Hong Kong district stories: Repulse Bay, Deep Water Bay and Shouson Hill

On a sunny day over the Christmas holidays, a small group of people squeezed through the narrow lanes of Wong Chuk Hang San Wai. To those zipping past on the MTR’s new South Island Line, this tight cluster of houses probably looks like a squatter village, but its history goes back farther than they might expect.

“The name of Hong Kong may come from this village,” says Anthony Chan, who leads a new eco travel tour through the South Side’s built heritage and natural landscape. When the village was built in the 1860s, it replaced the old settlement of Hong Kong Wai. British sailors passed by the village in the early 19th century on their way to stock up on fresh water at Waterfall Bay, and some believe they took its name, which referred to the local incense trade, and applied it to the entire island on which the village stood.

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Chan leads the group to an old stone house with a strong granite base, grey brick walls, a colourful frieze and reptile sculptures that drain water from the roof while also warding off evil spirits. “You can tell it was built by a wealthy family,” he says. Not just any family: the Chow family, whose patriarch, Shouson Chow, later co-founded the Bank of East Asia and became the first Chinese member of Hong Kong’s Executive Council. Shouson Hill was named in his honour.

In a way, Chow was a precursor to the many wealthy and powerful people who now live on Hong Kong’s South Side. Shouson Hill, Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay are today some of the most expensive neighbourhoods in Hong Kong, but as the makeshift houses around Shouson Chow’s old residence suggest, it has always been more than just a playground for the rich.

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