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Junk Bay

Tseung Kwan O
Town
Location of Tseung Kwan O
Country Hong Kong
Region New Territories
District Sai Kung
Population (2011)
 • Total 368,000
Tseung Kwan O
Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese

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.

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. The Fat Tong Chau (Junk Island) is in the southeastern part of the bay.

The bay is near the eastern mouth of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour. An local gazette: Genuine record of Guangdong province ( Chinese traditional: < 粵大記> ) clearly contained the place name: 將軍澳( Chinese characters of Tseung Kwan O ) 。 Genuine record of Guangdong province published in Ming Dynasty, therefore, we can be sure there were residents inhabited in Tseung Kwan O area during Ming Dynasty.


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