Tsing Yi Lagoon, or Tsing Yi Tong, was a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

on the east shore of Tsing Yi Island in Hong Kong. Its water came from a stream in the nearby valley of Liu To and its outlet was at Tsing Yi Bay. It acted as the shelter for nearby

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 ...

, especially after large-scale

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

Tsuen Wan Tsuen Wan (formerly also spelled Tsun Wan) is a New towns of Hong Kong, town built on a bay in the New Territories West (constituency), western New Territories of Hong Kong, opposite Tsing Yi, Tsing Yi Island across Rambler Channel. The market ...

and

Kwai Chung Kwai Chung is an urban area within Tsuen Wan New Town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District of Hong Kong. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town. In 2000, it had a popula ...

. Once their boats moved into the lagoon, they never moved out. This was because their boats were too old for fishing far away. The lagoon was unable to escape the fate of development. Both the lagoon and the neighbouring Tsing Yi Bay, were reclaimed for

new towns A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

. The boat people were forced to give up their boats and were relocated to

public housing estate Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

on the island. After reclamation, the northern portion became

Tsing Yi Estate Tsing Yi Estate () is a public housing estate in Tsing Yi Island, New Territories, Hong Kong near Fung Shue Wo Sports Centre and Tsing Yi Park. It is the only public housing estate on Tsing Yi Island which name does not start with the character ...

and the remainder became temporary housing areas, which were later demolished.

References

* * Tsing Yi Ports and harbours of Hong Kong Lagoons of China Bodies of water of Hong Kong {{HongKong-geo-stub

See also

References