Tolo Harbour

Tolo Harbour
Tolo Harbour and Pat Sin Leng (Mountains)
Traditional Chinese	吐露港
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tùlù Gǎng Yue: Cantonese IPA [tʰōu lo̬u kɔ̌ːŋ] Jyutping tou3 lou5 gong2

Tolo Harbour (Chinese: 吐露港), or Tai Po Hoi (大埔海, historically 大步海; "Tai Po Sea") is a sheltered harbour in northeast New Territories of Hong Kong.

Tide Cove aka. Sha Tin Hoi is to the south of the harbour, and Plover Cove, Three Fathoms Cove and Tolo Channel are to its east.

The Shing Mun River empties first into Tide Cove, then the harbour.

Several islands are located in the harbour, including Ma Shi Chau, Centre Island, Yeung Chau and Yim Tin Tsai. Yuen Chau Tsai is a former island, now connected to the mainland by a causeway.

In the past pearls were very abundant here. Pearl hunting had been a major industry in Tai Po from Han Dynasty. In Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, a king of Southern Han changed the name of Tai Po to Mei Chuen To (媚川都) and ordered an aggressive cultivation effort, which led to many fatalities amongst the pearl hunters. The hunting lasted until the Ming Dynasty, when the pearl oysters were nearly extinct in the area.

Kowloon-Canton Railway was built in 1910s and Tolo Highway in 1980s on its western shore.