Chuen Lung () is a place in

Tai Mo Shan Tai Mo Shan is the highest peak in Hong Kong, with an elevation of above the , or around above mean sea level. It is located at approximately the geographical centre of the New Territories. The Tai Mo Shan Country Park covers an area of ...

Tsuen Wan District Tsuen Wan District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is located in the New Territories and is served by the Tsuen Wan line of the MTR metro system. Its area is 60.7 km2. Its residents, who mostly live in Tsuen Wan Town, enjo ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. The name comes from the local

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

village Chuen Lung Village ().

History

Located on the hillside of

, Chuen Lung Village is one of the oldest

villages in the area. The village is mainly inhabited by the Tsang Clan (), the indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories, whose ancestry is from Longchuan County in

Guangdong Province ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

(west of

Wuhua County Wuhua County (, Hakka: Ng-Fa Yen) is a county under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Meizhou in the east of Guangdong Province, China. Names Wuhua was formerly known as Changle (). Administrative divisions The county is respon ...

today), and who migrated southwards to settle in the

(including Ta Chuen Ping) . It is said to have been founded by Tsang Tai-cheung () during the

Zhengtong , succession = Emperor of the Ming dynasty , reign-type = First reign , reign = 31 January 1435 – 22 September 1449 , coronation = 7 February 1435 , cor-type = Enthronement , regent = , reg-type = Regents , ...

period (1436-1449) of

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

. Tsang Tai-cheung had moved, together with his two brothers, from

Huizhou Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in east-central Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Hey ...

to Muk Min Ha Tsuen () in today's

Tsuen Wan Tsuen Wan (formerly also spelled Tsun Wan) is a New towns of Hong Kong, town built on a bay in the New Territories West (constituency), western New Territories of Hong Kong, opposite Tsing Yi, Tsing Yi Island across Rambler Channel. The market ...

area, during the

Yongle The Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Chengzu of Ming, personal name Zhu Di, was the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424. He was the fourth son of the Hongwu ...

period (1403-1424). He then moved to Chuen Lung several decades later.

Antiquities Advisory Board The Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) is a statutory body of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with the responsibility of advising the Secretary for Development, Antiquities Authority on any matters relating to antiquities and monum ...

. Historic Building Appraisal
Tsang Ancestral Hall, Chuen Lung
/ref> It is rumored that the village move to the hillside of

to avoid pirates. In the late 17th and early 20th centuries, as Hong Kong's latitude was similar to that of Yunnan, where tea is produced, and the climate of the high mountains was suitable for the cultivation of

Camellia sinensis ''Camellia sinensis'' is a species of evergreen shrub or small tree in the flowering plant family Theaceae. Its leaves, leaf buds, and stems can be used to produce tea. Common names include tea plant, tea shrub, and tea tree (unrelated to ''Me ...

, large-scale commercially grown tea plantations were found in

Plover Cove Plover Cove, also known by its Chinese names Shuen Wan Hoi () or Shuen Wan (), is a cove in the Tai Po District of Hong Kong, near Tolo Channel and Tolo Harbour. Geography It is encircled by the hills Pat Sin Leng and Wan Leng (), the Yim Tin T ...

and the area around

Shing Mun Shing Mun () is an area between Tsuen Wan and Sha Tin in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It used to be, as suggested by its Chinese characters, a gate between the two areas separated by a range of hills. History Before the construction of Shin ...

, Tai Mo Shan. Historian David Faure estimated that villagers in Chuen Lung used to make a living by growing tea in the early years, but the tea plantations were deserted after the 1920s. In the post-war 1950s, the British Hong Kong Government banned the planting of

watercress Watercress or yellowcress (''Nasturtium officinale'') is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. Watercress is a rapidly growing perennial plant native to Eurasia. It is one of the oldest known leaf vegetabl ...

in urban areas such as Mongkok to prevent the spread of

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. Some newly settled villagers in Chuen Lung tried to grow watercress in the area. Due to the location of Chuan Lung, which has abundant water supply and favourable temperature on the hill, quality watercress started to be grown successfully in the 1960's. Nowadays, there are still a few villagers growing watercress in Chuan Lung. Around November after the

Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...

, watercress is harvested, attracting many diners to try the local fresh watercress. Compared with other New Territories vegetable species that have been lost, Chuan Lung's watercress has been preserved. However, according to the farmers, there is no one to continue the tradition and it is difficult to sustain it, so it is in danger of being lost.

Features

The Tsang Ancestral Hall in Chuen Lung is believed to have been built in around the 17th century. It is listed as a Grade III historic building.

Administration

Chuen Lung Village is a recognized village under the

New Territories The New Territories (N.T., Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: ) is one of the three areas of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of H ...

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 ...

References

External links

Delineation of area of existing village Chuen Lung (Tsuen Wan) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
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Pictures of Tsang Ancestral Hall
Villages in Tsuen Wan District, Hong Kong {{HongKong-geo-stub