Every time Zhang Baozai robbed a merchant ship, other than valuable things,  he kidnapped men, women or children on board and  ask their family to pay huge amount of ransom. If they fail to pay the designated among of money in time, he then killed the victims on the rock publicly .

If you have read something about Hong Kong, you are very likely to have heard reports about this pirate leader because at one time the number of pirates under his command was as many as 70,000. The level of armament of his pirate fleet was thrice that of the English fleet and Spanish armada combined at the 1588 battle between England and Spain.

Zhang Baozai, was initially named as Zhang Bao. The last part of the name zai in Cantonese means a kid.  He was indeed a kid of an ordinary fisherman family before becoming a pirate. But before he reached the age of 16, he was kidnapped by some pirates and was adopted as foster son of a member in the gang.

By the time he was 21 years old, he proved himself a brave and intelligent fighter and he was soon chosen as one of the pirate leaders. Under his leadership, his fleet scored high record of repeatedly defeating the navy sent to capture the pirates .

The spot on which Zhang Boazai killed his victims is a rock protruding above from the water close to a ferry pier in Stanley Beach. People have given this rock a nickname as "Head Chopping Platform".

If you browse around here, you will find mini temples worshiping gods like Tin Hau, Tam Kung, Sing Wong and Yuk Wong. Among these gods, Sing Wong and Tin Hau has the highest number of worshipers.

However, part of name of the place A Kung means the god Tam Kung, he was once a god worshiped by fishermen in many parts of Hong Kong. But now A Kung Ngam is the only area in Hong Kong you can find the temple worshiping Tam Kung.

There are several versions of folklore about this special god: One version says initially Tam kung was a shepherd boy. Then one day he met a divine being and he was enlightened to know the secret of life. Finally he became one of the gods himself.

Another version states that when Tam Kung was young, he was a well educated man and he cared much about the poor and unlucky people within the community where he resided.

As he grew older he became extremely eager to know more about the meaning of life, so he traveled to remote areas to find sages to teach him the secret he had been longing for. Finally he became a god who is willing to extend helping hand to the poor or people in trouble.

The last word of the name is Ngam. In Cantonese it means rock. And at first the Tam Kung temple was built behind a rock. One folklore states that the rock was a huge stamp from heaven which denote the authority of Tam Kung. That means Tam Kung was assigned by the king of all divines to manage events happen around the spot.

History of Hong Kong tells us that before 1800s A Kung Ngam was a port for export of stone materials. As people living around the area were fishermen, there were numerous boats and ships in the vicinity, so it became a typhoon shelter.

Since boats as well as ships needed maintenance regularly, shipyards were built along the shore here. Up to now these shipyards have been producing boats for the special moment of boat racing during Dragon Boat Festival every year.

At the end of the 20th century, land reclamation from the sea caused fishing boats to anchor elsewhere. Nowadays, the number of shipyards has largely decreased due to a shrinking in number of ships going there.

Other than the local beliefs of gods, there are churches in A Kung Ngam too. If you walk along the main street, you will easily see the building of Tsung Tsin Church. It was built in 1862 by local Hakka and priests from the Swiss Basel Church. The church was once occupied by the Japanese during the Second World War. They used it as a military police headquarter.

If you happen to travel in Hong Kong and want to visit this area, you may go to Hong Kong island, climb on the tram heading for Shau Kei Wan. In about 30 to 45 minutes, you will arrive the terminal in the eastern part of the island. From there your walk along Shau Kei Wan Main Street East, you will soon find yourself moving in A Kung Ngam.

Take a glance at the video a visit to Hong Kong and you will see how the monkeys behave when they are fed. From here go further up for 20 minutes, you will find yourself heading forward on Kam Shan Family Walk which is located within the Kowloon Reservoir catchment area.

Since its location lies within the Kam Shan Country park where there are forests. this place has the feature of being close to the city, yet filled with abundant fresh air. So it becomes one of the popular hiking spots in Kowloon.

At the other end of the Family Walk, there exists the Morning Walkers' Garden. Many local citizens come here in the morning to exercise and enjoy the feel of natural sunshine.

When you enter this temple, you are travelling back in time over 100 years ago and experiencing the superstitious thoughts of the early fishermen before the arrival of the British soveriegnty.

The legend or folklore of the Ocean God Temple [海神廟]
Here goes the folklore. Once upon a day, a construction contractor found a wooden object on the rock congested beach.

He found that it was some kinda strange object he had never seen and he thought it was a symbol of the God from the sea, so he pray to this object by saying that if he could get rid of his poverty, he would build a temple to worship the Ocean God some day.

The totem he picked up was about one meter tall. It has long snake like hair, and it resemble a girls with dark skin.

Several years later, this contracter became a business man with much money. So he kept his promise and build the Ocean God Temple [海神廟] on the Shek O beach.

Pay a visit to this temple, then you may find out how Chinese traditional architecture is different from that of Europe.

About Shek O
The part of the island was orignally named as Heaung Dao Bay or Sampan Bay. But due to the fact that there are rocks amassed on the beach, and rock iin Cantonese is Shek, beach is O, so people started to call the area Shek O instead.

Shek O can be described as one of the few suburbs on Hong Kong Island. It is situated in the southeast part of the island, far away from the hustle and bustle of city life. A majority of the land is covered by country parks and mountains. The residential area is located near Shek O Beach.

The Shek O Country Park is the largest recreational area found in the Hong Kong Trail Section. It's a great place for people who are interested in finding out more about the natural landscape and hiking.

Many rocks and hills at the seaside of Shek O have been transformed into something fascinating, due to continuous weathering and disintegration. This unique occurrence has made Shek O one of the most valuable natural landscapes in Hong Kong.

How to get there
You may find buses and minibus near the Exchange Square Building in the central district going to and fro Shek O. It takes a little more than an hour for you to arrive the beach if you start you journel in central.

If you like to explore the natural beauty of this little city on foot, Kowloon Reservoir is a nice place to visit. This man-made lake was once a valley between two hills, Smuggler's Ridge and Needle Hill. Both of them are located in Kowloon. The catchment areas of this lake lies within Kam Shan Country Park.

Here the authorities have planted dense secondary forest to help retain water and control soil loss. These woodlands around the reservoir are feeding grounds for a great variety of animals.

To begin your hiking journey , I suggest you start from Tai Po Road and trail your way on the road winding up by the Country Park warden post. Very soon you will reach Kowloon Byewah Reservoir and Kam Shan Tree Walk. When you set foot on Golden Hill Road, you will get the fine bird's views of Kowloon Reservoir.

On your way to the reservoir, you may find lots of wild monkeys roaming around, and so the area is also called "Monkey Hill". But be cautious, just ignore them and don't feed these animals because they may go quite nasty sometimes. Apart from feeding them is illegal, the monkeys are aggressive, they may attack visitors when they fight for food. At the end of Wilson Trail, there goes the route through some reforestation woodlands. When you walk past these woodlands you have reached Kowloon Reservoir and enjoy a great deal of scenic beauty.

For transportation, you may go to Nathan Road, Monkok and take bus no 81, then you will arive the section of Tai Po Road within Piper's Hill in less than one hour.

Underneath the escalator lies the Gage Street Market. Contrasting the dry markets that exist in Central (e.g. Li Yuen Street’s endless supply of clothes, watches, shoes, clothes, clothes and clothes), this ‘wet’ market offers a robust selection of fresh fish, meat, vegetables and fruit. If you watch long enough you will surely see the butchers carve up some meat or pork from the thick loins and chops that hang from hooks. Equally fascinating is spying a fish monger carving up a whole white fish and determining the costs by weighing it with a ‘catty’ string-balance. If the market stokes your appetite, there are some very tasty noodle shops tucked behind the market stalls. The continued development of Soho however threatens to send the Gage Street Market as well as Soho’s winding, sloping alleys into the history books.

The compact Hong Kong Museum of History presents Hong Kong’s Story (the primary exhibit) from the formation of the island through to present day. Geological details blend with historical reviews of the Han and Qing Dynasties, Great Britain’s rule, Japan’s World War II occupation and Hong Kong’s recent return to China. The Hong Kong Story takes about 2 hours and can be supplemented with additional videos if desired. Special exhibitions are added on a temporary basis. Oddly, the museum is open everyday but Tuesday.

The interactive Hong Kong Science Museum provides a vibrant setting to learn about a vast range of science and technology concepts. With over 400 ‘hands-on’ exhibits that explore everything from basic scientific and technology concepts to advanced robotics and virtual reality, the Hong Kong Science Museum lets you participate and learn in a vibrant setting. The four floors of interactive stations makes this a perfect place to bring children – especially if they are a bit rambunctious after having just visited the reading intensive Hong Kong Museum of History. If you are planning ahead, the HK Science Museum takes Thursdays off.

Every evening, children and those who were free from work would gather under banyan trees and spent hours sitting on rocks and flipping paper fans to make themselve cool from the hot weather.

At the same time a story teller would loudly and verbally narrate legends of ancient heroes, historical stories or fantasy tales like Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Monkey's Journey to the West and The Dream in the Red Chamber. Sometimes these story narrators also revealed news about the latest happenings in the world around the island.

Banyan, in Cantonese, sounds as Yung Shue. It is also part of the name of a small town Yung Shue Wan in Hong Kong. The last word Wan means bay. So as a whole, the name means a bay with banyan trees. And the phrase Yung Shue to the older generation of Hong Kong people, is a memorable term for the old time when there was no school and most people on the island didn't know how to read and write. The stories they heard under the banyan trees was the only source of their education.

A few decades ago, Yung Shue Wan was still a small rural village, depending chiefly on agriculture and fishery. In recent years, It has expanded into a small town accommodating over 2000 people. The more laid-back lifestyle and lower rentals are its main attractions for people to live in here.

Walking through the narrow streets between the tightly packed buildings, you'll see shops and restaurants that reflect this mixed heritage: stalls with dried fish, shops selling hi-tech appliances and outlets that look as if they've been established by latter-day hippies.

If the antique prices are too exorbitant, continue west along Hollywood Road to peruse less expensive (and lower quality) antiques. If you tire of shopping, continue west until you reach the Man-Mo Temple. This Man-Mo Temple (there is more than one in Hong Kong), built early in Hong Kong’s colonial era, has an attractive façade centered by a thick red door. Inside, the key icons include Chinese imperial chairs and a bronze bell that date back to 1962 and 1847, respectively. The Temple pays tribute to two Taoists gods: Man (literature) and Mo (war); plaques at the entrance detail the history of the temple and gods. To ‘experience’ the temple requires pushing through the chunky incense filled air to the front alter. For a small donation, you can light a few incense sticks (three is customary) and place them in the sand.

Possession Street marks the first spot where the British landed in 1841. This will seem odd at first since this thin, sloping street lies well inland from Victoria Harbour; the result from years of land reclamations that extended Hong Kong Island further into Victoria Harbour. The neighboring Ginseng and Bird’s Nest Market fittingly offer Bird’s Nest soup, a local delicacy made by dissolving the nest in water until it become gelatinous. Many other shops in this area sell everything from Chinese fireworks to traditional moon cake snacks. Getting lost (temporarily) among the twisting, angled streets provides the best way to experience Hong Kong’s history and interact among many local residents. The Western Market, a brown, colonial building stands starkly against the cluttered shops of Bonham Strand West and Wing Lok Street. Built in 1906, this Edwardian-style building was renovated in 1988 and opened as a food market in 1991. If shopping is no longer on the agenda proceed to Sheung Wan Fong, an outdoor plaza, to relax.