Tai O is a fishing town, partly located on an island of the same name, on the western side 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 ...

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 List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

. The village name means ''large inlet'', referring to outlet for the waterways (Tai O Creek and Tai O River) merges as it moves through Tai O.

Geography

On the southwest part of

, Tai O

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

splits to the north (as Tai O Creek) and west and at this fork lies the island referred to as Tai O. Two pedestrian

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

s cross the river on its northern and western forks. The village is located mostly on the banks of the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

. The western and northern parts of the island facing the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Ph ...

are uninhabited.

History

Nearby archaeological sites date back to the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

, but permanent, and verifiable,

human settlement In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of citi ...

here is only three centuries old. Stories that would be impossible to substantiate have Tai O as the base of many smuggling and

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

operations, the inlets of the river providing excellent protection from the weather and a hiding place. In early 16th century, Tai O was once occupied shortly by Portuguese during the Battle of Tamão, the remains is known as Fan Kwai Tong (番鬼塘, "Foreign devil pond") today. Tai O is one of five villages of Lantau that were resettled when the coastal restriction of the Great Clearance was lifted in 1669. The other villages are Tung Sai Chung, Lo Pui O, Shek Pik and Mui Wo. At nearby Fan Lau, a fort was built in 1729 to protect shipping on the Pearl River. Smuggling of guns,

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, drugs and

people A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

remains a documented illegal activity both into and out of

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the China, People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming Island, Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territorie ...

. When the British came to Hong Kong, Tai O was known as a

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 ...

village. A naval engagement between British and USA naval forces against Chinese piracy was fought in 1855. At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Shek Tsai Po of Tai O was 118; the number of males was 71. The population of Tai O, both land and boat based, was 7,661; the number of males was 4,318. During and after the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

, Tai O became a primary entrypoint for illegal immigration for those escaping from the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. Some of these immigrants, mostly

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 a ...

, stayed in Tai O, and Tai O attracted people from other Hong Kong ethnic groups, including Hoklo (Hokkien) and

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

. Tai O has a history of salt production. In 1940, it was recorded that the Tai O

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

es were covering and that the production has amounted to 25,000 piculs (1,512

metric tons The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

) in 1938. Currently the fishing lifestyle is dying out. While many residents continue to fish, it barely provides a subsistence income. There is a public school on the island and most young people move away when they come of age. In 2000, a large fire broke out destroying many residences. The village is now mostly squatters huts and dilapidated stilt houses.

Points of interest

1 tai o fishing village hong kong 2015 panorama

Heritage

Graded buildings in Tai O include:List of the Historic Buildings in Building Assessment (as of 17 December 2012)
/ref> *

Yeung Hau Temple Hau Wong or Hou Wang () is a title that can be translated as ''"Prince Marquis"'' or ''"Holy Marquis"''. It is not any one person's name. Hau Wong refers usually to (), a loyal and courageous general. Despite his failing health, he remained in th ...

, built in 1699 (

Declared Monument 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 ...

) * Old Tai O Police Station (

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

) * Kwan Tai Temple, Kat Hing Back Street. Built in 1741. (Grade II) * Tin Hau Temple, Kat Hing Back Street. Built in 1772, it is connected to the left of Kwan Tai Temple. * Fong Bin Yuen. (Grade III) * No. 23 Kat Hing Back Street. (Grade III) * Shek Lun Kok, No. 33 Kat Hing Back Street. (Grade III) * No. 46-48 Kat Hing Street, pre-war shophouses. (Grade III) * Wing Hing Petrol Station, No. 99C Kat Hing Back Street. (Grade III) Other historical buildings include: * Hip Wo Se Hok, No. 151 Tai Ping Street, a former school. *

Hung Shing Temple Hung Shing Temples or Tai Wong Temples are temples dedicated to Hung Shing Tai Wong (). Hung Shing temples have been widely built in southern China, especially Guangdong province The table provides a partial list of these temples. Hung Shing F ...

, Shek Tsai Po Street. Built in 1746.

Tourism

Also known as the "Venice of Hong Kong", Tai O is a tourist spot for both foreigners and residents of other parts of Hong Kong, despite damage by a fire in July 2000. The ''

pang uk ''Pang uk'' () is a kind of stilt house found in Tai O, Lantau Island, Hong Kong. ''Pang uk'' are built on water or on small beaches. A fire broke out in 2000 destroying some of the houses in Tai O, and some were later rebuilt. They were once f ...

s'', a kind of

stilt house Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they also keep out vermin. ...

, built right over the waterway are still quite scenic. A cable ferry tended by local women used to be quite popular with visitors, but it was replaced with a steel pedestrian bridge in October 1996. The traditional

salted fish Salted fish, such as kippered herring or dried and salted cod, is fish cured with dry salt and thus preserved for later eating. Drying or salting, either with dry salt or with brine, was the only widely available method of preserving fish unt ...

and shrimp paste are sold at storefronts in Tai O. For a small fee, some residents will take tourists out on their boats along the river and for short jaunts into the sea. Many tourists come to Tai O specifically to take these trips to see

Chinese white dolphin The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (''Sousa chinensis'') is a species of humpback dolphin inhabiting coastal waters of the eastern Indian and western Pacific Oceans. This species is often referred to as the Chinese white dolphin in mainland Chi ...

s, also known as "Pink Dolphins". It is also a good place to see the sunset. Old Tai O Police Station, a Grade II historic building, has been turned into a boutique hotel called ''Tai O Heritage Hotel'' by Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation. The hotel has nine rooms and a restaurant. The hotel has been open and operational since 2012. Tai O Rural Committee Historic and Cultural Showroom, located within the centuries-old fishing village of Tai O, exhibits relics of the local community's past, including fishing tools and dismantled old structures. The showroom was founded by the Tai O Rural Committee and all the items in its collection were donated by local residents.

Education

There are two kindergartens, one primary school and one secondary school. They are CCC Tai O Primary School and

Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College is a co-educational secondary school in Hong Kong. The school opened in 1977 and as of 2016 had approximately 350 students. It is run by the Hong Kong Buddhist Association and sponsored by Po Lin Monastery. I ...

. Most of Lantau Island, Tai O included, is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 98, which contains multiple aided schools on Lantau Island, including two in Tung Chung; no government primary schools are in this net.

Transport

Tai O can be reached by bus ( New Lantao Bus) from the following places: * Mui Wo – Bus no. 1 * Tung Chung – Bus no. 11 * Ngong Ping – Bus no. 21 There are ferry piers on Tai O, close to Tai O Bus Terminus. It operates daily as the following routes connecting Tai O: * Tuen Mun ( Tuen Mun Ferry Pier) - service by Fortune Ferry * Tung Chung (

Tung Chung New Development Ferry Pier Tung Chung Development Pier () also known as Tung Chung New Development Ferry Pier () and Tung Chung New Ferry Pier () is a ferry pier in Tung Chung Waterfront Road (), Tung Chung, Lantau Island, New Territories, Hong Kong. It was built to repla ...

) - service by Fortune Ferry *

Sha Lo Wan Sha Lo Wan () is a bay in the northwest Lantau Island, Hong Kong. The bay faces north to Hong Kong International Airport. The area is occupied by indigenous inhabitants. There is no vehicular access to the area and thus their communication is o ...

- operated by Fortune Ferry

Notable People

* Cilla Kung, actress and singer; she was born and raised in Tai O.

In popular culture

A 1998 Hong Kong drama '' A Place of One's Own'' by TVB starring Adia Chan and

Mariane Chan Mariane Chan () (born 1 August 1972) is a Hong Kong actress. Television series *'' Love is Beautiful'' (TVB, 2002) *'' Lost in Love'' (大囍之家) (TVB, 2000) *''Witness to a Prosecution'' (TVB, 1999) *'' Life for Life'' (命轉情真) (TVB, ...

is set in Tai O. A 2021 Hong Kong drama '' Ossan's Love (HK version)'' by ViuTV starring

Edan Lui Edan Lui Cheuk-on ( zh, t=呂爵安; born 21 January 1997), better known by his mononym Edan, is a Hong Kong singer, presenter, actor, and a member of the Hong Kong boy group MIRROR. Apart from his group activities, Edan has presented various tel ...

and

Anson Lo Anson Lo Hon-ting (; born 7 July 1995) is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. In 2018, Lo made his debut as a member of the Hong Kong boy group Mirror. Lo made his solo debut in February 2020 with his first single "A Lifelong Mission" (一 ...

is set in Tai O.

References

External links