Stone terraces above Shau Kei Wan [????- ] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Stone terraces above Shau Kei Wan [????- ]

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Submitted by David on Wed, 2010-02-10 16:19

I was surprised to see these old stone terraces on Sunday's walk. I've seen similar stone terraces in the New Territories, and along the south side of the island, but can't remember seeing any on the north side before.

I wonder how old they are, and what used to be grown here?

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Photos that show this place

2010

Comments

Submitted by tngan on Wed, 2010-02-10 17:06.

Hi there,

These might be the remains of previous field terraces or settlements.  Did the old Tai Hang photo showing squatters and field terraces ring any bells?  Shaukiwan was one of the regions having extensive squattered areas.

I remember there are traces of those along Peel Rise at the lower section.  If you go up by Peel Rise after passing the back gate of the Catheloc Church and before reaching the cemetary you should be able to see them by the right hand side.

Best Regards,

T

Submitted by philk on Wed, 2010-02-10 21:35.

This is interesting because there are some very similar walls at the bottom of my apartment complex in Tai Po. I originally figured they may have been created during the construction work but now you have mentioned them it looks as though there is more to it.

Submitted by tngan on Thu, 2010-02-11 00:04.

Hi there,

Actually terraces had been natural a form of natural develoment at least on Hong Kong Island where level ground is extremely rare. 

Next time kindly go up any up-slope long streets on the northern side of Hong Kong Island and observe.  You should be able to see terraces most anywhere and everythere.  Even though many of them had been redeveloped, you should still be seeing traces of them.  Many foundations of the old terraces still exist.

Best Regards,

T

Submitted by David on Thu, 2010-02-11 14:05.

Terraces near Tiger Balm Gardens
T, thanks for mentioning the Tai Hang terraces. I'd forgotten them, and this photo that IDJ sent of the same terraces.

It clearly shows the terraces built from rough stones, similar to the ones above Chai Wan.

Regards, David

Submitted by tngan on Thu, 2010-02-11 14:40.

Hi there,

You might like to take a look at some images of terrace fields in Asia:

http://images.google.com.hk/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozill...

I used the Chinese name 梯田  as a keyword for Google and got all those images.  They could be quite stunning.

Best Regards,

T

Submitted by Admin on Tue, 2010-02-23 17:37.

I think the path we walked along is the flat path along the hillside that is clear to see (if you zoom in!) in this 1966 photo:

1966 Shau Kei Wan