Cheung Po Tsai Cave () is a natural cave where the famous

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

pirate

Cheung Po Tsai Cheung Po Tsai (; born Cheung Po; 1783–1822) was a navy colonel of the Qing dynasty and former pirate. "Cheung Po Tsai" literally means "Cheung Po the Kid". He was known to the Portuguese Navy as ''Quan Apon Chay'' during the Battle of th ...

(), according to legend, kept his treasures. It is located on

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

's outlying island of

Cheung Chau Cheung Chau (lit. "Long Island") is an island southwest of Hong Kong Island. It is nicknamed the 'dumbbell island (啞鈴島)' due to its shape. It has been inhabited for longer than most other places in Hong Kong, and had a population of ...

and is a popular attraction of it. No treasures have been found in the cave.

Origin

was a famous pirate during the

Jiaqing The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, born Yongyan, was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from ...

period of the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

and was active in the eastern part of the Guangdong Province. According to legend, the natural cave is the place Cheung hid in to avoid capture and one of the secret places he hid his treasures in. No traces of treasure have been found in the cave. The cave is about 10 metres deep and 88 metres long from the entrance to the exit. The inside is dark and narrow, and the ground is slippery and uneven. In recent years, steel ladders have been added to facilitate visitors' access in and out of the cave. To enter, visitors must use the ladder and have to bring along a torch for illumination. The narrowness of the cave allows visitors to move only in a single file line, so they must enter from one side of the cave and leave on the other. In 2012, the entrance of the cave was made even narrower after a large stone fell due to weathering.

In popular culture

*''

The Amazing Race 17 ''The Amazing Race 17'' is the seventeenth season of the American reality television show ''The Amazing Race''. It featured eleven teams of two competing in a race around the world. The season premiered on CBS on September 26, 2010, with a speci ...

'' visited this cave during the season's tenth episode.

Other Cheung Po Tsai Caves

Lamma Island Cheung Po Tsai Cave was located in

Po Lo Tsui Po or PO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Po (Kung Fu Panda), the protagonist of the ''Kung Fu Panda'' franchise * Po, one of the titular ''Teletubbies'' * Po, a character in the novel ''Graceling'' by Kristin Cashore M ...

Lamma Island Lamma Island, also known as Y Island or Pok Liu Chau or simply Pok Liu, is the third largest island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Islands District. Name Lamma Island was named Lamma only because of a chart reading error by ...

. It was much darker and larger than Cheung Chau's cave, at 9 storeys deep. In 1979, the cave was presumed to be destroyed when the

Lamma Island Power Station Lamma Power Station, informally known as Lamma Island Power Station, is a thermal power station and solar farm in Po Lo Tsui, Lamma Island, Hong Kong. With an installed capacity of 3,617 MW, the power station is the second largest coal-fired ...

was built near the site. However, decades of rain and weathering has revealed an entrance to the cave, making it partly accessible again. In addition, there are also Cheung Po Tsai Caves in

Tap Mun Grass Island or Tap Mun is an island in Hong Kong, located in the northeastern part of the territory. Its area is . Administratively, it is part of the Tai Po District. There are about 100 people living on the island, and feral cattle are know ...

Sai Wan Sai Wan, also known as Western district, or simply Western, is an area in Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong that corresponds to Sai Ying Pun, Shek Tong Tsui, Belcher Bay and Kennedy Town. It formed part of the City of Victoria. West Point, a f ...

Chung Hom Kok Chung Hom Kok ( or ) is an area in the southern Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is a popular site for barbecue and swimming with a beach and lifeguard services available from April to October. West of Stanley, Chung Hom Kok is referred to as ...

Chek Chau Port Island or Chek Chau () is an island of Hong Kong, under the administration of Tai Po District. It is located in Tolo Channel, in the northeastern New Territories. Its name literally means red island; after the sedimentary rocks rich in ...

, Siu Kau Yi Chau, and Longxue Island,

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

References

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External links

Cheung Po Tsai Cave at discoverhongkong.com
Tourist attractions in Hong Kong Caves of Hong Kong Historic sites in Hong Kong

Origin

In popular culture

Other Cheung Po Tsai Caves

See also

References

External links