Tang Lung Yau Wan Tsuen Um Ancestral Hall, 2008. ©Antiquities and Monuments Office
The plaque in the ancestral hall, with the inscription <em>Wen Zhang Shi Ze</em> (legacy of scholarship and academic achievements of the ancestors), was written in mid-winter in the Year of Wuzi in the reign of Qianlong (1768). It carries the hope that Tang Man-wai’s legacy will benefit the Tang clan, and that young clansmen will follow his example, to strengthen the status and influence of the Tang clan of Kam Tin in the region, 2022. ©Antiquities and Monuments Office
Tang Lung Yau Wan Tsuen Um Ancestral Hall has a three-hall-three-bay layout with two courtyards, 2022. ©Antiquities and Monuments Office
The plaque inscribed with “Kwong Yu Tong&rdquo in the ancestral Hall, 2022. ©Antiquities and Monuments Office

Located in Kam Tin, Yuen Long, Tang Lung Yau Wan Tsuen Um Ancestral Hall is also known as Kwong Yu Tong. It was built as a branch ancestral hall by the descendants of Tang Man-wai (courtesy name Tsuen-um), who subsequently served as magistrate (Wan) of Longyou (Lung Yau) county in Quzhou, Zhejiang. Tang Man-wai came third class in the Imperial Civil Service Examinations in the twenty-fourth year of Kangxi reign of Qing dynasty (1685). He was Hong Kong's first jinshi in Qing dynasty, and an influential figure in the Tang clan of Kam Tin. He worked zealously to unite members of the clan and participated in writing Xin’an Xianzhi (Gazetteer of Xin’an County) during the reign of Kangxi, and he made important contributions to the Tang clans in Dongguan, Xin'an and other places.

The ancestral hall was used for ancestral worship and, by celebrating the achievements of Tang Man-wai, to encourage young clansmen to follow his example: study hard and pass the Imperial Civil Service Examinations to strengthen the status and influence of the Tang clan of Kam Tin in the region. According to the plaques “Kwong Yu Tong” and Wen Zhang Shi Ze (legacy of scholarship and academic achievements of the ancestors), put up in mid-winter in the Year of Wuzi in the reign of Qianlong, the ancestral hall is believed to have been built in 1768.

Tang Lung Yau Wan Tsuen Um Ancestral Hall is an exemplar of Lingnan traditional architecture. Constructed with grey bricks, the ancestral hall has a three-hall-three-bay layout with two courtyards. The façade is adorned with plaster mouldings featuring landscape patterns, while the ridges are decorated with plaster mouldings depicting scroll grass patterns and pottery dragon fish ornaments. The door frame and wall bases at the main entrance are made of red sandstone which was traditionally valuable material used for important buildings.

Today, the Tang clan of Kam Tin still holds the Spring and Autumn Ancestral Worship, Lunar New Year gatherings and lantern lighting ceremonies in Tang Lung Yau Wan Tsuen Um Ancestral Hall.

Address:
No. 57 Tsz Tong Tsuen, Kam Tin, Yuen Long, New Territories.

Not open to the public

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