Located in Ping Shan, Yuen Long, Tat Tak Communal Hall was built by Tang Fan-yau and his fellow clansmen in the seventh year of the Xianfeng reign of Qing dynasty (1857) as a meeting place for the village watchmen and members of Tat Tak Alliance, and as the management office of Ping Shan Market. It is a grey brick structure with pitched roofs and granite wall foundation. Above the three entrances are mural paintings with auspicious motifs, such as peacocks and magpies, and calligraphy. Eaves boards are adorned with delicately carved bamboos, peonies and plum blossoms, along with other auspicious patterns, and the roof ridges are decorated with geometric plaster mouldings at both ends. In the front hall is a caimen featuring carvings of flowers and Chinese folktales, and the saying, Fu You You Gui (Good deeds will bring blessings).

During the Japanese Invasion, Hong Kong provided immense support to compatriots in the Mainland. Tsoi Po-tin, a member of the gentry in Yuen Long who was the vice-chairman of Hong Kong Red Swastika Society, oversaw the restoration of Tat Tak Communal Hall from 1938 to 1939. He lent the Tat Tak Communal Hall to the society for the establishment of Ping Shan Children's Home from 1940 to 1941 to provide shelter to some 50 homeless children rescued from Shenzhen. In October 1940, the relief team of Hong Kong Red Swastika Society administered vaccines to the children of Tat Tak Public School and Ping Shan Children’s Home. In early 1942, Japanese forces evacuated the population and expelled the refugees who had travelled south from the Mainland, and Ping Shan Children's Home was forced to close.

After World War II, the communal hall was used briefly to accommodate over-enrolled students at Tat Tak Public School in Hang Mei Tsuen, Ping Shan. In 1951, Christian Children’s Fund operated an orphanage, called Uen (Yuen) Long Children’s Home, in Tat Tak Communal Hall. After the children’s home was closed in 1958, the communal hall was converted into a private primary school, which remained in operation until the 1970s. Tat Tak Communal Hall bears testimony to Hong Kong’s history over the past century and played an important role in education and social welfare.

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:
Ping Shan, Yuen Long, New Territories.

Enquiry Hotline:
(852) 2208 4488