Lantau Island

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大嶼山
Lantau Island
Waters South China Sea
Geographical location 22 ° 16 '  N , 113 ° 57'  E Coordinates: 22 ° 16 '  N , 113 ° 57'  E
Lantau Island (Hong Kong)
Lantau Island
length 27 km
width 9.5 km
surface 146.38 km²
Highest elevation Lantau Peak /
Fung Wong Shan
鳳凰 山  /  凤凰 山
934  m
Residents 105,526 (2011)
721 inhabitants / km²

Lantau Island , also Lantao Island , ( Chinese  大嶼山  /  大屿山 , Pinyin Dàyǔ Shān , W.-G. Tai Yue Shan , Jyutping Daai 6 jue 4 Saan 1  - "Big Island Mountain") is the largest of the 263 islands of Hong Kong and is part of the offshore Wanshan Islands , also called Ladrone Islands, at the Pearl River estuary. The name Lantau Island is derived from the colloquial name of the local population for the "mountain with the rugged peak" , the Lantau Peak ( 爛頭 山  /  烂头 山 , Làntóu Shān , Lan T'ao Shan , Jyutping Laan 6 tau 4 Saan 1 , English Ragged Peak  - "jagged mountain peak"), which was taken over as the official name in English due to linguistic misunderstandings.

The island of Lantau is located opposite the mouth of the Pearl River and has a size of 146.38 km² with a population of over 100,000. Administratively it belongs to the Islands District ( 離島 區  /  离岛 区 , Lídǎo Qū , Jyutping Lei 4 dou 2 Keoi 1 ) and to a small part in the northeast to the Tsuen Wan district . On the north side is Tung Chung , the largest place with high residential density on Lantau. To the southwest of this is the village of Tai O , a historic fishing village with stilt huts on the water and a low population density. On the south side of the island there are Discovery Bay and other historical settlements with a low population density such as Mui Wo , Pui O , Cheung Sha and other small villages or small holiday resorts along the coast.

history

Excavations in the southwest have found traces of human life from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages .

In 1276, the Song Dynasty court fled to Guangdong from the Mongol invasion, leaving King Gong Di behind.

Like the island of Cheung Chau ( 長 洲  /  长 洲 , Chángzhōu , Ch'ang Chou , Jyutping Coeng 4 zau 1  - " Long River Island"), the island of Lantau used to be a base for pirates and smugglers .

Lantau and Tuen Mun were the first trading centers of the Europeans in the Pearl River area; it was built up by Portuguese traders in the 1510s, but already abandoned around 1517 due to an attack by Chinese troops (cf. Fernao Pires de Andrade ). British traders settled here for a few years. Silver was mined in Mui Wo until the 19th century .

Discovery Bay

Lantau is a mountainous island with 26 mapped elevations. The mountain Lantau Peak ( 爛頭 山  /  烂头 山 , Làntóu Shān , Jyutping Laan 6 tau 4 Saan 1 ), officially also Fung Wong Shan ( 鳳凰 山  /  凤凰 山 , Fènghuáng Shān , Jyutping Fung 6 wong 4 Saan 1  - "Phoenix- Mountain “), with 934 m it is the highest point on the island. It is also the second highest peak in Hong Kong . The island is often referred to as the "lung of Hong Kong" because it is still relatively natural and, above all, has large forests.

Bay Discovery Bay is a private area in the northeast. 14,300 emigrants and expatriates from over 30 nations have lived here in a settlement since 1982 .

Until the 1990s, the island was still very rural because it could only be reached by ship. With the construction of the Hong Kong International Airport, which opened in 1998, on an artificial island north of Lantau Island, a train and road connection was built. In 1996 the North Lantau New Town housing project began , in which the village of Tung Chung was built into a satellite town.

Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005 .

Attractions

The Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island

Po Lin Monastery on the Ngong Ping Plateau, where the Tian Tan Buddha (large Buddha statue ) is located. The plateau is from the Tung Chung Station of MTR in the North Lantau from the cable car Ngong Ping 360 reached.

The 300 year old town of Tai O is a fishing village and a tourist stronghold in the northwest and is called the "Venice of Hong Kong" because of its canals.

Tai O fishing village

The Tung Chung Fort, built in 1817, was once supposed to control the opium trade and protect the coast from pirates. It was occupied by the Japanese during World War II .

The Trappist monastery "Trappist Haven" in Tai Shui Hang is located on the east coast between the places Mui Wo and Discovery Bay. The Hong Kong Disneyland is located in the northeast on the Penny's Bay and was established in 2005 and has an own train connection .

Over 50% of the area of ​​Lantau consists of nature parks that can also be hiked. The longest hiking trail is 70 km long. The largest beach is in Cheung Sha.

traffic

There are regular ferry services between Central and Mui Wo in east Lantau, and between Central and Discovery Bay . An Inter-Islands ferry operates between Mui Wo and Chi Ma Wan on Lantau, and the islands of Peng Chau and Cheung Chau . Another line runs from Tai O via Sha Lo Wan and Tung Chung to Tuen Mun .

Three MTR lines operate on Lantau Island. The Tung Chung Line connects Tung Chung with Kowloon and Hong Kong Island . The Airport Express only stops at the Sunny Bay transfer station. The Disneyland Resort Line is a feeder between Sunny Bay and Hong Kong Disneyland .

With the Route 8 Lantau is to the Hong Kong motorway network connected. Route 8 leads west over the Ting Kau Bridge to Hong Kong International Airport and east over the Lantau Link to Ma Wan and Tsing Yi . Several bus routes open up the villages on Lantau Island.

Web links

Commons : Lantau  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Census and Statistics Department: 2011 Population Census - Fact Sheet for Islands District Council District . Constituencies T01 to T06. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  2. Hong Kong surveys that have not been checked for completeness (香港 地方) "- Chinese / English: [1] - hk-place.com - Online