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NOTES AND QUERIES
be constructed to safeguard the tree which will become a roadside tree when the road widening is completed.
In order to maintain this rare species in Hong Kong, Agriculture & Fisheries Department has collected seed from these two veteran trees and this has been germinated and used to grow several hundred seedlings. These have been planted out in a variety of sites in the Country Parks where many of them are now well established. The most successful is a group of four trees growing near the head of Jubilee Reservoir which have reached a height of 6.7m and a girth of 0.37m in ten years.
The former Village Representative, Mr. Man Tse-leung, whose picture appeared with the original article, is now 86 years old. Though not able to walk, he enjoys good health and still has a good memory. He recalled that during his childhood, the trees had already attracted the attention of a lot of people, from dignitaries to thieves. A former Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Cecil Clementi, had once made a special visit to the village to see them while serving as District Officer in the New Territories early this century. The unique quality of their timber for making wooden bracelets had caused a greedy craftsman named Lau to come over 50 miles from Po On County. However, when he started cutting the branches, he fell onto the ground. With his back broken, he had to abandon his illicit attempt. Mr. Man added that it was because of their "fung shui" value, that these two trees and several other mature camphors (Cinnamomum camphora) and banyan (Ficus spp.) were spared from the widespread felling during the Japanese Occupation from 1941 to 1945. The present Village Representative, Mr. Man Tat-pui, welcomed our proposal to plant new young seedlings in the village environs to replace the old trees.
The name of the Tai Hang Village is of some historical and geographical interest. The official publication A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories gives the following description:-
"Tai Hang (†); KVO65877; 534212; also known as Cha Hang (i), sometimes (#); a large village in three
304
NOTES AND QUERIES
be constructed to safeguard the tree which will become a roadside tree when the road widening is completed.
In order to maintain this rare species in Hong Kong, Agricul- ture & Fisheries Department has collected seed from these two veteran trees and this has been germinated and used to grow several hundred seedlings. These have been planted out in a variety of sites in the Country Parks where many of them are now well established. The most successful is a group of four trees growing near the head of Jubilee Reservoir which have reached a height of 6,7m and a girth of 0.37m in ten years.
The former Village Representative, Mr. Man Tse-leung, whose picture appeared with the original article, is now 86 years old. Though not able to walk, he enjoys good health and still has a good memory. He recalled that during his childhood, the trees had already attracted the attention of a lot of people, from dignitaries to thieves. A former Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Cecil Clementi, had once made a special visit to the village to see them while serving as District Officer in the New Territories early this century. The unique quality of their timber for making wooden bracelets had caused a greedy craftsman named Lau to come over 50 miles from Po On County. However, when he started cutting the branches, he fell onto the ground. With his back broken, he had to abandon his illicit attempt. Mr. Man added that it was because of their "fung shui" value, that these two trees and several other mature camphors (Cinnamomum camphora) and banyan (Ficus spp.) were spared from the wide- spread felling during the Japanese Occupation from 1941 to 1945. The present Village Representative, Mr. Man Tat-pui, welcomed our proposal to plant new young seedlings in the village environs to replace the old trees.
The name of the Tai Hang Village is of some historical and geographical interest. The official publication A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories gives the following description:-
"Tai Hang (†); KVO65877; 534212; also known as Cha Hang (i), sometimes (#); a large village in three
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