ABERDEEN 1773: Fishing Heritage Tour

Organised by the Seayou Explorer, the Aberdeen 1773 Fishing Heritage Sampan & Houseboat Tour offers a valuable experience of taking a cruise at the Aberdeen Harbour, with a close look at the closed Jumbo floating seafood restaurant and experience the life at the floating village. Beginning at the historical Hung Shing Temple Pier on Apleichau, the audio-guided tour (Cantonese, English, Mandarin, Japanese) will bring you back in time to have a glimpse of little Hong Kong before urbanisation. Aside from riding on the sampan and visiting houseboat, participants could have a panoramic view of Aberdeen and Apleichau, also the Shum Wan area and Ocean Park from the sampan – to escape the hustle and bustle and immerse in the rich seafaring history.

One of the highlights of this unique sampan tour is absolutely the traditional boat noodles, cooked in a mobile sampan kitchen by an elderly couple, Fatt and Meiyi. According to the tour guide Nicole Yim, they are the “celebrity” at the floating village as they have been providing boat noodles on their Sampan for more than 20 years.

This kind of mobile Sampan Kitchen, nevertheless, only two remains in Aberdeen from the peak of around 20 at the harbour. As the government stopped issuing licenses, these two mobile sampan kitchens may vanish in the future.

The Curtailing Fishing Industry

According to the census released by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in 2022, the capture fisheries industry of Hong Kong consists of 5080 fishing vessels and about 10320 local fishermen, while the amount has been declining due to the economic transition since the 60s. Undoubtedly, the main pillar supporting economics in Hong Kong is not the capture fisheries industry and fewer people are willing to involve in this industry nowadays. Nevertheless, we should pay more attention to the fascinating culture and history of how the international business hub, Hong Kong, was first developed as a fishing harbour by the indigenous Tanka people, a group of fishermen living in Hong Kong for centuries before urbanisation.