User:Underwaterbuffalo/Other/Salt Production in Hong Kong


 * This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work-in-progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable.
 * The following is a work in progress. It may become the base of a Wikipedia article in the future.

Salt Production in Hong Kong probably began in the 3rd century BC, in the time of the Nanyue Kingdom.

Guanfu Chang
There were 13 imperial salt fields set up in Guangdong in Northern Song dynasty. One of them was Guanfu Chang (官富場) which was set up in eastern Kowloon. Guanfu Chang was one of the biggest imperial salt production grounds in Guangdong. According to local historic study, the scale of Guanfu Chang was quite substantial based on the fact that an imperial garrison of 150 soldiers was established by the Salt Official to suppress salt smuggling in the area in 1200. It is also believed that an associated yamen was established in the Kowloon City area at around this time. Salt manufacturing of Guanfu Chang ceased completely after the Great Clearance period of the 1680s in the early Qing Dynasty.

Lam Tin
Lam Tin, called Ham Tin Shan at that time, literally meaning "salty field hill", had been part of Kowloon Bay salt-fields (, also known as Guanfuchang ) under the management of Dongguan County or Xin'an County in different dynasties. The salt-fields were first officially operated by the Song dynasty in 1163.

Tai O
Tai O has a history of salt production. In 1940, it was recorded that the Tai Po salt marshes were covering 70 acre and that the production has amounted to 25,000 piculs (1,512 metric tons) in 1938.

The same source mentions that at this time, salt was prepared from sea water in only three places in Hong Kong, namely Tai O, Sha Tau Kok on the frontier in Starling Inlet and San Hui in Castle Peak Bay. The most important of them was Tai O.

Yim Tin Tsai (Sai Kung)
Villagers (of Yim Tin Tsai (Sai Kung)) lived on farming, fishing and salt-making. They farmed 6 acre of salt field, the smallest of the five salt fields in Hong Kong at the time. Other salt fields were in Tai O, Lantau Island, San Hui and Wong Ka Wai in Tuen Mun, Yim Liu Ha in Sha Tau Kok and Yim Tin Tsai in Tai Po.