Audio guide introduction: 2 minute 07 seconds
Maybe you know that there are white houses, blue houses and red houses in Hong Kong, but what is the king house? This "king" is not a color, but a surname. Wangwu Village can be traced back to the Qianlong period. In the ninth year of Guangxu (1883), it was founded by villager Wang Qing. This Wang Qing didn't have any special talents, but he won the "mountain ticket", which is roughly today's Mark Six lottery. He became a nouveau riche overnight, so he built this "mansion". Don’t think that the Wang House is nothing special. The Wang House is two stories high. The entire building is made of extremely expensive granite and blue bricks. Most residential houses are built with bricks from bottom to top, but this mansion starts from the ground up. Half of them are built with granite. Since granite buildings are expensive, only wealthy families, family ancestral halls or temples used this construction method in those days. Therefore, the Wang House has been exposed to rain, wind and rain for more than XNUMX years, but it is still in excellent condition. Although the house is a traditional Hakka two-entry building, a Western-style arch is added in the middle of the house, combining Chinese and Western styles. Even in the whole of China, it was the latest architectural style at that time. Wang Qingai showed off his wealth. In addition to building this trendy mansion, he also built a private dock in front of the door, where he could go out to sea at any time and become an out-and-out nouveau riche. Wang Qing spent all day playing, but his wife and children were separated and all his wealth was spent. In addition to the royal house, what remains now is the sealed ancient well next to the house and the small cabin on the other side. According to the oral statement of the current village chief, Uncle Wang, this hut was the "Wang family's ancestral hall" before the village was moved. This "King House" located in King Uk Garden has no lower historical value than other "coloured" houses. It is also the only statutory monument building in Shatin.
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