Chik Kwai Study Hall, built by Lai Kam-tai of the Lai clan of Pat Heung in late Qing dynasty, is an exemplar of Lingnan traditional architecture with a two-hall-three-bay layout and a courtyard. Many of the original building components and decorations are preserved, including delicate wood carvings, stone carvings, vivid plaster mouldings on the ridges and gable walls, and mural paintings featuring lifelike subjects. These represent the characteristics and aesthetics of Lingnan traditional architecture. The exquisitely crafted embellishments in Chik Kwai Study Hall include many Chinese historical elements, such as wood carvings featuring "Qin Qiong Selling His Horse”, a story from the novel Dramatised History of Sui and Tang Dynasties and a renowned Peking opera title. Chik Kwai Study Hall also served as an ancestral hall. In the rear hall is a wooden altar embellished with delicate carvings to revere the soul tablets of the Lai ancestors. This was a common feature of study halls in the Lingnan region.

According to the descendants of the Lai clan, Lai Kam-tai went to Australia in the mid to late nineteenth century for gold-seeking and subsequently worked as a manager in a trading company in Sydney. Lai made a fortune and returned to Hong Kong. He co-founded Hop Yick Company with village gentry in Yuen Long and established Yuen Long San Hui (Yuen Long New Market). Lai Kam-tai was an example of a migrant from Guangdong who did well overseas and later returned to the Mainland to make important contributions to his homeland. Because of the turbulent situation in the late Qing dynasty, many Chinese people left the country in search of new opportunities. The gold rush that began in Australia in the 1850s attracted large number of workers from the Pearl River Delta to seek opportunities there. In the first ten years following the discovery of gold in Australia (1851-1860), some 40,000 Guangdong natives went to Australia to earn a living.  Many of them became famous, including Lam Woo, a building contractor, who is well known to Hong Kong people. Since Chinese culture attaches great importance to education and enlightenment, and operating schools were crucial for clan development, many of the Chinese migrants who became successful abroad returned to their hometowns to build study halls and contribute to the clan. For instance, Lai Kam-tai donated funds for the construction of Chik Kwai Study Hall.

Opening Hours:
Monday and Wednesday to Sunday: 9am - 1pm and 2pm - 5pm
Closed on Tuesdays (except public holidays), Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and the first three days of Chinese New Year

Address:
Sheung Tsuen, Pat Heung, Yuen Long, New Territories.

Enquiry Hotline:
(852) 2208 4488