Sunshine Island, Hong Kong

22°15′40″N 114°03′05″E / 22.261111°N 114.051389°E / 22.261111; 114.051389Area0.54 km² (0.21 sq mi)Length3.1 km (1.93 mi)Administration

Sunshine Island, Hong Kong
Traditional Chinese	日光島
Simplified Chinese	日光岛
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Rìguāngdǎo Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Yaht gwōng dóu Jyutping Jat6 gwong1 dou2
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	晨曦島
Simplified Chinese	晨曦岛
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chénxī Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Sàhn hēi dóu Jyutping San4 hei1 dou2

Sunshine Island (Chinese: 日光島), also known as Chau Kung To (周公島) indigenously, is a companion island of Hei Ling Chau in Hong Kong. Located northeast of Hei Ling Chau and south of Peng Chau, the island was once the site of a drug addiction treatment centre. The island features scenic rocks and some abandoned buildings. It has only one inhabitant, a 78-year-old named Lam Chi-ngai,^[1] and there is no public transport to the island.

History

Friend (Quaker) Gus Borgeest, born in Ningbo in 1909, gave the island its English name and founded an audacious and successful resettlement and rehabilitation centre for Chinese refugees on Sunshine island in 1952. At the time opium addiction was endemic among many Chinese and the model farming community founded by Borgeest provided many mainland refugees and addicts in Hong Kong with a second chance. Borgeest's method was to provide land, housing, tools, seeds, training and assistance to refugees and give them the opportunity to each start a small farm on the island. The opportunity provided by Borgeest's project helped many refugee families re-establish themselves after the trauma of fleeing to Hong Kong. On a May 1956 visit to Sunshine Island one of the resettled refugees expressed the success of the project to then Hong Kong Governor Sir Alexander Grantham: "Sir, owning one's own land, managing one's own affairs, does something to a man. Such cannot be achieved, or even understood, by those who are content to let the government fill their rice bowls for them." For this work, Borgeest was awarded the 1961 Ramon Magsaysay Prize, also known colloquially as "Asia's Nobel Prize". The work of the Sunshine Island community was supported by The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Hong Kong. Sunshine Island formed the basis of later drug rehabilitation settlements still existing in Hong Kong.

Fauna

After the construction of Hong Kong Disneyland, white-bellied sea eagles moved from their habitat in Pa Tau Kwu (扒頭鼓) of Lantau Island to Sunshine Island. There is also an endemic species, the Bogadek's legless lizard (Dibamus bogadeki) living on the island.

See also

• List of islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong
• Outlying Islands

References

External links

AreasLandmarks

Beaches	Cheung Chau Tung Wan Beach Hung Shing Yeh Beach Kwun Yam Beach Lo So Shing Beach Lower Cheung Sha Beach Pui O Beach Silver Mine Bay Beach Tong Fuk Beach Upper Cheung Sha Beach

Transport

Airport	Hong Kong International Airport Template
MTR stations	Airport AsiaWorld–Expo Tung Chung
Ngong Ping 360	Ngong Ping Terminal Tung Chung Terminal
Ferry piers	Cheung Chau Ferry Pier Peng Chau Ferry Pier Peng Chau Public Pier Silvermine Bay Ferry Pier Sok Kwu Wan Pier No. 2 Sok Kwu Wan Public Pier Yung Shue Wan Ferry Pier

IslandsCultureEducation