Wun Yiu Village is a village located in

Tai Po Tai Po is an area in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It refers to the vicinity of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui () (the original "Tai Po Market") on the north of Lam Tsue ...

in Hong Kong. Wun Yiu Village consists of Sheung Wun Yiu () and Ha Wun Yiu ().

Administration

Wun Yiu is a recognized village under the

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

Small House Policy The Small House Policy (SHP, ) was introduced in 1972 in Hong Kong. The objective was to improve the then prevailing low standard of housing in the rural areas of the New Territories. The Policy allows an indigenous male villager who is 18 ye ...

. Wun Yiu is one of the villages represented within the Tai Po Rural Committee. For electoral purposes, Wun Yiu is part of the

Tai Po Kau Tai Po Kau () is an area and a villages south of the town of Tai Po in Hong Kong, which was the site of the former Tai Po Kau station on the Kowloon–Canton Railway. It is located at a river estuary that empties into Tolo Harbour. Administratio ...

constituency, which is currently represented by Patrick Mo Ka-chun.

History

The area was once a center of porcelain industry in the

. The clans of Man and Tse began manufacturing blue and white porcelain in the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

(1368-1644). In 1674 (the 13th year of the reign of the

Qing dynasty 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-speak ...

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...

), the Ma

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

clan, originally from Changle county,

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, settled in Tai Po and purchased the kilns from the Man clan.Remains of Ancient Kilns, Wun Yiu Village
/ref> At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Ha Wun Yiu was 60; the number of males was 26. The population of Sheung Wun Yiu was 129; the number of males was 53. Because of the competition from good-quality and inexpensive porcelain produced by other coastal kilns in Guangdong, the kilns at Wun Yiu finally stopped operating in 1932.

Declared Monuments

Wun Yiu Pottery Kilns

The remains of the ancient kilns of Wun Yiu Village have been declared a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

. In the remains of the ancient kilns, relics illustrating the complete process of porcelain production were discovered during archaeological investigations. These artefacts include china clay quarrying pits, water-mills, animal-driven grinders, clay soaking tanks and

dragon kiln A dragon kiln () or "climbing kiln", is a traditional Chinese form of kiln, used for Chinese ceramics, especially in southern China. It is long and thin, and relies on having a fairly steep slope, typically between 10° and 16°, up which the kil ...

s.The Geographical Information System on Hong Kong Heritage
/ref>

Fan Sin Temple

Fan Sin Temple, alias "Fan Sin Kung" or "Fan Sin Miu", was declared a monument on 30December 1999. Fan Sin Temple, located in Sheung Wun Yiu, is the main temple in the villages of the Sheung Wun Yiu and Ha Wun Yiu; it is the only example of worshipping this deity in Hong Kong. It is uncertain when the temple was constructed. However, according to a wooden plaque hanging at the main hall of the temple, it has a history of over 200 years as the plaque was carved in the geng-xu year of the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...

(1790). It is commonly believed that the Fan Sin Temple was built by the Ma clan to worship Fan Tai Sin Sze, the patron saint of potters. Windows with iron frameworks were installed on four sides of the temple after World War II. Many historic relics of the temple were destroyed after a serious fire in mid 1970s. The calligraphy and paintings above the entrance were repainted during a renovation in 1976 after the fire. There is a wooden plaque from 1970 and four commemorative stone plaques which record the restorations in 1897, 1925, 1964 and 1976 respectively. A further restoration of the temple has recently been carried out and it is now open to the public.

Wun Yiu Trackway

The Wun Yiu Trackway starts at Sheung Wun Yiu Village. It is about long. Workers may have used it to transport

kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

from the upper mines down to the workshop before the kiln stopped operation.

Access

Section 8 of the

Wilson Trail The Wilson Trail () is a long-distance footpath in Hong Kong, 63 km of which runs through Hong Kong country parks.Delineation of area of existing village Ha Wun Yiu (Tai Po) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)

Delineation of area of existing village Sheung Wun Yiu (Tai Po) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
Villages in Tai Po District, Hong Kong Former populated places in Hong Kong Declared monuments of Hong Kong Archaeological sites in Hong Kong {{coord, 22.4343, 114.1637, display=t