The Travelling Palace of Southern Sung
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area, e.g. some places on Lantau island (Tai-yu-shan) were salt-producing fields. All such fields, together with the people living in the villages, were under the administration of the Salt Administrator of Kuan-fu Ch'ang.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the political status of the Kuan-fu Field underwent a drastic change. Kuan-fu as an independent salt-producing area under a salt administrator was abolished and was incorporated into the Huang-t'ien (†) Field which was one of the original four fields in Tung-kuan. In the third year of the reign of Hung Wu, the first Emperor of Ming (1370), Kuan-fu's status was changed from that of a salt-field into a Hsun-ssu (3), a political sub-district still called Kuan-fu but under the charge of a Hsun-chien (K).
The name of Kowloon was not officially adopted until 1840 (Tao Kwang 20th year, in mid-Ch'ing), when Kuan-fu Hsun-ssu was changed to Kowloon Hsun-ssu under the charge of a Kowloon Hsun-chien, still under the general administration of the Hsin-an District. Three years later (1843) the Manchu Governor-general Ch'i-ying (**) constructed a city wall around the Kowloon Tsai (formerly the Kuan-fu Tsai) with the explicit purpose of warding off a British invasion. The wall was completed in 1847. It may be added that this city wall was demolished by the Japanese when they occupied Kowloon, using the stones for the construction of the extended air-field; but the so-called Kowloon Tsai still exists.
III. THE LANDING
Let us now go back to May 1277.
1277. The exact place where the royal party landed was along the beach on the western shore of the Kowloon Bay from the Sung Wong Toi Hill to To-kua-wan in the south. There were three villages along the coast, namely Ma-tau-kok (§i§}), Ma-tau-ch'ung (‚§§Ã¡Ã¦) and To-kua-wan (LA). They were fairly large in size and populated by many fishermen and workers of the salt-field. Upon the arrival of the royal party the local villagers extended to them an extraordinarily warm welcome. The Imperial Court rewarded them with some parasols made of yellow silk and embroidered with many Chinese characters, in gratitude for the enthusiastic reception and loyal protection they had received. Years later the original gifts wore