Sunny Bay Does not Exist

Anyone who’s ever been to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort by MTR is familiar with Sunny Bay Station on the Tung Chung Line. Paradoxically, even though there is a Sunny Bay Station, there is no part of Hong Kong known as Sunny Bay.

Indeed, if you look at a map of Hong Kong, you will not find any mention of Sunny Bay anywhere on the territory. However, directly west of Sunny Bay Station lies the bay after which the station was named—namely 陰澳灣 (Yam O Wan), which, literally translated into English, means "Shadowed Bay" or "Gloomy Bay" and bears a negative connotation.

For obvious reasons, this name didn’t fit the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, the happiest place on earth, which the station was to serve as an interchange for. As a result, the Hong Kong government resorted to a simple trick.

陰 (yam), which in Cantonese means "shadowed" or "hidden" is phonetically very close to 欣 (yan), which means "happy" or "joyful." Consequently, Yam O Wan ("Dark Bay") was transformed into Yan O Wan ("Happy Bay" or "Joyful Bay"), or Sunny Bay as we know it today. The nearby bay, however, was not renamed and is still known, to this day, as Yam O Wan.