Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2000

Sha T i n The historica l r e c on s t r u c t i on of Sha Tin, coordinated by Prof. Ho Pui-yin, began in 1995. The aim was to revive the oral tradition in history studies and collect field data from the Sha Tin District from approximately 1898 to the early 1970s, just before the full-scale development of the Sha Tin New Town. The target sites were over 50 villages in Sha Tin as it is now k n own, and in Tai Wai, Fo Tan, M a On Shan. Interviewees included indigenous village elders and their descendents, and people who moved to Sha Tin to settle down during different periods. Students were mobilized to interview close to a thousand elderly inhabitants during th e summer holidays. To prove the accuracy of and supplement the information obtained from these interviews, they also collected genealogical trees, personal notes, pictures, ledgers, books, and local gazettes. Primary sources also include information from government files , and official documents issued by the Chinese government. Through such studies, Sha Tin's history slowly reemerged. Important discoveries were made relating not only to the origin of the villages, their organizational structure, historical development, and the growth of its tourism industry, but also to the overall development of the New Territories and of Hong Kong. The project provides important reference material for academic institutions, museums, and schools, and enables the public at large to have a deeper understanding of Sha Tin. Prof. Ho Pui-yin Interesting results emerge from genealogy studies of the New Territories. For example, the Lee clans of Tai Po and Sha Tin originate in the same person. Their ancestors movedfrom North China to the southern provinces, and then to Hong Kong, settling in Wu Kau Tang and Crooked Island in Tai Po in the early years. Later, one branch of the clan moved to Sha Tin. Comparison of the genealogy trees of the three shows that they all worship the same ancestor. Preservin g and Illuminatin g Hong Kong's Cultura l Heritag e . . .