Tung Chung Battery is a former artillery battery located on

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 city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. Named after the eponymous district it is situated in, it was built in 1817, twenty-four years before the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

took possession of

. It was rediscovered in 1980 and is a declared monument of Hong Kong.

History

Construction of the Tung Chung Battery was completed in 1817. Located a kilometre north of the

Tung Chung Fort Tung may refer to: People * Madison Tung, a U.S. Air Force Officer, wrestler, and Rhodes Scholar * Ho-Pin Tung, a dutch race car driver of Chinese descent. * Lola Tung, an actress known for her acting debut on drama series The Summer I Turned ...

, its purpose was to protect Tung Chung Bay from pirates that threatened the coasts and seas of southern China. At the time, China did not have a large navy, and thus, relied on the development of forts as an alternative way to defend its coast. The coastal fortification consisted of two

coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of ...

cannon emplacements that guarded the Bay, along with seven guard houses. The site of the battery was chosen because it was located on a cliff that overlooked the water. This provided excellent views of the sea and a clear vantage point in case of a potential naval attack. The construction of the battery was recorded in the ''Guangdong Annals'', which recounted how two forts were built at the base of the "Rocky Lion Hill"—the literal translation of Shek She ().

Rediscovery

After having been buried underneath thick foliage for approximately a century, the battery was rediscovered in 1980. All that remained was an L-shaped wall that contained a corner platform; according to the

Antiquities and Monuments Office The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) was established in 1976 under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance to protect and preserve Hong Kong's historic monuments. Housed in the Former Kowloon British School, the AMO is responsible for ide ...

(AMO), this was most likely utilized as a gun emplacement. After the discovery, the government undertook restoration work on the historic site. The battery was declared a monument on 11 November 1983. In November 1997, the site was included in the AMO's celebration tour of historic sites in North Lantau as part of the Year of Heritage. The festivities culminated in a traditional

Cantonese opera Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Guangdong Province. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Like all versions of Ch ...

performed at the

. Due to the amount of development that has taken place, the battery now faces towards

Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's main airport, built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or ''Chek Lap Kok Airport'', to distinguish ...

, instead of

Chek Lap Kok Chek Lap Kok is an island in the western waters of Hong Kong's New Territories. Unlike the smaller Lam Chau, it was only partially leveled when it was assimilated via land reclamation into the island for the current Hong Kong International ...

island and an open Tung Chung Bay as it used to.

References

External links

March 2009 picture of Tung Chung Battery
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Environmental Protection Department Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is a department of Hong Kong Government concerning the issues of environmental protection in Hong Kong.The EPD is responsible for developing policies covering environmental protection, nature conser ...

'' (scroll down) {{Coord, 22.287314, 113.935478 , display=title Archaeological sites in Hong Kong Declared monuments of Hong Kong Tung Chung Forts in Hong Kong Artillery batteries

History

Rediscovery

See also

References

External links