Fung Kat Heung () is a village in the
Kam Tin area of
Yuen Long District,
Hong Kong.
Administration
Fung Kat Heung is a recognized village under the
New Territories Small House Policy.
Location
Fung Kat Heung located near
Au Tau on Old
Castle Peak Road
Castle Peak Road is the longest road in Hong Kong. Completed in 1920, it runs in the approximate shape of an arc of a semi-circle. It runs West from Tai Po Road in Sham Shui Po, New Kowloon, to Tuen Mun, then north to Yuen Long then east to Sh ...
. It is east of the
Kam Tin River
The Kam Tin River (), located in the northwest New Territories, is a river to the east to Yuen Long, near Kam Tin, Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic ...
and north of
Sha Po Tsuen
Sha Po Tsuen () is a walled village in Kam Tin, Yuen Long District, Hong Kong.
Administration
Sha Po Tsuen is a recognized village under the New Territories Small House Policy.
Education
Sha Po is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 74. Wi ...
, at the foot of the
Kai Kung Leng
Kai Kung Leng () is a mountain range in Lam Tsuen Country Park, New Territories, Hong Kong.
Geography
There are several peaks on this mountain range. The tallest peak on the Kai Kung Leng mountain range is called Lo Tin Teng and is above sea ...
mountain range of
Lam Tsuen Country Park
Lam Tsuen Country Park () is a 15.20 km2 country park in the northern New Territories, Hong Kong.
It opened in 1979 and spans parts of Tai Po, Fanling and Yuen Long. The park is divided into two parts by Fan Kam Road: Tai To Yan () and Kai K ...
.
Connection with Shen Hongying
Fung Kat Heung is the ancestral village of the
Shum () clan descendants of
Shen Hongying
Shen Hongying or Shum Hung-ying (; Cantonese: ''Shum Hung-ying'') (Oct 15, 1871 – January 28, 1935) was a Chinese general in the Old Guangxi Clique during the Republic of China (1912–1949). Shum was given the title of General Hip Wai (協 ...
(also translitereated as Shum Hung-ying) (1871–1938), who was a Chinese general in the
Old Guangxi Clique during the
Republic of China (1912–1949). Following his defeat in the
Guangdong–Guangxi War
The Guangdong–Guangxi War, or the 1st and 2nd Yue-Gui Wars, occurred between the Kuomintang and the Old Guangxi Clique.
First Yue-Gui War
When Sun Yat-sen, leader of the Chinese Revolutionary Party, attempted to re-establish himself in Guangz ...
, in 1926, Shen Hongying retired to this location and named the village Fung Kat (), to represent that all bad luck turns into good luck.
Shum Residence or the "General House"
The building known as "General House" () was built by Shen Hongying, a warlord of the
Kwangxi clique () during the warlord period (1912-1928) of the Chinese Republic. Shen Hongying was born in 1871 and moved to
Luorong () of
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
from
Enping of
Guangdong. He had been a bandit and later became a prefecture officer () in the
Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
government. He then served at the Republic government and was promoted to a number of posts, eventually became defence commissioner in the two provinces. He was the Commander-in-Chief of the Frontier Defence of the Third Route Army of Guangdong and Guangxi (), had armed confrontations with the renowned generals
Pai Chung-hsi and
Li Tsung-jen in 1925, and later fled to Hong Kong. When he was a general in the Chinese mainland, he bought a lot of land in Hong Kong. He was a member of the Board of Director of
Pok Oi Hospital in 1932 and 1933 and its Chairman in 1934. His residence in Fung Kat Heung was probably completed in 1932.
The residence is called Shum Residence () or Chun Nam Tong () is a modern version of a
Hakka house of high built heritage value. It is built in a row of three houses separated by two courtyards blending traditional Hakka architecture with western design elements. The largest component is the General House () in the middle and to its right is the Shum Ancestral Hall () and to its left the Hip Wai House (). The House's main building is a two-storey structure having a rectangular hall surrounded by a U-shaped unit of living-rooms with a courtyard separating it. The upper storey is accessed by a staircase in the hall and a bridge on the upper storey is linking it to the rear unit. Verandahs are on both storeys of the U-shaped unit. The building is constructed of green bricks having its walls supporting part of its pitched roofs of timber rafters, purlins and clay tiles. Part of its roofs are reinforced flat concrete ones. The building is with minimal decoration with the name board at its entrance above the lintel and simple fascia boards and black wall friezes.
The General House was used as the dining and living rooms where Shum met his friends and had meals with his friends and family. The four characters () by Chinese politician
Li Yuan-hong still hang in the living room of the general’s house. Hip Wai House was where Shum lived. The Shum Ancestral Hall houses a number of soul tablets of Shum ancestors for worship with special offerings during the Chinese New Year,
Qingming
The Qingming festival or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors' Day), is a traditional Chinese festival observed by the Han Chinese of mainland China, Hong Ko ...
and
Chung Yeung Festivals. Dim Dang () ritual is still held at the hall on the first day of the first lunar month. It is a rare example of early 193os residential architecture.
Additional places of historic interest
Also located in Fung Kat Heung is Miu Kok Yuen (妙覺園) and Ming Yuen (明園).
Miu Kok Yuen is a Buddhist nunnery and martyrs' grave built in 1936 by the by the Tang (鄧) clan of Kam Tin (錦田) in commemoration of the
Punti and other
indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories who protested British colonial rule and died fighting in the
Six-Day War of 1899. This communal grave at Fung Kat Heung is the largest in the New Territories, measuring about 15 metres across and bearing the Chinese inscription 'Six days of outstanding bravery'. Elders from Kam Tin insist it contains at least 100 dead. The nuns pray for the souls of those who died three times a day. In 1996, the grave was restored.
Ming Yuen is a traditional village house. It is a one-story courtyard house.
Education
Fung Kat Heung is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 74. Within the school net are multiple aided schools (operated independently but funded with government money) and one government school: Yuen Long Government Primary School (元朗官立小學).
References
External links
Delineation of area of existing village Fung Kat Heung (Kam Tin) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)*
Antiquities Advisory Board. Historic Building Appraisal
General House, Main BuildingGeneral House, Hip Wai HouseGeneral House, Shum Ancestral House
Pictures
General House
Hip Wai House
Shum Ancestral Hall
* Antiquities Advisory Board. Historic Building Appraisa
Miu Kok YuenPictures
* Antiquities Advisory Board. Historic Building Appraisa
Ming YuenPictures
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{{coord, 22.45632, 114.0583, display=title
Villages in Yuen Long District, Hong Kong
Kam Tin