Joss House Bay Rock Inscription, Inscribed stone at Joss House Bay, Hong Kong.
The Joss House Bay Rock Inscription is a granite rock face carved with Chinese characters on the coast of Sai Kung District, Hong Kong, near the Tin Hau Temple at Tai Miu Wan. The text is cut directly into the stone surface above the waterline and remains legible despite long exposure to coastal weather.
The inscription was commissioned in 1274 by a salt administration officer of the Southern Song Dynasty named Yan Yizhang to record his visit to this stretch of coast. It is among the earliest known written documents linked to the territory now called Hong Kong.
The inscription stands close to the Tin Hau Temple, a place dedicated to the goddess worshipped by fishing communities along this coast. Visiting both together gives a sense of how deeply maritime life shaped the way people here expressed faith and belonging.
The rock sits right at the shoreline next to the Tin Hau Temple at Tai Miu Wan and is reached on foot from a small parking area at the end of the road. Wear shoes with good grip since the ground near the water can be uneven and slippery.
What sets this inscription apart from others in the region is that it carries an exact date, which is rare for rock carvings of this kind. That date makes it the oldest dated Chinese text found on Hong Kong territory.
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