Siu A Chau () is an uninhabited

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

of Hong Kong, part of the

Soko Islands The Soko Islands () are a group of islands in Hong Kong. The group consists of Tai A Chau, Siu A Chau and several smaller nearby islands, in the southwesternmost waters of the territory, to the southwest of Lantau Island. An older name for th ...

group, located south of

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located West of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands ...

Geography

Siu A Chau is the northernmost and the second largest of the Soko Islands, after

Tai A Chau Tai A Chau is an uninhabited island of Hong Kong, part of the Soko Islands group, located south of Lantau Island. It is referred to as South Soko Island in some media articles. Geography With an area of 1.2 km², Tai A Chau is the larges ...

. It is dumbbell-shaped and has a rugged indented coastline with steep slopes. The highest point of the island is at 74 meters. A beach lies to the south, and another to the north of the island.

Administration

Siu A Chau is a recognized village under 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 ...

Small House Policy The Small House Policy (SHP, ) was introduced in 1972 in Hong Kong. The objective was to improve the then prevailing low standard of housing in the rural areas of the New Territories. The Policy allows an indigenous male villager who is 18 ye ...

History

In 1937, Walter Schofield, then a Cadet Officer in the Hong Kong Civil Service, wrote that Siu A Chau was "another settlement of early man" and that it had a "fishing village of huts very different from ordinary Chinese dwellings" at the time of writing.

Features

There is a temple on the south side of the island. A

low-level radioactive waste Low-level waste (LLW) or Low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) is nuclear waste that does not fit into the categorical definitions for intermediate-level waste (ILW), high-level waste (HLW), spent nuclear fuel (SNF), transuranic waste (TRU), or cer ...

(LLRW) facility began operation at Siu A Chau in July 2005. Low-level radioactive wastes which had previously been stored in disused tunnels, two factories and five hospitals were subsequently transferred to the Siu A Chau facility. Part of this waste was relocated from the disused

Mount Parish Mount Parish is a hill in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, to the south of Queen's Road East, between Kennedy Road and Stubbs Road. History In 1873 the Royal Navy bought the Seaman's Hospital in Wan Chai, which was running at a loss, using the money ...

air-raid tunnels at

Queen's Road East Queen's Road East is a street in Wan Chai, in the north of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, connecting Admiralty, Hong Kong, Admiralty in the west to Happy Valley, Hong Kong, Happy Valley in the east. Queen's Road East is one of the four ...

, in

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road, Hong Kong, Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to th ...

. The 55 m³ of LLRW stored there had raised objections. The opening ceremony of the facility was held in June 2006.Environment Protection Department: Low-level Radioactive Waste Storage Facility opens, 24 June 2006
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References

External links

Webpage about Siu A Chau Tin Hau Temple

Delineation of area of existing village Siu A Chau (South Lantao) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
{{Use dmy dates, date=November 2018 Islands District Uninhabited islands of Hong Kong Villages in Islands District, Hong Kong