Tiu Keng Leng
Hanged or just a sensational story?
The point that most stories about Albert Rennie, owner of the Hong Kong Milling Company, all agree on are that he died in 1908. But how – did he hang himself, jump into the sea or die while crossing the harbour?
Although the popularly accepted, hanging version led to the place where Rennie set up his mill being called Tiu Keng Leng – Hanging Ridge – it appears to be wrong. He committed suicide by jumping into the sea, according to a book written by members of the HKUST South China Research Center and published by the Sai Kung District Council in 2003 (The History,
Overall view of Tiu Keng Leng 1977 |
Customs and Artifacts of Sai Kung (unofficial title translation), in Chinese only). The hanging story was far more exciting though and for a long time the name and story stuck.
Albert Rennie, a Canadian business man and retired civil servant, established a flour mill at Junk Bay (Tseung Kwan O) with partners Paul Chater and H.N. Mody in 1905. Rennie had poured his life savings into it and went bankrupt in 1908. One report said he had styled his mill and products as for a North American market, which considering the limited number of Caucasians in Hong Kong, turned out to be totally unsuitable as a business venture.
The name was changed in 1950 to a similar, but tonally different, one in Cantonese – Harmonious Ridge – deemed more auspicious by the HK Welfare Office. In June of that year the HK government set up a camp there for 7,800 refugees, largely members of the Kuomintang army and their supporters. Intended as a temporary stop on their way to Taiwan, the refugees had to vacate their first camp on Mt. Davis because the British Army wanted that land to build barracks. Silvermine Bay was then chosen but residents there objected to the refugees, particularly as their numbers were swelling daily. So they were
Refugee Centre 1977 |
sent to Tiu Keng Leng, or Rennie's Mill as it was known in English.
The camp was originally managed by the Welfare Office, with able-bodied refugees building makeshift homes and the disabled settled into the mill's deserted houses. Some survived on meal coupons, while others cultivated the land or went out to work. The fact that some veteran generals took up a very different profession – embroidery – led to a commonly used metaphor for people who had lost everything but strived to earn a living: Generals who once commanded a million soldiers now learn embroidery for a living.
Many of the refugees never left Hong Kong. The HK government, the Taiwan government's Free China Relief Association and local charities gave aid to the camp, which became a town of around 30,000 with limited autonomy. There was much speculation, never proven, that it became a stronghold of Taiwan's efforts to undermine the new People's Republic of China. Throughout its existence, however, the numerous Taiwan flags perched on balconies left no doubt as to where its inhabitants' loyalty lay. On Taiwan's National Day, October 10, the area was always a sea of red and blue.
In 1996 the HK government required land for a new water supply system to serve the expanding new town of Tseung Kwan O. It cost the government $972 million in special ex-gratia payments to clear the remaining 6,000 residents from Tiu Keng Leng and about $23 million for the Housing Authority to complete the clearance operations.
Some would say the timing of the clearance was apropos or even 'ordered', considering the 1997 handover, though, of course … it could have just been a coincidence.
Deserted streets of Tiu Keng Leng before evacuation of residents 1996 |