Lantau’s Secret Garden Remarkable Gift from a Visionary Man
Lung Tsai Ng Yuen family spirit at Lantau’s secret garden
Restored Lantau’s secret garden
Lantau’s secret garden – named Lung Tsai Ng Yuen parallels many themes of the secret garden” – a magical phrase alluding to the classical tale of family rediscovered, health and spirits lifted, and the glory of life personified.
Set in the island’s southwestern hills, the garden is in a location of high Feng Shui. Lung Tsai’s history dates back to the 1960s, a time that saw a steady rise of middle-class and wealthy Chinese locals. Back then, native and exotic flora thrived here, and many different animals called the garden home.
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Created as a symbol to Buddhist faith, it was celebrated and enjoyed by local visitors and the Wu family that owns it. But with the death of the original owner came the steady decline of the garden. As maintenance needs mounted, the site was closed to the public.
Labour of love
Hopefully, not for long. For seven years now, descendants of the original owner work diligently to return the private estate to its former glory. This labour of love shines through the pond, crowded with lotus pads, and the proud bridge, once broken and now whole.
Before he founded the secluded garden, Wu Kunsheng was a successful business owner. Born and raised in Shanghai, Wu and his family witnessed the rise of communism and fled to Hong Kong in the 1940s.
Wu quickly put his business acumen and determination to good use. By 1948, he co-founded and directed Wyler Textiles, Ltd. The company began small, with a single spinning plant in To Kwa Wan that had twenty-five thousand spindles and 800 workers in its employ.
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Two years later, Wyler Textiles expanded into apparel, developing the cotton yarn brand “Camel”. All this work reaped great rewards.
Wu Kunsheng legacy
By December 1954, Wu’s company was the city’s second most productive factory (Hong Kong Spinners Ltd being the first). They had hired over 600 more workers, running a monthly output exceeding one million bales of yarn.
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With business booming, it would have been understandable if Wu found time for little else. But however demanding work became, Wu did not let it overshadow his faith.
Ideas taken from other places of worship
As a devout Buddhist, he regularly visited the temples in Man Cheung Po for worship. During his visits, an idea formed in Wu’s mind.
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Clusters of Buddhist temples and monasteries called the hills of western Lantau home. What about a garden? It would be in honour of the faith he practiced and would emulate the quiet peace of the surrounding area.
Lantau’s secret garden birthed in 1962
In 1962, Wu purchased the property to the tune of HK$2 million. Wasting no time, construction began that same year and was finished in 1966.
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Lung Tsai Ng is located three kilometres south of Tai O, and no roads lead directly to the garden. From Keung Shan Road, curious visitors headed onto Lantau Trail Section 5, which passes by the estate.
Trekking along a winding concrete road, the view shifted between steep cliff faces, with the eventual addition of elaborate trenches and drainage systems. Even on a sunny day, such sights conjure images of rough landslides and fierce storms.
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Going up steep hills and down stone steps and dirt paths, the natural loveliness of the route prepared visitors for the garden’s magnificence.
Trekking through magnificent nature
Before construction began, the area was already rich in good fortune. The property garnered strength of the water element from the river Shui Lo and nearby town Man Cheung Po. The landscapes of surrounding mountains Ling Wui, Keung and Kwun Yam represented the earth element.
Architectural elements successfully highlighted and complemented the area’s natural splendour. Considered a blessed land filled with good Feng Shui, Lung Tsai Ng combines the Five Elements in Feng Shui – Earth, Water, Wood, Metal and Fire.
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These traditional Taoist elements represent five interrelated facets of life that work together to create a whole system. In its design and natural surroundings, the garden struck a balance with the natural world, bringing peace to all that visited.
The landscaped garden is designed in the classical style of Lingnan gardens. This architectural practice originated in the traditionally Cantonese provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi in southern China.
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A major style of Chinese garden, the Lingnan garden has a courtyard layout. Its elements include artificial mountains (cliffs, islands, artificial reefs and heaps), water and specific stones (with a preference for local minerals such as Minnan granite, Hainan coral stone, and Taiwan guru stone). Common sights include towers, bridges and corridors.
In Lung Tsai, a red and gold pavilion (two colours symbolizing wealth and luck in Chinese tradition) sat in the middle of a staggered bridge. Comprising nine curves, the bridge wound down to the lotus pond. Past the brilliantly coloured pavilion, the bridge became a fork in the road: to the left, a turquoise pavilion rested at the edge of the meadow; to the right was the grassy, tree-lined entryway to the buildings located at the back of the property.
Adorned with Chinese art
The two-storey main building lay in the south of the garden and once housed various Buddhist articles. The pavilions were adorned with Chinese wall paintings and calligraphy. At one point, the wide pond in the north housed tens of thousands of common carp.
At the pond’s edge, a water pine – one of only a few hundred in the world – was neatly settled. The unique style of Lung Tsai Ng was typical of the fusion of Chinese architectural style and western construction techniques of the 1960s.
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Its name, translating to “Garden of Enlightenment”, was as enchanting as the garden itself. While Lung Tsai was a private residence, Wu wanted to share the garden’s beauty with the community. So every weekend the entrance was open, and the public was allowed to enjoy the grounds.
Children ran about, playing games and observing the curious exotic wildlife – including strutting peacocks and graceful snow cranes – that called the garden home. At the prediction of a fortune-teller, Wu imported 10,000 plum blossom plants.
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They were planted through-out the valley so that in his old age, he would see the blossoms on the mountains as the fortune-teller had said. Lucky bamboo stalks dotted the grounds, increasing the garden’s Feng Shui.
People strolled along the zigzag bridge, admiring the view of the grounds in front of them and the lotus pond on either side. By the mid-1970s, outsiders were no longer allowed into the garden.
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Following Wu’s death, the property became so dilapidated that it had to be closed for repairs. The foliage became overgrown, and the bridge collapsed into the lotus pond. In 2013, Wu’s descendants sought to change this.
For five years, his grandchildren raised and spent a considerable sum to restore the buildings and garden. The main building was fitted with a green curved roof. The garden, unkempt in its wild state, was trimmed back and is now carefully maintained.
Garden is now carefully maintained
Wu’s grandson David, now the owner of the estate, works diligently with his restoration crew in hopes of restoring the site to its former glory. When this is done, they plan to reopen the site to the public over time.
Curious to see what the garden is like now, we headed to Keung Shan Road. Arriving at ten in the morning, the humidity settled on us, a weighted blanket.
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Carefully, we made our way along Lantau Trail Section 5, with plenty of breaks to hydrate and take in the surround-ing area. We exchanged pleasant “hellos” with energetic hikers, and politely stood to the side as a man pushed a motorized trolley along the narrow trail.
A tall cluster of twenty-one bamboo stalks – representing a powerful blessing – stood beside the short promenade leading to Lung Tsai Ng. Though the garden’s gate was closed off to the public, the low concrete fence along the garden’s path gave us a perfect view into Wu’s paradise.
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The pond was crowded with verdant lotus pads. Golden light glinted off the top of the bridge pavilion. Across the pond, the grassy land appeared trim and lush. We took photographs, in awe of the beauty before us.
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When the afternoon sun started to cast long shadows, we finally headed back the way we had come, looking forward to the day Lung Tsai Ng is open to the public again.
Text & Photos Victoria Mae Martyn
