Lam Tin is an area in 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 ...

in southeastern

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 ...

, Hong Kong. Lam Tin is primarily a residential area but also hosts a major

transport interchange A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between mode of transport, transport modes. Public transport hubs include train station, railway stations, metro station, rapid transit stations, bus ...

and several shopping attractions. Lam Tin was once a large field in the vicinity of

Kowloon Bay Kowloon Bay (Chinese: 九龍灣) is a bay within Victoria Harbour and a neighbourhood within Kowloon, Hong Kong. The bay is located at the east of the Kowloon Peninsula and north of Hong Kong Island. It is the eastern portion of Victor ...

. During the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

, it was a site of salt production. Since the

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 335px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Space Shuttle Columbia, Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union, Soviet General Secretary of the Communist Party of ...

, a number of housing estates were constructed in Lam Tin. A high-density residential district built on a coastal

knoll In geography, knoll is another term for a knowe or hillock, a small, low, round natural hill or mound. Knoll may also refer to: Places * Knoll Camp, site of an Iron Age hill fort Hampshire, England, United Kingdom * Knoll Lake, Leonard Canyon, ...

, Lam Tin hosts residential

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...

s, transport infrastructure,

mass-transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

facilities, shopping centres, recreational areas and many other buildings and structures. It is home to 130,000 residents, making up a fifth of Kwun Tong District's population.

Geographical location

In common speech, the name Lam Tin in the past usually included the areas of

Lei Yue Mun Lei Yue Mun is a short channel in Hong Kong. It lies between Junk Bay and Victoria Harbour, separating Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. The channel is an important passage for the city, forming the eastern entrance of Victoria Harbour. The lan ...

and

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 ...

. However, new infrastructure and housing estates that were built there are not now considered part of Lam Tin. Conventional boundaries of Lam Tin: west to Laguna City, southeast to Kwong Tin Estate, north to the entrance of Tseung Kwan O Tunnel, southwest 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 ...

Geography

Lam Tin is overlooked to the east by Black Hill, or Ng Kwai Shan. The rock below this locality is Hong Kong

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 ...

from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

period. Most granite rock in Lam Tin is medium-grained. The granite in Lam Tin is of the

Lion Rock Lion Rock, or less formally Lion Rock Hill, is a List of mountains, peaks and hills in Hong Kong, mountain in Hong Kong. It is located in Sha Tin District, between Kowloon Tong of Kowloon and Tai Wai of the New Territories, and is high. The ...

suite. Farther towards the shore, a small area of land to the west of Cha Kwo Ling was

reclaimed 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 reclamation ...

Politics

The entire Lam Tin area is located in

. Politically, Lam Tin is the name of a constituency of Kwun Tong District, which includes the area of the former Lam Tin Estate. However, in common speech, the name Lam Tin usually refers to a larger area which includes nine constituencies of Kwun Tong District. ;Constituencies of the

Kwun Tong District Council The Kwun Tong District Council () is the district council for the Kwun Tong District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Kwun Tong District Council consists of 40 members since January 2020, of which the district is divided into 4 ...

within the Lam Tin area *J17 Kwong Tak () *J18 Hing Tin () *J19

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 ...

() *J20 Ping Tin () *J21 Pak Nga () *J27 Laguna City () *J28 King Tin ()

History

Located along the coast of southern China, Lam Tin was first settled around the 9th century BC by the

Nanyue Nanyue ( zh, c=南越 or 南粵, p=Nányuè, cy=, j=Naam4 Jyut6, l=Southern Yue, , ), was an ancient kingdom founded in 204 BC by the Chinese general Zhao Tuo, whose family (known in Vietnamese as the Triệu dynasty) continued to rule until ...

people. The

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

conquered the Nanyue in the late 3rd century BC as part of their unification of China. Since then, the land presently known as Lam Tin became identified as part of China. Lam Tin, called Ham Tin Shan () at that time, literally meaning "salty field hill", had been part of

salt-fields (, also known as ''Guanfuchang'' ) under the management of

Dongguan Dongguan,; pinyin: alternately romanized via Cantonese as Tungkun, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou t ...

County or

Xin'an County Xin'an County () is a county in the west of Henan Province, bordering Shanxi Province to the north across the Yellow River. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Luoyang, and contains its northernmost point. History In an ...

in different dynasties. The salt-fields were first officially operated by the

in 1163. The Kowloon Bay salt-fields were rich in salt, and this brought wealth to the residents near the bay. Gradually, Ham Tin Shan became villages. Because of the region's shoreline location, agricultural activities started with the plantation of high-salinity crops. With a quarry found in So Mo Ping (now

Sau Mau Ping Sau Mau Ping () is an area part of Kwun Tong District, in eastern Kowloon, Hong Kong. Name Its Chinese name was formerly So Mau Ping (), but this was often mis-rendered So Mo Ping (), meaning a place to 'Ancestor worship, visit one's ancestor ...

), the region gradually became a small fishing, farming and quarrying town. In 1662, the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 165420 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 ...

moved all residents along southern China coastline inland by 50

Chinese mile ''Li'' or ri (, ''lǐ'', or , ''shìlǐ''), also known as the Chinese mile, is a Chinese units of measurement, traditional Chinese unit of distance. The ''li'' has varied considerably over time but was usually about one third of an English mile ...

s and abandoned the salt-fields in hopes of weakening the pirate

Zheng Chenggong Zheng Chenggong (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), born Zheng Sen () and better known internationally by his honorific title Koxinga (, from Taiwanese: ''kok sèⁿ iâ''), was a Southern Ming general who resisted the Qing conquest of China ...

's power through cutting his support from coastline residents. Although the residents were allowed to return in 1669, after the Kangxi Emperor discovered that the migration brought great economic harm, the salt industry in Ham Tin never prospered again. In 1841, the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

acquired Hong Kong. The western half of the Kowloon Bay salt-fields becoming part of British Hong Kong in 1860 and the eastern half in 1898. In the 20th century, the salt-fields were abandoned for reclamation to facilitate the building of

Kai Tak Airport Kai Tak Airport was an international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply K ...

. To reflect this change in land usage, Ham Tin was renamed Lam Tin of similar pronunciation because the village no longer produced salt. The name Lam Tin came from Lantian,

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

, which came from a phrase "", literally "produced from the blue fields is jade". The name Lam Tin was officially endorsed on 1 September 1970. The colonial government built

Lam Tin Estate The following shows an overview of public housing estates, including those of the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS), Private Sector Participation Scheme (PSPS), and Tenant Purchase Scheme (TPS), in Lam Tin of Kwun Tong District, Kowloon, Hong Kong ...

in the

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the Woodstock, 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong ...

to settle low-income residents during the influx of population from mainland China after the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. Gradually, Lam Tin became a common term to

Hongkonger Hongkongers (), Hong Kongers, Hong Kong citizens and Hong Kong people are demonyms that refer to a resident of Hong Kong, although they may also refer to others who were born and/or raised in the territory. The earliest inhabitants of Ho ...

s describing the areas around Lam Tin Estate. The dragon emblem painted on Block 15 of Lam Tin Estate was a symbol of Lam Tin's unity until the building's demolition in 1998. Much of Lam Tin Estate's footprint was absorbed by newer public housing estates. With the building of three major transport structures in the late 20th century – the

Kwun Tong Bypass The Kwun Tong Bypass (also spelt Kwun Tong By-pass) is an elevated Controlled-access highway, expressway between Lam Tin and Kowloon Bay in Kwun Tong District, East Kowloon, Kowloon East, Hong Kong, with three lanes in each direction and a posted ...

, 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 ...

, and the

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), ...

– Lam Tin became even more interconnected with the rest of Hong Kong, spurring a population surge in the district and becoming a major transport interchange. This is further augmented by the opening of

Tseung Kwan O–Lam Tin Tunnel The Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel () is a tunnel in Hong Kong that is part of Route 6. Originally expected to open in 2021, its opening was delayed to 11 December 2022 due to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19. The tunnel connects Lam Tin to th ...

in 2022.

Housing

The first modern

in Lam Tin was Lam Tin Estate. The estate was built in the

and the

1970s File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War ...

to settle the influx of mainland immigrants. The late

saw the district's first private residential buildings. Various facilities built during the

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...

made Lam Tin a compact residential area, however Lam Tin Estate was demolished in the 1990s and was redeveloped, with most of its footprint absorbed into Kai Tin Estate, On Tin Estate, and Ping Tin Estate; a small section retained the name Lam Tin Estate. Most of the residents in Lam Tin are Chinese, but due to an influx of Japanese immigrants during the 1990s, people of Japanese descent have become common in Lam Tin, particularly in Sceneway Garden and Laguna City, which now features a Japanese

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

Lam Tin Estate

consisted of

tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. ...

s numbered 1 to 24. Blocks 1 to 14 of Lam Tin Estate were built between 1962 and 1965 as type 4 public housing buildings (); the other 10 towers were built between 1969 and 1975 as type 6 public housing buildings (). There was no Block 9, leaving the number of buildings in Lam Tin Estate at 23. The

Chinese dragon The Chinese dragon or loong is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and Chinese culture generally. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms, such as Bixi (mythology), turtles and Chiwen, fish, but are most commonly ...

, which has symbolised unity of Chinese people since it was the first national emblem of unified China, is painted in multicolour on Block 15's south and north facing walls because it was the 500th public housing building in Hong Kong. Block 15's distinctive imagery made it a recognisable symbol of Lam Tin and the district's unity. After demolition and reconstruction, Block 15 became part of Ping Tin Estate. Building structure of Lam Tin Estate's blocks is standardised by the government. As types 3, 4 and 6 buildings, the 23 towers of Lam Tin Estate were shaped as

cuboid In geometry, a cuboid is a hexahedron with quadrilateral faces, meaning it is a polyhedron with six Face (geometry), faces; it has eight Vertex (geometry), vertices and twelve Edge (geometry), edges. A ''rectangular cuboid'' (sometimes also calle ...

s and resembled candy-boxes standing on a knoll. Most buildings were 16-storeys high and housed about 800 units. Each building had an estimated capacity of 3,000 residents and an approximate space allocation at 30 ft² per person. Bathrooms and kitchens were combined into one compartment, as were

living room In Western architecture, a living room, also called a lounge room (Australian English), lounge (British English), sitting room (British English), or drawing room, is a room for relaxing and socializing in a Dwelling, residential house or apa ...

s and

bedroom A bedroom or bedchamber is a room situated within a residential or accommodation unit characterized by its usage for sleeping. A typical Western world, western bedroom contains as bedroom furniture one or two beds, a clothes closet, and bedsid ...

Lift Lift or LIFT may refer to: Physical devices * Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods ** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop ** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobile ...

s only reached some of the floors. To access the other floors, one needed to exit the lift at a level nearby and hike upstairs or downstairs. On the ground floor beneath the buildings were a variety of shops which served the residents. Although densely packed, the living environment of Lam Tin Estate fostered close relationships in the neighbourhood. Owing to the ageing of buildings, the reconstruction of Lam Tin Estate was announced in September 1995 as part of an urban renewal project. Demolition started in 1997 and was completed in 2002. After reconstruction, Lam Tin Estate became Kai Tin Estate, Tak Tin Estate, Ping Tin Estate and Hong Yat Court.

Laguna City and Sceneway Garden

Laguna City and Sceneway Garden were the earliest large-scale private-housing estates built in Lam Tin. Both were built by

Cheung Kong Holdings Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, is a multinational conglomerate, based in Hong Kong. It was one of Hong Kong's leading multi-national conglomerates. The company merged with its subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa on 3 June 2015, as part of a ma ...

and completed in the early 1990s.''Market Behaviour of Developers''
– Consumer Council. Retrieved on 18 February 2007. In the late 1980s, Cheung Kong acquired two pieces of land in Lam Tin, one being a former

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

oil depot An oil terminal (also called a tank farm, tankfarm, oil installation or oil depot) is an industrial facility for the storage of oil, petroleum and petrochemical products, and from which these products are transported to end users or other stor ...

, the other above the newly built Lam Tin MTR station and bus terminus, and developed them into Laguna City and Sceneway Garden respectively. Laguna City was completed in 1991 and Sceneway Garden was completed in 1992. Sceneway Garden is built on the

podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...

above Lam Tin station. The podium was built in a valley between Cha Kwo Ling and Lam Tin Hill, which hosted a waste-car dump-site before its construction. It has a total of 17 towers and a gross floor area of 280,760 m². There are altogether 4112 flats housing approximately 20,000 people. It also has two carparks, one for residents and one for visitors. Built together with Sceneway Garden was Sceneway Plaza, which is a major shopping mall in southeastern Kowloon. Laguna City is built along Lam Tin's waterfront taking over the land from the former oil depot. Part of Laguna City is 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 ...

. Laguna City consists of four phases, totalling 38 towers upon its 1991 completion. Built together with Laguna City was Laguna Park, which was completed in 1994 and then handed over to

Urban Council The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

. Laguna Park has a total area of . Phases 1, 2 and 4 of Laguna City are managed by the same company, while phase 3 has an independent management authority. Similarly, phases 1, 2 and 4 share the same owners' committee, whereas phase 3 has its own.

List of villages and housing estates in Lam Tin

* Cha Kwo Ling Village * Hing Tin Estate *Hong Nga Court *Hong Pak Court *Hong Shui Court *Hong Tin Court *Hong Wah Court *Hong Yat Court * Hong Ying Court * Kai Tin Estate *Kai Tin Tower * Kwong Tin Estate * Laguna City *

*Lei On Court * Ping Tin Estate * Sceneway Garden *

Tak Tin Estate Tak Tin Estate () is a mixed public/TPS estate in Lam Tin, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It consists of 9 blocks completed in 1991 and 2001. In 1999, some of the flats (Tak Hong House and Tak Yan House excluded) were sold to tenants through Tenants Purchas ...

In addition, Ko Chun Court and Ko Yee Estate in

and Ma Yau Tong Village in

Tiu Keng Leng Tiu Keng Leng (), Rennie's Mill, is an area of Hong Kong in the Sai Kung District adjacent to Tseung Kwan O (Junk Bay). The area used to be a refugee village housing former Kuomintang officials and followers who escaped to Hong Kong from main ...

are sometimes considered part of Lam Tin.

Facilities

Being a compact residential area, Lam Tin has various facilities to satisfy its residents' daily needs. These include shopping malls, recreational facilities, water and other supplies. Furthermore, during the 1970s and 1980s, Lam Tin hosted

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

Shopping

To meet the daily demands of its residents, Lam Tin hosts a number of shopping malls and markets. Most residential estates host individual shopping malls, and some of them have wet markets in addition to malls. These include: *Hing Tin Commercial Centre *Kai Tin Shopping Centre *Kwong Tin Market *Kwong Tin Shopping Centre *Laguna Arcade *Laguna Plaza *Man Yau Market *Ping Tin Shopping Centre *Sceneway Plaza *Tak Tin Estate Market *Tak Tin Shopping Centre

Schools

To serve its residents, Lam Tin has a number of schools. They include kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools. Some schools in Lam Tin are subsidised, others are private. Lam Tin 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. ;List of schools in Lam Tin *Cannan International Kindergarten *Creative Day Nursery *Five Districts Business Welfare Association Szeto Ho Secondary School *Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Tam Nursery School *Lam Tin Methodist Primary School * Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong *OISCA H.K. Japanese Kindergarten (Kowloon) *Princess Alexandra Red Cross Residential School *SKH Kei Hau Secondary School *SKH Lee Shiu Keung Primary School *SKH Tak Tin Lee Shiu Keung Primary School *St. Edward's Catholic Primary School *St. Paul's School (Lam Tin) *The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong Ling on Kindergarten *Think International Kindergarten

Recreation

Lam Tin has a number of public parks, recreation grounds and indoor sports centres for its residents' use, including Lam Tin Park and Sai Tso Wan Recreation Ground. It is also home to part of the Wilson Trail. There are also a few government indoor activity centres, including Lam Tin West Community Centre, Lam Tin South Indoor Sports Ground and Lam Tin Complex, as well as a number of private recreational facilities. Lam Tin Park was built along Black Hill in 1991 to serve the needs of the fast-growing community. It consists mainly of

hiking trail A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. " ...

s and

walkways In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails. '' The New Oxford American Dictionary'' also defines a walkway as "a passage or path for walking along, esp. a ...

, with a 5-a-side

football pitch A football pitch or soccer field is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is ty ...

and a children's

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...

. It also serves as an entrance to the Wilson Trail. The whole of Lam Tin and

can be viewed from the lookout point at the peak of Lam Tin Park. Sai Tso Wan Recreation Ground was built between 1995 and 2004 over the former Sai Tso Wan Landfill. During the construction, the former landfill underwent a series of restoration works. A final capping layer was added to prevent leakage; a

landfill gas Landfill gas is a mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill as they decompose organic waste, including for example, food waste and paper waste. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane, ...

control system was used to deploy

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

from the decomposed rubbish as fuel, and a

leachate A leachate is any liquid that, in the course of passing through matter, extracts soluble or suspended solids, or any other component of the material through which it has passed. Leachate is a widely used term in the environmental sciences wh ...

management system was built to collect leachate for further processing. The recreation ground started its operation on 30 April 2004. The Lam Tin Complex on 1 Hing Ting Street was built between 2009 and 2013. The facilities of the complex includes two indoor swimming pools (25x25 and 25x10 metres respectively), the Kwun Tong Music Centre, a self-study room, rooftop gardens, and the new two-floor Lam Tin Public Library, which relocated from smaller premises in Tak Tin Estate. Besides recreation grounds, Lam Tin also hosts Stage 3 of Wilson Trail. The section starts at Exit A of Lam Tin MTR station, runs east along Kai Tin Road and

Lei Yue Mun Road Lei Yue Mun Road () is a major road in Lam Tin, Hong Kong. It runs from the junction with Tsui Ping Road and Kwun Tong Road near MTR Kwun Tong station to the roundabout with Ko Chiu Road near Lei Yue Mun Estate in Yau Tong. The westernmost sec ...

, up Black Hill along the road towards Junk Bay Chinese Permanent Cemetery, west along the Black Hill, and finally leaves Lam Tin near

Ma Yau Tong Ma Yau Tong () is an area on a mountain pass between Po Lam of Tseung Kwan O New Town and Sau Mau Ping of New Kowloon in Hong Kong. It is named after the village of the same name. It is known as Lau Tong and Ma Lau Tong in early 20th Century m ...

towards the section's terminus at

Tseng Lan Shue Tseng Lan Shue () is a village in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Location Tseng Lan Shue is located on Clear Water Bay Road, east of Kowloon Peak and southwest of Pik Uk. Administration Tseng Lan Shue is a recognized village ...

Supplies

Lam Tin has an underground network of

safe water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

town gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

and domestic electricity supplies. Electricity in the area is served by China Light and Power. Town gas in the area is served by the Towngas Company. The entire Lam Tin area is served by both

tap water Tap water (also known as running water, piped water or municipal water) is water supplied through a Tap (valve), tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used f ...

and flushing sea water supplies. The tap water is piped either from surface water or Dongjiang River into two service reservoirs and then pumped to individual households. The two service reservoirs that serve Lam Tin are Lam Tin Low Level Fresh Water Service Reservoir and Lam Tin High Level Service Reservoir. Built together with Lam Tin Estate, the low level reservoir is covered with a concrete-surfaced football field. The reservoir is now located between Kai Tin Estate and Tak Tin Estate, and serves as an open-air playground of local interest. The high level reservoir, on the other hand, is farther away from residential estates. It is located near Lam Tin Park, on the slope of Black Hill.

Waste disposal

From 1978 to 1981, Sai Tso Wan Landfill () served East Kowloon. Approximately 1.6 million

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

s of

domestic waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, a ...

and

commercial waste Commercial waste consists of waste from premises used mainly for the purposes of a trade or business or for the purpose of sport, recreation, education or entertainment, but excluding household, agricultural or industrial waste.''Sai Tso Wan Recreation Ground''
– Environmental Protection Department. Retrieved on 13 February 2007. After its closure in 1981, it was sealed with soil and planted over with

Grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s and trees. Sin Fat Road, which runs up the hill and hosts Sceneway Garden

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 ...

Terminus, was constructed. Sai Tso Wan Landfill was later rebuilt into Sai Tso Wan Recreation Ground. An area in Ma Yau Tong near today's Lam Tin Park was known as Ma Yau Tong Central Landfill (). The area measured , and operated until 1986 when it became the last urban landfill to be closed, after which it was sealed and converted to government-owned grassland. Since the total closure of urban landfills in 1986, rubbish from Lam Tin is first transferred to a treatment plant in

where it is compressed, and then to South East New Territories Landfill () where it is disposed of.

Transport

Lam Tin is known as one of the most important transport interchange centres in Hong Kong. It is a frequently visited bus-bus and rail-bus

interchange station An interchange station or a transfer station is a train station for more than one railway route in a public transport system that allows passengers to change from one route to another, often without having to leave a station or pay an additional ...

in East Kowloon. When the British arrived, most Lam Tin residents travelled on foot or by boat to nearby villages such as

Ma Tau Wai Ma Tau Wai (, originally , historically ) is an area in the Kowloon City District, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was originally a walled village (Cantonese: ; ''Wai'') between present-day Argyle Street and Prince Edward Road West, east of present ...

. Over the years, the government built roads, tunnels and railways in Lam Tin to facilitate transport between Lam Tin and other districts, making Lam Tin a bridge between different areas of Eastern Hong Kong.

Highway and road surface

The first road was

, which succeeded

Kwun Tong Road Kwun Tong Road () is a major thoroughfare in Kwun Tong District, New Kowloon, Hong Kong. Location Kwun Tong Road starts at the junction with Prince Edward Road East, Clear Water Bay Road and Lung Cheung Road in Ngau Chi Wan. It runs along th ...

and ran between

Kwun Tong Kwun Tong is an area in the Kwun Tong District of Hong Kong, situated at the eastern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, and its boundary stretches from Lion Rock in the north to Lei Yue Mun in the south, and from the winding paths of Kowloon P ...

and

. Cha Kwo Ling Road was later built to tap traffic to Cha Kwo Ling. However, the roads had insufficient capacity to effectively serve the district. Both Lei Yue Mun Road and Kwun Tong Road were widened and became segments of today's Route 7. The first road that carried commuters into and out of Lam Tin was Kai Tin Road. It was built in the 1960s to facilitate major road transports. The construction of Kai Tin Road required the blasting of Lam Tin Hill, which attracted much attention to nearby residents. Owing to its method of construction, Kai Tin Road became a direct outlet from the hill. Built together with Kai Tin Road were Ping Tin Street, On Tin Street and Tak Tin Street, which all served Lam Tin Estate. Later Ping Tin and Tak Tin became names of new residential areas after Lam Tin Estate was demolished. In 1989,

was completed. Kwun Tong Bypass was completed in 1991. To construct an

interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

for both roads, the intersection between Lei Yue Mun Road and Kai Tin Road was rebuilt into a flyover-

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

. This made Lam Tin a bridge between the Eastern Harbour Crossing and the Kwun Tong Bypass of Route 2, with Lei Yue Mun Interchange as the exit point. In 1990, Tseung Kwan O Tunnel was built with its southern entrance in Lam Tin, adding a convenient and direct route to

Tseung Kwan O Tseung Kwan O New Town, commonly known as Tseung Kwan O ( zh, t=將軍澳新市鎮, j=Zoeng1 gwan1 ou3 san1 si5 zan3), is one of the nine New towns of Hong Kong, new towns in Hong Kong, built mainly on Land reclamation in Hong Kong, reclaimed ...

. Junk Bay Chinese Permanent Cemetery was built in the same year. Despite being located in Tseung Kwan O, the cemetery's only motor-enabled exit is located in Lam Tin. As a result, Lam Tin becomes crowded with people tending graves during the various festivals. The 1990 and 1992 construction of Sceneway Garden and Laguna City, respectively, worsened the

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

in the Lam Tin area, mainly near Sai Tso Wan. One of the new arteries built to relieve the problem is Wai Fat Road, a four-lane dual carriageway which serves as an interchange between Route 2 and Route 7 and an outlet from Kwun Tong Bypass to Kwun Tong Industrial Area. Pik Wan Road and Lin Tak Road were also built in 1992 to facilitate transport to newly built areas higher up Lam Tin Hill. Because it hangs off a precipice and carries only two-lanes, Lin Tak Road was surrounded by both questions of convenience and concerns about its safety. As part of the 2001 construction of Ocean Shores in Tseung Kwan O, a segment of the former Po Lam Road South was rebuilt and extended to meet Pik Wan Road near Kwong Tin Estate. The reconstructed road was renamed O King Road and became the first road connection to modern

. Lam Tin's transport hub status was augmented by the growth of the new town of

on the other side of Devil's Peak and Black Hill from Lam Tin in the 2000s and 2010s, and the subsequent construction of the

which opened in 2022 and connected to Route 2 at the entrance to the Eastern Harbour Tunnel.

MTR

Between 1979 and 1989, the

Kwun Tong line The Kwun Tong line () is a rapid transit line of the MTR network in Hong Kong. Starting at Whampoa station, Whampoa in Hung Hom and ending at Tiu Keng Leng station, Tiu Keng Leng in Tseung Kwan O, Sai Kung Town, Sai Kung, the route has 1 ...

of the

terminated at

Kwun Tong station Kwun Tong () is a List of MTR stations, station on the MTR in Hong Kong. The station opened on 1 October 1979 as the eastern terminal station, terminus of the first phase of the Kwun Tong line until the Eastern Harbour Crossing to Quarry Bay o ...

. A storage railroad depot that developed behind the station, consisting of three parallel and interchanged tracks, terminating at Kwun Tong Law Court, eventually became part of the passenger railway after the later extension of Kwun Tong line. In 1984, the government decided to build a second railway tunnel and a second road tunnel to alleviate traffic congestion in the

Cross-Harbour Tunnel The Cross-Harbour Tunnel (abbreviated CHT or XHT) is the first tunnel in Hong Kong built underwater. It consists of two steel road tunnels, each with two lanes constructed using the single shell immersed tube method. It is the earliest of ...

resulting in Eastern Harbour Crossing, the first railway-road tunnel in Hong Kong. The tunnel enabled Kwun Tong line's extension to

Quarry Bay Quarry Bay is an List of buildings, sites, and areas in Hong Kong, area beneath Mount Parker (Hong Kong), Mount Parker in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Quarry Bay is bordered by Sai Wan Ho ...

, with an additional stop, Lam Tin, built in the middle. The new MTR station, opened on 8 November 1989, caused an influx of population into Lam Tin. Built at the same was Lam Tin Bus Terminus, located on the opposite side of Lei Yue Mun Road and housing platforms for franchised buses, minibuses, taxis and cross-border buses. It is also connected to Sceneway Plaza by staircases and escalators. Following the construction of these new facilities, Lam Tin gradually became a major transport interchange in Hong Kong. As part of the

Tseung Kwan O line The Tseung Kwan O line () is one of the ten lines of the MTR system in Hong Kong. It is currently long, taking 15 minutes to travel throughout the entire line. It is indicated in on the MTR map. The line runs from North Point on the ...

project, Kwun Tong line was briefly extended to

North Point North Point is a mixed-use urban area in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong. Located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island, the area is named after a cape between Causeway Bay and Tsat Tsz Mui that projects ...

on 27 September 2001 but soon diverted to

when the Tseung Kwan O line opened on 18 August 2002. Now, Lam Tin is on the Kwun Tong line, the third station from the terminus station of Tiu Keng Leng at Rennie's Mill.

Franchised buses

The first

bus terminus A bus station, bus depot, or bus interchange is a structure where city buses or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. A bus station is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can s ...

built in Lam Tin was then called Lam Tin Bus Terminus, which is today's Tak Tin Bus Terminus. It is built on the slope of Lam Tin Hill, in the north part of Lam Tin Estate, to serve the neighbourhood's residents. Buses ran from Kwun Tong to the bus terminus through Lei Yue Mun Road, then turned left and ascended the hill along Kai Tin Road, Ping Tin Street, On Tin Street and Tak Tin Street. Between 1989 and 1994, Lam Tin MTR station, Laguna City and Pik Wan Road were built. To serve these newly populated areas, three new bus termini were constructed: Lam Tin MTR Bus Terminus, now commonly named Lam Tin Bus Terminus as shown on the wall painting of the terminus; Laguna City Bus Terminus, which took up routes originally terminating at Kwun Tong Ferry; and Kwong Tin Bus Terminus, with new routes initiated to serve exclusively Lam Tin and the area nearby. To disambiguate the names of the termini from one another, the original Lam Tin Bus Terminus was renamed Lam Tin (North) Bus Terminus, and "Lam Tin Bus Terminus" now usually refers to Lam Tin MTR Bus Terminus. After reconstruction of Lam Tin Estate, Lam Tin (North) Bus Terminus was surrounded by Tak Tin Estate. As a result, the terminus got a common name "Tak Tin Bus Terminus". The area near Ping Tin Street became Ping Tin Estate after the reconstruction. A space underneath the buildings was reserved for a new bus terminus. On 6 July 2003, Ping Tin Bus Terminus was opened and overtook most of the routes from Tak Tin Bus Terminus.

Surface transport

Surrounded by hills, Lam Tin does not have direct access to the Victoria Harbour. However, merchant ships and ferries dock at

Kwun Tong Pier Kwun Tong Ferry Pier () is a ferry pier situated on Hoi Yuen Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The pier was originally situated at Ngau Tau Kok called "Ngau Tau Kok Ferry Pier" (), but during the 1960s, due to land reclamation in Hong Kong ...

and

Pier, which are both within 15 minutes' walk from Lam Tin, and provide surface transport for Lam Tin residents. Another reason for Lam Tin's absence of an outlet to the Harbour is the presence of an

entrance inside the district, whose buses and MTR overtook ferries for cross-harbour transport.''觀塘變臉前''
– 電子明周. Retrieved on 3 June 2007.

References

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