Why go
Clan shrines in the New Territories carry memories of policies that uprooted coastal communities. The return of residents after 1669 explains why officials who supported resettlement were honoured locally. Farther south, Waterfall Bay and the former Gun Chung defences connect the later Qing period with foreign shipping and growing conflict.
The full story
In 1662, the Qing government ordered coastal residents inland to prevent support reaching the Ming loyalist Zheng Chenggong. The evacuation and maritime restrictions damaged fishing, salt production and agriculture in the Hong Kong area. Homes were abandoned and cultivated ground fell out of use. Officials Wang Lairen and Zhou Youde petitioned for the coastal boundary to be restored. Permission came in 1669, allowing residents to return gradually. Communities commemorated the two officials in Sheung Shui and Kam Tin; the Kam Tin tradition included a thanksgiving ritual held at ten-year intervals. This history gives local shrines a connection with displacement and recovery. Later, Hong Kong’s proximity to Guangzhou brought foreign merchant ships to places such as Waterfall Bay. Coastal military works included Gun Chung near present-day Jordan. The killing of villager Lin Weixi by British sailors in 1839 and the dispute over jurisdiction formed part of the worsening tensions before the First Opium War.