Walled Villages of the North

In the heat of the mid-afternoon, elder women of Tung Kok Wai often gather to sip tea inside the cool watchtower of their 500-year-old village, which they have fitted out with benches and a few stools. “This is the only one of the wai (five walled villages) that still has the old gate,” says one of the women proudly, pointing out the sliding wooden bars that fit precisely into round holes cut in the granite stone of the doorframe. The village gate, she explains, would be locked at sunset to protect the residents from danger.

Hong Kong’s Antiquities Advisory Board created the Lung Yeuk Tau Trail in 1999 to protect the living history of these villages in an unusual collaboration with local residents. Although the surrounding area is under rapid development, the architectural treasures in the vicinity of the trail remain largely intact, and the villages are occupied (signs along the way alert visitors to avoid areas that would disturb their privacy).

Lung Yeuk Tau means leaping dragon, and it also refers to the mountain that rises steeply behind the settlements. The 2.6 km route weaves alongside waterways and through working farmlands and forest, linking the Six Villages and Five Walled Villages (Ng Wai Luk Tsuen) originally built by a clan named Tang.

Villages in other parts of North District are also worth exploring. Sheung Shui, the last stop before the Mainland China border, is like most border towns — bustling, and at times a bit chaotic. But a short walk from the station takes you to Tsung Pak Long, a lovely village that seems frozen in time. Five different families joined to found the village and as you enter it, you see their five small adjoining ancestral temples on the left, and perhaps meet a few elders, who may be outside. To the right is an old pre-war school, and around the corner is one of the few Hakka villages in Hong Kong with its walls completely intact.