Sea wall near Kuk Po | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Sea wall near Kuk Po

Primary tabs

Sea wall near Kuk Po
Submitted by David

If you walk around the coastline of the northeast New Territories, many of the villages are built at the back of a shallow bay, with a wall like this built across the mouth of the bay.

What was the purpose of the wall? I remember there was a fatal storm surge that killed many people in Tai Po. Were these walls a reaction to that?

Regards, David

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Gallery: 
2010s Hong Kong photos
Connections: 
  • Log in or register to post comments

Comments

Submitted by tngan on Thu, 2014-06-19 00:17.

Hi David,

Those might be Gei Wai (簊圍)﹐ quite common in Southern coastal area in China.  Lot's of them covering hugh area in Yuen Long.  Please see this 1983 map.  According to the map it looked like a Gei Wai to me.

Thanks & Best Regards,

T

Submitted by David on Thu, 2014-06-19 18:27.

Thanks Thomas, that's an interesting read. I hadn't heard of this style of farming before.

I've since looked at some older maps of the area back to 1929, and the sea walls are already marked then. So they've definitely been around long before the flooding I was thinking of, and should be part of the traditional farming methods.

Regards, David