Settlements were found in the coastal region of Tsim Sha Tsui as early as the Ming Dynasty. The inland, however, was too barren a place to live, with rugged hills and weeds growing all around. In the northwestern part (near Jordon today) was Kwun Chung Hill, which impeded the flow of ocean currents along western Tsim Sha Tsui and helped form in the south (i.e. the area around Peninsula Hong Kong today) a beach suitable for settlement. In the Qing dynasty, villages such as Tsim Sha Tau, Tsim Sha Mei and Kwun Chung already existed.