Cha Kwo Ling
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Cha Kwo Ling () is a hill in the eastern
New Kowloon New Kowloon is an area in Hong Kong, bounded to the south by Boundary Street, and to the north by the ranges of the Eagle's Nest, Beacon Hill, Lion Rock, Tate's Cairn and Kowloon Peak. It covers the present-day Kwun Tong District and Wong ...
area of
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, and the area around it. It is adjacent to
Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbor, harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. It acts as both a major trading hub and tourist attraction of Hong Kong in general. Lying in ...
and located to the west of
Yau Tong Yau Tong () is an area of Hong Kong, located in the southeastern end of Kowloon, between Lei Yue Mun and Lam Tin, at the east shore of Victoria Harbour, west of Tseung Kwan O. Administratively, it is part of Kwun Tong District, the most densely ...
and southwest of
Lam Tin Lam Tin is an area in the Kwun Tong District in southeastern New Kowloon, Hong Kong. Lam Tin is primarily a residential area but also hosts a major transport interchange and several shopping attractions. Lam Tin was once a large field in the ...
. Administratively, it belongs to the
Kwun Tong District Kwun Tong is one of the districts of Hong Kong, 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is located in Kowloon, and is the easternmost and southernmost district in Kowloon. It had a population of 666,500 in 2023. The district has the second highest pop ...
. The northeastern entrance to the
Eastern Harbour Crossing The Eastern Harbour Crossing (), abbreviated as "EHC" () is a combined road-rail tunnel that crosses beneath Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Opened on 21 September 1989, it is the second harbour-crossing tunnel built and the longest amongst t ...
is located in this area. The Cha Kwo Ling Village (), described as one of the last squatter villages in Hong Kong, has a population of approximately 2,400. It is located approximately northwest of Lei Yue Mun, adjacent to the Laguna City development. It lies at the foot of the hill and stretches along Cha Kwo Ling Road, which was built on
reclaimed land Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamatio ...
and separates the village from the coast.Antiquities and Monuments Offices - Introduction to 1444 Historic Buildings, item No.1242
In the 2019 and 2020 policy addresses, the chief executive stated that the government intends to take back possession of the Cha Kwo Ling Village and to redevelop the land into high-density public housing. Cha Kwo Ling derives its name from the abundance of '' macaranga tanarius'' in the area, the leaves of which are used in the process of making ''cha kwo'', a traditional Hakka snack.


History

Cha Kwo Ling Village was established before Hong Kong became a British colony. Cha Kwo Ling became a major
Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...
settlement after the establishment of
Victoria City Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
in 1841. The foundation of city drew a large demand of stone. Skillful Hakka people set up a
quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
in the stone-rich Cha Kwo Ling. It was one of four quarry hills
Civil Engineering and Development Department The Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) is a department of the Government of Hong Kong, Hong Kong government that reports to the Development Bureau. Its major services include provision of land and infrastructure, port and ma ...

"Further Development of Tseung Kwan O. Feasibility Study. Environmental Impact Assessment. Chapter 13"
July 2005
and one of the 13 major village districts in eastern New Kowloon. The usage of new building materials later made the demand for stone drop. The population profile changed during the Civil War in China, when penniless refugees from mainland China settled in and around the original mining village, building makeshift shacks in a maze of dark alleys. At its peak between the 1950s and the 1970s, the village had a population of about 20,000. Between 1983 and 2006, three big fires burned down many of the squatter houses and many villagers were relocated to public housing estates.


Features

There is a Tin Hau Temple along Cha Kwo Ling Road, next to Cha Kwo Ling Village. Initially built near the coast in Cha Kwo Ling in 1825, during the
Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
, it was destroyed by a typhoon in 1912.Brief Information on No Grade Items, item No.1164
The image of Tin Hau was then transferred to a shack nearby and remained there for thirty years.Chinese Temples Committee: Tin Hau Temple, Cha Kwo Ling
/ref> A new temple was built on the old site in 1941 with funds raised by the local villagers of '' Si Shan'' (, literally "four hills" composing four villages in the area, namely, Lei Yue Mun,
Ngau Tau Kok Ngau Tau Kok () is an area of eastern Kowloon in Hong Kong, in the north of Kwun Tong District east to Kowloon Bay. Largely residential, Ngau Tau Kok has a population in excess of 210,000. Geography In Chinese, Ngau Tau Kok translates to ...
, Sai Tso Wan and Cha Kwo Ling). However, the temple was demolished in 1947 to give way for the construction of an oil tank of Asiatic Petroleum Company (South China) Limited. At the request of the local residents, a new temple was built at the present site. The current temple opened officially in 1948. It has been managed by the
Chinese Temples Committee The Chinese Temples Committee () is a statutory body in Hong Kong established in 1928 under the Chinese Temples Ordinance () (Cap. 153). It is mainly responsible for the operation and management of twenty-four temples directly under its managemen ...
since then.Antiquities and Monuments Offices - Introduction to 1444 Historic Buildings, item No.1164
The building is constructed of
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
blocks, which is uncommon in Hong Kong. Its roofs have been covered with brown ceramic tiles in a 1999 renovation. Two rocks stand in front of the Tin Hau Temple. Shaped like two testicles, they have been named " Fung Shui Rocks", "Child-Giving Rocks" or "Stone of Fertility", and are believed to bless those who pray to them for sons. Law Mansion (), located at Nos. 50A, 51 & 51A Cha Kwo Ling Road, is a village house in the centre of Cha Kwo Ling Village. Constructed in 1855 of locally quarried granite, it is the oldest surviving residential building in Cha Kwo Ling.Brief Information on No Grade Items, item No.1242


Education

Cha Kwo Ling is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 48. Within the school net are multiple aided schools (operated independently but funded with government money) and Kwun Tong Government Primary School.


Transport

The nearest
MTR The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...
stations are Lam Tin station and
Yau Tong station Yau Tong () is a station on the Hong Kong MTR and the . It is the only station of the Tseung Kwan O line located in Kowloon. The livery of the station is yellow. The train platforms are constructed above ground level, which are sealed from ...
.
Minibus A minibus, microbus, or minicoach is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is us ...
lines connect Cha Kwo Ling to the stations.


References


Further reading

*


External links

*
RTHK: ''Hong Kong Connection''. "茶果嶺的餘暉".

RTHK: ''Hong Kong Connection''. "茶果嶺的餘暉".
{{coord, 22.3037, N, 114.231, E, source:kolossus-zhwiki, display=title Kwun Tong District Villages in Kwun Tong District, Hong Kong New Kowloon