Tin Hau Temple & Stanley [ Chek Chue ]

Stanley is a town and a tourist attraction in Hong Kong, China.

It is a peninsula on the southeastern part of Hong Kong Island.

It is east of Repulse Bay and west of Shek O, adjacent to Chung Hom Kok. Administratively, it is part of the Southern District.

The proper Chek Chue refers to the village town but Stanley generally refers to all the surrounding areas of the peninsula after the beginning of British rule and native Cantonese name Chek Chue became synonym to Stanley.

Legend has it that the notorious pirate Cheung Po Tsai was active in Stanley. That is why the district became known in Chinese as Chek Chue (local dialect for Bandit’s Post).

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There was once a Cheung Po Tsai Cave near the Tin Hau Temple west of Stanley, but the cave was filled in the early 1950s.

After the annexation of Hong Kong in 1842, the British made Stanley the temporary administrative centre, before moving it to the newly founded Victoria City (present day Central) on the north shore of Hong Kong Island.

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Stanley was the location where British and Canadian troops made their last stand before surrendering to Japanese troops during the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941. Stanley Fort, the former British barracks in Stanley, is now occupied by the People’s Liberation Army.

This change followed the handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.

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