Tsat Tsz Mui

Tsat Tsz Mui
Chinese七姊妹
Literal meaningseven sisters
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinQī Zǐ​mèi
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingCat1 zi2 mui6
Tsat Tsz Mui Road in North Point.
1945 map featuring Tsat Tsz Mui.

Tsat Tsz Mui or Braemar Point is a neighbourhood, formerly a village, east of North Point, in Hong Kong. Tsat Tsz Mui Road is named after the neighbourhood.

Name

Tsat Tsz Mui in Cantonese means "seven sisters". There was a tragic story about them. Once upon a time, there lived a village of Hakka people. Seven girl playmates pledged to be sisters in their lifetime, die on the same day and never get married. One day, the third sister's parents decided to make her marry a man. She did not want to but dared not say a word against her parents. The day before the wedding, all seven sisters committed suicide at the sea shore. The next day, at the bay appeared seven rocks.[1] The villages believed that they must be the seven sisters. The rocks were then named Tsat Tsz Mui Shek (七姊妹石), Seven Sister Rocks, and the village Tsat Tsz Mui Tsuen (七姊妹村), Seven Sister Village.

In 1934, the rocks were buried under the reclamation for urban development.

History

Tsat Tsz Mui is considered the earliest settlement in North Point, although there were villages around the area of North Point in the 19th century, the exact founding dates of those villages remain unknown.[2] The 1819 edition of the Gazetteer of Xin'an County (新安縣志) did not mention Tsat Tsz Mui, however, local residents emphasized Tsat Tsz Mui Village existed for hundreds of years.[3]

The earliest recorded existence of Tsat Tsz Mui Village, was confirmed in the late Qing dynasty by a 1849 census, and a later a 1888 survey map.[2] According to the census in 1849 Tsat Tsz Mui Tsuen (village) had over two hundred inhabitants and over one hundred houses. It was also a popular swimming spot.[4] The original village was located in eastern North Point, at the location of present day Healthy Garden (健威花園) at Tsat Tsz Mui Road.[5]

At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Tsat Tsz Mui was 297. The number of males was 193.[6]

In January 1921, Inland Lot No. 2320, a 21,000 square ft. plot of land north of Tsat Tsz Mui Village (on Kai Yuen Hill's hillside above present-day North Point), was being auctioned.[7] Mr. James Dalziel, a British chief naval engineer who settled for 40 years in Hong Kong working at the Taikoo Sugar Refinery Company, brought this land.[8] In approximately 1921-1924, A large residential property named 'Seven Sisters' was built on the land.[9]

Due to the reclamation of North Point in the 1920s, and the development of King's Road in 1934, Tsat Tsz Mui Village was gradually demolished.[10] Some residents of the village were evicted forcefully by the colonial government by the Crown Lands Resumption Ordinance.[11]

In December 1941, during The Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong in World War II, some Japanese troops landed at the Tsat Tsz Mui Swimming Shed to capture Hong Kong Island.[10]

In 1960, when North Point Estate was completed, people from various placed settled into a new community. From that point onward, the name "North Point" gradually replaced Tsat Tsz Mui as the commonly referred name of the Neighborhood.[10]

Housing

Two public housing estates are located in Tsat Tsz Mui: Model Housing Estate, the oldest existing public housing estate in Hong Kong,[12] with several blocks completed in 1954, and Healthy Village.

See also

References

  1. ^ Cheung, Rachel (10 June 2016). "Stories behind Hong Kong street names: the haunting past of Tsat Tsz Mui Road". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 20 September 2024.
  2. ^ a b Architectural Services Department, "Heritage Impact Assessment for Conversion of the Former Clubhouse of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club at 12 Oil Street, North Point into a Community and Public Art Centre - Artspace @ Oil Street - Vol.1 Baseline Study.", (Hong Kong), September 2011, p.13. https://www.amo.gov.hk/filemanager/amo/common/form/AAB_20_2011-12_v1_p1.pdf
  3. ^ "Tsat Tsz Mui 七姊妹 (HK)". Archived from the original on 19 September 2024.
  4. ^ Guo Shaotang 郭少棠, Dongqu fengwuzhi: jiti jiyi shequqing 東區風物志: 集體記憶社區情 [A Guide to The Antiquities of Hong Kong Eastern District: Collective Memory in the Community], p. 14.
  5. ^ Architectural Services Department, "Heritage Impact Assessment for Conversion of the Former Clubhouse of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club at 12 Oil Street, North Point into a Community and Public Art Centre - Artspace @ Oil Street - Vol.1 Baseline Study.", (Hong Kong), September 2011, p.15. https://www.amo.gov.hk/filemanager/amo/common/form/AAB_20_2011-12_v1_p1.pdf
  6. ^ Hase, Patrick (1996). "Traditional Life in the New Territories: The Evidence of the 1911 and 1921 Censuses" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch. 36: 83. ISSN 1991-7295.
  7. ^ Public Works Department, No. S376, 24 December 1920. https://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkgro/view/G1920/69505.pdf
  8. ^ "OLD RESIDENT'S DEATH - MR. JAMES DALZIEL PASSES AWAY - OVER 40 YEARS IN HONGKONG". Hong Kong Telegraph. 29 August 1934. p. 7.
  9. ^ Seven Sisters (Bc.1923-????), Archived 20 September 2024 at the Wayback Machine, Gwulo
  10. ^ a b c Zhang, Y. [張燕]. (2018). A lost paradise : the disappearing urban heritage of Kai Yuen Street, Hong Kong. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. p.14. https://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/265852archive.org/details/full-text/mode/2up
  11. ^ "THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, APRIL 22, 1927". Archived from the original on 19 September 2024.
  12. ^ Aged public housing estates included in the Comprehensive Structural Investigation Programme