Gin Drinkers Bay or Gin Drinker's Bay, also colloquially known as Lap Sap Wan, was a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

Kwai Chung Kwai Chung is an urban area within Tsuen Wan New Town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District District of Hong Kong. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town. In 2000, it had a pop ...

, Hong Kong. The bay was reclaimed in the 1960s and became Kwai Fong and part of Kwai Hing. At the mouth of the bay stood the island of Pillar Island. The bay was a

harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

for

Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the ''Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short poem ...

fishing junks. They relocated to

Tsing Yi Tong Tsing Yi Lagoon, or Tsing Yi Tong, was a lagoon on the east shore of Tsing Yi Island in Hong Kong. Its water came from a stream in the nearby valley of Liu To and its outlet was at Tsing Yi Bay. It acted as the shelter for nearby boat people, e ...

and

Mun Tsai Tong Mun Tsai Tong or Moon Tsai Tong () was a harbour located between northeast Tsing Yi Island and Nga Ying Chau in Hong Kong. It was reclaimed for the development of a new town on Tsing Yi Island in 1980s. The harbour became two public housing esta ...

of Tsing Yi Island before the commencement of reclamation. ''Lap Sap'' (垃圾) means "rubbish" in

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

. It is unclear why the bay was named "rubbish" in the past. However, it was coincidentally once a dumping area for rubbish after extensive reclamation. It is assumed that in Gin Drinkers Bay Park or Kwai Chung Park near Pillar Island that the area is subject to

landfill gas Landfill gas is a mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill as they decompose organic waste, including for example, food waste and paper waste. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane ...

produced deep in the ground even though it is covered with earthen hills. It remains closed due to unsafe levels of landfill gas. Gin Drinkers Bay is known for the Gin Drinkers Line, which formed a defensive line against the Japanese invasion in 1941.

References

Kwai Chung Bays of Hong Kong Ports and harbours of Hong Kong Waste management in Hong Kong {{waste-stub

See also

References