| Chung Mei | |||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 涌尾 | ||||||||
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Chung Mei is an area on theTsing Yi Island inHong Kong. It is also the name of a village on the island.
Chung Mei means the end (尾) of astream (涌), inCantonese. It might refer the stream ofLiu To or a much shorter where the former villages sited. Both streams are located near theTsing Yi Lagoon.[1]
The original Chung Mei was located on the valley at the present-dayLam Tin Resite Village, below Tiger's Head (虎頭山). Chung Mei was two villages. One wasHa Chung Mei (下涌尾), namely "lower Chung Mei". Another wasSheung Chung Mei (上涌尾), namely "upper Chung Mei". While Ha Chung Mei was sited near the Tsing Yi Lagoon, Sheung Chung Mei was sited higher on valley.[1] The position of Ha Chung Mei is close to present-dayTWGHs S. C. Gaw Memorial College. The stream of Liu To and Sheung Chung Mei made cultivation available. According toJames Hayes, the cultivation on the island was mainlyrice andpineapple.
Along the shore of Tsing Yi Lagoon, from the villages, to the east wasSheung Ko Tan and to the north wasTai Wong Ha. TheTsing Yi Town was at the northeast of Chung Mei, across thelagoon.[1]
In the 1980s, the villages were forced to re-site during the expansion ofTsuen Wan New Town. The original Chung Mei and its surrounding was flatten and reclaimed for re-siting four villages on the Tsing Yi Island. The villages of Chung Mei was combined with Lo Uk (老屋) and relocated east on the higher ground above Sheung Ko Tan. The resited villages was namedChung Mei Lo Uk Tsuen (涌美老屋村) though they are administrated separately. Apart from villages, owing to the destruction of old Tsing Yi Town, many retailers have moved their shops into this village and formed a market. The market still operates everyday even though many new markets were built on the island.
As the new establishment of the village, the name of Chung Mei also commonly refers to its present site and surrounding villages, rather than its former location.
The original Chung Mei Tsuen was composed ofindigenous inhabitants ofChan (陳) family. They have representatives in theTsing Yi Rural Committee, a composition organisation ofHeung Yee Kuk. But after the relocation, many outsiders moved in. The villages thus also has to create one representative for non-indigenous inhabitants.[2]
The villages of Chung Mei and Lo Uk are recognized villages under theNew TerritoriesSmall House Policy.[3]
West of Chung Mei is an unnamed valley. To its east is resite village of Sheung Ko Tan andTsing Yi Lutheran Village.
There is one road named after the village, namelyChung Mei Road. The road connects Ching Hong Road andTsing Yi Heung Sze Wui Road. It is one of major roads of the island.
Across Chung Mei Road isCheung Hong Estate, the largestpublic housing estates on the island.
22°21′05″N114°06′18″E / 22.351366°N 114.10497°E /22.351366; 114.10497