Heritage Fun Walk Showcases Northern Metropolis Historic Sites with Open-Top Bus Tours
HK01 · 3 SOURCES1 day ago6 MIN
Summary
The Commissioner's Office for Heritage Conservation under the Development Bureau is hosting the Heritage Fun Walk from October to December 2026, with "Through the Northern Metropolis" as this year's theme . The event spotlights 12 statutory monuments and graded historic buildings in the Northern Metropolis, offering over 170 free guided tours alongside roaming exhibitions, parent-child workshops, and special lectures across Hong Kong . A major highlight is the inaugural open-top bus heritage tour, launching three thematic routes covering Ping Shan, Ha Tsuen, Sheung Shui Lung Yeuk Tau, and Sheung Shui San Tin areas . The heritage buildings span clan culture, adaptive reuse projects, and educational heritage, demonstrating cross-sector collaboration in heritage conservation .
Key Points
- The event features three thematic routes: "Ping Shan & Ha Tsuen: Guardians of Scholarship," "Sheung Shui Lung Yeuk Tau: Into the Walled Village," and "Sheung Shui San Tin: New Life in Old Houses"
- Liu Man Shek Tong (廖萬石堂), built during the early Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty, serves as the ancestral hall of the Sheung Shui Liu clan; the name derives from five Liu scholars who each earned 2,000 dan of grain in official salaries
- The Ancestral Hall follows a "three-hall, three-bay, two-courtyard" layout, decorated with auspicious grey plastic sculptures, wood carvings, and frescoes, with a "Five Cassia" painting symbolizing the clan's scholarly achievements
- The Former Yuen Long Public College, the first government secondary school in the New Territories, now houses TWGHs Ma Chan Mer Memorial College with boarding facilities, featuring a "Nurturing Talent for a Century" marble plaque inscribed by calligrapher Cen Guangyue (岑光樾)
- The Old Ping Shan Police Station, built in 1900, became Hong Kong's first heritage museum jointly operated by the government and a local clan—the Ping Shan Tang clan—after adaptive reuse in 2007
Why It Matters
The Heritage Fun Walk provides a platform to showcase the Northern Metropolis's unique blend of natural scenery and rich cultural heritage, demonstrating how heritage conservation can drive community engagement and regional development. The inaugural open-top bus tours represent an innovative approach to heritage education, making historic buildings more accessible and engaging for the general public while preserving the stories embedded in these structures for future generations .
The Heritage Fun Walk provides a platform to showcase the Northern Metropolis's unique blend of natural scenery and rich cultural heritage, demonstrating how heritage conservation can drive community engagement and regional development. The inaugural open-top bus tours represent an innovative approach to heritage education, making historic buildings more accessible and engaging for the general public while preserving the stories embedded in these structures for future generations .