Editing Sham Shui Po (section)

==History==
The discovery in 1955 of the [[Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum|Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb]] indicates that as early as 2,000 years ago, there were Chinese people settled in what is now Sham Shui Po. Sham Shui Po means "Deep Water Pier" in [[Cantonese]]. At the time, the water in Sham Shui Po was deeper than the beach of Cheung Sha Wan to the northwest. It is close to the former [[peninsula]] of Tai Kok Tsui, the low ridge of which ends in Sham Shui Po.

At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Sham Shui Po was 1,577. The number of males was 1,028.<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Hase| first = Patrick |author-link=Patrick Hase| title = Traditional Life in the New Territories: The Evidence of the 1911 and 1921 Censuses| journal =Journal of the [[Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch]]| volume = 36| page = 83| year = 1996| url = https://hkjo.lib.hku.hk/archive/files/ecc123316b3526a31a101b3c4cf08a12.pdf| issn = 1991-7295}}</ref>

In the first stage, the town of Sham Shui Po was bounded by [[Yen Chow Street]], [[Tung Chau Street]], [[Wong Chuk Street]], and [[Apliu Street]]. Part of the town was on [[Land reclamation in Hong Kong|reclamation]] land. The town was surrounded by the villages of {{ill|Un Chau|zh|元洲}}, [[Tin Liu (Kowloon)|Tin Liu]], and [[Tong Mei]]. A [[nullah]] along [[Nam Cheong Street]] was constructed to drain the water of rivers to the north and east (which explains the street's wideness). The town was closed to [[Cosmopolitan Dock]] on the outer shore of Tai Kok Tsui.

Under [[Japanese occupation of Hong Kong|Japanese occupation]], a concentration camp was maintained here for most of the duration of the Second World War. An account of life by a British POW has been published as ''The Hard Way: Surviving Shamshuipo POW Camp 1941–45'' by Victor Stanley Ebbage (Spellmount, 2011).