Sham Shui Po Literally Means Deep Water Pier

If you ever visit Sham Shui Po, in the northwestern part of Kowloon, you will be surrounded by tall buildings wherever you go. So much so that Sham Shui Po is the second most densely populated district in Hong Kong, with 47,000 inhabitants per square kilometer (122,000 inhabitants per square mile).

Yet, Sham Shui Po, in Cantonese, literally means Deep Water Pier — a name that doesn’t reflect the district’s current topography, as Sham Shui Po’s coastline totals a mere 522 meters (1,714 feet) in the 21st century.

When the Qing Dynasty leased the New Territories to the British in 1898, including the so-called New Kowloon, of which Sham Shui Po is a part, Kowloon was much smaller than it is today.

Indeed, decades of land reclamation projects have drastically altered the shape of Kowloon, and Sham Shui Po was no exception. Although the district’s name may not reflect its present topography, it harks back to a long-gone era when the waters off the coast of Sham Shui Po were much deeper than they are today — hence the name Deep Water Pier, or Sham Shui Po.