Tai Po Tau (; historically ) is an area in

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 Yuen, ...

, Hong Kong. It was named after a village of the same name. However, the village is now known as Tai Po Tau Tsuen (Tai Po Tau village; ). The village itself is named after

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 Tsu ...

. In the past, Tai Po Tau Tsuen and

Tai Po Tau Shui Wai Tai Po Tau Shui Wai () aka. Tai Po Tau Lo Wai () Antiquities and Monuments Office. Hong Kong Traditional Chinese Architectural Information SystemTai Po Tau Shui Wai/ref> is a Punti walled village in Tai Wo, Tai Po District, Hong Kong. Adminis ...

(also known as just 'Shui Wai') was one village. However, the village was divided by the

Kowloon–Canton Railway The Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR; ) was a railway network in Hong Kong.Legislative Council information paper CB(1)357/07-08(0 THB(T) CR 8/986/00, CB(1)1749/07-08(0/ref> It was owned and operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC ...

British section (now known as

East Rail line The East Rail line () is one of ten lines of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. It used to be one of the three lines of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) network. It was known as the KCR British Section () from 1910 to 1996 ...

) in the 1910s.

Administration

Tai Po Tau 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 ...

. It is one of the villages represented within the Tai Po Rural Committee. For electoral purposes, Tai Po Tau is part of the Old Market & Serenity constituency, which is currently represented by Lau Yung-wai.

History

Tai Po Tau Tsuen was founded by the

Tang clan The Tang Clan of Hong Kong () is one of the Five Great Clans of the New Territories (). The others are Man (Wen; 文), Hau ( Hou; 侯), Pang (Peng; 彭) and Liu ( Liao; 廖). The Tangs are one of the region's oldest families and can trace their li ...

Lung Yeuk Tau Lung Yeuk Tau (), commonly known as Lung Ku Tau () and also called Lung Ling () is an area located northeast of Luen Wo Hui in Fanling, New Territories, Hong Kong. Administration For electoral purposes, Lung Yeuk Tau is part of the Queen's Hill ...

. Tangs of Tai Po Tau and Lung Yeuk Tau co-founded Tai Po Hui which firstly located in modern-day area Tai Po Old Market, near Tai Po Tau. When the ban on human settlement of coastal areas of the

Great Clearance The Great Clearance (), also translated as the Great Evacuation or Great Frontier Shift, was caused by edicts issued in 1661, 1664, and 1679, which required the evacuation of the coastal areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangnan, and Shan ...

was lifted in 1668, the coastal defense was reinforced. Twenty-one fortified

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...

s, each manned with an army unit, were created along the border 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 ...

, and at least five of them were located in present-day Hong Kong. 1) The

Tuen Mun Tuen Mun or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the more ...

Mound, believed to have been built on Castle Peak or

Kau Keng Shan Kau Keng Shan ( Cantonese: 九逕山) is a hill in Tuen Mun, the New Territories, Hong Kong and stands opposite from Castle Peak. Kau Keng Shan has a height of . During the Ming dynasty era (1368–1644), the area around the hill was used as a de ...

, was manned by 50 soldiers. 2) The Kowloon Mound on

Lion Rock Lion Rock, or less formally Lion Rock Hill, is a mountain in Hong Kong. It is located in Sha Tin District, between Kowloon Tong of Kowloon and Tai Wai of the New Territories, and is high. The peak consists of granite covered sparsely by sh ...

and 3) the Tai Po Tau Mound northwest of Tai Po Old Market had each 30 soldiers. 4) The Ma Tseuk Leng Mound stood between present-day Sha Tau Kok and Fan Ling and was manned by 50 men. 5) The fifth one at

Fat Tong Mun Fat Tong Mun () is a channel in Sai Kung District of Hong Kong located between the southern tip of Clear Water Bay Peninsula and the northern tip of Tung Lung Chau. See also * List of channels in Hong Kong * Tin Hau Temple, Joss House Bay ...

, probably on today's Tin Ha Shan Peninsula, was an observation post manned by 10 soldiers. In 1682, these forces were re-organized and manned by detachments from the

Green Standard Army The Green Standard Army (; Manchu: ''niowanggiyan turun i kūwaran'') was the name of a category of military units under the control of Qing dynasty in China. It was made up mostly of ethnic Han soldiers and operated concurrently with the Manchu ...

with reduced strength. At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Tai Po Tau was 112. The number of males was 50.

References

External links

Delineation of area of existing village Tai Po Tau (Tai Po) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
*

Antiquities and Monuments Office The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) was established in 1976 under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance to protect and preserve Hong Kong's historic monuments. Housed in the Former Kowloon British School, the AMO is responsible for ide ...

. Hong Kong Traditional Chinese Architectural Information System
Tai Po Tau Tsuen
{{coord, 22.455165, 114.157594, display=title Villages in Tai Po District, Hong Kong Tai Po