From Valley to Plain: An Introduction to Traditional Wisdom

The Hakka people in Kuk Po arrived more than 400 years ago. As the large and flat lands had already been occupied, the Hakka people had to settle at the more remote and geographically less favourable locations and strove to cope with the various issues in their daily lives, e.g. the development of arable land to secure adequate source of food, the sourcing of materials for building villages and houses, the homeland protection, etc. Through observations on the weather, environmental changes and the natural phenomena, in addition to the traditional beliefs and customs passed on from their ancestors, the Kuk Po villagers accumulated their own school of knowledge and wisdom for the co-existence with nature and allowed them stable homes.

Written by the Department of Geography and Resource Management of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the report (Chinese version only) introduces the 4 aspects of traditional wisdom among the villagers of Kuk Po: agriculture, master layout of the village, architectural design, and wisdom on the use of local resources, which shed light on how the past villagers made good use of the environment to overcome the challenges and constraints brought by the nature.