Tseung Kwan O

Not to be confused with Tseung Kwan O New Town or Tseung Kwan O Village.
Tseung Kwan O
Town
Country Hong Kong
Region New Territories
District Sai Kung
Population (2011)
 • Total 368,000
Tseung Kwan O
Traditional Chinese 將軍澳
Simplified Chinese 将军澳
Aeral view of Tseung Kwan O, with Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate on the right. The waters at the top of the picture are part of Port Shelter.

Tseung Kwan O (also called Cheung Kwan O or Junk Bay) is a bay in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. In the northern tip of the bay lies the Tseung Kwan O Village.

The Tseung Kwan O New Town, one of the nine new towns in Hong Kong, was mainly built on reclaimed land in the northern half of the bay. The current population as of 2011 is about 368,000.[1]

Name

In Cantonese, Tseung Kwan (將軍) means the "general" of an army, and O (澳) means "bay". Therefore, Tseung Kwan O literally means "general's Bay".

The exact origin of the name Tseung Kwan O is unknown, but it is said to be named in honour of a Ming Dynasty soldier who visited Tseung Kwan O at some point. Another theory is that the name was chosen in the 17th century, when naval battles were fought against pirates from Japan at Tseung Kwan O. Yet another theory is that the pronunciation of "將軍" can sound like "Junk Wan" to the ears of English speakers; wan is also a transliteration of the Chinese word for "bay" (灣).

The current town center of Tseung Kwan O stands on reclaimed land. The English name Junk Bay was said to be derived from the existence of junks in the bay, and the reclamation land based on the landfill . The first landfill was opened in 1978, decades after Junk Bay was named.[2] The Fat Tong Chau (Junk Island) is in the southeastern part of the bay.

History and geography

Junk Bay in 1950s

The bay is near the eastern mouth of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.

Before the development of the new town, the area around the bay was occupied by a number of fishing towns and villages. The Tseung Kwan O Village in the northern tip of the bay is about 600 years old. Other towns and villages include Rennie's Mill (Tiu Keng Leng), Hang Hau and Yau Yu Wan. Rennie's Mill was where Kuomintang loyalists were settled following the end of the Chinese civil war, and Hang Hau had a ship building industry.

The Hong Kong Government had been interested in developing a new town at Hang Hau because of its proximity to the urban area. The project was postponed for a long time owing to the extensive scale of reclamation in the bay, which is rather deep. It finally started under the name of Tseung Kwan O.

Housing

Tseung Kwan O Plaza

Tseung Kwan O Plaza
Shopping mall of Tseung Kwan O Plaza

Tseung Kwan O Plaza (Chinese: 將軍澳廣場) is a private housing estate and shopping mall near MTR Tseung Kwan O Station. It was developed by Nan Fung Group in 2004. It comprises 8 high-rise buildings with a total of 2880 units.[3]

Park Central (Chinese: 將軍澳中心) is a private housing estate and shopping mall near MTR Tseung Kwan O Station. It was developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties. It comprises 10 high-rise buildings.[4]

The Wings II (Chinese: 天晉 II) is another private housing estate, with shopping mall, in Tsueng Kwan O. The estate is solely developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, comprising 4 buildings with total of 784 flats.;;[5][6][7]

Photo gallery

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tseung Kwan O.
  1. ↑ http://www.cedd.gov.hk/eng/about/achievements/regional/regi_tko.htm
  2. ↑ Waste management in Hong Kong
  3. ↑ Official website of Tseung Kwan O Plaza Retrieved 2011-09-18
  4. ↑ http://www.park-central.com.hk/chi/home.html
  5. ↑ http://www.shkp.com/en-US/Pages/hkproperties-residential
  6. ↑ http://www.thewingsii.com.hk/
  7. ↑ http://ps.hket.com/project/239

Coordinates: 22°18′N 114°15′E / 22.300°N 114.250°E / 22.300; 114.250

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