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Have you ever wondered about the origins of the name of an MTR stop on the Island Line?
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Tai Koo station was named after Hong Kong company Swire Group, which celebrated its 150th year anniversary last year.
Taikoo, Swire's Chinese name, can be loosely translated as "great and ancient." Additionally, the Chinese characters for Taikoo closely resemble the characters for D'ai-Gut, meaning "Big Luck," with just a few brush strokes differentiating them. This interesting choice makes the company name doubly auspicious.
Taikoo Shing, a residential area in the eastern part of Hong Kong island, can roughly be translated as "Swire City." Housing prices at Taikoo Shing have long been a bellwether of Hong Kong's housing market health. Taikoo Shing and Taikoo Place, Swire's commercial complex in Quarry Bay, are built on the very same land where the company formerly refined sugar and built ships. There, you will find streets such as Shipyard Lane and Tong Chong Street - tributes to the area's industrial history.
Through its charitable trust, Swire is also involved in many philanthropic initiatives in Hong Kong.
One of these initiatives, TrustTomorrow, focuses on three main pillars: increasing education opportunities, marine conservation, and growing the arts, working towards building a more diverse and inclusive Hong Kong. TrustTomorrow is set to fund 30 projects in the next few years.
From a MTR station to apartments to office buildings, the Taikoo name has become deeply ingrained in our home.
The next time you find yourself at Tai Koo Station, by the Cityplaza exit, be sure to look out for the original foundation stone for Taikoo Dockyard. It serves as a memento of the past and a testament to how far Hong Kong has come in the past 150 years.
Bernard Charnwut Chan is chairman of Tai Kwun Culture & Arts Co Ltd.
