Yau Ma Tei
area in the Yau Tsim Mong District, Hong Kong
Yau Ma Tei is an area in the Yau Tsim Mong District in the south of the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong.
Name
Yau Ma Tei is a phonetic transliteration of the name 油麻地 (originally written as 油蔴地) in Cantonese. It can also be spelt as Yaumatei, Yau Ma Ti, Yaumati, Yaumáti or Yau-ma-Tee.
Yau (油) literally means "oil", Ma (麻 or 蔴) can either refer to "sesame" or "jute", and Tei (地) means "field" or "open ground". Hence, Yau Ma Tei can be interpreted to mean either "oil-sesame field" or "oil and jute ground". This dual-interpretation is perhaps the reason for there being two explanations for the origin of the place name.
Geography
Dundas Street marks the north border of Yau Ma Tei with Mong Kok and Austin Road its south border with Jordan and Tsim Sha Tsui. To its west is Victoria Harbour and its east the hilly region of Ho Man Tin.
Southern Yau Ma Tei was traditionally known as Kwun Chung, but came to be called Jordan after the completion of Jordan MTR station at its heart.
History
Yau Ma Tei was a village in Kowloon.
“Yau Ma Tei” enters the record as area in the Yau Tsim Mong District, Hong Kong. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what area, Tsim and Mong can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Yau Ma Tei” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, area, Tsim and Mong provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4542478. VIAF identifies the subject as 152591706. The Library of Congress control number is n93033907. Authority coordinates are 22.310, 114.171. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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 “Yau Ma Tei”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Yau Ma Tei primary sources, Yau Ma Tei archive and area 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 “Yau Ma Tei”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Yau Ma Tei” 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.