Tsing Yi, sometimes referred to as Tsing Yi Island, is an island in the urban area of Hong Kong, to the northwest of Hong Kong Island and south of Tsuen Wan. With an area of 10.69 km2 (4.13 sq mi), the island has extended drastically by reclamation along almost all its natural shore and the annexation of Nga Ying Chau (牙鷹洲) and Chau Tsai. Three major bays or harbours, Tsing Yi Lagoon, Mun Tsai Tong and Tsing Yi Bay (青衣灣) in the northeast, have been completely reclaimed for new towns.
Constituencies in 2003 District Council Election. Tsing Yi Island is the island on the left.Ching Tai Court, Cheung Fat Estate and Ching Wang Court on the right, Villa Esplanada at the center, Maritime Square and Tsing Yi Bridge (North) on the leftThe position of Tsing Yi Island, as Chun Fa Lok (春花落), in the map of Yuet Tai Kei (粵大記) written by Kwok Fei (郭棐) during Ming Dynasty. (Note: The south is on the top of the map.)
Tsing Yi (青衣) literally means "green/ blue/ black clothes", but is also a kind of fish, probably blackspot tuskfish, once abundant in nearby waters. People named the island after the fish. Tsing Yi Tam (青衣潭, Tsing Yi Deep Pool) or Tsing Yi Tam Shan (青衣潭山, Tsing Yi Deep Pool Hill) also appeared on some early Chinese maps.
The island was also known as Chun Fa Lok (春花落) once upon a time, which means the fall of spring flowers, or Chun Fa Island, on some Western maps. Now, Chun Fa Lok is still a place name or a former village on the southeast corner of the island. A government document in the Ming Dynasty named the water near Chun Fa Lok, Chun Fa Yeung (春花洋), which is the ocean of spring flowers. The Ming navy once defeated pirate fleets there.
In some historical sources, Tsing-I Island is used instead of Tsing Yi Island, and Chung-Hue Island instead of Chun Fa Island.
Historically, Tsing Yi Island, with Kwai Chung, were usually in the same administration unit as Tsuen Wan because of their proximity and close-knit neighbourhood. Unlike Kwai Chung, however, whose villages are part of Tsuen Wan Rural Committee, Tsing Yi Island has its own, Tsing Yi Rural Committee. The rural committee was politically significant until the establishment of a District Council and Regional Council (now-abolished), and even less significant since the urban population grew much larger than the rural population.
Population
There were about 4,000 people on the island when the British took the New Territories around 1898. In the following one hundred years, the population has grown to nearly 50 times this size; the 2001 Census calculating that the population of the island was 193,432 in 55,478 households. In an estimation in 2007, there are about 200,400 people.[1] It is expected to grow to 203,300 in the near future. Most of the population live in Tsing Yi Town.
Geography
Tsing Yi Island is a hilly island with Tsing Yi Peak in the south and Liu To Shan in the north east. Small plain can be found surrounding the former Tsing Yi Lagoon in island northeast. The rocks on the island are mainly granite and were exposed due to extensive housing, industrial and infrastructure construction. Although the island is not fallen in the administration of country park, most of the hilly area remains green. The Tsing Yi Peak climbs to 334 m (1,096 ft)and is a barrier separating industrial west and residential east.
The hilly area of the island largely remains intact and is designated as a green belt. In 1997 a once lost endemic plant, Hong Kong croton, was found in the woodland beneath the highest peak, Tsing Yi Peak, on the island.
History
Tsing Yi Promenade in Tsing Yi Town along Rambler ChannelResidential buildings in Tsing YiTsing Yi North Coastal
In the early days, the inhabitants on the island were mostly farmers and fishermen. The major population concentrated in the northeast portion of the island. Farmers grew rice, vegetables and pineapples, while fishermen lived in huts connected by plank walkways in the small harbour of Tsing Yi Tong which stretched far back into the island. Many fishermen also lived on their junks and boats all the time, fishing in the nearby waters. Even as late as the 1970s, Tsing Yi Tong resembled Tai O with its characteristic stilt houses and water vehicles. Like many other fishing villages in Hong Kong, the Tsing Yi dwellers worshipped Tin Hau, the goddess of mercy and the sea. A Tin Hau Temple was built on the shore of Tsing Yi Tong. At the birthday of Tin Hau, fishermen of all nearby waters would come to the Temple for celebrations. The temple was white in color and thus people call it Pak Miu (白廟, lit.'White Temple').
From the 1920s onwards, a Chinese company built lime factories on the present site of Greenfield Garden. It is the earliest known industry on the island. The lime industry continued to flourish during the 1950s, and a tanning factory was also founded at the same period. After World War II, other heavy industries moved in as well. In the 1960s, several oil companies moved their oil storage depots onto the island and a Green Island Cement cement plant. CLP later commissioned its 1520MW oil-fired Tsing Yi Power Station in 1969 at Nam Wan due to its proximity to the oil tank farms. Meanwhile, some small shipbuilding companies opened on Tsing Yi, and remain on the north side of the island. In the 1970s, six large-scale companies on the island collectively built the Tsing Yi Bridge to connect Tsing Yi Town and Kwai Chung Town over the Rambler Channel. The bridge was soon transferred to the Hong Kong Government, remaining the sole road connection to the island for more than ten years. Several industrial buildings for light industries were constructed beside the bridge afterward. Several dockyards moved to the west shore of the island at the end of the 1970s.
During the 1950s, Wok Tai Wan on Tsing Yi Island was a paradise for nudists, and hence Tsing Yi was once synonymous with nudism in Hong Kong.
After the establishment of the Tsing Yi Bridge, the Hong Kong government commenced an extensive new town project on the island. Cheung Ching Estate, Cheung Hong Estate and Mayfair Gardens were consequently built in heaps. The vicinity of the Mobil oil storage depot to Mayfair Garden and Cheung Ching Estate once aroused enormous concern for the safety of the residents. Some social workers and residents urged the government to relocate the storage facilities. The government decided to halt the last phase of the Mayfair Garden development scheme. The storage facility remained at the same location until Container Terminal 9 was on the government's agenda.
Later on, the tenor of town development shifted northward. Two fisherman harbours, Tsing Yi Tong and Mun Tsai Tong were reclaimed for residential use. Many fishermen were relocated from their boats parked in the typhoon shelter to the Ching Tao House, a new residential block on land, of Chueng Ching Estate. The land inhabitants were put together into several designated areas so as to re-build their villages. The primary sectors had all died out owing to the drastic town development. Tsing Yi Estate, Cheung On Estate, Cheung Fat Estate, Ching Tai Court and Tsing Yi Garden were built after all reclamations were accomplished. Ching Wah Court was built adjoining to Cheung Hong Estate. At the same time, Tsing Yi Bridge was seriously overburdened and its structure was unable to cope with increasing traffic. There was only a one-way road in each direction on the bridge. Traffic congestion became the burning problem in the community, and subsequently aroused protest. Finally, Tsing Yi North Bridge, a connection to Tsuen Wan Town was built to ease off the congestion, as well as to accommodate the local residential population boom.
Clusters of highrise residential blocks in Tsing Yi Town
During 2000 to 2004, Container Terminal 9 was built on the reclaimed southwest shore of the island, together with resident blocks, Rambler Crest. Nearby, and well within sight of Central. Victoria, a controversial new dioxin burning plant was also put into operation during 2004, arousing much concern for the residents of Tsing Yi and Hong Kong island.
There are three hotels in Tsing Yi Town, at the east of Tsing Yi Island, facing the marvellous view of Rambler Channel and the container terminals. They are:
Before the completion of Tsing Yi Bridge, ferry was the only public transport to mainland Hong Kong. Tsing Yi Pier was built near Tsing Yi Town before the reclamation. The pier followed the change of shoreline owing after reclamation, and moved to the waterfront near Greenfield Garden.
Hovercraft service between Tsuen Wan, Tsing Yi and Central was provided by the former Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry. After the franchise of the company came to an end, Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry took over the route and operated it.
All ferry services ceased with rapid development of road and rail transport, especially MTRTung Chung line with its station just a few hundred metres away from the ferry pier. It no longer takes residents to Tsuen Wan and Central. The pier is now open to the public, and continues to be used as a drop-off point for fishermen and tourists, and as a mooring site for government boats.
Religious buildings
Tin Hau Temple (青衣天后古廟); the temple was originally located near Tsing Yi Tong. Upon reclamation of Tsing Yi, it was moved to Ha Ko Tan (下高灘), near today's Chung Mei Lo Uk Village.
In the early days, education on the Tsing Yi Island was mostly private. The first public school on the island is Tsing Yi Public School, a primary school founded by villagers and businessmen on the island. In the post-World War II era, Hong Kong Government provides 9-year free education to all children from primary one to secondary three. The public school is then mainly funded by the government. Another school for the children of fishermen, Tsing Yi Fishermen's Children's Primary School, was founded by Fish Marketing Organisation. In 1977, Cheung Ching Estate, the first public housing estates on the island, marked the beginning of the new town on the island. To accommodate new schooling children, three primary schools and Buddhist Yip Kei Nam Memorial College, the first secondary school on the island, were built with the estate. More schools were erected when new estates were completed. In 1999, a post-secondary college, Hong Kong Technical College (Tsing Yi), was completed and provides vocational training for all adults in Hong Kong. In the 2000s, the number of schooling children began to drop and the several schools are facing the fatal fate.
All of Tsing Yi is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 66. Within the school net are multiple aided schools (operated independently but funded with government money); no government schools are in this net.[3]
Numerous schools are founded on Tsing Yi Island, namely:
The Department of Health operates two general out-patient clinics on the island in Tsing Yi Town. The first one is Tsing Yi Cheung Hong Clinic in Cheung Hong Estate and another is Tsing Yi Town Clinic near Tsing Yi Garden.
There is also one maternal and child health centre, Tsing Yi Maternal and Child Health Centre, on the island. It is just next to Tsing Yi Cheung Hong Clinic.
There is at least one private clinic in each housing estate.
In town planning, Tsing Yi Hospital was supposed to be built near Cheung Hang Estate but the plan was put off owing to financial difficulty of Hospital Authority.
