Photograph of the Inland and map showing its location.
CHEUNGCHAU ISLAND
The Colony of Hong Kong, as our readers undoubtedly know, comprises the Island of Hong Kong and that part of the Chinese mainland which includes Kowloon, New Kowloon and the New Territories, and a large number of island of various shapes and sizes. These islands range in size from a single rock barely clearing the highwater mark to some of fairly substantial size, one of which, Lantao Island, is larger in area than Hong Kong Island itself. Most of these islands are uninhabited but some of them, like Lamma Island, are inhabited by small isolated groups of fishermen, whilst Lantao Istand although capable of supporting a population of several thousand is very sparsely settled.
There is one island lying to the south of Lantao and about seven miles west of Hong Kong which, although amongst the smallest of the island groups, has a large floating and land population. This is Cheungchau Island. Cheungchau has a large fishing population, second only to Shaukiwan and Aberdeen. The island is popularly known as "Dumb-bell Island" from its shape, which consists of two separate portions of rather rolling hilly ground connected by a very narrow strip of land on which the main village is situated.
The bay,
The sheltered bay on the west side of this strip provides excellent anchorage in all sorts of weather and it is here that the fishing vessels return from their extended trips to dispose of their catch and replenish their stores. which is roughly two miles in diameter, is on occasion almost completely filled with junks and sampans. There will be found the little squat sampan on which two or three persons live and which is usually propelled by a very old woman or a very young child, and used mainly as a means of transporta- tion between junk and shore, and between junks in different parts of the bay. There, too, will be seen the huge deepsea- going fishing junks built to traditional design to carry tons of fish, and which may be inhabited by as many as four or five families comprising in all thirty or more persons.
The Village of Cheungchau is the principal centre of the whole island district. Therein will be found the Police Station with a European inspector-in-charge and a large number of Chinese constables and detectives, who are required not for the purpose of maintaining order on the island itself
The beautiful beach on the east bay.
17
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LAN
TAU
DEALE | 1000 20 204 vada 14 | POLL
量
4
LANKA ISLAND
1100
HONG KONG
but to patrol the innumerable bays and inlets and the small islands within its far-flung precincts. Other Government services on the island include a Vernacular School, the Office of the Urban Council, a Marine Licensing Station and a Post Office.
A number of Protestant Missions have maintained rest houses on the island and run a number of schools. These missions exert a strong influence on the island and, because of this factor and the general prosperity engendered by the industriousness of the inhabitants, the population is as peace- ful and law-abiding as any group of people to be found anywhere in the Colony.
Undoubtedly the largest building on the island is the hospital, which was built in 1934 by the St. John's Ambulance Brigade from funds largely donated by Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, and which was originally intended for tuber- cular patients. However, after the Japanese surrender, the building having been badly looted and the Brigade not having sufficient funds for its reinstatement, it was turned over to the Government for a limited number of years and is now being run as a Government hospital with a very efficient Chinese medical officer-in-charge.
For some reason the island before the war attracted quite a large number of Europeans who built permanent residences on the hills оп the southern part of the island. These residences were practically all demolished during the Japanese occupation, but a number of them have been rehabilitated, and the European district is gradually but slowly regaining its former popularity.
The eastern bay, formed by the isthmus and the two sections of the island, comprises one of the largest and finest bathing beaches in the Colony, and it is this beach that attracts thousands of visitors during the summer months.
There are ample freshwater supplies throughout the island, obtainable from wells dug in the most unlikely of places, and we imagine that this factor more than anything else has contributed to Cheungchau's popularity as compared to, say, Lamma Island which is far larger and nearer to Hong Kong and yet practically deserted.
The history of the island dates back to the earliest years of the settlement of Hong Kong, and temples may be visited that are claimed to be over a hundred years old.
The village itself is a typical Chinese village, the most notable feature of which is the remarkable lack of flies and