Sheung Yiu Folk Museum

Tucked away in the coastal hills of Sai Kung Country Park is a walled Hakka village turned folk museum.

The Sheung Yiu village was built in the late 19th century by a Hakka clan surnamed Wong. Originating from Bao'an County in Guangdong Province, they set up a small shop on a major traffic way upon arriving in Hong Kong. The shop served as a place of rest for villagers and passing merchants. To further their business, the Wongs established their base nearby by constructing the village.

The 500-square-meter village was built on a raised platform, fortified against pirate and bandit attacks. The other main defensive structure was a 6-meter-tall watchtower overlooking the entrance gate and surrounding areas. The living quarters had a row of eight houses, livestock enclosures, and a large terrace used for sun-drying grains and hosting banquets. 

Most of the Hakka ethnic group were farmers, and while the Wongs were no different, the lime kilns situated right outside the village's walls were what truly allowed them to prosper. At that time, lime was in high demand as both an agricultural fertilizer and a construction material, and the village's waterside location provided easy access to the raw materials (oyster shells, clam shells, and coral) needed for its production. The kilns' importance was reflected in the village's name: Sheung Yiu translates to "above the kiln".

The advent of modern bricks and cement in the 1950s led to the decline of the lime production industry. Many villagers from Sheung Yiu left for the urban areas of Hong Kong or moved abroad, leaving the village abandoned by the mid-1960s. The village and kilns were gazetted as monuments in 1981, and after a complete restoration, the site reopened as the Sheung Yiu Folk Museum in 1984.

Today, Sheung Yiu is one of the best-preserved examples of a walled village in Hong Kong. Having been faithfully restored, furnished with traditional farming implements and era-appropriate Hakka furniture, the museum accurately shows how its residents would have lived in the past at this serene location deep in the countryside.