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at Law Fong (Luofong), and so on to Sham Tsun via Wong Pui Ling (Huangbeileng). Between Wo Hang Au and Law Fong most of this old road survives as a rough, unsurfaced jeep track. The halfway point between the two towns was taken to be the summit of Miu Keng, and it was at that point that the nunnery was founded.
The site is a steeply sided valley. The headwater of the Ping Yuen River has cut what is almost a ravine between the mountains to north and south. The old road ran on a ledge about fourteen feet wide cut into the northern slope of the ravine. The nunnery is built immediately beside the road, to the north, facing approximately south, on two platforms cut into the face of the slope. The site is very remote, nearly a mile from the next nearest buildings in any direction. The only fields nearby were a few tiny plots scattered along the floor of the ravine, which provided vegetables for the nuns.
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The nunnery consists of a rectangular block of buildings almost square, about 48 feet broad and 46 feet deep. It is divided into four sections by three walls which run from the front to the back: the sections are not all of the same width, with the first (from the west), and particularly the third, being wider than the second and fourth. The second, third, and fourth sections have a common roof. This consists of two transverse gables, separated by a gap, which forms a Tin Tseng in the third section, but which is covered over by a flat roof in the second and fourth sections. The height of the gables is sixteen feet from ground level for both the front and rear gables. The first section has its own roof, rather lower, gabled at the back, but sloping inwards from all sides to a Tin Tseng at the front. All the roofs are of tile, laid on beams which rest immediately on the side walls: no beam-and-strut construction is to be found.
The buildings are, as mentioned above, built on two platforms, the rear one, furthest from the road, being some three feet seven inches above the front one. This height difference requires steep flights of steps to link the front and back portions of the building, except in the second section, where no steps were provided as there is no intercommunication between the front and rear parts of the building in this section. The front platform is about two and a half feet above the road level: steps linked the road and the entrances into the nunnery in the first and third sections. There was no courtyard or enclosure: the nunnery opened immediately onto the road in front, and backed immediately onto the tree-covered
123
at Law Fong ( Luofong), and so on to Sham Tsun via Wong Pui Ling (Huangbeileng). Between Wo Hang Au and Law Fong most of this old road survives as a rough, unsurfaced jeep track. The halfway point between the two towns was taken to be the summit of Miu Keng, and it was at that point that the nunnery was founded.
The site is a steeply sided valley. The headwater of the Ping Yuen River has cut what is almost a ravine between the mountains to north and south. The old road ran on a ledge about fourteen feet wide cut into the northern slope of the ravine. The nunnery is built immediately beside the road, to the north, facing approximately south, on two platforms cut into the face of the slope. The site is very remote nearly a mile from the next nearest buildings in any direction. The only fields nearby were a few tiny plots scattered along the floor of the ravine, which provided vegetables for the nuns.
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The nunnery consists of a rectangular block of buildings almost square about 48 feet broad and 46 feet deep. It is divided into four sections by three walls which run from the front to the back: the sections are not all of the same width, with the first (from the west), and particularly the third, being wider than the second and fourth. The second, third and fourth sections have a common roof. This consists of two transverse gables, separated by a gap, which forms a Tin Tseng in the third section, but which is covered over by a flat roof in the second and fourth sections. The height of the gables is sixteen feet from ground level for both the front and rear gables. The first section has its own roof, rather lower, gabled at the back, but sloping inwards from all sides to a Tin Tseng at the front. All the roofs are of tile, laid on beams which rest immediately on the side walls: no beam-and-strut construction is to be found.
The buildings are, as mentioned above, built on two platforms, the rear one, furthest from the road, being some three feet seven inches above the front one. This height difference requires steep flights of steps to link the front and back portions of the building, except in the second section, where no steps were provided as there is no intercommunication between the front and rear parts of the building in this section. The front platform is about two and a half feet above the road level: steps linked the road and the entrances into the nunnery in the first and third sections. There was no courtyard or enclosure: the nunnery opened immediately onto the road in front, and backed immediately onto the tree-covered
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