Sham Chung () is a

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

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
Old House, Ha Wai, Sham Chung Tsuen
/ref> and an area of

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

settlement in

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 in the south of Tolo Channel, beside Three Fathoms Cove on the Sai Kung Peninsula. Administratively, it is part of

Tai Po District Tai Po District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. The suburban district covers the areas of Tai Po New Town (including areas such as Tai Po Market, , Tai Po Industrial Estate, Tai Wo Estate), Tai Po Tau, Tai Po Kau, Hong Lok Yue ...

Administration

Sham Chung 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 ...

History

Late Paleolithic and

Early Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wi ...

have been excavated at the nearby

Wong Tei Tung Wong Tei Tung () was believed to be an Upper Paleolithic settlement in 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 ...

site. Sham Chung Village was first settled by members of the Lee () clan and later by members of the

Wong Wong or Mr Wong may refer to: Name * Wong (surname), a Chinese surname, listing people and fictional characters with the surname * Wong (Marvel Comics), manservant/mentor to Doctor Strange Sr./Jr. in Marvel Comics ** Wong (Marvel Cinematic Univer ...

() clan. The Lees came from Wu Kau Tang, in today's northeastern

, during the reign of

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

(1736-1795). It has been reported that the villages of Sham Chung, Lai Chi Chong and Pak Sha O had historically close social ties. In 1870, Father Luigi Piazzoli, who later became

Apostolic Vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

of Hong Kong (1895-1904), left the mission station in Ting Kok and started his missionary work in Sham Chung, helping the farmers build a dam. In the late 1990s and 2000s,

Sun Hung Kai Properties Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (SHKP) is a listed corporation and one of the largest property developers in Hong Kong. The company's businesses include property sales, property rental, telecommunications (SmarTone, SUNeVision), hotel operatio ...

planned to build a golf course and a recreation centre in Sham Chung. In 1999, part of the natural wetland was converted into a grass field, but the application for the change of

land use Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...

was eventually rejected by the

Town Planning Board The Town Planning Board () is a statutory body of the Hong Kong Government tasked with developing urban plans with an aim to ensuring the "health, safety, convenience and general welfare of the community through the process of guiding and co ...

Features

Sham Chung can be sub-divided into five areas: Ha Wai (), Shek Tau King (), Pao Wai Tsai or Pao Nei Tsai ( or ), Wan Tsai () and Dui Min Tsuen (). The Epiphany of Our Lord Chapel () in Ha Wai, is a former Catholic church and one of the historic churches of Sai Kung Peninsula. It was established in 1879 and rebuilt in 1956. The Chapel housed a school called Kung Man School (), which had about 50 pupils and two teachers.

Fauna

It was reported in 2006, that Sham Chung was home to 27 bird species, 19 freshwater fish species and 28 butterfly species. A survey conducted by Green Power in 2011 listed rare species found in Sham Chung. They included the endemic Hong Kong paradise fish (''Macropodus hongkongensis''), dragonflies including the sapphire flutterer (''Rhyothemis triangularis''), at least 68 butterfly species (in Sham Chung and Yung Shue O), including the very rare

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

(''Moduza procris'') and the rare broadtail royal (''Creon cleobis'').

Conservation

In 2004, Sham Chung was listed as one of the 12 Most Ecologically Valued Conservation Sites by the Hong Kong Government. Sham Shung Coast, a belt of coast between Sham Chung Wan () and Tung King Pai (aka. Flat Reef or Bun Sha Pai), located on the southern side of Tolo Channel and in the north-eastern part of Sai Kung Peninsula, covering an area of 26 hectares, was designated as a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

in 1985. The site has been described as containing rich assemblages of fossil, including

bivalve Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...

s, micro fossils, plant fossils,

ammonite Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

s and

crinoid Crinoids are marine invertebrates that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that remain attached to the sea floor by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms, called feather stars or comatulids, are ...

Transport

Sham Chung is served by a scheduled

kai-to The kai-to, sometimes kaito or kaido () is a type of small, motorised ferry that operates in Hong Kong. They are usually used to serve remote coastal settlements in the territory's outlying islands. There are currently 78 fixed kai-to routes ...

ferry service, along the route

Ma Liu Shui Ma Liu Shui is an area in Sha Tin District, in the New Territories, Hong Kong. The area faces Tide Cove (Sha Tin Hoi) and Tolo Harbour. The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Science Park are located in Ma Liu Shui. Name et ...

– Sham Chung – Lai Chi Chong – Tap Mun – Ko Lau Wan – Chek Keng – Wong Shek Pier. Sham Chung Pier was built in the 1960s. Hiking paths connect Sham Chung to Lai Chi Chong, Pak Sha O and Yung Shue O.

References

External links

Delineation of area of existing village Sham Chung (Sai Kung North) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
*

. Historic Building Appraisal
Epiphany of Our Lord Chapel, Sham ChungPictures
*

Pictures of Old House, Ha Wai, Sham Chung Tsuen
* Blog entries about the history of Sham Chung

{{coord, 22.4426, 114.2885, display=title Areas of Hong Kong Villages in Tai Po District, Hong Kong Sai Kung North