Lai Chi Wo
Lai Chi Wo is a Hakka village near Sha Tau Kok, in the northeastern New Territories of Hong Kong.
[6] The history of Lai Chi Wo dates back 400 years, before the Hakka people settled here.
The original residents would, however, go back to the village whenever there are celebrations, like the Tai Ping Ching Chiu festival held once every 10 years.
Hikers often start their route from either Wu Kau Tang near Tai Po or Luk Keng near Fanling.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the villagers found it more profitable to plant mandarins, which could fetch good prices during the Chinese New Year (as they are seen as auspicious).
Lai Chi Wo walled-village and the houses inside adapt the structure of a typical Hakka village.
The inhabitants of Lai Chi Wo consist primarily of the Tsang and Wong Hakka families.
The ancestors of the Hakka residents of this village are claimed to have originated from Kaifeng, Henan around 2,500 years ago.
The Wongs in Lai Chi Wo originate from Fujian, via Huizhou to Hong Kong during the early Qing dynasty.
Native trees and shrubs are crucial concern for the selection of the fung shui sites, and villagers would also plant vegetations of different values to be added in the forest.
Fung shui woods can protect and alleviate the impact of strong breeze and sun burn.
The natural barrier can help reduce the level of destructiveness by its retention capacity to stop the water and mudflow.
Fung shui woods have the ability to stabilise the slopes as well as to avoid leakage of surface nutrients and organic substances after heavy downpour.
For instance, we can find wild animals such as the Masked Palm Civet (Paguma larvata) and Chinese Porcupine (Hystrix brachyuran).
However, there were not enough rivers near Lai Chi Wo, villagers started to dig wells and use underground water to meet the daily demands.
They are Lai Chi Wo, So Lo Pun, Sam A Village, Mui Tsz Lam (梅子林), Kop Tong (蛤塘), Siu Tan (小灘) and Ngau Chi Wu (牛池湖)[17] which are located at the coast of Northeast New Territories and facing Kat O.
To thank the gods and pray for good fortune, they decided to hold a ten-year session (Bun Festival).
Ancestral Hall is the representative building of a clan with a lot of spirit tablet worshiping ancestors according to their positions in the family hierarchy.
They were jointly built by the seven villages in Sha Tau Kok, Hing Chun Yuek for drawing good fortune and expelling the evils.
It is 120 metres long and introduces three main features in the eastern mudflat corner of Lai Chi Wo.
The interlaced plank buttress serves to grasp the swampy soil in the tide zone to hold the body of the tree.
And the "natural swing" around the forest of Looking-glass mangrove in fact is formed by the growing White-flower Derris.
Seaweeds are precious in Hong Kong which mainly grow along the coast of northwest and northeast of New Territories.
When the soldiers threatened to chop this five-finger Camphor, the villagers stood up to protected the tree with their lives.
However, the nutrients and moisture transporting cells around the exterior part of the trunk continued to grow and thicken.
[21] Visitors who carry the Sha Tau Kok permit can travel to Lai Chi Wo through boats.
To get to Wu Kau Tang, hikers may use: The second hiking route is from Luk Keng, which green mini-bus 56K serves.
Hikers can walk from Luk Keng, via Tai Wan, Kuk Po and Fan Shui Au.
