Known as “Uncle Lau”, the old man could be seen in the recent past walking up and down Chuk Yeung Road past the big aerial every day. It’s an arduous hike even for the fit. Some years ago he was always accompanied up and down the hill by three dogs. Recently the one remaining dog, no longer strong enough, had stopped joining him.
“He was one of the most visible characters of Sai Kung,” a 15-year resident said. “People felt sorry for him and I often gave him a lift up the hill with my car. We noticed he liked a bet at the Jockey Club.”
One Sai Kung writer worried about how lonely the old man must have been living in the 350-year-old village by himself. “But he wasn’t entirely alone. He had the dogs and one house is full of bats.”
Uncle Lau may not have been poor, just eccentric. His brothers and cousins turn up in nice cars at Wong Chuk Yeung. They are all friendly and it appears a developer is manoeuvring to swoop on the area. Uncle Lau is said to have died of leukaemia.
Wong Chuk Yueng was established by the Lees of Dongguan in the 1660s. The villagers were farmers, tending rice and sugar cane, on fields whose outlines can still be seen. In the 1950s iron mines were dug into the far side of Ma On Shan. The water table dropped and with the land no longer suitable for cultivation, the farmers moved away.
Be the first to comment