is difficult to date the establishment of this Market. There is no certain mention of the Market (as opposed to the military garrison) before the early nineteenth century. However, both "Kowloon (九龍)" and "Kwun Fu (軍府)" are marked as separate entities on at least one early map". On this map the "Kwun Fu" entry is specifically of the military post (駐軍), strongly suggesting that the "Kowloon" entry is for a significant non-military site, and thus presumably refers to the Market, although this cannot be demonstrated without cavil12. There is, however, some evidence that suggests that a Market has been in existence here since at least the middle twelfth century. The Lam clan of Po Kong were originally merchants in the coastal trade, trading between southern Fukien and Canton. Given that they chose to settle in Po Kong in the mid-late twelfth century, it can be presumed that the site was not inconvenient for this trade. This may imply that there was a Market and landing place at Kowloon City then.
The coastal plain around the Market at Kowloon was, by the nineteenth century, full of villages (see Map 1). Most were Punti. Of the larger villages, only Ngau Chi Wan was Hakka. Most of the villages in the area were settled in the eighteenth century, but Nga Tsin Wai, Po Kong, and Ma Tau Wai at least date from the middle or late twelfth century. Most were rice subsistence villages, except for the market gardening villages in the area immediately around the Market.
Foundation of Nga Tsin Wai Village
The Nga Tsin Wai villagers have a clear and precise traditional account of the foundation of their village. Three men, they claim, came to the area with the court of the Sung boy-Emperors in 1277. One, Ng Shing-tat (吳勝達) was a civil official, another, Chan Chiu-yin (陳朝賢) was a military official, and the third, Li Shing-kai (李勝介) was also attached to the remnant Sung court in some capacity no longer remembered. When the Emperor Ping fell (1279), these three men jointly established the village. The Tin Hau Temple in the village was subsequently founded in 1354. The village has remained inhabited to the present day by the descendants of these three men. Originally, the inhabitants lived scattered through the area, some here, some there, but, in 1724, the villagers built a walled village to defend themselves against bandit and pirate attack, and most of them came together to live inside the walls, although some preferred to settle in Sha Po, Kak