Peng Chau 坪洲

About Peng Chau

At the former Fook Yuen Leather Factory, discarded chairs, bottles and tyres have become playful installations among painted walls. The Tin Hau Temple on Wing On Street provides a quieter contrast, connecting the island to its seafaring tradition. A visit can concentrate on these street-level places instead of rushing to every island viewpoint; respect working shops, homes and any installation areas closed by their owners.

Fishermen had settled on Peng Chau since the Tang and Song dynasties, and by the mid-Qing dynasty settlers surnamed Lui, Chung and Lam had arrived from nearby villages, living by fishing, trade and some farming around Peng Chau Bay. Ready access to oyster shells, clam shells and coral let the island develop a lime-kiln industry from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, with as many as eleven kiln factories, until the trade declined in the 1930s and 1940s as cement came into use.

In 1937, the Great China Match Factory (大中国火柴厂), then the largest in Southeast Asia, opened on Peng Chau and employed 2,000 workers until it closed in 1976; only a stone tablet inscribed with its name now remains at Pak Wan (北湾). Industrial activity peaked in the 1960s and 1970s, when the island also had a steel-pipe factory, a teak furniture factory, a shipyard, a textile factory and a leather factory, among more than a hundred factories and small workshops.

The Tin Hau Temple was built in the third year of the Jiaqing era (1798). According to local tradition, Tin Hau once appeared to stop the pirate Cheung Po Tsai (张保仔) from raiding the island; a stele beside the temple records an official prohibition concerning shipping.

What to look for

• The former Fook Yuen Leather Factory uses salvaged objects and graffiti as outdoor art.
• Tin Hau Temple provides a religious counterpoint to the island’s former industrial buildings.

Location & getting there

Getting to Peng Chau

Take HKKF’s Central–Peng Chau ferry to Peng Chau Ferry Pier. Begin along the village streets towards Tin Hau Temple at 69B Wing On Street, then locate the former leather-factory art area on Main Street. Confirm the current ferry pier assignment and return sailing with the operator.