Po Toi

Po Toi (commonly Chinese: 蒲台島, originally 蒲苔島) is the main island of the Po Toi Islands and the southern-most island of Hong Kong, with an area of 3.69 km². It is said that the island used to produce dried seaweeds (苔), which were shaped like the cattail hassock (蒲團) used by the monks for sitting; therefore the island was originally called 蒲苔島, the present common name being a corruption. Another explanation states that Po Toi looks like a floating platform (浮台) when viewed from a distance on sea. 蒲 is another character meaning "to float" in the local dialect, thus giving the island its name. The island had historically a maximum of about 1,000 fishermen and farmers, whose economic activity consisted mainly in fishing, farming and...