Nga Tsin Wai Tsuen 衙前圍村

Nga Tsin Wai Tsuen (衙前圍村) is today a rather ramshackle area of southern Wong Tai Sin District, flanked by high-rise apartment blocks. It is of historical significance, as it is the last remaining walled village in Kowloon, and has a history of over 650 years.

Nga Tsin Wai means "the walled village in front of the yamen" [yamen means Chinese official's building - the remains of a yamen are preserved nearby, at the former Kowloon Walled City site]. The village was founded by the Ng, Chan and Lee clans during the Yuan Dynasty, perhaps during the early 14th century - an inscription in the temple says it dates from 1352. According to one story, the clan members were refugees from further north, arriving in Hong Kong as Emperor Duanzong, penultimate emperor of the Song Dynasty, fled Mongol invaders.

Living in walled villages like this helped safeguard residents against attacks by rival clans, tigers, and - especially - bandits and pirates during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Yet it also meant that there was little space for individual houses, and a visit to Nga Tsin Wai shows its houses were closely packed together, in a grid pattern with rows of buildings along narrow alleys just wide enough for two people to pass each other.

During the Second World War, Nga Tsin Wai was reportedly threatened as the occupying Japanese forces worked on extending Kai Tak Airport, but the main village was spared major damage after village heads made representations to Japanese officials.

Today, most houses are gone, demolished by a property developer that owns much of the site. But some remain, a few of them still lived in. These remaining houses are typically in poor condition, partly as development has been planned for two decades or more, so there has been little money or incentive for renovation.

Where houses have been demollshed, grey metal sheets flank the alleys; there are bare concrete floors, a few places where girders prop up remaining buildings.

Plants with red flowers grace old rooftops, adding colour to the village, and - like birds such as bulbuls - recalling a time when this village was in a rural setting.

Though now isolated from the sea, Nga Tsin Wai perhaps once stood on or near the shore of Kowloon Bay, as there is a temple to Tin Hau, goddess of the sea. This small temple has been recently renovated. The ancestral hall of the Ng clan is also in good condition and - like the temple, village gatehouse and a few stone houses - plans call for it to be spared demolition, and preserved as new high-rises are built on part of the land.

With the new development set to include two high-rise apartment blocks, which seem likely to transform the village character, there has been some controversy over Nga Tsin Wai's future. Perhaps a narrow belt of land between the new blocks will protect a conservation park. Whether this will really balance desires for development and conservation remains to be seen.

For the time being, Nga Tsin Wai is interesting to visit; a place that's been caught in limbo between rural past, and modern day urban Hong Kong.

Getting there

Nga Tsin Wai is around 15 minutes' walk to the south of Wong Tai Sin station. One way of getting there is via Morse Park: from Exit C2 of Wong Tai Sin station, turn right along Ching Tak Street, cross the street at a junction and follow a path through a housing estate garden to find an entrance to Morse Park No. 3. Walk to the much smaller Morse Park No. 2, and after this head right along Tung Fat Road, turning left to the side of Kai Tak Nullah. Here, you are beside Nga Tsin Wai; the entrance faces the nullah.