Qualla: Tai Tau Chau (Southern District)

Tai Tau Chau (Southern District): Introduction

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mk2010, CC BY-SA 4.0. Geology made Tai Tau Chau an island; erosion is still deciding whether it should stay one. The rocky outcrop off the Shek O Headland on southern Hong Kong Island was once part of the same continuous formation as the headland itself. Over millennia, waves worked through the weakest seams in the rock until they broke through entirely, leaving a narrow gap and the sediment bar — a tombolo — that now ties island to headland at low tide and severs them at high. The footbridge that spans the gap has been rebuilt after typhoons. The tombolo needs no rebuilding. It is patient in the way geology is patient.

Image: Mk2010 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Tai Tau Chau (Southern District): What Erosion Made

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robin Hickmott, CC BY-SA 2.0. Tai Tau Chau is a small place with a precise geography. To its east lies the Tathong Channel; to the west, Island Bay and then Shek O Wan, which the charts call Rocky Bay for reasons obvious to anyone who has tried to anchor there. South of Tai Tau Chau sits another island, Ng Fa...

Image: Robin Hickmott | CC BY-SA 2.0

Tai Tau Chau (Southern District): The Water Between

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tohtoh, CC BY-SA 3.0. For much of the 1970s and into the 1980s, the waters around Tai Tau Chau and Shek O were a known point of arrival for people crossing illegally from mainland China. Hong Kong then operated under what became known as the Touch Base Policy: anyone who managed to reach the urban cen...

Image: Tohtoh | CC BY-SA 3.0

Tai Tau Chau (Southern District): The Island on Foot

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DearEdward from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0. Today Tai Tau Chau is a hiking destination, part of the Shek O Headland Picnic Area administered by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. The island has footpaths but no facilities; the appeal is the walk itself, the views back across the South China Sea, and the satisfac...

Image: DearEdward from New York, NY, USA | CC BY 2.0