Tung Ping Chau

thumb|View of the village of Sha Tau, on Ping Chau.

thumb|Ping Chau

thumb|A [[wave-cut platform on Ping Chau.]]

thumb|Lung Lok Shui ()

thumb|Tam Kung Temple in Sha Tau

Tung Ping Chau () is an island in Hong Kong, part of Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark. It is also known as Ping Chau (). Tung (, meaning east) is prepended to the name at times so as to avoid possible confusion with Peng Chau, another island in Hong Kong with an identically pronounced name in Cantonese. Administratively, the island is part of the Tai Po District in the New Territories.

Geography

Geographically, Ping Chau is an offshore island located in the northeast corner of Hong Kong in Mirs Bay, and consists of shale rock. The island is the most easterly point of the Hong Kong territory and is much closer to mainland China (4 km) than to the main landmass of Hong Kong. It is close to Nan'ao of Dapeng.

The island has the shape of a kidney bean with its concave side facing northeast. Its name "Ping Chau" means "flat island" in Chinese.

The now virtually deserted island was once home to a thriving fishing and farm community of 3,000 people, Historical villages of Ping Chau included the five oldest: Chau Mei (), Chau Tau (), Nai Tau (), Sha Tau () and Tai Tong (), as well as five other smaller family villages, which were subsequently developed: Chan Uk (), Lam Uk (), Lei Uk (), Tsau Uk () and Tsoi Uk (). The village of Chau Mei was settled by fishermen who sold their catch at Tai Po Market and at Shayuchong (), a coastal village now part of the Longgang District of Shenzhen. At that time, the economy of the island deteriorated due to the depletion of fishery resources and the termination of trade with the mainland as a consequence of the Korean War (1950–1953). By the early 1970s, only a few elderly people remained on the island. In 2004, the last permanent resident moved out of Tung Ping Chau. Some may return on weekends.

Villages

The villages of Ping Chau Chau Mei (), Ping Chau Chau Tau (), Ping Chau Nai Tau (), Ping Chau Sha Tau () and Ping Chau Tai Tong () are recognized villages under the New Territories Small House Policy.

Geology

Ping Chau is unique in the fact that it is the only sizeable island in Hong Kong made up of sedimentary rock. Hong Kong is mostly formed of extrusive igneous rocks, after a series of major volcanoes erupted during the Jurassic Period. Following the volcanic activity, a basin formed in the northeast, with deposition in a brackish lake—producing the siltstones and chert of Tung Ping Chau, which have been dated from the early Paleogene period. It is also home to some spectacular cliffs and wave-cut platforms. Landforms such as these are very rarely found in the rest of Hong Kong.

Cham Keng Chau (斬頸洲, "Chop Neck Islet"), in the northwest, is a chunk of land that has broken away from the island; the Chinese say it represents the head of a dragon. Another notable rock formation is Lung Lok Shui (龍落水, "Dragon Descend into Water"), on the southwestern coast, thus named because it resembles the spine of a dragon entering the sea. Many early residents of Ping Chau were from Shantou (Swatow) and they kept the tradition of worshiping Tam Kung after they settled on the island. The island even had its own dialect, the Ping Chao dialect. Nowadays no longer spoken by many, you may still hear this dialect in the conversations between the villagers inside the restaurants.

Tourism

The island has a temple dedicated to Tin Hau, built in 1765, and those who have come to see the cliffs and wave-cut platforms. Some people also use it as a weekend home. 57,000 people visited Ping Chau in 2005. A few basic restaurants can be found at Tai Tong, a short distance north of Tung Ping Chau Public Pier. Basic dorms are available at Tai Tong Wan () and A Ma Wan ().

Conservation

thumb|Tung Ping Chau Public Pier viewed from Tai Tong Wan.

Three buildings of Ping Chau are listed as Grade III Historic Buildings: the Tin Hau Temple, the Tam Tai Sin Temple, both in the village of Sha Tau, and the Old House, built in the 1940s in Chau Mei by Lee

Mou-you ().

Ping Chau has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1979.

With the exception of an area of old villages along its east coast,

The Tung Ping Chau Marine Park was designated in 2001 as the fourth Marine Park in Hong Kong. It occupies a sea area of about 270 hectares which encloses the island of Ping Chau.

Ping Chau is one of the eight Geo-Areas of the Hong Kong Global Geopark, which was inaugurated in November 2009.

Transportation

The island is reachable by ferry from Ma Liu Shui ferry pier, near the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The landing point is the Tung Ping Chau Public Pier (), the only public pier on Ping Chau, located near the centre of the island at Wong Ye Kok (). Improvement works on the pier were completed in 2007. The ferry service is operated by Tsui Wah Ferry on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays only. The journey takes 1 hour 40 minutes.

References

External links

Tung Ping Chau, Hong Kong's wild eastern island
Youngest sedimentary rock in Hong Kong － Tung Ping Chau
Ping Chau Country Trail
Satellite image of Ping Chau by Google Maps
Map of Ping Chau (.pdf document)
Physical Geography of Ping Chau (.doc document)
Ping Chau Country Trail
It's the perfect antidote to the stress of city life.
Delineation of area of existing village Ping Chau Chau Mei (Sai Kung North) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
Delineation of area of existing village Ping Chau Chau Tau (Sai Kung North) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
Delineation of area of existing village Ping Chau Nai Tau (Sai Kung North) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
Delineation of area of existing village Ping Chau Sha Tau (Sai Kung North) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)
Delineation of area of existing village Ping Chau Tai Tong (Sai Kung North) for election of resident representative (2019 to 2022)