Law Uk Hakka House Is the Only Remaining Hakka Village on Hong Kong Island

Law Uk is a village built in Chai Wan, on the eastern end of Hong Kong Island, by the Hakka, a Han Chinese subgroup; and one of the four indigenous groups of people that inhabited Hong Kong before British colonization.

It is estimated that Law Uk, named after the Law family who lived in the house, was built in the mid-eighteenth century, roughly ninety years before the British took possession of Hong Kong Island.

Following World War II, large numbers of refugees from mainland China poured into Hong Kong and settled, among others, in Chai Wan. The area was transformed into an industrial zone, which eventually destroyed the Hakka lifestyle, forcing the Law family to move out of their house in 1960 and resettle in housing estates. Law Uk was subsequently left abandoned.

When it was rediscovered in the early 1970s, the house was in a derelict state. After it was restored, it was reopened to the public as the Law Uk Folk Museum in 1989 and was declared a monument on November 10 of the same year.

Today, Law Uk is the last surviving Hakka village house in Hong Kong.