Pearl oysters have been harvested in Hong Kong for hundreds of years. The medicinal properties that pearls contain make them precious. An ancient script from 1295 states that troops were stationed in Tai Po to collect and protect them. To ensure the pearls collected in Tai Po could safely reach Guangzhou (the capital city of Southern Han during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period), they were shipped along the Pearl River, which is believed to be why it is so named.