南邊圍
南邊圍牌樓的大門兩旁門聯 「南州冠冕、邊邑弦歌」
The door on both sides of the Nan Pin Wai archway has couplets
南邊圍
南邊圍是鄰近元朗舊墟的圍村，也是十八鄉之一，由錦田鄧氏族人在七百多年前建立。最初是一條鄧姓圍村，但後來聽從勘輿大師的建議，認為跟不同姓氏的家族同住能令地方更加繁榮昌盛，於是戴、龍、葉、區、杜姓居民相繼遷入，形成一條雜姓圍村。在元朗舊墟繁盛時期，村內曾經有三十一種不同的姓氏。如今區和杜姓居民已經搬離了該村，近年亦有不少南亞裔人聚居於此。
南邊圍圍村內設十條巷里，每條里有約二十三戶，而村內亦沒有設置祠堂，由於有不同姓氏家族同住 。
有趣小知識: 出生在南邊圍的著名秀才伍其昌，亦是六日戰爭抗英領袖之一，及後被捕入獄。在出獄後改名伍醒遲，並且服務社區。其中一件事跡是令到光裕堂不再向南邊圍每一戶收地租。
伍醒遲，攝於1938年。
圖片來源：夏思義。《被遺忘的六日戰爭：1899年新畀鄉民與英軍之戰》。
Ng Sing Chi, taken in 1938
Images Sources: Patrick H. Hase. The Six-Day War of 1899 Hong Kong in the age of imperialism.
Nam Pin Wai
Nan Pin Wai is a walled village near the Yuen Long old market and is one of the Shap Pat Heung village. The Tang clan of Kam Tin established it over 700 years ago. Initially, it was a village solely inhabited by the Tang clan, but later, following the advice of a geomancer, it was believed that having families of different surnames living together would make the area more prosperous. As a result, residents with surnames Tai, Lung, Yip, Au and Tu moved in, forming a village of mixed surnames. During the prosperous period of Yuen Long’s old market, there were 31 different surnames in the village. Nowadays, residents with the surnames Au and To have moved out of the village, and there have been a number of South Asian residents settling here in recent years.
There are ten lanes in the village of Nam Pin Wai, with around twenty-three households in each lane. However, there is no ancestral hall in the village, as families with different surnames live together.
Fun Fact: Ng Qichang, a xiu cai degree holder born in Nam Pin Wai, was also one of the leaders in the Six-Day War against the British before being arrested and imprisoned. After his release, he changed his name to Ng Singchi and served the community. One of his achievements was to stop Kwong Yu Tong from collecting land rent from every household in Nam Pin Wai.