Tai Wo () or known as Tai Wo Market are the names of several areas in the

Tai Po District Tai Po District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. The suburban district covers the areas of Tai Po New Town (including areas such as Tai Po Market, , Tai Po Industrial Estate, Tai Wo Estate), Tai Po Tau, Tai Po Kau, Hong Lok Yuen, Ti ...

, in the

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

of Hong Kong. The boundaries changed from time to time. In present time, the name "Tai Wo" mostly refers to the area surrounding the Tai Wo station of the

East Rail line The East Rail line () is one of ten lines of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. It used to be one of the three lines of the Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) network. It was known as the KCR British Section () from 1910 to 1996, ...

and the Tai Wo Estate. However, historically, Tai Wo referred to the area that currently called Tai Po Market. Despite Tai Po Market was also the old name of another area, which currently known as Tai Po Old Market. All three areas are now part of

Tai Po New Town Tai Po New Town, or Tai Po Town, is a new town (satellite town) and non-administrative area in Tai Po District, in the New Territories, Hong Kong. The area is a planned town that surrounding the existing indigenous market towns Tai Po Hui ( ...

( Tai Po Town or just Tai Po), a satellite town (suburb) that co-jointed with the existing indigenous villages.

History

Recent years

Currently, Tai Wo forms the north-western part of

Tai Po Town Tai Po New Town, or Tai Po Town, is a New towns of Hong Kong, new town (satellite town) and non-administrative area in Tai Po District, in the New Territories, Hong Kong. The area is a planned town that surrounding the existing indigenous ma ...

. It has its own railway station Tai Wo station of the

and a shopping centre. Tai Wo Estate and Po Nga Court are large public housing estates in the area, which they were situated on the northern shore of the

Lam Tsuen River The Lam Tsuen River () is a river in Tai Po District, Hong Kong, with a length of 10.8 kilometres and a catchment area of approximately 21 square kilometres. Both Tai Wo Estate and Po Nga Court were the residential projects of the Hong Kong Housing Authority, which initially they were part of the portfolios of rental housing and subsidised home ownership respectively. The authority sold the shopping centre of the housing estate to

Link REIT Link Real Estate Investment Trust (, or ; previously known as The Link Real Estate Investment Trust (, or ), managed by Link Asset Management Limited, is the first real estate investment trust in Hong Kong and currently the largest in Asia in ...

in 2005, which the

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

renamed the shopping centre from Tai Wo shopping centre () to Tai Wo Plaza () in 2010. Tai Wo Estate and Po Nga Court were completed in 1989. According to an interview of an elder of the

Tang clan The Tang Clan of Hong Kong () is one of the Five Great Clans of the New Territories (). The others are Man (Wen Wen, wen, or WEN may refer to: * WEN, New York Stock Exchange symbol for Wendy's/Arby's Group * WEN, Amtrak station code for Columbi ...

of Tai Po Tau, some of the land of Tai Wo Estate, were originally farmlands that owned by Tang clan of Tai Po Tau. (Or more precisely, owned the long term

land lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

, leasing from the government) Government bought back the farmlands for Tai Po New Town development. Ironically, Tang clan of Tai Po Tau, was one of the operators of the original Tai Po Market, now the residential area Tai Po Old Market, while Tai Wo was named after the historic Tai Wo Market, which now known as Tai Po Market. The area of Tai Wo Estate, was planned as an industrial area. However, the plan was scrapped in 1983.

Connection of the historic Tai Wo Market and current Tai Po Market

Historically, "Tai Wo" was the name of the current outdoor market area (), which was situated on the southern shore of the Lam Tsuen River. It was one of the market town of Tai Po and surrounding villages. Fu Shin Street, at that time known as Tai Wo Market ( transliteration Tai Wo Shi) or Tai Po New Market () was developed since 1892 by the (). Which Tsat Yeuk was an inter-village alliance, none of them were from

. The formation of a new market town, was intended to break the monopoly of the ldTai Po Market (, now Tai Po Old Market) formed by the Tang clans of

Lung Yeuk Tau Lung Yeuk Tau (), commonly known as Lung Ku Tau () and also called Lung Ling () is an area located northeast of Luen Wo Hui in Fanling, New Territories, Hong Kong. Administration For electoral purposes, Lung Yeuk Tau is part of the Queen's Hil ...

() and Tai Po Tau (). The Tai Po Old Market (, transliteration Tai Po Kau Hui) was located on the Northern shore of the Lam Tsuen River. In early

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 ...

(mid-17th century), Tai Po Old Market was known as Tai Po Tau Hui (). Tsat Yeuk also built

Kwong Fuk Bridge The Lam Tsuen River () is a river in Tai Po District, Hong Kong, with a length of 10.8 kilometres and a catchment area of approximately 21 square kilometres.Man Mo Temple Man Mo Temple or Man Mo Miu is a temple for the worship of the Civil or Literature God Man Tai () / Man Cheong () and the Martial God Mo Tai () / Kwan Tai (). The two Deities were popularly patronized by scholars and students seeking progress in ...

which located in the centre of Fu Shin Street. To add more confusion to the name, government also runs an indoor wet market Tai Po Hui Market () in , while its former location (), was redeveloped into a public housing estate

Po Heung Estate Po Heung Estate () is a public housing estate in Po Heung Street, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong near Tai Po Market, Hong Kong Railway Museum and Tai Po Hui Sports Centre. Formerly the office of Tai Po Rural Committee and Tai Po Temporary Mar ...

, where they are near to the Fu Shin Street. All three locations were belongs to "

Tai Po Market Tai Po Market or Tai Po Hui is the name of an area within the modern-day Tai Po New Town in the Tai Po District, in the New Territories, Hong Kong. However, its exact location changed from time to time. It is considered as the town centre of the ...

" District Council Election Constituency of

2015 Hong Kong local elections The 2015 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 22 November 2015. Elections were held to all 18 District Councils with returning 431 members from directly elected constituencies after all appointed seats had been abolished. A recor ...

. The headquarters of Tai Po Rural Committee of

Heung Yee Kuk The Heung Yee Kuk, officially the Heung Yee Kuk N.T., is a statutory advisory body representing establishment interests in the New Territories, Hong Kong. The council is a powerful organisation comprising heads of rural committees which repres ...

, was located in the former school building of the Sung Tak primary school (not to be confused with Sung Tak Wong Kin Sheung Memorial School), which is located at one end of Fu Shin Street. The former headquarters was redeveloped into aforementioned Po Heung Estate. Tai Po Rural Committee supervised some of the matter of the villages of indigenous inhabitants of Tai Po. Tai Wo Shi (Fu Shin Street) was served by ld Tai Po Market railway station. The accessibility of Tai Wo Shi had made the area as one of the important market town of the New Territories. However, the railway station was closed in 1983 and was replaced by the current

Tai Po Market station Tai Po Market (; : ) is an MTR station on the in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Located between Flagstaff Hill and Wan Tau Tong Estate in Tai Po, and adjacent to the eponymous market town, the station has three tracks and four platforms ...

and Tai Wo station on different locations. To sum up, despite historically known as Tai Wo, area around Fu Shin Street has known as Tai Po Market, and became the town centre of Tai Po, housing various government buildings.

Other namesake

Lastly, is a public road that start from an area next to the Tai Wo Estate, and then connects to area such as , a privately owned high rise commercial-residential complex, as well as Tai Po Police Station (not to be confused with

Old Tai Po Police Station The Old Tai Po Police Station is a former Hong Kong police station at the top of Tai Po Wan Tau Tong Hill. It is located at No. 11 Wan Tau Kok Lane, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong, near the Old District Office North.Tai Po Waterfront Park Tai Po Waterfront Park () is a park in Tai Po in the New Territories of Hong Kong. It is located along the Tolo Harbour, and its western end is at the northern part of the mouth of the Lam Tsuen River. It occupies an area of , and is the largest ...

. Most part of the road are not part of the historic Tai Wo Market, nor the current Tai Wo Estate.

In election boundaries

, the name of the District Council Election Constituency that Fu Shin Street (the historic Tai Wo Market) was located, was called "

Tai Po Hui Tai Po Market or Tai Po Hui is the name of an area within the modern-day Tai Po New Town in the Tai Po District, in the New Territories, Hong Kong. However, its exact location changed from time to time. It is considered as the town centre of the ...

" (), while the large part of Tai Wo Estate was the only residential area of the election constituency "Tai Wo"; Po Nga Court and other part of Tai Wo Estate were the only residential area of the election constituency " Po Nga". North of "Tai Wo" constituency, was the " Old Market & Serenity" constituency (), where Tai Po Old Market was located. Tai Po Old Market currently a pure residential area, while Serenity Park is another privately owned residential complex. The current Tai Po Market station, was located on the boundary between "Tai Po Hui" constituency and " San Fu" () constituency; the bus terminus of the station, which was located on the ground floor and underground level of a commercial-residential complex, (), was entirely inside "San Fu" constituency. Tai Wo station was located on the boundary between constituencies "Tai Wo" and "Po Nga". However, the proposed change for the District Council Election Constituencies of

2019 Hong Kong local elections The 2019 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 24 November 2019 for all 18 District Councils of Hong Kong. 452 seats from all directly elected constituencies, out of the 479 seats in total, were contested. Nearly three million people ...

, had enlarged the constituency "Po Nga", which cover more than Po Nga Court and part of the Tai Wo Estate. It was also accused of

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

. In 1989, Tai Wo Estate did not have their own election constituency.

References

External links

{{commons category, Tai Wo Places in Hong Kong Tai Po