Yuen Chau Tsai, was an island in

Tolo Harbour Tolo Harbour, or Tai Po Hoi (, historically ) is a sheltered harbour in northeast 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 8 ...

, Hong Kong. It is now connected to land by a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

after

land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

. It is 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 (l ...

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 ...

. The Tai Wong Yeh Temple and Island House are located in the area of the former island.

Island House

Built in 1905, Island House was built as the residence for the first British Police Magistrate appointed in 1898. It is one of the

declared monuments of Hong Kong Declared monuments of Hong Kong are places, structures or buildings legally declared to receive the highest level of protection. In Hong Kong, declaring a monument requires consulting the Antiquities Advisory Board, the approval of the Chief Exec ...

Tai Wong Yeh Temple

Tai Wong Yeh Temple () is located at the Island House Interchange. The temple was originally a stone tablet which was erected on the northern shore of Yuen Chau Tsai by the villagers in Chik Mei Village, located on the north bank of the

Shenzhen River The Sham Chun River, Shum Chum River, or Shenzhen River () serves as the natural border between Hong Kong and Mainland China, together with the Sha Tau Kok River, Mirs Bay and Deep Bay. It formed part of the limit of the lease of the New ...

, in the mid-

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 ...

. In the late Qing Dynasty, some fishermen raised funds to build the temple for worship by local fishermen at the present location.The Film Service Office:Tai Wong Yeh Temple (Yuen Chau Tsai)
In 1960, a formal launching ceremony for

dragon boat A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China, different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

s was first held at the Tai Wong Yeh Temple in Yuen Chau Tsai is held on

Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節) is a traditional Chinese holiday which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or June in the Gregorian calendar. Names The Engl ...

. The ceremony has remained a tradition since then.History of Dragon Boat Race in Tai Po
An opening ceremony was held in 1988 marking its renovation.

Yuen Chau Tsai (Island House) Archaeological Site

In 1960s,

John Walden John Charles Creasey Walden ( Chinese: 華樂庭; 17 April 1925–2013) was a London-born member of the colonial administration in Hong Kong from 1951 until his retirement 1980. He graduated in 1950 from Merton College, Oxford, with a second c ...

, who was the first one to report the site, collected stone

adze An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...

s and geometric pottery

sherd In archaeology, a sherd, or more precisely, potsherd, is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels, as well. Occasionally, a piece of broken p ...

s at the shoreline and the southern slope of Yuen Chau Tsai. In the 1980s and 1990s, field investigations recovered prehistoric cultural remains from the site. .

References

{{coord, 22.445734, 114.178504, display=title, region:HK_type:isle Former islands of Hong Kong Archaeological sites in Hong Kong Tai Po District