A Kung Ngam

A Kung Ngam (Chinese: 阿公岩) is a village and an area in northeast Shau Kei Wan in the north of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It contains a fish terminal market, several temples and the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence.

Name

A Kung literally means maternal grandfather or old man in Cantonese while Ngam means rock, but in the case of this place name, "A Kung" refers to Tam Kung, a sea deity who the quarry workers believed in. A temple dedicated to Tam Kung is located in A Kung Ngam.

History

A Kung Ngam was a rock quarry in the 19th century, and the area was predominantly inhabited by quarry workers who immigrated from Huizhou and Chaozhou.

A fire broke out in the early morning of 31 October 2005. Some ten houses in the village were burnt.

A Kung Ngam Shipyards

A Kung Ngam Shipyards (Chinese: 阿公岩船廠) was a port for export of stone materials in the mid 18th century. As there were so many ships, it became a typhoon shelter and shipyards were built. During the Dragon Boat Festivals, dragon boats races were held in Shau Kei Wan Typhoon Shelter [zh], where dragon boats were once made by the shipyards. At the end of the 20th century, land reclamation from the sea caused fishing boats to anchor elsewhere. Nowadays, the number of shipyards has decreased due to a decrease in number of ships going there.