In the Land of Man

Recently I was looking through some information about heritage buildings in Hong Kong and found one called Tai Fu Tai, which I thought looked pretty amazing. I was thinking I would love to go and see it, but it sounded so far away. Then I realized it was just one bus-stop further on than the sunflower farm I visited a week or so ago. That was it; I had to go there.

The unbearable hot weather we've been having had cooled a bit today, but the sky was getting darker and darker and thunderstorms were forecast. To get to Tai Fu Tai, I had to take the West Rail to Yeun Long and then get on bus 76K. I was heading for the bus-stop in San Tin. Just like when I visited the sunflower farm I had a long wait for the bus, 24 minutes this time, last time was 25. I didn't count, honest - it's just there's an information board.

Another thing I have been looking up lately is Hong Kong flowers. I discovered one called a water hyacinth that grows on top of ponds. It's a beautiful blue colour and in large groups it forms a spectacular sea of blue. Apparently it blooms and dies in just one day, so it's hard to find and no-one knows where it will appear next. People traipse around the North-West New Territories looking for them. My bus just happened to pass a pond covered in them. I wasn't expecting it, so just sat there stunned and watched it pass by, but I thought I'll get off and look at that on the way back.

Tai Fu Tai is a heritage building located in San Tin. San Tin translates into English as New Fields. It is a village surrounded by marshlands. It's very close to the Lok Ma Chau Border Crossing with Mainland China. Actually I saw an aerial photo of San Tin. It sits on one side of the Sham Chun River, which forms the border. It is a few low level houses surrounded by many fish ponds; on the other side of the river stands the huge glittering metropolis that is Shenzhen. The contrast is quite amazing, especially when you bear in mind that Shenzhen didn't exit until fairly recently. When Hong Kong was still British and the Chinese border largely closed, the San Tin area was known as the Bamboo Curtain. Historically the San Tin area was largely inhabited by members of the Man Clan, one of the Five Great Clans of the New Territories. These early settlers include the Man,Tang, Hau, Pang and Liu Clans.

The Man Clan originated in Sichuan, but gradually migrated south, first to Jiangxi, then to Guangdong. The Mans living in San Tin claim descent from Man Sai-go, who settled there in the fourteenth century. For around six hundred years, the Mans of San Tin earned a living by growing red rice in the slightly salty paddies along the Sham Chun River. This rice was largely exported to Mainland China, but after the Communist Revolution this market was no longer accessible and the village fell into poverty with many of its inhabitants travelling overseas for employment. Many went to the U.K.

The first building I looked at was the Tung San Temple which was right next to where I got off the bus. This is a beautiful and very well maintained temple. It is more than four hundred years old. I particularly liked the lovely lions guarding its entranceway.

The beautiful Tung San Temple.

Tung San Temple.

Lions guarding temple.

Lions guarding temple.

Peacocks on the outside of the temple.

Incense and temple doorway.

Inside the temple.

Inside the temple.

Inside the temple.

Inside the temple.

Inside the temple.

Inside the temple.

Detail on temple door.

Fish behind Temple.

Shrine behind temple.

From here it's about a three minute walk to Tai Fu Tai. There's a signpost next to the post office indicating the way. Tai Fu Tai was built in 1865 during the Quing Dynasty. It was the residence of one of the Man family's highest achieving ancestors, Man Chung-luen. He was a merchant and a philanthropist who belonged to the twenty-first generation of the Man lineage. He was awarded the title Tai Fu which means senior official by the emperor for his generosity and good deeds.

Tai Fu Tai is a well preserved example of a typical Southern Chinese scholar-gentry class dwelling. The main building of Tai Fu Tai has two halls with side chambers, bedrooms and a courtyard. On the east side of the main building there is a parlour and an internal courtyard, and on the west side there is a kitchen, a side chamber and toilets. In the grounds of Tai Fu Tai there are two smaller buildings, a well and a fish pond. Tai Fu Tai was completely restored in 1988 using money donated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. It is free to enter and is open every day except Tuesdays from 9am to 1pm, then from 2pm to 6pm.

The Main building of Tai Fu Tai.

Looking across the grounds at Tai Fu Tai as the skies darken.

Tai Fu Tai viewed across the Fish Pond.

Internal Plan of Tai Fu Tai.

Inside the Main Courtard.

Side Chamber viewed through ornate door.

Main chamber with portraits of the Man family.

Main hall from side chamber.

Looking at an upper floor.

Looking at an upper floor.

Side Chamber with table and chairs.

One of the most impressive things about this lovely building is the beautiful decorative touches above doorways, at the top of walls and on doors

Beautiful Doors.

Detail on doors.

Decorative Paintings.

Decorative Paintings.

Decorative Paintings.

Detail.

Floral Paintings on the doors.

Floral Paintings on the doors.

At one time there was a factory making peanut oil in the San Tin area. All that remains of it is a peanut oil press which has been put on display in Tai Fu Tai.

Peanut Oil Press.

Circular doors or moon doors represent happiness.

Moon Door.

Moon Door and side rooms.

Looking out at the garden.

In the kitchen.

In the kitchen.

In the kitchen.

In the room that was once the parlour there were lots of displays with information about the history of Tai Fu Tai and the Man family. There was also information about the restoration of the building and its official reopening attended by Governor Wilson and his wife. My favourite part of the inside of the house was the beautifully ornate internal courtyard. A great place to sit with a cold glass of beer and a good book if only I lived in Tai Fu Tai.

Governor Wilson at the re-opening of Tai Fu Tai.

Parlour.

Internal Courtyard.

Decoration in Internal Courtyard.

Fish water spout in internal courtyard.

Bamboo Design.

Toilet.

Toilet.

The side of Tai Fu Tai and part of its garden.

Looking across the garden to one of the smaller buildings.

Seats and bamboo in the gardens.

In the garden.

There are also two smaller buildings in the grounds of Tai Fu Tai. I had a look at both. One seemed to be largely used for storage, the other was next to the fishpond. Through a window in this building I could see how overgrown the area behind this building was. Hong Kong's jungle is always trying to reclaim anything built in its path.

Buildings used for storage.

Door in building used for storage.

Window in building used for storage.

Alcove in building used for storage.

Well.

Building near fishpond.

Building near fishpond.

Building near fishpond.

Building near fishpond.

Courtyard in building near fishpond.

Inside building near fishpond.

It's a jungle out there.

View over fishpond.

When I had finished looking at Tai Fu Tai the skies had gone totally black and I could hear the rumble of thunder. I decided to keep looking around but try and do it quickly. I had a quick look at parts of the village and a tiny temple. I failed to find the ancestral hall, but later read it was closed for renovation anyway.

Pleasant looking restaurant.

Ornate entryway.

Typical low houses.

Typical building and restaurant.

Little Temple. I think it is called Fook Tak Temple.

Inside Fook Tak Temple.

Trees.

Trees.

Narrow Streets.

Narrow Streets.

Ornate Doorway.

Village Street.

After an extremely rushed look around the village, I hurried to do one last thing. I wanted to visit Man Tin Cheung Park. To get there I went back to the main road where I had exited the bus, headed right, crossed the road and turned left just before the petrol station.

This park has an impressive gateway guarded by two stone lions. I walked through this and climbed the stairs up to a huge statue of Man Tin Cheung. He was a famous poet and patriot, known as one of the three heroes of the Song Dynasty, because he refused to surrender to Mongolian invaders. He was captured, imprisoned for three years then executed. While imprisoned, Man Tin Cheung wrote one of his greatest poems the "Song of Righteousness". There is a six-meter tall bronze statue of Man Tin Cheung in the center of the park. Behind the statue there is a massive stone bas relief showing his life and times. There are good views over Shenzhen from here.

Gateway to the park.

Two stone lions guard the way.

Two stone lions guard the way.

Lilypond on climb up.

Statue of Man Tin Cheung.

Statue of Man Tin Cheung.

Scenes from bas relief behind statue.

Scenes from bas relief behind statue.

Scenes from bas relief behind statue.

Scenes from bas relief behind statue.

View from the top of the park.

I quickly descended the hill as the thunder got louder and lightning began to split the sky. I was heading at speed for the bus shelter where I thought I'd have to sit out the storm for around thirty minutes, but a red minibus drove into view. It was heading to Yuen Long so I leapt on. As I passed the area with the water hyacinths the rain was coming down in sheets, the lightning was terrifying and the road was flooding. I decided I had better not got off to look at them, no matter how hard they are to find.

When I got home even the road outside my house was flooded.

Bus driving on wrong side of road to avoid the flood.

Water, water everywhere.