User:Underwaterbuffalo/Other/Cha Kwo Ling (WIP)


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Cha Kwo Ling (Chinese: 茶果嶺, lit. "tea fruit hill") is a hill in the eastern New Kowloon of Hong Kong, and the area around it. It is adjacent to Victoria Harbour, to the southeast of Kowloon Bay, and located to the west of Yau Tong and southwest of Lam Tin. Administratively, it belongs to the Kwun Tong District. The northeastern entrance to the Eastern Harbour Crossing is located in this area.

The Cha Kwo Ling Village (茶果嶺村), described as one of the last squatter villages in Hong Kong, has a population of about 2,400. It is located approximately 1.4 km northwest of Lei Yue Mun, adjacent to the Laguna City development. It lies at the foot of the hill and stretches along Cha Kwo Ling Road, which was built on reclaimed land and separates the village from the coast.

History
Cha Kwo Ling Village was established before Hong Kong became a British colony.

''At the end of the 18th century, the Hakkas migrated into the region. Quarrying became their main occupation. Some grew  crops  and  vegetables. Others helped  the  fishermen  to  mend their fishing nets. They went to the market of Shaukiwan to buy their necessities. The elders and gentries of Cha Kwo Ling, with those of Ngau Tau Kok, Sai Tso Wan and Lei Yue Mun, formed the Si Shan Kung So (or rather Sze Shan Kung So) (the Communal Office of the Four Hills) (四山公所). The organization ran the quarrying business of the region. They formed the Hop Yee Lung (the Hop Yee Dragon Boat Committee) with the fishermen of Shaukiwan. By that time, the villages of Cha Kwo Ling, Ngau Tau Kok, Sai Tso Wan and Lei Yue Mun together were called  Si  Shan  (Four  Hills).''

Cha Kwo Ling Village is one of the four villages called collectively as Si Shan (四山, literally "four hills" composing four villages in the area). The four villages were Lei Yue Mun, Ngau Tau Kok, Sai Tso Wan (西草灣) and Cha Kwo Ling.

The land east of Ngau Chi Wan and Pak Uk Tsai (白屋仔) formed the inter-alliance called "The Four Stone Hills" (四石山). This was a alliance of the quarry-villages of this mountainous and infertile area (Ngau Tau Kok, Sai Cho Wan Cha Kwo Ling, and Lei Yue Mun).

''The villagers  were all  stonecutters. The Ching Government  appointed  someone in  each Shan ('Hill or Village') to be  the 'Tau  Yan (headman)'. They together were called the Si Shan Tau Yan (the Headmen of the Four Hills or Villages). They were responsible to  rule the area and to collect tax  for the  government. The system ended before the Second World War.''

Cha Kwo Ling became a major Hakka settlement after the establishment of Victoria City in 1841. The foundation of city drew a large demand of stone. Skillful Hakka people set up a quarry in the stone-rich Cha Kwo Ling. It was one of four quarry hills and one of the 13 major village districts in eastern New Kowloon.

The usage of new building materials later made the demand for stone drop. The population profile changed during the Civil War in China, when penniless refugees from mainland China settled in and around the original mining village, building makeshift shacks in a maze of dark alleys. At its peak between the 1950s and the 1970s, the village had a population of about 20,0000. Between 1983 and 2006, three big fires burned down many of the squatter houses and many villagers were relocated to public housing estates.

[Future: legality of structures].

Name
''Cha Kwo Ling lies to the southeast of Kowloon Bay. It is a small hill lying between Lei Yue Mun region and Kwun Tong region. Legend said that the small hill resembles a Hakka dim sum called Cha Kwo (Hakka "Tea Biscuit"). Others said that the knoll gets its name from the large amount of Cha Kwo wrapping leaves in the nearby area.''

Features
There is a Tin Hau Temple along Cha Kwo Ling Road, next to Cha Kwo Ling Village. Initially built near the coast in Cha Kwo Ling in 1825, during the Qing Dynasty, it was destroyed by a typhoon in 1912. The image of Tin Hau was then transferred to a shack nearby and remained there for thirty years. A new temple was built on the old site in 1941 with funds raised by the local villagers of Si Shan. However, the temple was demolished in 1947 to give way for the construction of an oil tank of Asiatic Petroleum Company (South China) Limited. At the request of the local residents, a new temple was built at the present site. The current temple opened officially in 1948. It has been managed by the Chinese Temples Committee since then. The building is constructed of granite blocks, which is uncommon in Hong Kong. Its roofs have been covered with brown ceramic tiles in a 1999 renovation.

Two rocks stand near the Tin Hau Temple. Shaped like two testicles, they have been named "Fung Shui Rocks", "Child-Giving Rocks" or "Stone of Fertility", and are believed to bless those who pray to them for sons.

Law Mansion (羅氏大屋), located at Nos. 50A, 51 & 51A Cha Kwo Ling Road, is a village house in the centre of Cha Kwo Ling Village. Constructed in 1855 of locally quarried granite, it is the oldest surviving residential building in Cha Kwo Ling.

Transport
The nearest MTR stations are Lam Tin Station and Yau Tong Station. Minibus lines connect Cha Kwo Ling to the stations.