Situated in Plover Cove Country Park, Miu Sam Ancient Trail was paved with mud and boulders, it was the major route taken by Hakka villagers to Tai Po Market and Tung Wo Market (i.e. Sha Tau Kok Market); it also served as a network amongst different villages of Hing Chun Yeuk. By using this trail, villagers could travel to nearby villages to purchase household goods and sold their own farm produce. Along the boulder paved Miu Sam Ancient Trail were a few Hakka villages, including Shueng Miu Tin Village, Ha Miu Tin Village and Sam A Tsuen. Today, Sheung Miu Tin and Ha Miu Tin are only left with tumbled down houses and broken walls as time passed. There were also two stone tablets indicating the locations of the relics of the two villages.
The hardworking Hakka tribe used to farm here and made use of locally sourced materials to build footpaths, small bridges and huts with large rocks and led a rustic life. Hakka is a branch of Han tribe; its name means “guest” and “visitor”. Hakka began migrating south to Hong Kong from the 17th century. They mainly occupied mountainous terrains and resided in north eastern New Territories, exhibiting an industrious character and endured hardship.
There is hearsay that Ha Miu Tin Village was once inhabited by a few dozens of people. Sheung Miu Tin Village, on the other hand, was established by the Yip’s and was once resided by about 100 people. According to the “A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories” published in the 1950s, there were 80 villagers in these villages. Sheung Miu Tin used to have two rows of some 10 houses. Nine families made their living by farming. Back then, no matter one took a boat trip from Luk Keng to Sha Tau Kok Market or travelled to Tai Mei Tuk via this ancient trail, both took two hours to reach the destinations. Because of the inconvenient transport and the harassment of wild boars that affected the harvest, all villagers moved to Kowloon and Tai Po in the 1970s. Village houses also tumbled down during the 1980s.
Ha Miu Tin Village was slightly bigger in scale than Sheung Miu Tin Village. Most residents carried the surnames Tsang and Mo. It was still inhabited by a few households in 1976. By late 1970s, all remaining villagers moved to Tai Po. Village houses have already tumbled down. It was said that the walls of the village houses were made of yellow mud. One could imagine the impoverished life of the villagers in the old days.
According to the 1899 Sessional Paper “Extension of Colony of Hong Kong”, Sam A Tsuen used to be resided by 150 people. In the non-official census carried out in 1955, there were 185 inhabitants in Sam A Tsuen. The Tsang’s clan moved to this village in 1690. Today, most villagers have already moved out and the former fields have now become large stretches of golden Leather Fern. One could experience the past life in a Hakka village by visiting Miu Sam Ancient Trail. Red conglomerate and sandstone can be found near Sam A Tsuen, which is a rarely seen landform.
The route on this website is introduced to be conveniently accessible by public transport, which may differ from the actual alignment of the ancient path.
Hiking Etiquette
Keep the noise down in the countryside
Respect villagers and their properties
Do not enter private places or architectures that might pose hazards of collapsing
Do not pick any farm produce
Do not climb on or take away any item in the village
Take your litter home
