Hong Kong Snapshot (85) Pat Heung Old Temple, the Six-Day War 香港隨拍 (85) – 八鄉古廟，新界六日戰

Talking about HK, you may think of tall buildings, tall buildings and tall buildings. HK is the city have the highest number of skyscrapers. But, there is a large piece of land in the New Territories of HK that we cannot see any tall buildings. What we can see is only old house and short house. Comparing to the urban area of HK, the transportation is not convenient. But, we can find a lot of history and culture of HK in this piece of land. This time, Let us go to the Pat Heung Old Temple at Pat Heung.

香港高樓大廈林立，是全世界最多摩天大廈的城市，沒有之一。不過，在香港新界的其中一大片土地，我們看不到摩天大廈，大片土地到今天仍是古鄉小屋式的發展。對比發達的城市區，這些土地的交通相對極不方便，但是，卻含有豐富的歷史與文化。這次，我們走到其中一個鄉村 – 八鄉內的八鄉古廟。

In the last post of HK Snapshot, we talked about the New Territories finally leased to Britain also in 1898, and the HK Government hosted the flag raising ceremony on 16th Apr 1899. Just before that, there’re many things happened. Just in 1898, the HK Government already started the investigation of the New Territories.
The New Territories was totally different from HK Island and Kowloon. 1000 years ago, there were already clans living. There is strong clannish provincialism among the people. During the investigation of the New Territories, the HK Government faced a lot of resistance from the people.

在上一篇的香港隨拍，英國人在1898年接管新界，並在1899年4月16日在大埔舉行升旗儀式，而其實，這次升旗儀式，曾觸發很多事情。在英國接管新界後，政府便派人到新界實地調查，了解民情。新界人民與香港島及九龍半島完全不同，在新界這片土地，早於一千年前的宋朝已有氏族定居發展，宗族意識強烈，在政府在新界調查時，新界鄉民已激烈反抗，對英國人表示極大不滿。

Proclamation of the New Territories of HK by Colonial Secretary Lockhart
輔政司駱克公佈接收新界事宜
(photo from Wikipedia)

The HK Government finally decided to hosted the flag raising ceremony on 17th Apr 1899. The indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories, including Ping Shan, Pat Heung, Ha Tsuen, Kam Tin, fought against the HK Government and They burnt the setting of the flag raising ceremony. Henry May, the police head, fought back the villagers with 100 soldiers. They hosted the flag raising ceremony on the 16th of Apr, one day earlier than the initial planning.

直到英國決定於1899年4月17日在土埔啟動升旗禮時，新界的屏山、八鄉、下村、錦田等各村居民聯合反抗，其中大埔的泰杭和林村等村民，更破壞升旗儀式的架設。在這個環境下，當時的香港警察隊長梅含理帶同100名英國士兵進駐大埔，並提早一天在4月16日進行升旗禮。

The ceremony (photo from Wikipedia)

After the flag raising ceremony, The HK Government started to conquer the indigenous inhabitants. The indigenous inhabitants sent almost 2600 warriors. And the British HK only had a few hundred soldiers but they had hot weapons. The indigenous inhabitants were soon defeated. The war lasted for 6 days and we called it the “Six-Day War(1899)”.

這時，新界鄉民與英兵正式發起武力衝突，新界一方有數千鄉民，而英國方面只有數百士兵，但是，新界鄉民拿的武器是刀刀劍劍，而英兵拿的是火槍，高下立見，英兵沿大埔北上，先後在大埔、八鄉、粉嶺等地大破新界鄉民，最後直入錦田、屏山，經過六日戰事，平定新界，史稱新界六日戰。

The Warriors of the New Territories 新界民兵
(photo from http://ohmyking.com/stories/the-six-days-war/)

Route of British troops 英兵進軍路線

In the war, there was only 1 wounded for the British HK and hundreds of villagers died. The New Territories was finally under control by the British HK. But the HK Government was also afraid of the resistance of the indigenous inhabitants again. They allowed them to keep their lands, as well we retaining the traditional laws and customs. It is the reason why there are still a lot of old style houses and villages in the New Territories.

戰事中，英軍只有一人輕傷，而新界鄉民則戰死數百人。在武力鎮壓下，英國正式接管新界，但英政府亦怕新界鄉民再次反抗，故允許各村能夠保留自己的土地，且保留自己的風俗與生活方式，這亦是為何新界到今天仍有大片土地保留著古式古香的鄉村特式。

OK back the Pat Heung. After the Six Day War, the villages secretly worship the dead warriors every year. In Pat Heung Village, they build a martyrs’ Shrine to worship the 55 martyrs in Pat Heung.

好，回到八鄉，新界六日戰後，各鄉都暗地立祠拜祭抗英義士，其中八鄉村民就在這於1763年建成的八鄉古廟旁加建「烈士祠」，拜祭抗英喪生的55名八鄉烈士。

Today, Pat Heung Old Temple is already the Grade II historic buildings in HK. during the important festivals, there are big ceremony in the Old Temple. But, when I visited the old temple and the martyrs’ shrimp, I couldn’t find the wooden board on which the name of the 55 martyrs was written. Maybe I just missed it. Maybe the wooden board has been removed. I don’t know. If the answer is “removed”, I will be very disappointed.

時至今日，八鄉古廟已是香港二級歷史建築，在重要節日都會舉行盛大儀式慶祝，但是，我這天來到八鄉古廟，卻找不到那兩塊刻有抗英烈士芳名的木扁。到底是我找不到，還是木扁已不存在？我不知道。如果答案是後者，我會感到很可惜。

The wooden Board is like this but I couldn’t find it
烈士牌扁的樣子，但我找不到它
(photo source: http://www.patheung.com/temple.htm)

The New Territories is greatly different from the urban area of HK. I believe you guys can never imagine that there is still a large piece of villages area in HK. In the coming posts, I will talk more about the New Territories.

新界鄉村與香港的城市很不同，我想，你們都不會想到，高樓林立的香港，仍會有這麼大片鄉村地帶，未來幾篇，我還會帶大家一走新界，看看幾個特別的地方。

!steemitworldmap 22.3970451 lat 114.0256267 long d3scr

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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！