Kau Wa Keng (), or Kau Wah Keng or Kau Wa Kang, is a village and

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

Lai King Lai King, or Lai King Hill, is the colloquial name for a residential area including a number of private housing and public housing estates, located on Mo Shek Shan (), east of Kwai Chung, New Territories, Hong Kong. It is centred on Lai King Esta ...

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 ...

. It is located near the reclaimed

Lai Chi Kok Bay Lai Chi Kok Bay ( Chinese: 荔枝角灣) or Lai Wan ( Chinese: 荔灣) was a bay west of Lai Chi Kok in Hong Kong. North of the bay is Kau Wa Keng. The bay was largely recreational during its history. In the early and mid 20th century, bathing p ...

New Kowloon New Kowloon is an area in Hong Kong, bounded to the south by Boundary Street, and to the north by the ranges of the Eagle's Nest, Beacon Hill, Lion Rock, Tate's Cairn and Kowloon Peak. It covers the present-day Kwun Tong District and Wong ...

. Three rivers in the valley once joined at the bay and formed a beach at the estuary. Kau Wah Keng is the former site of

Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park was an amusement park on the west shore of Lai Chi Kok Bay in Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong. It was once the largest amusement park in Hong Kong, and attracted people from all walks of life in the territory. History Operat ...

, which was closed in 1997. Although the valley is closer to suburbs of Cheung Sha Wan, namely the community of

Lai Chi Kok Lai Chi Kok is a neighbourhood in Kowloon, Hong Kong, east of Kwai Chung and west of Cheung Sha Wan. Mei Foo Sun Chuen is the largest housing estate in the area and also the largest in Hong Kong with 99 blocks. Administratively, it belongs t ...

and Mei Foo, it traditionally and administratively belongs to

Kwai Chung Kwai Chung is an urban area within Tsuen Wan New Town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District of Hong Kong. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town. In 2000, it had a popula ...

Administration

Kau Wa Keng is a recognized villages 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 ...

. It is one of the villages represented within the

Tsuen Wan Rural Committee Tsuen Wan Rural Committee () is a rural committee representing the interest of villages in Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung, Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administra ...

. For electoral purposes, Kau Wa Keng is part of the Lai Wah constituency, which was formerly represented by Steve Cheung Kwan-kiu until his resignation in July 2021.

Villages

During the Qianglong reign of the Qing dynasty, the ban on human settlement in the coastal areas of

Xin'an County Xin'an County () is a county in the west of Henan Province, bordering Shanxi Province to the north across the Yellow River. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Luoyang, and contains its northernmost point. History In an ...

was lifted, and immigration into the region began. The old village of Kau Wa Keng was built by

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 ...

who cultivated paddies next to the rivers on the eastern side of valley. The oldest extant residents in the village are the Ng (吳) and Tsang (曾) lineages, whose descendants include the actress

Margie Tsang Margie Tsang Wah Sin () (born 6 August 1965) is a Hong Kong actress and TV programme host. Career When Tsang was 17 years old in 1982, she took part in TVB's 12th annual artist training class. After she signed a contract with TVB, the company im ...

. An ancestral hall and the Yeung Ching School () are located in the village. It was formerly known as Kau Pa Keng (), which means dog climbing path. It was later renamed to the current Kau Wa Keng, (literally, "Ninth beautiful path"). A new village Kau Wa Keng San Tsuen () is located on the western side of the valley and was built following an influx of immigrants from

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and during and after

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

. Before the

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of British Hong Kong, Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. His surrender occurred after Batt ...

in 1941, the village was one of hiding place for many artists and writers who had fled the mainland, including the Chinese painter Huang Yongyu (黃永玉).

Transportation

Lai King Hill Road, a road following the former shore line of Kau Wa King, is the main road connecting the area to Kwai Chung and Lai Chi Kok.

Education

Kau Wa Keng is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 65, which includes multiple aided schools (schools operated independently of the government but funded with government money); none of the schools in the net are government schools.

References

External links

Delineation of area of existing village Kau Wah Keng (Tsuen Wan) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)

Delineation of area of existing village Kau Wah Keng San Tsuen (also known as Kau Wah San Tsuen) (Tsuen Wan) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
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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 Residence, No. 22 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
Yeung Ching Study Hall, No. 1 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
No. 39 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
No. 42 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
No. 42A Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
No. 30 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
Nos. 4-5 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
No. 32 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
No. 14 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
No. 43 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
No. 15 Kau Wa KengPictures
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. Historic Building Appraisal
No. 10 Kau Wa KengPictures
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