香港旅遊景點介紹---九龍寨城公園(Kowloon Walled City Park)

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Few areas of Hong Kong have a richer historical background than the Kowloon Walled City Park, originally the site of a walled fort.

A senior mandarin commanded the garrison with his own administrative headquarters in an official "Yamen". While not particularly distinctive to look at, being a rectangular structure with a typical tiled roof, a Yamen represented the power of the Emperor as passed down to the Mandarin in charge, and so was both highly respected and feared by those who passed it.

After Hong Kong Island was ceded to Great Britain in 1842, the fort's role was to police the Chinese side of Hong Kong Harbour. But the British seized on a minor skirmish between the two sides to demand the garrison's withdrawal on pain of a naval bombardment. Having already suffered enough from British guns, the Chinese had the good sense to abandon the fort although, by Treaty, the site remained theirs.

Squatters soon moved in and for about 100 years it remained a quiet rural hamlet huddled behind its protective walls. However, during the Japanese occupation of 1942-45 the walls were torn down and the stone used to enlarge the nearby airfield at Kai Tak.  

War's end soon saw hundreds of thousands of Chinese refugees flock to Hong Kong, bringing a fresh wave of squatters, particularly criminal elements attracted by this legal no-man's land. Lacking law and order, the area mushroomed into a squalid eyesore of illegal buildings where crime, drugs and vice flourished side by side in a maze of dank, dark alleyways.

The situation became so out of hand that the Chinese and British authorities finally agreed to clear the festering slum in 1987 and resettle its occupants.

Part of the cleared site was then transformed into this beautiful Chinese park and garden which today delights visitors from all over the world. It is built in the classical Jiangnan style featuring a Garden of the Chinese Zodiac, a Mountain View Pavilion and a Hill Top Pavilion.

Amazingly, the Commandant's Yamen survived the chaos of the area's worst years and has been perfectly restored. It is one of the few remaining Yamens in South China. Other reminders of the old walled fort include the original stone plaques from the South Gate, stone tablets and Qing official inscriptions, plus the only two cannons to survive.

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如何前往九龍寨城公園
1. 港鐵樂富站B出口乘計程車至東頭村道。
2. 於尖沙咀天星碼頭巴士總站乘1線巴士，於東頭村道(公園入口對面)下車。

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九龍寨城公園是中國古園林的典範，採用獨一無二的江南園林風格，突破了傳統的公園設計模式，設計富文化內涵，讓遊人在休憩遊覽之餘，可增加對中國歷史的認識。


公園位於九龍城東頭村道和東正道交界，鄰近侯王廟。九龍城古稱「九龍寨城」，文獻指出宋代慶元三年（1197年），宋寧宗派人在今九龍城建「官富寨」。至元明兩代，均派有衙門駐軍，清代期間更興建炮台以加強防衛。


寨城地理上坐北向南，當時圍牆長210公尺，闊120公尺，總面積達2.7公頃。城內建有六座瞭望台，共開有城門四道，其中以南方向海的南門（即今九龍寨城公園向賈炳達道方向）為正門。現今九龍寨城公園內名有「南門懷古」的景點，存放當日的斷匾，其中一幅「九龍寨城」的石額，足證寨城確為古代的一個軍事重鎮。


1841年，英國佔領香港島，自此寨城在中國海岸防衛方面扮演着重要的角色。及至1898年，清政府與英國簽訂《展拓香港界址專條》租借新界，英國派兵佔領寨城，駐寨城的官員被逐。


在往後約100年間，寨城進入無人管治的時期，成為大量低下階層的人的居所，並且被俗稱為「九龍城寨」或「九龍城砦」。踏入20世紀，寨城日久失修。在日據時期(1942至1945年)，日軍將寨城的圍牆全部拆去，只剩下城內的房屋，拆下來的石塊則被用作擴建啟德機場的材料。  

二次大戰後，大批中國難民來到香港，城寨範圍不斷擴展，大量沒有監管的樓宇如雨後春筍般在寨城內興建。寨城內樓宇密集，通道濕窄，是毒梟、罪犯匿藏的巢穴。城寨內龍蛇混雜，有「三不管」之名。1987年，中國與英國達成全面清拆寨城的協議，並於1995年8月正式於原址建成今日的九龍寨城公園。公園內的山池流水、亭台樓閣、曲廊幽徑，極具中國江南古園林風格。


今天的九龍寨城公園添加了不少建築物，但城寨豐富的歷史遺跡如石匾、兩尊大炮、柱基及清朝官府的碑銘等，在拆卸過程中仍保留下來，置於公園內陳列展覽。園內還有現今難得一見的南中國「衙門」建築、城寨原有石碑、南門古蹟，以及戰前的混凝土廢墟，展示了城寨的演變過程。

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How To Get There
Kowloon Walled City Park
1. Take a taxi from MTR Lok Fu Station Exit B to the entrance on Tung Tau Tsuen Road.
2. Bus 1 from Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry bus terminus and alight at Tung Tau Tower Road (opposite the park).