Imperial Chinese military sites

Submitted by David on Mon, 03/26/2012 - 11:49

We've recently posted Rob's list is of batteries built by the British armed forces, but T reminds us there were also several batteries in the area built by the Chinese army of the time. Here is a map of the Places tagged Imperial Chinese Military Sites:

Places with this tag are:

  • Built & manned by the Chinese Empire. So nothing built post-1911, and nothing built by local inhabitants for their own defence (eg the New territories' walled villages).
  • In Hong Kong or the immediate vicinity.

Here are additional notes moved over from the British Batteries thread:

T:

Other than the Tung Chung (Small) Battery), just laying out the others I know of first:

1.  Tung Chung Fort, already marked.  All we need is a new tag of Chinese Battery there;

2.  Fan Lau Fort;

3.  Koon Chung Fort (A battle was fought there with the Brits).  The area is around today's Jordan Road/Koon Chung Market;

4.  Ching Ying Fort (possibly located in present day Kowloon Park in TST), dismantled after HK Island is occupied;

5.  Tung Lung Chau Fort

6.  Beacon Hill close to Lion Rock.  The construction of the modern day rada station appeared to have the old beacon site destroyed though.

I will try to mark them up later.

C:

Thanks for the list!  I wonder if the Kowloon Walled City should be included.

The two Qing batteries are mentioned in Section 10.2.2 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for East Rail Extension - Hung Hom to Tsim Sha Tsui (EIA-032/1999).  About the Ching Ying Battery (懲膺炮台, Chengying Battery) in Tsim Sha Tsui, the report stated that "the exact location of the battery is unknown", but from Figure 10.5, it is quite clear that it was located on the western slope of the hill on which 1881 Heritage (former Marine Police Headquarters) now stands.  It was renamed Fort Victoria during its brief occupation by British Forces in 1841.

As for Lam Chung Battery (臨衝砲台, Linchong Battery) in Kwun Chung, I found a wiki page on it:  Kwun Chung Battle Wiki.  It is great that someone is raising awareness of this event.

T:

I believe there might be something in Tuen Mun/Castle Peak as well as that is known to be a location where previous dynasties posted their military presence there.  I  have a faint impression that it could be dated back to the Tang Dynasty.   After all, the word 屯 (tuen) was a verb meaning stationing military presence.

On the It would be very difficult to rectify the location with reference to old writings dated back to Qing or even Ming Dynasties.  There are some senior hikers out there saying there used to be other beacons on some hill tops other than 'Beacon Hill' in Kowloon.  They said one might be in the Tsuen Wan area and another in Castle Peak.  They are refering to old writing like 新安縣誌  for reference.

On the other hand, if we are to include Walled Kowloon City then we might have to include similar facilities in Guangdong Province as well.  If we do not do so, it would not reveal their significance.  Anyway, either way it would mean more reading before doing so.

Comments

Hi there,

According to 新安縣誌 (published in the Qing Dynasty) There are other locations for the Qing or even Ming Dynasties stationing small numbers of troopers.  I will try to identify the approximate location and mark them up as well.  These are usually villages or townships of the time and should be a bit easier to locate.

Beacons would be much difficult as they were usually on hill tops and most have been weathered away after all these years.

I would also attempt to mark a few more batteries or forts around the Zhu Jiang Delta area.  Especially those played significant part in the Opium war.

Best Regards,

T

Various sites have been identified in the NT that held batteries during the 6 day war in 1899. Not built for village defence and rumoured to be backed by Chinese military advisors? Or perhaps too adhoc to qualify?

Hi Phil, I'd say they're a different type of place, as they were specific to that incident. It'll be interesting to see what there is, but they'd be better given a different tag.

Regards, David.

T, you may consider adding the following beacons to your google earth:

1) 麻雀嶺墩台(Wo Keng Hill 禾徑山, Sha Tau Kok)

http://www.hiking.com.hk/discus/messages/2192/57852.html?1259679345

2) 佛堂門墩台 (田下山 Tin Ha Shan, Sai Kung - Clear Water Bay Road)

http://www.hiking.com.hk/discus/messages/2192/60429.html?1259156708

These two beacons can be found at these hills top.

Regards

JW

Dear JW,

Welcome.  

Actually I am planning to do just that, together with the one you folks nailed at Shek Lung Gung (石攏拱) along Yuen Chuen Ancient Trail.  This is the easiest one to reach, BTW.  I will definitely spend an hour or two there when I go there next time.

I was just reading through a few old map books and your older messages before doing that.

You are also welcomed to share your thoughts on other topics here as well.

Once again, welcome to www.gwulo.com

Thanks & Best Regards,

T

T, thank you for reply.

The Shek Lung Gung beacon(?) had not been documented, I am puzzling whether the beacon is an "ad-hoc type beacon" added for the pre-planned series of signal beacons or just a "mansonry structure of shooting station" made by those former British soldiers in HK since I had seen bullets in the beacon.

Regards

JW

Hello

Are there any old Chinese sites on Hong Kong Island. I would like to explore some of them.   I would preferably not  explore graves, since I believe that those places aren't right for people to explore.