San Tin or San Tin Heung (新田鄉), is an area located near Lok Ma Chau

Lok Ma Chau

Lok Ma Chau or Lokmachau is a village in Hong Kong's New Territories and also a major pedestrian and road border crossing point between Hong Kong and mainland China. It lies just south of the Sham Chun River , which forms the border between Hong Kong and mainland China...

 area in the New Territories

New Territories

New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory. Historically, it is the region described in The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory...

 and belongs to the Yuen Long District

Yuen Long District

Yuen Long District , is one of the districts of Hong Kong located in the northwest of the New Territories. It had a population of 449,070 in 2001. The district has the youngest population of Hong Kong and the lowest income in the New Territories.-Geography:...

, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

.

The area was largely developed by the clan with surname Man (文). According to their genealogical document, they are the descendants of the younger brother of folk hero Man Tin Cheung

Wen Tianxiang

Wen Tianxiang , Duke of Xinguo, was a scholar-general in the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty. For his resistance to Kublai Khan's invasion of the Song, and for his refusal to yield to the Yuan Dynasty despite being captured and tortured, he is a popular symbol of patriotism and...

 in the end of Song Dynasty

Song Dynasty

The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...

. Their ancestors came to Hong Kong with the young emperors to flee from Mongolian

Mongols

Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...

 invaders.

Geography

The area was originally marsh

Marsh

In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....

land and not suitable for cultivation; few people lived in the area. The Man clan decided to settle in the area in 15th century. They dried the marshes and gradually filled them with soil, turning them into 800 hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 of rice paddies. This is reflected by the name San Tin, which means new fields.

Areas in San Tin

The San Tin areas are divided into nine villages within the area most notable areas are Wing Ping Tsuen (永平村), which is close to the Tai Fu Tai Mansion

Tai Fu Tai Mansion

Tai Fu Tai Mansion is located in San Tin near Lok Ma Chau, north of Yuen Long, Hong Kong.It was probably built in 1865 in the reign of the Qing Dynasty...

, and Fan Tin Tsuen (蕃田村).

The areas around San Tin are covered in wetlands hence their main products are cabbages (like Chinese cabbage

Chinese cabbage

Chinese cabbage can refer to two distinct varieties of Chinese leaf vegetables used often in Chinese cuisine. These vegetables are both related to the Western cabbage, and are of the same species as the common turnip...

 or Kai-Lan

Kai-lan

Kai-lan, also known as Chinese broccoli, is a leaf vegetable featuring thick, flat, glossy blue-green leaves with thick stems and a small number of tiny, almost vestigial flower heads similar to those of broccoli. Broccoli and kai-lan belong to the same species Brassica oleracea, but kai-lan is in...

) and previously duck

Duck

Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...

s, when the village was still a farming community.

Chieftains

Each village in the area has its own chieftain

Village head

The village headman or village chief is a central government post. The village headman is the person appointed to administer an area that is often a single village.The headman has several official duties in the village...

 who takes care of ceremonial activities as well as tourist information. The chieftains also make decisions on any change in the area, for example whether a new house should be allowed to be built or if a building need to be demolished. They also represent the village when they go to gatherings with other villages from the New Territories.

New chieftains are chosen through voting from the local area of the village when the current chieftain decides to retire from duty. Chieftainhood is not hereditary and cannot be passed down to their children. Anybody from the village, regardless of status or personal finances can apply as long as the person's surname is the same as the village's. The system is to some extent democratic, however so far there has not been a female chieftain in any village around the New Territories.

Attractions

The village is famous for Tai Fu Tai

Tai Fu Tai Mansion

Tai Fu Tai Mansion is located in San Tin near Lok Ma Chau, north of Yuen Long, Hong Kong.It was probably built in 1865 in the reign of the Qing Dynasty...

 an ancestor house built around 1800 century and a memorial statue of Man Tin Cheung.

Also the village is famous for its unspoiled natural habitat and the village dish Poon Choi

Poon choi

Poon Choi , also known as pun choi or Big Bowl Feast, is a traditional type of dish originating from Hong Kong village cuisine. It may also be found in different parts of Hong Kong. It is served in wooden, porcelain or metal basins.-Origin:...

 (literally translated as "Bowled dish" in which assorted meat and vegetables are put into an iron bowl with concentrated soya sauce). Once a year, in Autumn, every part of the San Tin village (and also other villagers in New Territories) hold an annual Poon Choi festival in which everybody in the village (and also guests from outside the village) eats Poon Choi.

Study

San Tin was the subject of a study on the social effects of out-migration, conducted by Professor James Watson, who is now a professor at Harvard. He documented how the movement of many young men in the 1960s to Europe affected the village function.

External links

• Hong Kong government brochure
• San Tin Station
  San Tin Station
  San Tin is a proposed station on the Northern Link of the MTR in Hong Kong. The station will be situated at San Tin, an undeveloped area located in Yuen Long District, New Territories....