Taking Life With A Pinch Of Salt.

Salt Production at the Little Salt Field.

Saturday 6th of May 2023 is a historic occasion. It is the Coronation Day of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. It's an important day for me, too. Today I finally made it to Yim Tin Tsai, a trip I've wanted to do for months. Yippee!!

Yim Tin Tsai is an island off the coast of Sai Kung. Its name means Little Salt Field. Around three hundred years ago a Hakka family surnamed Chan moved here from Guangdong Province. They made their living on the island by fishing, farming and manufacturing salt. In its heyday this island was home to several hundred people.

It was not easy to farm on Yim Tin Tsai. There was better, flatter land on the neighbouring island of Kau Sai Chau, so many Yim Tin Tsai villagers planted their fields there. At low tide they could walk along a muddy path between the islands to tend their crops. At high tide this path was covered over. In the 1950's the whole village worked together to construct the Jade-Girdle Bridge to join the two islands together and make the farmers' trek to work easier.

In front of Yim Tin Tsai Village there are lots of old salt pans. In the days before refrigeration people used salt to preserve their food , so at this time it was a very important commodity.

To produce salt, the villagers dug out salt pans, then filled them with sea water which they pumped in through an opening they had made. The seawater then went through several evaporation stages in the sun. Some of the salt they produced was used by the villagers and some was sold in the markets of Sai Kung. In the 1920's salt production went into decline, due to the influx of cheaper salt from overseas, and the salt pans were abandoned.

Unlike in most seaside villages in Hong Kong, it's not possible to find temples to Tin Hau in Yim Tin Tsai. This is a Catholic village. In 1864 Josef Freinademetz and Johann Baptist von Anzer, two Catholic priests were sent on a mission to Sai Kung. Freinademetz visited Yim Tin Tsai and began to work on converting the villagers to Catholicism. Around 1890 he set up a chapel, called the Chapel of Saint Joseph. Over time most of the villagers were baptised into the Catholic Faith.

The village of Yim Tin Tsai had its own small primary school called Ching Po School. This was in use for around a century before closing down in 1997 due to falling enrollment.

Life on Yim Tin Tsai was hard and over time many of the islanders moved into the city to work in factories, or went overseas in search of work. By the late 1990's Yim Tin Tsai had become abandoned and its buildings had been left to crumble.

However, each May former villagers returned to Yim Tin Tsai to celebrate the Feast of Saint Joseph. In 1990 one of these former villagers was a man called Colin Chan. Colin Chan had spent his childhood on Yim Tin Tsai before his parents moved to Sai Kung and then to the UK. He had not returned to Yim Tin Tsai for many years and was horrified when he saw how run down the village had become. He could not even enter his old house, as it was completely overgrown by trees and bushes. He decided to do something about this, but he couldn't do it alone, so he contacted other former villagers, both in Hong Kong and overseas. Plus he got in touch with various government agencies and even the Catholic Church. With help and funding from all these sources, he set about trying to restore the village. In 1999 Colin Chan was elected the new village head of Yim Tin Tsai. He worked on getting money to repair and extend Yim Tin Tsai's pier. Then he secured money to restore Saint Joseph's Chapel. He was helped in this endeavour by the fact that Josef Freinademetz was canonized on October 5, 2003 by Pope John Paul II and so interest in him had greatly increased.

By 2004, after a great deal of hard work, the chapel restoration was complete and in 2005 the restored chapel received an Award of Merit from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Saint Joseph's Chapel is now a listed Grade 2 Historic Building.

Work also began on restoring the village salt pans. These are now used to teach people about salt production. These restoration efforts won an Award of Distinction at the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2015.

Another building that has been lovingly restored is the little village school. Nowadays this is used as a Heritage Exhibition Centre.

Work is also being carried out on the old village houses. Some have already been restored and some will be in the future.

I went to Yim Tin Tsai with my friend Agnes. I arrived a short time before her and took a quick look at Sai Kung Seafront before she arrived.

This pond and these boat sculptures are next to the bus station.

Pond and boat sculptures.

The waterfront from the waterfront gardens.

One of Sai Kung's piers.

Boats on the waterfront.

Once Agnes got there, we bought tickets for the Fat Lady boat, which can be identified by its rainbow coloured flags. The tickets cost HK$50 return. They didn't include entry to the Heritage Exhibition Centre or the Salt Pans. For each of these we had to pay an additional HK$20, making a total cost of HK$90. The Hakka lady in charge of the Heritage Exhibition Centre said if we had used the official boat we would have paid HK$70 and it would have included entrance fees. However, it seems the Fat Lady boat runs more frequently, so you win some, you lose some.

Fat Lady Boat.

The boat ride to Yim Tin Tsai leaves from Sai Kung Pier and only takes around fifteen minutes. It's a very pleasant journey as it passes some of the other lovely Sai Kung islands.

Leaving Sai Kung.

Scenery on the way.

Scenery on the way.

Scenery on the way.

Agnes on the boat.

Me on the boat.

Agnes had been to Yim Tin Tsai several years previously and was impressed by how it had changed. There are now several places to eat and drink and a lot more of the island has been restored. If Colin Chan continues following his dream, the whole island may eventually one day be restored, which would be wonderful.

Map of the island.

A short distance from the pier, I noticed a village house with gorgeous stained glass panels. There are several of these on the island and they depict scenes from village life.

House with stained glass.

Stained glass showing a wedding.

Stained glass showing a worker in the fields.

There are also various other art installations dotted around the island, because in 2019 the Yim Tin Tsai Arts Festival was held here and then later during the Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival six artists created artworks on the theme of 'Sequencing' here.

Art on a surfboard.

This art work by Dylan Kwok is supposed to look like God's hands. I have to admit I didn't see it like this. I just saw a maze.

The Salty Breeze by Sherman Sun and Sarah Mui.

Art on the wall of a house.

Art on the wall of a house.

We began by visiting the church. This is a beautiful building. There's an ornate stairway leading up to it and an old bell on display outside it. Inside there is a statue of Josef Freinademetz and some lovely stained glass windows. According to village folklore, Yim Tin Tsai was at one time plagued by pirate raids. When the islanders converted to Christianity, and Saint Joseph's Chapel with its large rooftop cross was built, they claim this frightened the pirates away.

Saint Joseph's Chapel.

Inside the Church.

Stained glass window inside the chapel.

Bell outside the church.

View from outside the church.

After looking at the church, we went to the Heritage Exhibition Centre. This was once the village school and still contained some of the desks and chairs from this time. It also had various articles from Hakka Culture such as ceramics, traditional clothing, including lots of Hakka ladies' hats, and a dragon head. The lady in charge here was very friendly and told Agnes a lot about Hakka culture and Yim Tin Tsai.

The Heritage Exhibition Centre.

Model of Saint Joseph's Chapel on on The Feast of Saint Joseph.

Hakka clothes and utensils.

Ceramics and other utensils.

The old school room blackboard with children's work on display.

Agnes talking to the Hakka lady in charge.

Old photo of the school.

Art installation outside Heritage Exhibition Centre that was inspired by the process of crystallisation and the geometric structure of salt.

Next we went to the salt pans and saw where the sea water went through various stages of evaporation. We were also shown some of the salt that has been produced here. Apparently this is available for purchase. It is possible to do a workshop here and actually have a go at producing some salt.

Looking down on the saltpans from the exhibition centre.

Looking across the salt pans.

Venturing out into the salt pans.

A salt pan.

Looking back at the village across the salt pans.

Showing some of the salt produced on Yim Tin Tsai.

Agnes holding some of the salt produced here.

Salt inspired artwork.

Artwork and reflection in the salt pans.

There are lots of mangroves on Yim Tin Tsai and Agnes noticed some fiddler crabs in the shallow waters near the salt pans. Male fiddler crabs have one normal sized claw and one huge claw. Females have two normal sized claws.

Mangroves.

Agnes among the Mangroves.

Fiddler crabs.

We walked to and across the Jade-Girdle Bridge which connects Yim Tin Tsai and Kau Sai Chau. Since 1995 Kau Sai Chau has been home to Hong Kong's only public golf course. I have actually been to the driving range here several times years ago. I remember the golf course had an excellent restaurant.

Sign for the Jade-girdle bridge.

Jade-girdle bridge.

Jade-girdle bridge.

Agnes on the bridge.

This artwork is called 'Fragile World', by Anthony Ko.

Me on the bridge.

Me on the bridge.

View from the bridge.

View from the bridge.

View from the bridge.

After looking at the bridge, we went to the twin pavilions at the top of the island. There are beautiful views from here. We could see the whole of Yim Tin Tsai Village. In the distance we could see other islands, a small dam and Sai Kung.

Pavilion.

Looking back at Sai Kung.

View over Yim Tin Tsai.

Closer view towards the church.

View over the dam.

From a second pavilion we could also see Yim Tin Tsai's cemetery and decided to look there next. Agnes pointed out that every tomb stone bore the name Chan. In Hakka culture it's the sons who continue the family name. The daughters marry outside and become part of their husband's clan.

Graveyard.

Graveyard.

As we walked we passed lots of lovely flowers and plants.

Flower.

Flower.

Typical island scenery.

Next we went to find the Spring of Living Water. This well was the islanders only source of fresh water right up to the 1960's when a small reservoir was built on Kau Sai Chau. Some of the water from this reservoir was diverted to Yim Tin Tsai. The Spring of Living Water still yields fresh water all year round.

The Spring of Living Water.

The Spring of Living Water.

From this point we headed back into the village and visited the former residence of Josef Freinademetz. There's a statue of him here. He was of Austrian/Italian descent, but dressed in traditional Chinese clothing and could speak fluent Hakka. There was more beautiful stain glass here and a sculpture of a book inscribed with the words: "The only language understood by people everywhere is the language of love."

The former residence of Josef Freinademetz.

Statue of Josef Freinademetz.

Book sculpture.

Stain glass panel.

Stained glass panel.

After this we had a look at some of the village houses, both restored and unrestored, then headed back to the ferry pier.

Ruined houses.

Ruined houses.

Ruined houses.

Ruined houses.

Ruined house.

Ruined house.

Ruined house.

House that has been restored.

A group of people were kayaking at the beach next to the pier. The sea looked pretty inviting. Overall I had found Yim Tin Tsai to be incredibly peaceful and beautiful.

Looking down at the pier

Kayaks on the beach.

Kayaks and pier.

Looking back at the beach.

The journey back to Sai Kung was pleasant and scenic. We were meeting our friend Ivy in Sai Kung for lunch. Ivy had originally been coming with us to Yim Tin Tsai, but unfortunately had been called in to work unexpectedly.

We went to Chuen Kee Seafood Restaurant on the seafront where Agnes very kindly treated us to dim sum. I was quite fascinated by the huge tanks of seafood at the back of the restaurant. Among a large variety of creatures, there were massive crabs here and one enormous fish that could probably have fed the whole restaurant. We had steamed pork buns, steamed vegetable buns, shrimp dumplings, turnip cake, rice noodle rolls and fun guo, a kind of dumpling stuffed with vegetables and peanuts.

Restaurants on the waterfront.

Restaurants on the waterfront.

Tanks filled with sea creatures.

Tanks filled with sea creatures.

Huge crabs.

Agnes and Ivy.

The three of us.

Steamed buns.

Dumplings.

It was a lovely meal and we had a really good catch up. Ivy has got lots of races lined up to do and Agnes is going to be doing quite a bit of travelling, both for work and pleasure. Hopefully, the three of us can get together for more exploring in the near future.

After lunch I felt I better head back to Peter. I feel guilty if I abandon him for too long and Agnes and Ivy headed off for a wander around Sai Kung.

It had been a lovely day out and Yim Tin Tsai had more than lived up to my expectations.