Current Time in Tai Po, Hong Kong

Tai Po lies in the north-eastern New Territories of Hong Kong, at the head of the sheltered inlet of Tolo Harbour, where the Lam Tsuen River flows down from the hills. It is one of the most attractively situated of the territory's new towns, with residential blocks and older village houses ringed by country parks, wooded ridges and the long arm of the harbour. Behind the town rise the peaks of Pat Sin Leng, the range known as the eight immortals.

The district is home to around three hundred and ten thousand people. Many commute to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, and the local economy centres on retail, services, education and the Hong Kong Science Park at Pak Shek Kok on the harbour shore, a large campus of technology and biotechnology companies and research institutes that has become a driver of innovation in the territory. Small industrial estates, fishing and the district's markets provide further employment.

Tai Po has a long recorded history. Tolo Harbour was for centuries a centre of pearl fishing, and imperial officials supervised divers here as early as the Southern Han dynasty. Clan villages of the Tang and other families were established in the surrounding valleys hundreds of years ago, and the settlement grew as a market town. A new market was founded in 1892 by an alliance of villages seeking to break the monopoly of the older one, and the Man Mo Temple built at its centre still stands. When Britain took over the New Territories in 1898, the flag-raising ceremony took place at Tai Po amid local resistance. The railway arrived in 1910, and new town development from the 1970s transformed the area with reclaimed land and public housing.

Visitors enjoy the Tai Po Waterfront Park, the largest park in Hong Kong, with a spiral lookout tower giving panoramic views over the harbour, and the Hong Kong Railway Museum, housed in the charming old Tai Po Market station with its Chinese-style pitched roof and preserved carriages. The Lam Tsuen wishing trees, where visitors toss paper wishes tied to oranges, are a famous local custom, and the nearby Tai Po Market and Fu Shin Street are lively places to eat and shop. Tai Mei Tuk, at the end of the harbour, is the starting point for cycling, kayaking and barbecues, and for walks up to Plover Cove Reservoir and Pat Sin Leng Country Park.

Village traditions remain strong, with ancestral halls, temple festivals, lion dances and the great decennial Da Jiu ceremonies staged by clan communities. Local food ranges from seafood restaurants and traditional Hakka dishes to the cooked food stalls of the market.

The East Rail Line serves Tai Po Market and Tai Wo stations, with fast connections to Kowloon and the mainland border, supported by buses, minibuses and cycle paths. The Education University of Hong Kong has its main campus in the district.

Tai Po is appreciated for combining heritage, greenery and modern research industry in one of Hong Kong's most liveable districts.