The Soko Islands () are a group of

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s in Hong Kong. The group consists of Tai A Chau, Siu A Chau and several smaller nearby islands, in the southwesternmost waters of the territory, to the southwest of

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao or Lan Tau) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the ...

. An older name for this island group was "Sok Kwu Kwan To" (Fishing Net Islands). The islands are mainly composed of granite and a band of

rhyodacite Rhyodacite is a volcanic rock intermediate in composition between dacite and rhyolite. It is the extrusive equivalent of those plutonic rocks that are intermediate in composition between monzogranite and granodiorite. Rhyodacites form from rapid ...

. Waters of the island group are brackish due to being in the

Pearl River estuary The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area in official documents ...

Islands

The islands of the group are: * Cheung Muk Tau () * Ko Pai () * Lung Shuen Pai () * Ma Chau () * Shek Chau () * Siu A Chau () * Tai A Chau () * Tau Lo Chau () * Wan Hau Chau () * Yuen Chau () * Yuen Kong Chau ()

History

Prehistoric

Stone tools dating from the

Neolithic period The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wid ...

Bronze age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

(c.4500-221 BC) have been found on Tai A Chau during excavations in 1982 and 2005. These include tools such as Drills,

Adzes An adze () or adz is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in ha ...

, and Pounders.

Soko Island Villagers

Although now uninhabited, the Soko Islands used to be inhabited by fishermen and farmers as early as the 1770s. This is evidenced by the inscribed bells in the small Tin Hau temples on Tai A Chau and Siu A Chau, presented by devotees in 1828 and 1773 respectively. There is also a tomb on Siu A Chau that dates to 1803, the surname Chow () is inscribed on it. During the late 1950s, the population of Soko Islands was around 65 people. There were three dominant families, the Ng (), Yeung () families of Tai A Chau, and the Chow () family of Siu A Chau. All describe themselves as the direct descendants of the original settlers, who are from a

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

origin. The main economic activity on the islands was fishing and farming, as well as

pig breeding Pig farming, pork farming, pig production or hog farming is the raising and breeding of domestic pigs as livestock, and is a branch of animal husbandry. Pigs are farmed principally for food (e.g. pork: bacon, ham, gammon) and skins. Pigs a ...

, rice farming, and

shrimp paste Shrimp paste or prawn sauce is a Fermentation, fermented condiment commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine, Southeast Asian and Coastal Chinese cuisines. It is primarily made from finely crushed Shrimp and prawn as food, shrimp or krill mixed ...

manufacturing. All trade connections are almost entirely with

Cheung Chau Cheung Chau (; ) is an outlying island of Hong Kong, located southwest of Hong Kong Island. It is also called Dumbbell Island () due to its dumbbell-like shape. It has been inhabited for longer than most other places in Hong Kong, and had ...

, where goods are transported by motor or sailboat. Occasionally

Papayas The papaya (, ), papaw, () or pawpaw () is the plant species ''Carica papaya'', one of the 21 accepted species in the genus ''Carica'' of the family Caricaceae, and also the name of its fruit. It was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, within ...

are grown and sold. In 1959, one classroom was built to provide education up to a level equivalent fourth grade primary school. At the time, there were 28 pupils, all from Tai A Chau. Students who wish to study further needed to travel to

. During The 1960s, 350 pigs were donated by the Kadooree Experimental and Extension Farm to boost the pig raising industry in the Soko Islands.

Pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...

plantations were also planted as a new export product. In 1973, a 15,000 sq. ft. jointly owned artificial

fish pond A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes. Fish ponds are a classical g ...

was opened to act as a new source of income for the villagers. To celebrate the opening, 400

Carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

were transported and released into the pond by army helicopters. During 1975 the population of the Soko Islands was around 200 people.

Tai A Chau Vietnamese Detention Centre

During the 1980s, a

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

detention centre was being built to accommodate the waves of Vietnamese fleeing after the fall of Saigon in 1975. This also caused the original villagers to abandon the island. Site of Tai A Chau Detention Centre 04

In 1991, the Tai A Chau Detention Centre (IN59), a

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary Human settlement, settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for in ...

for

boat people Vietnamese boat people () were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but continued well into the earl ...

, started operation and accommodated thousands of refugees. It was closed in September 1996.

Developments after 2000

In 2006, a Low-level Radioactive Waste Storage Facility was built on Siu A Chau. It remains the only facility of this type in Hong Kong. The facility repurposes disused air raid tunnels to deal with Hong Kong's radioactive waste for the next 100 years, the complex comprises a 55 m long jetty, a shielded waste storage vault, a fully equipped laboratory, an automatic control room, a wastewater management system and specially designed waste reception and processing areas. In 2016, CLP Power proposed the islands as site for a terminal to receive liquefied natural gas (

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

) for use in electricity generation. This proposal is opposed by local environmental groups because the surrounding waters are an important habitat for various marine species, particularly the rare

Chinese white dolphin The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (''Sousa chinensis'') is a species of humpback dolphin inhabiting coastal waters of the eastern Indian and western Pacific Oceans. This species is often referred to as the Chinese white dolphin in mainland Chi ...

. In February 2020, OceansAsia reported finding 70 face masks washed up on one beach of the islands. The same beach was examined the following November, and OceansAsia volunteers reported collecting 54 more masks.

Conservation

The soft shore beach of Siu A Chau can attract

green turtles The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

and the islands were proposed to be a protected marine park. The South Lantau Marine Park () was designated as a

marine park A marine park is a designated park consisting of an area of sea (or lake) set aside to achieve ecological sustainability, promote marine awareness and understanding, enable marine recreational activities, and provide benefits for Indigenous peo ...

in June 2022. It encompasses the Soko Islands and an area between Siu A Chau and Tai A Chau. The stated aim of the marine park is to help conserve the Chinese white dolphins and

finless Porpoise ''Neophocaena'' is a genus of porpoise native to the Indian and Pacific oceans, as well as the freshwater habitats of the Yangtze River basin in China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. ...

Education

The Soko Islands are in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 97. Within the school net are three aided schools (operated independently but funded with government money) on

; no government schools are in this net.

References

External links

* {{Conservation designations in Hong Kong Islands District Marine parks of Hong Kong Uninhabited islands of Hong Kong