Qualla: Tung Ping Chau

Tung Ping Chau: Introduction

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Millevache, CC BY-SA 3.0. Hong Kong is built on volcanoes. Almost every island in the territory — the towering ridges of Lantau, the dramatic coastlines of Sai Kung — consists of igneous rock pushed up from ancient eruptions during the Jurassic Period. Tung Ping Chau is the exception. Out here in the far northeastern corner of Mirs Bay, where Hong Kong territory comes within 4 kilometres of the Chinese mainland, the rock underfoot is sedimentary: pale siltstones and cherts laid down in a brackish lake after the volcanoes went quiet, during the early Paleogene period. Nowhere else in Hong Kong does the earth look quite like this.

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Image: Millevache | CC BY-SA 3.0

Tung Ping Chau: The Flat Island at the Edge of Everything

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Millevache, CC BY-SA 3.0. Ping Chau means 'flat island' in Chinese, and the name is accurate. Where other Hong Kong islands surge upward in dramatic ridgelines, Tung Ping Chau lies low — kidney-shaped, its concave side facing northeast toward the Chinese shore. The name requires qualification: Tung (meani...

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Image: Millevache | CC BY-SA 3.0

Tung Ping Chau: Layers of Time

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sun8908, CC BY-SA 4.0. The geology of Tung Ping Chau is what draws scientists and hikers alike. The island's sedimentary layers — visible as horizontal bands in the cliffs — represent a record of conditions in this corner of the world during the early Paleogene, tens of millions of years ago. Wave-cut ...

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Image: Sun8908 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Tung Ping Chau: A Community That Dispersed

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Millevache, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Korean War (1950-1953) severed trade between Hong Kong and the mainland, and Tung Ping Chau felt that severance acutely. The fishermen of Chau Mei had always sold their catch to markets on both sides of the border. When that trade ended and fish stocks in the surrounding wate...

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Image: Millevache | CC BY-SA 3.0

Tung Ping Chau: What the Sea Remembers

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Minghong, CC BY-SA 3.0. The waters around Tung Ping Chau are among the most ecologically rich in Hong Kong. The Tung Ping Chau Marine Park, designated in 2001 as the fourth marine park in the territory, covers about 270 hectares of sea enclosing the island. Coral communities grow on the rocky substrate ...

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Image: Minghong | CC BY-SA 3.0

Tung Ping Chau: The Long Ferry Ride

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Huangdan2060, CC BY 3.0. Getting to Tung Ping Chau takes commitment. The ferry from Ma Liu Shui pier, near the Chinese University of Hong Kong campus at Shatin, runs on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays only. The journey takes 1 hour 40 minutes. The landing point is the Tung Ping Chau Public Pier a...

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Image: Huangdan2060 | CC BY 3.0