| Law Uk Hakka House | |
|---|---|
| Native name 羅屋 (Chinese) | |
 Law Uk Hakka House | |
 Interactive map of Law Uk Hakka House | |
| Location | 14 Kut Shing Street,Chai Wan, Hong Kong |
| Coordinates | 22°15′51″N114°14′08″E / 22.264266°N 114.235512°E /22.264266; 114.235512 |
| Built | c. 1750s |
| Designated | 10 November 1989; 36 years ago (1989-11-10) |
| Reference no. | 38 |
| Law Uk Folk Museum | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 羅屋 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Law's House | ||||||||
| |||||||||
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Law Uk is a formerHakka village house inChai Wan, Hong Kong. Named afterthe surname of the family who lived in the house, it was built in the mid-18th century during theQing Dynasty, about 90 years before the British took possession ofHong Kong Island. It was rediscovered in the 1970s and is adeclared monument of Hong Kong. After being restored, the house was turned into theLaw Uk Folk Museum, which serves as a branch of theHong Kong Museum of History. It is the only example of Hakka architecture left in the area.
It is not definitively known when Law Uk was completed, but it is estimated that the house was constructed in the mid-18th century. This was about the time when the Law family moved to Hong Kong fromBao'an County in Guangdong province.[1][2] The approximate date of construction is backed up by official documents from theQing Dynasty that dated from 1767 and 1796. The existence of these documents—which were in the Law family's possession—came to light when Law Uk was rediscovered.[3] At the time it was built, the house was onHong Kong Island's waterfront withVictoria Harbour. However, it is now much farther inland due toland reclamation that has been undertaken over the years.[2]
The area around present-dayChai Wan was uninhabited and simply featured barren and forested land. When the Laws moved there, they were part of an entourage of approximately 300Hakka people, who settled in the area and established a village.[2] The majority of them worked asstonecutters in neighbouringquarries.[4] Others werefishermen due to the area's proximity to the sea.[5] The Law family, however, were impoverishedrice farming peasants[6] who also raised chickens and pigs on their farm.[2]
One of Law Uk's wings was destroyed during theBattle of Hong Kong in 1941, when a Japaneseshell was dropped onto it. Nonetheless, the village lifestyle of the Hakka continued through theJapanese occupation of Hong Kong until 1945.[5] After the end ofWorld War II, the number ofrefugees coming to the colony increased dramatically, and they began to set up squatter huts on hills around Chai Wan.[7] This ended up "destroy[ing] the Hakka's way of life."[5]
Due to the shortage of land, the Hakka village was cleared and demolished, and Chai Wan was transformed into an industrial area with manypublic housing estates.[5][7] As a result, the Law family moved out of the house in 1960 and were resettled into one of the surrounding housing estates.[2] This was a similar situation for the other villagers, whose descendants now live in apartment complexes close to where the village once stood.[8]
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Before its rediscovery, Law Uk was left in a derelict state and used as a workshop that produced metallic furniture. This caused the building to be afire hazard, due to the spray paints and other flammable goods stored inside.[3] TheResettlement Department rediscovered the house in the early 1970s and urged the curator of the newHong Kong Museum of History—which opened in July 1975[9]—to buy and renovate Law Uk.[3]
The building was ultimately restored and reopened as the Law Uk Folk Museum in 1989.[3] It wasdeclared a monument of Hong Kong in the same year[10] on 10 November.[11] The museum served as one of the three branches of theHong Kong Museum of History, along with theHong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence and theLei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum.[12] This has now been expanded to five branches with the addition of theFireboat Alexander Grantham Exhibition Gallery and theDr Sun Yat-sen Museum.[13]
Due to its modest size and less-than-ideal location among industrial factories, the museum experienced poor attendance over the years. Because of this, the Museum of Hong Kong had contemplated closing the Law Uk Folk Museum.[14] However, it remains open and operating to this day.[13]
Law Uk is the sole surviving village house[3][7] and the last example of traditionalHakka housing in Chai Wan.[15]
Law Uk has been described as a "typical"Hakka house,[5][10][16] consisting of five rooms[5] where approximately ten people could live.[2] Centered around the main hall, the house was designed to be symmetrical and features alightwell at the front of the hall.[16] This was key as the house did not have many windows, for fear ofrobbers andpirates.[2]
As part of the restoration in the 1980s, a new annex to the house was built that matched the overall architectural style of Law Uk.[3]
