Shek Pik
area located along the southwestern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong.
Shek Pik (Chinese: 石壁) is an area located along the southwestern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. When the Shek Pik Reservoir was built, villages at Shek Pik were demolished and the villagers were relocated to other parts of Lantau Island and to Tsuen Wan. Below the dam of the reservoir is Shek Pik Prison.
Geography
Shek Pik was originally a north-south oriented valley, until all the upper part was filled by the water of the Shek Pik Reservoir, which was completed in 1963. Before the construction of the reservoir, the valley was settled by several villages and most of the valley floor and the foothills were occupied by terraced paddy fields. The southern part of Shek Pik is facing the South China Sea and features three small bays. From West to East: Tai Long Wan (大浪灣), Chung Hau (涌口) and Tung Wan (東灣; 'eastern bay').
Villages
A tradition mentions that a clan from Ma Tau Wai in Kowloon accompanied the last two young emperors to Lautau Island and finally settled in Shek Pik to avoid the Mongol invasion at the end of Southern Song (1127–1279). Based on the review of historic documents, the existence of village settlements at Shek Pik can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), although the area may have been settled earlier.
Shek Pik is one of five villages of Lantau that were resettled when the coastal restriction of the Great Clearance was lifted in 1669.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Shek Pik” as area located along the southwestern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as area located along the southwestern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7493215. Authority coordinates are 22.223, 113.898. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1963, 1127, 1279 and 1368.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shek Pik”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shek Pik primary sources, Shek Pik archive and Shek research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shek Pik”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shek Pik” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.