How old is hong kong mtr

Origin of 'Yau Ma Tei' name. Permalink Submitted by David on Fri, Reader moddsey has some comments on the origin of the Yau Ma Tei name as described above, plus a couple of photos of that area at the start of the 20th century: As for Yau Ma Tei, I am not too sure about the Yau and Ma families. However, at the latest estimate, its principal temple, dedicated to Tin Hau, the Queen of Heaven, was located there soon as the Kowloon Peninsula changed hands: two stone lions standing outside the present building are dated Some years later the Registrar General included a brief mention of Yau Ma Ti in his Census Returns for in which he wrote: "Yau Ma Ti in Kowloon has become a new Town within the last few months, and it will continue to increase if facilities are afforded to the boat builders and to the junk people who repair thither to careen and repair their vessels, for on these the trade of the place chiefly depends".

In Osbert Chadwick wrote of the formation of the "irregular group of houses" and the "lack of proper streets" in growing villages like Yau Ma Ti. He went on to describe the environs of the town as follows: "To the north of Yau Ma Ti the shore is lined with establishments for boat people or other trades connected with shipping Just to the south of Yau Ma Ti is a sort of mud-dock which dries at half ebb or little bit later.

This is occupied by many boats some of which are too old and leaky to go out, and lie here permanently, being used as dwellings. This causes a serious nuisance". Continuing on You may wish to check it out to see if they have more information about the origin of the district.

I have attached picture postcards of Yau Ma Ti from the s and s for reference. I paid a visit to Central library to check the book Moddsey mentions above, and see if there was any other sign of the Yau Ma Tei name. If it only came into use after the 's, it should definitely be translated literally. If it could be considered a phonetic translation of two old tribes names, the name should have been in use for several hundred years. First I looked for references to 'yau ma ti' in the old newspapers that are available for search online.

Lee Ashui, Lee Asee and Tsun Afook were next placed in dock charged with the robbery with menaces from the house of Jeremiah Foley, constable at Yau-mah-ti on the 29th of August last. That takes us a little earlier, with an 'Map of Sun on district' by Italian missionary Simeone Volonteri showing 'jau ma ti' sic.

None of the earlier Chinese-language maps show it, but then they tend to cover much larger areas and only refer to islands and large towns. Here are a few pargraphs that are relevant to the question: "In Kwangtung Province the typical small settlement was the lineage based agricultural village. Other types of settlement also existed. One such was the coastal settlement which developed around an anchorage. In the Hong Kong area such settlements are possibly older than the agricultural.

Archeological evidence rlating to the Bronze Age points more to occupation by sea-coast people rather than landsmen at that date. It is natural to expect settlements related to a water economy in this river, delta and coastal area, studded with islands, beaches and anchorages. Except for the fertile plain near Deep Bay and along the Sham Chun River whree the Five Great Clans of the New Territories settled, the opportunity to develop easily and profitably a large scale agricultural economy was limited in the immediate hong Kong area.

This long-reclaimed creek ran inland for some three hundred yards in two branches. One went as far as the junction of today's Jordan Road and Parkes Stereet, the other to the eastern side of today's Nathan Road, in the vicinity of Saigon Street.

The innermost parts of both branches were further protected by breakwaters. Today's pak Hoi Street runs close to where the northern shore of the creek used to be and doubtless takes its name from this fact. This creek is very like many other favoured anchorages in the New Territories: it was protected by a military post from about The anchorage was thus in use well before , with its temple nearby, but the growth of this anchorage into something which could be called a genuine market town began only in An area to the north of the town was called "Ma Tei" "Sesame ground".

At some date, the oil-sesame plant was presumably grown and harvested here. The name of yaumatei suggests that the town looked to the land for its basic economy, but in fact the town was originally predominantly seaward-looking.

Well, the name certainly pre-dates the British arrival in Kowloon, but does it also pre-date the Cantonese speakers? The author above uses the direct translation "Oil Sesame Ground", implying it is a Cantonese name. But their description of the early settlement and its focus as an anchorage rather than a town also fits quite nicely with the idea of a place where seafolk and land-based people would meet. Olympic Station was completed, followed by the completion of Tung Chung station in the end of the year On 28 February , the Bridge was completed.

In May, the Tsing Yi station was completed. Then in July, the first Engineering Vehicle arrived Hong Kong station, followed by the completion of Kowloon station in September that year. The Airport Express Line became in service an 6 July Finally, trains to be modernized will only be found in the KTL.

This project is expected to be completed in early August. Since during rush hours, the usage of passages between KTL and ISL platforms has increased to a rather high level, in order to increase the efficiency of line changing, the QBR is made the solution.

A new platform was built opposite to each existing ISL platform. Matthieu says:. October 25, at pm. Wow I live on top of Kowloon station and never knew about the void underneath it! October 29, at pm. Yugalarex says:. January 13, at pm. Hey, is it possible to get into the station perpendicular to Sheung Wan station? January 14, at am. Nix says:. June 8, at pm. June 15, at am. November 22, at am. John Peakman says:. September 23, at pm. September 24, at am.

December 29, at pm. November 24, at am. Interesting — I would assume they would be plant rooms or some other service space. William Fox HK resident says:.

January 15, at am. Thanks for any information anyone may be able to volunteer. January 21, at pm. Here are my photos from December William Fox says:. January 25, at am. February 7, at pm. Ryan Lam says:. July 31, at pm. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

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