They began growing rice, vegetables and fishing after settling down in the village,' Mr Ng said.

  'It became a walled village a few generations later, as it gradually developed.'   Although Wong Tai Sin became a crowded urban area after World War II, life in the village remains much the same as it used to be.

  But while, like Mr Ng, most of the villagers are happy with their lifestyle, it seems their lives are not likely to remain unchanged for much longer - the developers are planning to move in.

  'The Land Development Corporation contacted us two years ago discussing the terms of developing the village,' Mr Ng said.

  The Corporation says it has been working on plans to redevelop Nga Tsin Wai into residential blocks: 'Although it is a village with a history of 600 years, the living conditions inside are deteriorating and need to be improved. So, we just want to replace it with modern residential apartments,' said Land Development Corporation senior public relation manager, Holly Lau Man-mi.

  'We are in the initial stages of the project of planning the resettlement and compensation for the villagers. The redevelopment will start once we can reach an agreement with the villagers.'   Mr Ng tim-fat, a villager, said: 'Another company has bought 40 of our houses in preparation for building residential blocks. Obviously, our village will soon be gone.'   The village was set up in a grid with the houses inside connected by six narrow lanes, a typical design for the arrangement of homes in rural areas.

  Mr Ng Kau said it was established by clans with surnames Ng, Lee and Chan. It was a traditional practice in Chinese rural societies that clans with the same surnames built walled villages to protect their members.

  Life remained much the same until the end of the Japanese invasion: 'The place was still a very typical rural area 50 years ago,' Mr Ng said.

  'When I was a young boy, there were fish ponds surrounding the village, and the whole area beyond was farmland.

  'There was also seashore just across the road, but it was reclaimed for the airport. We were able to feed ourselves by either farming or fishing.'    There were also other villages - Po Kong, for instance - nearby.

  But when the Japanese invaded, they destroyed all the fish ponds and many of the fields.

  'The situation was even worse after the war when the government began to develop the area. There was tremendous pressure for housing, caused by the influx of immigrants from China during the civil war on the mainland,' Mr Ng said.

  Squatter settlements and public housing estates were built all round the village after the 50s. And the villagers could no longer earn their living by farming or fishing and had to look for jobs.

  'Many people left the village and moved to the New Territories and Nam Ma island to continue farming. Those who stayed became policemen or sailors.

  'I also left to be a sailor for more than 10 years. It was not easy to find a good job in Hong Kong then,' said Mr Ng.

  By the time he returned, Wong Tai Sin and San Po Kong had become major urban areas, filled with modern apartments, public housing blocks and industrial buildings - except for his village.

  His neighbour Ng Tim-fat says the changes in the area show how rapidly the city has grown. Before World War II a large area of Kowloon was home only to farmers and fishermen.

  'The whole region of eastern Kowloon from Kwun Tong to Wong Tai Sin was once known as the '13 villages', but now, only our is village left,' he said.

  'Now, all we can see is nothing but heavy traffic, high rise buildings and the noisy airport.'   Although there were enormous changes in the nearby area as the city grew, the village remains much as it was.

  'Although we are now living in the urban area, everything in the village is still just as it was 50 years ago. We still have 110 houses here,' Mr Ng Tim-fat said.

  The Tin Hau [Goddess of the Sea] temple in its centre is still the place of worship, even though no one in the village is a fisherman now.

  'Our village is quite independent still. Most of our neighbours don't even know there is a temple inside the village after all these years.'    There is still a village office handling all local matters, as in the New Territories.

  'All our families gather together during the Ching Ming festival and the Chung Yeung festival every year for a ceremony in our tze tong [where the ashes of the ancestors are kept], tending the ashes and the tablets of our ancestors,' Ng Tim-fat said.

  'The tze tong ties up all our families, even though many of us left the village many years ago.'   He admits living in a modern apartment would be more convenient, but he still prefers his village house: 'The neighbourhood in the village is much better than in high rise apartments. We know each other so well and for everyone in the village it is like living in a big family.'          Although we are now living in the urban area, everything in the village is still just as it was 50 years ago. We still have 110 houses here.



The last village bows out