Sam Tung Uk Museum

Originally constructed in 1786, Sam Tung Uk in Tsuen Wan is a 200-year-old walled – read ‘fortified’ – village built by a Hakka clan named ‘Chan’ who settled in Hong Kong, firstly from Fujian and then Guangdong in China in the 18th century to work the land. The museum portrays life as it was lived in Hong Kong in the 18th and 19th centuries.

History of Sam Tung Uk Museum

The Chinese ‘Sam Tung Uk’ – literally ‘three rows of dwellings’ – describes the original floorplan and the indigenous residents lived there from 1786 until 1980. They were sensitively relocated to make way for Tsuen Wan New Town and the Tsuen Wan MTR railway station and protected under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance, Sam Tung Uk was declared a national monument in 1981.

The Sam Tung Uk Museum opened in 1987 and today, visitors can see authentically preserved rooms including the central religious shrine, the entrance, assembly and ancestral halls as well as a number of the original houses.

In addition you can see a collection of original 18th century agricultural tools as well as traditional furnishings, kitchenware and ceremonial items. There is also an interactive display focusing on the Hakka women, cookery and traditional arts and crafts.

Occupying an area of 2,000 square metres, the symmetrical layout of the village resembles a chessboard with an entrance hall, an assembly hall and an ancestral hall at the central axis. With four individual houses in the middle, the village is completely walled in by rows of houses at the two sides and the back.

Getting to Sam Tung Uk Museum

The address of the Sam Tung Uk Museum is 2 Kwu Uk Lane, Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong. If travelling via Mass Transit Railway (MTR), make sure to alight at Tsuen Wan Station.

If travelling by Bus, you can take Kowloon Motor Bus nos. 40, 43X, 48X, 49X, 57M, 58M, 59A, 67M, 68A, 69M, 73X, 235, 278P, 278X, A31.