Sacred Hill / Sung Wong Toi [????-1943]

Submitted by Admin on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 11:03
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date closed / demolished

The hill disappeared during the Japanese occupation (1941-45). It was excavated and the material used to extend the Kai Tak airfield.

Photos that show this Place

Comments

Over at http://gwulo.com/comment/29927#comment-29927, HF mentioned that the wall around the hill with the gate archway was built in 1915.

1910s Sung Wong Toi (Sacred Hill)
1910s Sung Wong Toi (Sacred Hill), by moddsey

That's a good thing to know to help date photos of the hill, so I'm looking for a source to confirm the date. A search for sung wong toi at HKGRO gives several answers. The closest to 1915 is the Botanical and forestry annual report for 1913 (http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkgro/view/a1913/201.pdf), which has an entry:

Sung Wong Toi Hill. — Mr. Li Ping, who a year or two ago, offered to build a wall around this hill free of cost to the Government, commenced operations, and trees and shrubs in the line of the proposed wall were cut down.
When the work is completed a few trees will be planted in favourable positions.

I checked the Botany & Forestry reports for 1914 and 1915, but didn't find any further mention.

A very interesting article on the history of the Sung Wong Toi, including its possible fortification in the Sung Dynasty, based on notes made in 1918 and 1937

As the evidence now stands, it is reasonably likely that the earthwork is connected, like the watch-tower recorded as erected on the summit rock, with the defence of the palace of the last Sung emperors. 

Source: Further notes on the Sung Wong Toi. W. Schofield RASHK Vol 8. p 67.

Mr. Schofield served in Hong Kong as a Cadet (Administrative) Officer in the Civil Service between 1911-38. He is well known for his published articles on the archeology and geology of the Colony in pre-war years, and is M.A. (Liv. and Oxon)

 

A historian has written an article about the rock in Takungpao:

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/paper/2016/1216/46521.html

It says:

In 1915, the Hong Kong government wanted to auction the land, and the former Qing court historian Lai Jixi and others called on the Hong Kong government to permanently preserve the monument (i.e. the rock), and the construction of a stone balustrade around the rock was approved for its protection.

A photo taken in the 1920s:

Sung_Wong_Toi_Hill,_Kowloon_City,_Kowloon,_c._1920s
Sung_Wong_Toi_Hill,_Kowloon_City,_Kowloon,_c._1920s, by simtang

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Hill