Kam Tin Tree House in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Kam Tin Tree House

The Kam Tin Tree House, located beside the playground of Shui Wai Village in Kam Tin, Yuen Long, Hong Kong, is unique for being a stone house embraced by a massive, intricately structured old banyan tree. It holds several records in Hong Kong and bears witness to a period of history during the early Qing Dynasty when the Coastal Evacuation Order (also known as the Maritime Ban Order) was issued.

This old banyan tree is a Ficus microcarpa, registered as LCSD YL/6 in the "Register of Old and Valuable Trees," with a trunk diameter of 6000 millimeters (measured 1.3 meters above the ground), making it the largest in Hong Kong. The tree stands 16.5 meters tall, and its canopy spans 42 meters, tying the record with the famous camphor tree in She Shan Village, Tai Po, as the widest in Hong Kong. The tree is at least over 100 years old. As for its exact age, estimates vary—some say 300 years, others 400 years. However, it’s noted that the brickwork technique used in the stone house surrounded by the banyan dates back only about 200 years. Therefore, if the tree were to have enveloped the house, its age couldn’t differ too much from the bricks’ construction date. Still, it’s widely agreed that the banyan tree is at least 150 years old.

In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, to prevent coastal residents from aiding Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), the Ming loyalist who established the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan, the Coastal Evacuation Order was issued in the first year of the Kangxi reign (1662). Residents along the coast from Shandong Province to Guangdong Province were forced to relocate 50 li (approximately 25 kilometers) inland, an area that included most of present-day Hong Kong. The evacuation left coastal inhabitants homeless, farmlands barren, and fishing and salt industries abandoned. Coupled with the maritime ban, the region of Hong Kong was severely affected. The evacuation zone also included the area around Kam Tin at the time, forcing the homeowner to leave. Since then, the stone house has lain abandoned for over a century.

Gradually, the banyan tree next to the stone house continued to grow, with branches twining and aerial roots sprawling, gradually enveloping the structure and creeping into the crevices between the bricks until it eventually collapsed and was absorbed by the tree. Professor Jim Chi-yung, Chair Professor of Geography at the University of Hong Kong and renowned as the "Tree Doctor," explained that the aerial roots of the Ficus microcarpa can penetrate deep into the soil layers and grow into new trunks. These new trunks then produce more aerial roots, continuing the cycle and eventually creating a "single-tree forest" effect.

Transportation Guide

Location: Beside the playground of Shui Wai Village, Kam Tin, Yuen Long District, Hong Kong

Getting There: Take New Territories Mini Bus Route 601