Quarry Bay | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 鰂魚涌 | ||||||||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 鲗鱼涌 | ||||||||||||
Literal meaning | crucian carp stream/river | ||||||||||||
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Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 採石灣 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 采石湾 | ||||||||||||
Literal meaning | rock-extracting bay | ||||||||||||
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Transcriptions | |
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Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | zéi yú chōng |
Yue: Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | jāk yùh chūng |
Jyutping | zak1 jyu4 cung1 |
Transcriptions | |
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Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | cǎi shí wān |
Yue: Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | chói sehk wāan |
Jyutping | coi2 sek6 waan1 |
Quarry Bay (Chinese: 鰂魚涌) is an area beneath Mount Parker in the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. The western portion of the area was also formerly known as Lai Chi (麗池). Traditionally being an industrial and residential area, the number of commercial buildings in this district has increased over the past two decades.
During Colonial Hong Kong times, the Hakka stonemasons settled in the area after the British arrival.
The area was a bay where quarried rocks from the hillside for construction or building roads were transported by ship. The Chinese name Tsak Yue Chung (鰂魚涌) reveals that it was a small stream where crucian carp (鰂魚) could be found back in the 19th century. The English name was Arrow Fish Creek. The original bay has disappeared since land reclamation had been taken place, and was about 700m from the current coastline.
The eastern part of Quarry Bay, namely Quarry Point, was largely owned by Swire and therefore many places and facilities are named after the company's Chinese name, Taikoo. The river originally flowed into the bay, however it was shut off from the sea with the construction of the Tai Koo Reservoir to supply fresh water to the Taikoo Dockyard, the Taikoo Sugar factory at Tong Chong Street (糖廠街), and later the Swire Coca-Cola factory at Greig Road (基利路) and Yau Man Street (佑民街). The upper course of the river was converted into a cement-paved catchwater, and the lower course is the present-day Quarry Bay Street (鰂魚涌街), with the original estuary near the Quarry Bay Street - King's Road junction.