Beacon - Nan Shan, Shenzhen [????- ]
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Hi there,
I am referring to this thread for the approximate location. It mentioned the beacon was on the peak of Xiao Nan Shan. I have never been there. Those senior hikers of Hong Kong Hiking Web had also been there. They have a few threads about such beacons in the Hong Kong and Shenzhen area a few years back. If you read Chinese, kindly go there and take a look. Even if you don't, they have photos of some of those ruins in Hong Kong. Their findings are facinating. They should have the credits of some of my Beacon or similar markers.
From the Chinese site it appeared it is sort of a tourist's point of interest, but according to the netter, groups seldom visited it. Only a small fractoin of locals are aware of its location. On the other hand, it is NOT the original beacon. It had somewhat been rebuilt. That means a future trip is required to determine how good (or bad) it is.
Best Regards,
T
Comments
Beacons
Hi Thomas,
Have you seen any mention of how the local beacons were used?
In southwest Wales where I grew up, there are many old churches dating from around the 1200's. They were built very solidly to be used as a defensive building as well as a church. From the tower of any one church it is possible to see the towers of one or more other churches. The idea was that you could light a fire on top of one tower as a beacon and the warning would be seen at the other churches, who'd light their beacons, and so on - so the message would quickly spread. The churches are around the coast, so the threat of invasion from the sea was something they worried about.
If the beacons around Hong Kong were used in a similar way, it could suggest locations for other beacons, to fill in the gaps between the known beacon sites.
Regards, David
Re: Beacons
Hi David,
There isn't much writings on these.
My impressions are mostly from scripts or gazzettes of previous dynasties. History books did mention about how the signal was made but it was very brief. Usually in broad day lights they would be using smoke. At night, they would be using fire.
The local beacons are all being used to relay signals to and from Da Peng or Nan Tao military centres for some sort of coastal defense against pirates or bandits. The beacons were usually looked after by a small rotating patrol of soldiers. In the Qing Dynasty some of these beacons had been converted to a look-out post with lesser personnel being stationed there.
There are quite a lot of reading for this topic, but the geographical references are confusing. More later, after attempting to decypher more of it.
Oh, I've just read an old Qing Dynasty map concerning the local area. It is a rough map dated 1819, however it har words marked Li Yue Mun Battery there (鯉魚門砲台)。 Did one such battery exist before the Brits came? The map could be found in the book "Hong Kong and Southern China Historical Maps collection" on page 67. ISBN978-962-8930-76-0
Best Regards,
T
Re: Beacons
Hi there,
A bit more information. From 新安縣誌 there should be slightly more than twenty (20) along the eastern coast of the Pearl River Delta. At least five such beacons are with Hong Kong's boundary. The group of senior hikers mentioned before had identified possible locations of quite a few of them. I will mark them up later, after studying those old maps and reading and re-reading 新安縣誌 and their discussions.
I have obtained their permission to quote their findings here a few days ago.
Best Regards,
T