Tsang Tai Uk (Shan Ha Wai)

About the village

Tsang Tai Uk, also known as Shan Ha Wai, is a Hakka walled village in Sha Tin, near Lion Rock Tunnel Road and Pok Hong Estate. Construction was begun in 1847 by Tsang Koon-man, a wealthy granite merchant and stonemason, as a stronghold for the Tsang clan, and took around twenty years to complete. Built of granite, grey brick and solid timber, the rectangular complex follows the symmetrical 'three-hall, four-row' layout typical of Qing-dynasty vernacular architecture, with three rows of interconnected houses, corner watchtowers and gun holes for defence against pirates and bandits. Tsang Tai Uk is a Grade I historic building and one of Hong Kong's best preserved Hakka walled villages, spared demolition when Sha Tin New Town was built around it in the 1970s. It remains a living village: many current residents are direct descendants of the Tsang clan, so visitors are welcome only in the first courtyard and the ancestral hall, which reopened after restoration begun in 2009 with a government maintenance grant. The nearest MTR stations are Che Kung Temple and Sha Tin Wai, and the Hong Kong Heritage Museum is a short walk away.