The mountains at the back mark the limit between the New Territories and New Kowloon, which is located beyond. View of Sha Tin New Town under development in 1983, looking northeast toward the Tai chan chicken Mun River and Tolo Harbour.
Tai Wai is in the foreground. Aerial view of Tai Wai Village and surrounding area in 2018. New Territories, Hong Kong, located between Sha Tin and the Lion Rock, within the Sha Tin District. With three rapid transit stations, one of which an interchange station serving two lines, five bus termini and several trunk roads and tunnels connecting it to other parts of the New Territories, such as Tsuen Wan, and Kowloon, Tai Wai is an important transport node in Hong Kong. Tai Wai occupies the southwestern end of the Sha Tin Valley. The Sha Tin area is located directly northeast of Tai Wai. Hill ranges separate Tai Wai from New Kowloon in the south, and from Tsuen Wan in the west.
Sprouting from traditional farming villages growing rice, vegetables and fruits, such as choy sum, Chinese broccoli, bamboo, banana, peach, and lychee, Tai Wai area once functioned as a light suburban industrial park in the 1970s. Few factory buildings are still in use, mostly as warehouses. Tai Wai Village, where the name of the area came from, was the largest and oldest walled village in Sha Tin. The Cheng family, on the other hand, originated from a place called Xingyang in Zhengzhou, Henan which is the place where Chang’e supposedly flew to the Moon. Tai Wai appears on the “Map of the San-On District”, published in 1866 by Simeone Volonteri. The first public housing estate built in the area was Mei Lam Estate, with the first two blocks of its Phase 1 completed in 1981.
Tai Wai station opened in August 1983. Sha Tin District, as defined at the time of the 2015 Hong Kong District Council elections. Tai Wai is composed largely of low to medium income households of different ethnic backgrounds ranging from local Chinese to Westerners. Housing estates in Tai Wai, including King Tin Court, Sun Chui Estate and Man Lai Court. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum is visible at the bottom left. A large part of the population of Tai Wai lives in public housing estates.
Privately owned apartment blocks are also common and higher income luxury housing is also available in various parts of Tai Wai. Mei Fung House of Mei Lam Estate, built in 1981. Hin Keng Estate and Ka Keng Court, with Lion Rock in the background. Final stages of the construction of Festival City, in 2011. Entrance of The Great Hill along Tung Lo Wan Hill Road.
Aerial view of Ha Keng Hau. Yeung, Law, and So Ancestral Halls in Hin Tin. The towers in the background are part of Hin Keng Estate. Three-storey village houses of Tin Sam Village, with the towers of Festival City in the background.
Historic Entrance Gate of Tin Sam Village. A number of villages exist in Tai Wai and most of them are surrounded by the towers of housing estates. Traditional village layout and some historic buildings can still be found. It is located next to Tai Wai station and the main commercial streets of the area. It was rectangular in shape with 4 watch towers at its four corners. The towers and the walls have long been demolished leaving only the entrance gate and part of the front wall. Tai Po Road, just minutes walk away from the old village.