The historic churches of Sai Kung are Roman Catholic churches and chapels established in the 19th and 20th centuries by missionaries in the Sai Kung Peninsula and surrounding islands, across modern day administrative areas: the Sai Kung District and Sai Kung North of Tai Po District.
History The churches were established by missionaries from the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Milan (now the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions). The first missionary to take up residence in Sai Kung Peninsula, in 1865, was Fr. P. Gaetano Origo (1835–1868).In Memoriam: Fr.P. Gaetano Origo A first chapel was opened in the market town of Sai Kung in the late 1865. (A previous version of this paper was presented at a Seminar 'Hong Kong: its people, culture and traditions, the Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong. 15–16 April 1983)
Hakka villages included: Wong Mo Ying, Yim Tin Tsai Punti villages included: Chek Keng, Tai Long Tsuen
The Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel () was built in 1953 in the former village of Sha Tsui (). It was submerged, together with the village, at the time of the construction of the High Island Reservoir in the 1970s.
List of churches Note: A territory-wide grade reassessment of historic buildings is ongoing. The churches with a "Not listed" status in the table below are not graded and do not appear in the list of historic buildings considered for grading. LocationNotesStatusReferencesPhotographsTai Long Tsuen (), Tai Long WanChapel of the Immaculate Conception () Built in 1867.Grade III Chek KengHoly Family Chapel () Built in 1874 to replace an earlier chapel that had been damaged by a storm in 1867. The whole village later converted to Catholicism. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, the chapel was a base of the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Battalion of the East River Guerrilla ().Grade II Tan Ka Wan ()St. Peter's Chapel () Built in 1873. It also housed the Sung Ming School ().A nearby, more modern building was renovated in 2021, and was also named "St. Peter's Chapel". Nil grade Sham Chung ()Epiphany of Our Lord Chapel () Established in 1879. Rebuilt in 1956. The chapel housed a school called Kung Man School (), which had about 50 pupils and two teachers.Antiquities Advisory Board. Historic Building Appraisal. Old House Ha Wai, Sham Chung TsuenGrade III Pak Sha O ()Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel () A first chapel was built in Pak Sha O in 1880 on another site. The conversion of Pak Sha O into a Catholic village partly resulted from the desire of the villagers to combat the harassment of the tax-lords of Sheung Shui. The current chapel was built between 1915 and 1923. The site is now used as a training campsite by the Catholic Scout Guild.Grade III Yim Tin TsaiSt. Joseph's Chapel (鹽田梓聖若瑟小堂) Built in 1890, the current chapel received the Award of Merit by the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2005.Grade II Pak Tam Chung ()Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel aka. Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows Chapel () Built in 1900.Grade III Pak A (), High IslandLung Shun Wan Mission Centre () Built in 1910.Not listed Long Ke ()Nativity of Our Lady Chapel () Built in 1918.Grade III Wong Mo Ying (), Tai Mong TsaiRosary Mission Centre () Built in 1940. On 3 February 1942, the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Battalion under the People's Anti-Japanese Principal Guerrilla Force of Guangdong, or Dongjiang Guerrilla Force, was established in Wong Mo Ying Church.Chen Daming, Hong Kong's Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Force () (Hong Kong: Universal Press, 2000), pp. 26-27; Choi Chung Man, "Sai Kung People's Support for the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Company" (), in Chui Yuet Ching, ed., Active in Hong Kong: A Record of Anti-Japanese Efforts of the Hong Kong-Kowloon Independent Battalion in Sai Kung () (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing, 1993), pp. 168–172. (References cited in The Tai Po Book, p. 205).Grade II Sai Wan, Tai Long WanStar of the Sea Mass Centre aka. Star of the Sea Chapel () Built in 1953. Rebuilt in 1963. Restored in 2021.Pending
See also Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong List of Catholic churches in Hong Kong
References
Further reading
(From 23 to 25 November 1871, Count Joseph Alexander Hübner, accompanied by Timoleon Raimondi, visited Christian settlements in the part of China's Xin'an County (Se-non, ) that would become the New Territories of Hong Kong in 1898.) (about a Christian Hakka community in Shung Him Tong Tsuen, Fanling)
External links
Roman Catholic Churches built in Hong Kong (1842–1969)