NOTES AND QUERIES
305
separate sectors close to Fanling Road; population: 505; both Cantonese and Hakkas."
It is believed that Cha Hang (茶坑) is the original name which was derived from the location of the village, which is situated near the junction of two streams. Because of the differing pronunciations of Cantonese and Hakka, the names Tai Hang (大坑) and Choi Hang (菜坑) appeared later. Probably because of the Chinese tradition of preferring propitious characters in place names, the villagers adopted the modified version of Tai Hang 太亨,泰亨 "Tai" meaning peaceful
and "Hang" meaning prosperous. In fact, 太亨 is the official name recorded in the 1819 edition of the San On Gazetteer (新安縣志). Recently, this version has been used commonly by the Lands Department and the District Office in official maps and documents.
The local names of Cha Hang (junction of streams together with Kau Lung Hang (nine dragon stream 九龍坑) and Kiu Tau (bridge head 橋頭) sheds some light on the condition of the plain between Tai Po and Fanling several centuries ago. It suggests that the area was essentially low-lying marsh land crossed by many small streams. In this connection, the ancestors of the Man clan had certainly made, perhaps inadvertently, a correct choice in bringing the water pines with them for planting in their new village, since this occupies a location very similar to the natural habitat of the species in the low lying districts of the Pearl River Delta.
YU KOW-CHOY LAI CHIK-CHUEN
(Senior Forestry Officer and Forestry Officer, Agriculture and Fisheries Department)
MORE ABOUT THE TUNG CHUNG FORT
It is recorded in Chapter 125 of the Kwong Tung Tung Chi, Tao Kuang edition (廣東通志) that in the 22nd year of the Ch'ia Ching reign (1543), not 1817, eight guard-houses were built at Tung Chung.