Tin Shui Wai New Town 天水圍新市鎮 |
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Tin Shui Wai Sports Ground
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SAR | Hong Kong |
District | Yuen Long District |
Established | 1993 |
Area | |
• Total | 4.3 km2 (1.7 sq mi) |
Population (2014) | |
• Total | 292,000 |
• Density | 67,906/km2 (175,880/sq mi) |
Website | Yuen Long District Council |
Mean solar time UTC+08 |
Tin Shui Wai New Town | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 天水圍新市鎮 | ||||||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 天水围新市镇 | ||||||||||
Literal meaning | Sky Water Walled Village New Town | ||||||||||
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Transcriptions | |
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Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Tiānshuǐwéi |
Yue: Cantonese | |
Jyutping | tin1 seoi2 wai4 |
Tin Shui Wai New Town is located in the northwestern New Territories of Hong Kong. Originally a gei wai fish pond area, it was developed in the 1980s as the second new town in Yuen Long District and the eighth in Hong Kong. It is situated 25 kilometres due northwest of Central, Victoria, Hong Kong on land reclaimed from low-lying areas south of Deep Bay, next to historic Ping Shan. As of 2014, the new town had a population of 292,000, while the total projected population for when the town is fully built-out is about 306,000.
The land on which Tin Shui Wai was built did not exist at the beginning of the 1900s, while the adjacent Ping Shan was by the sea. The water north of Ping Shan gradually turned to marshes and villagers converted it into pools and rice paddies. The pools became gei wai fish ponds where most of the residents were fishermen before the new town was developed. With the decline in aquaculture, most of the fish ponds were abandoned. The Hong Kong Government developed the area into a new town through land reclamation.
The new town, conceived in 1987 to house 140,000 people, was constructed on 2.4 square kilometres of reclaimed fishponds and wetland representing one quarter of the flat land in the New Territories. The process of land reclamation for the new town was completed in 1990. Formation of the 2.4 km2 was estimated to cost HK$820 million in a contract signed with a Chinese joint-venture company. 20 million cubic metres of material would be required for the landfill. Maximum possible land formation was 4.88 km2.
A new modular style of construction for the public housing estates allowed rapid development and, in a first for a new town, on 26 March 1993 Tin Shui Wai was officially opened by Governor Chris Patten. By that time, some 30,000 people were already living there.