Reservoirs and Redoubts: Shing Mun and the “Gin Drinker’s Line”

Shing Mun, and its extensive series of wartime sites, will interest and intrigue those who combine an interest in the Pacific War period with enjoyment of Hong Kong’s magnificent open countryside. This adventurous, multi-layered walk takes in a significant section of the full-day Battlefields trip, and expands on the overall significance of the defended area around the Shing Mun Reservoir.

We will visit the surviving tunnels and emplacements of the pre-war Inner Line – popularly referred to as the “Gin Drinker’s Line”. This twelve-acre underground citadel formed the largest single entity in an extended defensive complex that extended right across the Kowloon hills from Gin Drinker’s Bay to
Port Shelter. On this visit, we will learn how and why these tunnels were built – and subsequently defended.

We will extensively discuss their role in the tense years that led up to the eventual defence of Hong Kong in 1941. After the reservoir’s capture by the Japanese, water supplies to urban areas, particularly those on Hong Kong Island, were critically affected; this desperate situation materially affected the eventual outcome of the Hong Kong campaign.

Bring a torch and come prepared for an unexpected – and very scenic – experience of Hong Kong’s recent past.