Ma Tseuk Leng

Ma Tseuk Leng (Chinese: 麻雀嶺), sometimes transliterated as Ma Tseuk Ling, is an area in Sha Tau Kok, North District, Hong Kong.[1]

The area contains the villages of Ma Tseuk Leng Sheung (麻雀嶺上; 'Upper Ma Tseuk Leng')[2] and Ma Tseuk Leng Ha (麻雀嶺下; 'Lower Ma Tseuk Leng').[3] Ma Tseuk Leng San Uk Ha (麻雀嶺新屋下), part of Ma Tseuk Leng Ha, is a historic Hakka walled village.[4]

History

Ma Tseuk Leng Sheung is a Hakka village that was historically inhabited by nine clans. Some of them left and the remaining clans were the Tsang (曾), the Yeung (楊), the Yau (邱), the Mo (巫) and the Lee (李). The first settlers of the village were the Tsang and the Yeung. They arrived in 1655. The Tsang had moved from Changle (長樂) in Guangdong province and have the same ancestor with the Tsang of Sam A Tsuen and Lai Chi Wo.[5]

When the ban on human settlement of coastal areas of the Great Clearance was lifted in 1668, the coastal defense was reinforced. Twenty-one fortified mounds, each manned with an army unit, were created along the border of Xin'an County, and at least five of them were located in present-day Hong Kong. 1) The Tuen Mun Mound, believed to have been built on Castle Peak or Kau Keng Shan, was manned by 50 soldiers. 2) The Kowloon Mound on Lion Rock 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, 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 with reduced strength.[6][7]

According to the 1688 Gazetteer of Xin'an County, only two villages were established in the modern day Sha Tau Kok area: Ma Tseuk Leng and Man Uk Pin. Both were small agricultural settlements. Wo Hang, although existing, was not recognized.[1]

The villages of Ma Tseuk Leng (upper and lower), Yim Tso Ha, Wu Shek Kok and Au Ha formed a yeuk (約),[8] a form of oath-sworn, inter-village, mutual-aid alliance.[9]

In 1911, the total population of Ma Tseuk Leng was 125. The number of males was 47.[10]

Features

Two ancestral halls of the Tsang were built in the village. One of them was built in the 19th century. It was rebuilt in 1929 and renovated in 1951.[5]

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See also

References
  1. Chun, Allen John Uck Lun, 1952- (2000). Unstructuring Chinese society : the fictions of colonial practice and the changing realities of "land" in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Harwood Academic. p. 189. ISBN 0-203-64205-8. OCLC 62725797.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Delineation of area of existing village Ma Tseuk Leng Sheung (Sha Tau Kok) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
  3. Delineation of area of existing village Ma Tseuk Leng Ha (Sha Tau Kok) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
  4. Ip, Hing-fong (1995). An historical geography of the walled villages of Hong Kong (Postgraduate Thesis, Master of Philosophy). University of Hong Kong. p. 91.
  5. Antiquities Advisory Board. Historic Building Appraisal: Tsang Ancestral Hall, Sheung Ma Tseuk Leng
  6. Liu, Shuyong (1997). An Outline History of Hong Kong. Foreign Languages Press. p. 18. ISBN 9787119019468.
  7. Faure, David; Hayes, James; Birch, Alan. From Village to City: Studies In the Traditional Roots of Hong Kong Society. Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. p. 5. ASIN B0000EE67M. OCLC 13122940.
  8. Faure, David (1986). The structure of Chinese rural society: lineage and village in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Oxford University Press. p. 217. ISBN 9780195839708.
  9. Hase, Patrick H. (2013). Custom, Land and Livelihood in Rural South China: The Traditional Land Law of Hong Kong's New Territories, 1750-1950. Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Studies Series. Hong Kong University Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-988-8139-08-8.
  10. Hase, Patrick (1996). "Traditional Life in the New Territories: The Evidence of the 1911 and 1921 Censuses" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. 36: 77. ISSN 1991-7295.


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