Tai Po

Tai Po (zh-t|t=大埔) (sometimes written as Taipo) refers to the area of the traditional market towns in the area presently known as Tai Po Old Market or Tai Po Kau Hui (大埔舊墟) (originally Tai Po Market or Tai Po Town) and the Tai Wo Town (Tai Wo Market) on the other side of the Lam Tsuen River, near the old Tai Po Market Station of the Kowloon-Canton Railway British Section, within the Tai Po District.

Both market towns have become part of the Tai Po New Town in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In present-day usage, "Tai Po". may refer to the area around the original market towns (i.e. Tai Po proper), the new town, or the entire Tai Po District.

There is an apocryphal story that Tai Po was originally called Tai Po (大步), lit. big step. Once upon a time it was a big forest with tigers. People wanted to pass through the forest faster by walking in big steps. 大步 and 大埔 are pronounced similarly in Cantonese.

History

Starting from the Hang Dynasty in AD 963, the indigenous inhabitants of Taipo lived by clamming and making pearls. The pearl making business reached its peak in the Song Dynasty and started to decline gradually in the midst of the Ming Dynasty. Taipo had been developed as a fishing port around the late Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty.

Thanks to battles and political struggles in modern history, a lot of people migrated to Hong Kong from China; one of the destinations for them was Taipo. People first began to settle around the riversides of Lam Tsuen River and finally Taipo Old Market and Tai Wo Town were developed.

In the 1970s, the Hong Kong government began to develop satellite cities: the first industrial estate in Hong Kong was built in Taipo in 1974; Taipo was named as a "new town" in 1979; the first public housing estate in Taipo - Tai Yuen Estate - was established in 1981. The population has soared to 320, 000 and Taipo began to prosper following the completion of the Tolo Highway which enhanced communication with the older urban areas.

People

While being a new town, Tai Po is populated with many people of Hakka origin. Before the 1970s, immigrants from Guangdong Province in China migrated to Hong Kong. Many of the Hakka people moved to Tai Po, Fanling and Sheung Shui. In Tai Po, you will notice a large population of Hakka people in Tai Po Market (大埔墟), especially around the area of "Little Park" (公園仔).

Housing

Because Hong Kong is a very populated region, Tai Po has followed the many urban areas of Hong Kong by building high-rise apartments. Also, Tai Po houses 320,000 people, making high-rise apartments necessary and mandatory. These high-rise apartments are located inside estates, such as Tai Yuen Estates and Fu Heng Estates. These high-rise apartments have floors ranging from the low apartments in Tai Po Old Town to the new estates in northern Tai Po ranging from 20 to 34 levels. People prefer renting in these apartments than buying them since Hong Kong apartments are very expensive to buy. However, there are small shanty towns and at the edges of Tai Po where people use leftover scraps of steel and wood to make little houses. Also, there are people who prefer to buy houses in Tai Po instead of living in a very high building. However, this is not very common since there is limited space to make houses due to Tai Po's location in a valley and being surrounded by mountains and the sea.

Transportation

Buses

Transportation in Tai Po is much like any other region of Hong Kong. Due to high population, Hong Kong still has double-decker buses after England no longer ruled over the region as a royal territory. If you go to Hong Kong, you can notice that the driving system is the direct opposite of China and USA and follows the English way: the cars drive on the left side of the road. There are some buses that lead to the city center such as the bus 271 that goes from Fu Heng Estate in Tai Po to Canton Road in Tsim Sha Tsui and bus 307 which goes from Tai Po Central towards Central Ferry Piers via Central and Wan Chai. There are also buses that lead directly to the airport such as E41 from Tai Po Center (Tai Po Plaza and Tai Po Mega Mall) to Hong Kong International Airport.

MTR System (East Line)

Currently, there are two station in the East Line for the entire Tai Po New Town, Tai Po Market Station (old district) and Tai Wo Station (for Tai Wo Estates and other new estates in Tai Po above Lam Tsuen River). These trains go from the border point at either Lo Wu or Lok Ma Chau and go to the metropolitan Tsim Sha Tsui East. It was formerly run by KCR Company Limited (Kowloon-Canton Railway) but has been leased for 50 years. These trains are operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (Mass Transit Railway) since the end of 2007 and come from Lo Wu Station or Lok Ma Chau Spur and go to Tsim Sha Tsui East Station. The same goes for trains comimg from Tsim Sha Tsui East Station and trains go to either the Lo Wu Border Control Point (Luo Hu in the Mainland customs in Shenzhen) or the Lok Ma Chau Border Control Point (Le Mau Chou in the Mainland customs in Shenzhen). Mainly, trains toward the Lo Wu Station only take 3-4 min. between each train while trains to Lok Ma Chau Staion take about 6 min. between each train. There are two interchanges in the line, one in Kowloon Tong Station with the Kwun Tong Line towards either Tui Keng Leng or Yau Ma Tei and at Tsim Sha Tsui Station with Tsuen Wan Line towards either Tsuen Wan or Central (Hong Kong Station is considered another station, yet it only takes a few minutes between Central station and Hong Kong station).

External links

* [http://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/tp/chinese/welcome.htm Tai Po District Council]
* [http://www.taiporural.com Tai Po Rural Committee]