Cheung Chau

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cheung Chau
長 洲
View over the tombolo from north to south
View over the tombolo from north to south
Waters South China Sea
Geographical location 22 ° 13 '  N , 114 ° 2'  E Coordinates: 22 ° 13 '  N , 114 ° 2'  E
Location of Cheung Chau 長 洲
surface 2.44 km²dep1
Highest elevation 95  m
Residents 20,956 (2016)

Cheung Chau ( Chinese  長 洲 , Jyutping Coeng 4 zau 1 ) is an island in Hong Kong . It is located southeast of Lantau Island in the South China Sea and administratively belongs to the Islands District . It consists of a southern and a northern part, which are connected by a tombolo .

history

The island is traditionally characterized by fishing. Similar to the neighboring Lantau Island , Cheung Chau was a piracy hotspot in the South China Sea . The most famous pirate was Cheung Po Tsai (1783 or 1786–1822), who commanded up to 600 ships with 50,000 pirates. He is said to have hidden his pirate treasure in the Cheung Po Tsai Cave; it can be visited today.

In 1898, Cheung Chau, along with over 200 other islands, fell to British Hong Kong under the Convention on the Extension of the Hong Kong Territory and was henceforth part of the New Territories . The then colonial official James Stewart Lockhart wrote a report on the new areas and noticed about Cheung Chau that around 5,000 people lived here and that the place had a dock for ships between Macau and Hong Kong Island . There was also a customs office of the Chinese Empire here .

In 1912, the local police station was raided by pirates, killing three people. A new police building was built in 1913 and is still in use today. Widespread changes in population policy began in 1919 when the Cheung Chau (Residence) Ordinance was passed. After that, the southern part of the island was only allowed to be inhabited with the consent of the governor . The aim was to accommodate missionaries from Europe and America there. The local population was only allowed to live on the tombolo, which led to racial segregation , similar to what was the case on Victoria Peak from 1904 . Originally, 15 boundary stones separated these areas, of which at least six have been located. The use of the beaches was also regulated, for example Kwun Yam Beach was intended for Europeans and Tung Wan Beach for Chinese. It was not until 1946 that this separation was lifted in the light of the Holocaust .

In 2018, about 21,000 people lived on Cheung Chau. This means that the island has the highest population density in the Islands District .

Culture and sights

Cheung Chau Bun Festival

The place is known far beyond the island for the annual Cheung Chau Bun Festival . Parades and other parades are held in honor of the gods. The highlight of the festival, however, is a competition called 山 山  - “bun snatching”, which involves climbing a 60-meter-high tower and getting a bun fastened as high up as possible . The origin of the festival can be found in the outbreak of the plague during the Qing Dynasty (1777). The residents of the island held a parade in honor of the god Pak Tai , during which they marched through the streets with a statue of the deity. When the plague was actually contained, the residents built the Pak Tai Miu temple out of gratitude , which was completed six years later.

temple

In addition to the Pak Tai Miu temple mentioned above , which is one of the oldest in Hong Kong, there are four temples in honor of the sky goddess Tin Hau on the island. In 1813 a temple was built in honor of Hung Shing .

Rock carvings

Rock carvings

At the southern end of the raffle ⊙ , geologist CJ Peng discovered rock carvings in 1970 , the age of which is estimated to be up to 3,500 years. They can be divided into three series and show round geometric figures together with animal mask drawings. They have been protected as a cultural monument since January 22, 1982 .

traffic

The island itself is car-free, apart from emergency vehicles. There are two landing stages with ferry services to Central and Aberdeen, as well as Lantau Island and Peng Chau . On the route to Central, which is around 20 km away, the ferries operated by First Ferry run around half an hour and take around an hour or 40 minutes (express ferry). The Inter-Islands ferry to Peng Chau makes two stops on Lantau Island (in Chi Ma Wan and Mui Wo ) and also runs regularly during the day. The traffic to Aberdeen is operated by Maris Ferry approximately every two hours (hourly on weekends). Here, too, the travel time is about an hour. In domestic traffic, there is a Sampan ferry between the main pier and Sai Wan in the southwest of the island, which runs about every 20 minutes and takes ten minutes.

There is a helipad near St. John's Hospital .

Sons and daughters of the place

Web links

Commons : Cheung Chau  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hong Kong Geographic Data Sheet , last accessed December 9, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b By-Census 2016: Population by District Council / Constituency Area, Age, Year and Sex (constituency Cheung Chau South = 11,743 inhabitants, Cheung Chau North = 9,213 inhabitants), last accessed: December 9, 2018.
  3. ^ Sally Gao: Cheung Po Tsai, Hong Kong's Most Famous Pirate. Culture Trip, February 17, 2017, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b Insight into the history of Hong Kong - Outlying Islands - Part IV. Inhk magazine, May 13, 2017, accessed on December 9, 2018 .
  5. ^ Stewart Lockhart: Extracts from a Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart on the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong (=  The Hongkong Government Gazette ). Hong Kong April 8, 1899, p. 536–563 , here: p. 541 (English, scan [PDF; accessed December 9, 2018]).
  6. ↑ police.gov.hk: 1) History - The First Century , last accessed December 9, 2018.
  7. ↑ Historical Laws of Hong Kong Online: Text of the regulation , last accessed December 9, 2018.
  8. ↑ Christopher DeWolf: Hong Kong's Other Peak - and the City's Overlooked History of Segregation. Zolima Citymag, January 4, 2016, accessed December 3, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Cheung Chau , last accessed December 9, 2018.
  10. ↑ Michaela Fulton: The History Of The Cheung Chau Bun Festival In 1 Minute. Culture Trip, May 16, 2016, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  11. ↑ cheung-chau.com: History , last accessed: December 9, 2018.
  12. ↑ Solomon Bard: In Search Of The Past: A Guide To The Antiquities Of Hong Kong . Urban Council, Hong Kong 1988, p. 52 .
  13. ↑ Information board of the monument office .
  14. ↑ Timetable , last accessed: December 4, 2018.
  15. ↑ Timetable , last accessed: December 4, 2018.
  16. ↑ Timetable , last accessed: December 4, 2018.
  17. ↑ Hong Kong Extras: Cheung Chau , last accessed December 4, 2018.