Sunshine Island also known as Chau Kung To (周公島) indigenously, is a companion island of Hei Ling Chau

Hei Ling Chau

Hei Ling Chau , formerly Hayling Chau, is an island of Hong Kong, located east of Silver Mine Bay and Chi Ma Wan of Lantau Island. It is administratively part of the Islands District.-Geography:...

 in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

. Northeast of Hei Ling Chau and south of Peng Chau

Peng Chau

Peng Chau is a small island located off the north-eastern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong, which has an area of 0.99 km².Peng Chau is known for its small island lifestyle, accessibility to fresh seafood, and several temples located around the island...

, the island was once used as a drug addiction treatment centre. With some abandoned buildings, the island is not inhabited any more. Some scenic rocks remains. There is no public transport to the island.

History

Friend (Quaker) Gus Borgeest, born in Ningpo 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 Hong Kong's Governor General, 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'. See Magsaysay Prize website for a biography of Borgeest at http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographyBorgeestGus.htm 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

Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland is located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. It is the first theme park located inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and is owned and managed by the Hong Kong International Theme Parks. The park opened to visitors on 12 September 2005...

, White-bellied Sea Eagle

White-bellied Sea Eagle

The White-bellied Sea Eagle , also known as the White-breasted Sea Eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related to Sanford's Sea Eagle of the Solomon Islands, and the two are considered a superspecies...

 moved from their habitat in Pa Tau Kwu (扒頭鼓) of Lantau Island

Lantau Island

Lantau Island , based on the old local name of Lantau Peak , is the largest island in Hong Kong, located at the mouth of the Pearl River. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands District of Hong Kong...

 to Sunshine Island. There is also an endemic Bogadek's legless lizard (Dibamus bogadeki) living on the island.

External links

• webpage about wildlife protection (WWF HK)
• Satellite image from Google Maps