History
According to the Gazetteer of Xin’an County (新安縣志) published in the Jiaqing era (嘉慶年間), So Lo Pun was originally named So Nou Pun (鎖腦盆), which means “basin surrounded by mountains” in Hakka (In Hakka, “盆” and “盤” are pronounced as “PUN2” and “PAN2” respectively, hence So Lo Pun and “Luopan” (羅盤) are unrelated). Established in the mid-Qing Dynasty, So Lo Pun was a branch of the Hakka Wong’s clan and descendants of Wong Kung Wai Hing (黃公維興) who migrated from Lai Chi Wo. As documented in the Pedigree of So Lo Pun Wong’s Clan (鎖羅盆黃氏族譜), Wong Kung Wai Hing, the founding ancestor of Lai Chi Wo Wong’s Clan, was a governor from the late Ming Dynasty. When the Ming Dynasty fell, Wong moved from Yong’an (永安) Guangdong (Now Zijing County, 紫金縣), to Sha Tau Kok (沙頭角) area, and finally settled at Lai Chi Wo (荔枝窩).
Environment
Flanked by mountain ranges on three sides, So Lo Pun sits at a narrow stretch of valley. Terrace fields were cultivated halfway up the mountains, while polders were constructed on the seafront for farming. In addition to farming, villagers also fish for a living, thus there used to be seven to eight piers in So Lo Pun.
Relocation and Aspiration of Village Revitalization
Similar to other villages in the Sha Tau Kok area, most So Lo Pun villagers migrated overseas or moved to urban areas in the 1960s to 1970s due to transportation difficulties and livelihood opportunities. In the hope of reviving So Lo Pun, villagers have volunteered to clear up the vegetation and replant hundreds of mandarin trees in the village since 2007. Every Lunar New Year, villagers would return to So Lo Pun for refurbishments and decorate the village with new “mundui”[1] (門對).
Village chief Wong also sails back to So Lo Pun and attends to the village every Sunday .
[1] Spring Festival Couplets, a pair of poetry lines written on red paper, usually pasted on both sides of the door during Lunar New Year.
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如果對香港鄉村歷史有興趣的話，你會怎麼開始？先以鄉間最常見的文字資料 – 石碑作頭炮：眾籌修建公共設施（道路，橋，船，學校，廟宇）＝〉反映地區社群關係
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