Wong Tai Sin District
Wong Tai Sin District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is the only landlocked district in Hong Kong, it is located in Kowloon. The district contains the areas of Diamond Hill, Wang Tau Hom, Lok Fu, Chuk Yuen, Wong Tai Sin, Tsz Wan Shan, Fung Wong, Choi Hung and Choi Wan, an area that includes several major public housing estates. Wong Tai Sin District has a population of 444,630; the district has the least educated residents with the lowest income, the oldest residents and the second highest population density. Over 85% of the district's residents live in public housing; the district derives its name from the Wong Tai Sin Temple, dedicated to Wong Tai Sin, located there. The district is the location of the Chi Lin Nunnery, built in the Tang Dynasty style, a popular tourist attraction. Schools in Wong Tai Sin District include: Our Lady's Primary School, established in 1953 Wong Tai Sin Catholic Primary School, established in 1962. Bishop Walsh Primary School, established in 1963. Baptist Rainbow Primary School, established in 1984.
Wong Tai Sin is served by the Kwun Tong Line of the MTR metro system. The stations are Wong Tai Sin, Diamond Hill and Choi Hung; the old airport was located just behind this district. List of buildings and areas in Hong Kong Wong Tai Sin District Council District Council Election 2007 - Electoral Boundary Maps - Wong Tai Sin Wong Tai Sin 黃大仙 Articles on, photos and videos of, the district and places accessible from Wong Tai Sin station
New Territories
The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. It is the region described in the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory. According to that treaty, the territories comprise the mainland area north of the Boundary Street of Kowloon Peninsula and south of the Sham Chun River, as well as over 200 outlying islands, including Lantau Island, Lamma Island, Cheung Chau, Peng Chau in the territory of Hong Kong. After New Kowloon was defined from the area between the Boundary Street and the Kowloon Ranges spanned from Lai Chi Kok to Lei Yue Mun, the extension of the urban areas of Kowloon, New Kowloon was urbanised and absorbed into Kowloon; the New Territories now comprises only the mainland north of the Kowloon Ranges and south of the Sham Chun River, as well as the Outlying Islands. It comprises an area of 952 km2. New Kowloon has remained statutorily part of the New Territories instead of Kowloon.
The New Territories were leased from Qing China to the United Kingdom in 1898 for 99 years in the Second Convention of Peking. Upon the expiry of the lease, sovereignty was transferred to the People's Republic of China in 1997, together with the Qing-ceded territories of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula. In 2011, the population of the New Territories was recorded at 3,691,093. With a population density of 3,801 per square kilometer. Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain in 1842 and Kowloon south of Boundary Street and Stonecutters Island in 1860; the colony of Hong Kong attracted a large number of Chinese and Westerners to seek their fortune in the city. Its population increased and the city became overcrowded; the outbreak of bubonic plague in 1894 became a concern to the Hong Kong Government. There was a need to expand the colony to accommodate its growing population; the Qing Dynasty's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War had shown that it was incapable of defending itself. Victoria City and Victoria Harbour were vulnerable to any hostile forces launching attacks from the hills of Kowloon.
Alarmed by the encroachment of other European powers in China, Britain feared for the security of Hong Kong. Using the most favoured nation clause that it had negotiated with Peking, the United Kingdom demanded the extension of Kowloon to counter the influence of France in southern China in June 1898. In July, it secured Weihaiwei in Shandong in the north as a base for operations against the Germans in Qingdao and the Russians in Port Arthur. Chinese officials stayed in the walled cities of Kowloon Weihaiwei; the extension of Kowloon was called the New Territories. The additional land was estimated to be 365 square miles or 12 times the size of the existing Colonial Hong Kong at the time. Although the Convention was signed on the 9 June 1898 and became effective on 1 July, the British did not take over the New Territories immediately. During this period, there was no Hong Kong Wilsone Black acted as administrator. James Stewart Lockhart, the Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, was sent back from England to make a survey of New Territories before formal transfer.
The survey found that the new frontier at Sham Chun River suggested by Wilsone Black was far from ideal. It excluded the town of Shenzhen, the boundary would divide the town. There was no mountain range as a natural border. Lockhard suggested moving the frontier to the line of hills north of Shenzhen; this suggestion was not received favourably and the Chinese official suggested the frontier be moved to the hill much further south of the Sham Chun River. It was settled in March 1899; the new Hong Kong Governor Henry Blake arrived in November 1898. The date for the takeover of the New Territories was fixed as 17 April 1899 and Tai Po was chosen as the administrative centre; however the transfer was not peaceful. Before the handover in early April, Captain Superintendent of Police, Francis Henry May and some policemen erected a flagstaff and temporary headquarters at Tai Po and posted the Governor's proclamation of the takeover date. Fearing for their traditional land rights, in the Six-Day War of 1899, a number of clans attempted to resist the British, mobilising clan militias, organised and armed to protect against longshore raids by pirates.
The militia men attempted a frontal attack against the temporary police station in Tai Po, the main British base but were beaten back by superior force of arms. An attempt by the clansmen at guerilla warfare was put down by the British near Lam Tsuen with over 500 Chinese men killed, collapsed when British artillery was brought to bear on the walled villages of the clansmen. Most prominent of the villages in the resistance Kat Hing Wai, of the Tang clan, was symbolically disarmed, by having its main gates dismounted and removed. However, in order to prevent future resistance the British made concessions to the indigenous inhabitants with regards to land use, land inheritance and marriage laws; some of the concessions with regard to land use and inheritance remain in place in Hong Kong to this day and is a source of friction between indigenous inhabitants and other Hong Kong residents. Lord Lugard was Governor from 1907 to 1912, he proposed the return of Weihaiwei to the Chinese government, in return for the ceding of the leased New
Prince Edward Road
Prince Edward Road East and Prince Edward Road West are roads in Kowloon, Hong Kong, going in an east-west direction and linking Tai Kok Tsui, Mong Kok, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon City and San Po Kong. The roads were named after Prince Edward in 1922 Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, after his visit to Hong Kong. Prince Edward Station and the Prince Edward area in Hong Kong are both named after Prince Edward Road, rather than Prince Edward himself. In the beginning of the 1920s, the Hong Kong government was developing the Mong Kok district and decided to build a road connecting this to Kowloon City. In April 1922, Prince Edward visited the construction of this road. Due to this visit, the government named this road Prince Edward Road. In the 1930s, Prince Edward Road was extended to the area of Ngau Chi Wan. During Japanese occupation, the road was renamed as Kashima-dori. Prince Edward Road West is a road between Mong Kok, Kowloon Tong and Kowloon City; this road was named Edward Avenue before 1924.
It was renamed Prince Edward Road in 1924, in 1958 the Chinese name was changed from what was "British Royal Prince Road" to a new name, "Crown Prince Road". In 1979 it became the Prince Edward Road West. Prince Edward Road West starts from Kowloon City, it runs across Kowloon City and Prince Edward, ends at Tai Kok Tsui at an intersection with Tong Mi Road and West Kowloon Corridor. It is worth noting that the section of Prince Edward Road West from Olympic Park to Nathan Road runs unidirectionally from east to west. Boundary Street serves as its complement by providing a nearby route. Prince Edward Road East is a road between San Po Kong, it was the Sai Kung Road and part of the Clear Water Bay Road. It became part of the Prince Edward Road. In 1979 it became the Prince Edward Road East; the modern Prince Edward Road East starts from Choi Hung Interchange, where it meets Clear Water Bay Road to the northeast and Kwun Tong Road to the southeast. It goes west along the boundary between San Po Kong and the retired Kai Tak Airport, ends at Olympic Park in Kowloon City, where it branches into three roads, Ma Tau Chung Road, Argyle Street and Prince Edward Road West.
Prince Edward Road East was once misspelled as "Princess Edward Road East" by MTR Corporation in the map describing Sha Tin to Central Link. Mong Kok Police Station Diocesan Boys' School Mong Kok Stadium Kowloon Hospital St Teresa's Hospital Olympic Park former Kai Tak Airport Prince Edward Station On May 9, 2005, a dozen stacks of shelving on a construction site next to the road fell off due to adverse weather conditions; the relevant section of the road was closed, leading to a severe disruption of traffic among East Kowloon, affecting more than 100,000 people. Prince Edward, Hong Kong List of streets and roads in Hong Kong Google Maps of Prince Edward Road
Apliu Street
Apliu Street is a street in the Sham Shui Po area of New Kowloon, Hong Kong. Apliu Street runs parallel to Cheung Sha Wan Road between Nam Cheong Street. An easy way to reach it is to get off at the MTR Sham Shui Po Station. Use the A2 or C2 exit and you will be ascending directly into Apliu Street; the Cantonese name "apliu" comes from a village, located nearby but has long since been buried underneath the urbanization of Sham Shui Po. Apliu Street has a huge flea market containing electronics, electrical components, related items. A shopper can find both used merchandise in the area. Apliu Street is well known for geek shopping, at one time it had an unsavory reputation as a "thieves' market". While Apliu Street is famous for electronic parts, the Golden Shopping Arcade found on the other side of Cheung Sha Wan Road is famous for computer hardware and related items; the shop Kong Wah Telecom Limited was a site of the Detour in the eleventh leg of the reality TV show The Amazing Race 27. List of streets and roads in Hong Kong Hong Kong map
Sham Shui Po
Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei 石硤尾. It is part of, namesake for, the larger Sham Shui Po District. While predominantly poor, Sham Shui Po is one of the densest and most vibrant neighbourhoods in Hong Kong, it has a diverse mix of migrants from rural China, working-class families and seniors, with many living in cage homes, subdivided flats and public housing estates. Sham Shui Po has many lively street markets, electronics outlets, fabric stores and food vendors, it is famous as a red light district on Fuk Wa Street, Golden Shopping Centre for bargain electronics and accessories. The discovery in 1955 of the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb indicates that as early as 2000 years ago there were Chinese people settled in what is now Sham Shui Po. Sham Shui Po means "Deep Water Pier" in Cantonese. At the time, the water in Sham Shui Po was deeper than the beach of Cheung Sha Wan to the northwest.
It is close to the former peninsula of the low ridge of which ends in Sham Shui Po. In the first stage, the town of Sham Shui Po was bounded by Yen Chow Street, Tung Chau Street, Wong Chuk Street and Apliu Street. Part of the town was on reclamation; the town was surrounded by villages of Tin Liu and Tong Mei. A nullah along Nam Cheong Street was constructed to drain the water of rivers east; the town was closed to Cosmopolitan Dock on the outer shore of Tai Kok Tsui. Under Japanese occupation, a concentration camp was maintained here for most of the duration of the Second World War. An account of life by a British POW has been published as The Hard Way: Surviving Shamshuipo POW Camp 1941-45 by Victor Stanley Ebbage; as Sham Shui Po was one of the earliest developed areas in Hong Kong, it was once a commercial and transportation hub of the territory. As of 2003, Sham Shui Po is covered by residential buildings, with public housing estates built on 810,000 square metres of land. Factories and warehouses are still concentrated in Cheung Sha Wan.
It is connected to the MTR rail network via the Sham Shui Po Station on the Tsuen Wan Line. Sham Shui Po is an area; the government is carrying out urban renewal projects. In July 2003 the Hong Kong Housing Society announced that its first urban renewal project would be to improve the living environment at Po On Road/Wai Wai Road in Sham Shui Po. Covering an area of 2,436 square metres and affecting 500 households, this project will provide 330 residential flats, some retail units. Government and community facilities will be erected for the community; this development will require the HKHS to acquire about 157 properties, costing an estimated HK$240 million. The total development cost of the project is about HK$720 million. To promote creative tourism in old Hong Kong districts of Wan Chai and Sham Shui Po Hong Kong Design Centre unveiled a budget of $60 Million; the street market in Sham Shui Po is a hotspot for both tourists. For those who are looking for electronics and accessories, the Apliu Street market is well known in Hong Kong.
The vendors in this open-air street market sells a wide variety of products at reasonable prices, allowing individuals to trade second hand goods here. Different shops sell a variety of goods including industrial electronics and digital radio communications equipment, disco effects equipment, crockery, 1940s-era radios, LPs, audiophile hi-fi amplifiers in various stages of repair; the Hong Kong government promotes Apliu Street as Hong Kong's answer to Akihabara. Golden Computer Centre is one of the major malls selling computer-related equipment; the annual Hong Kong computer fair held in the streets of Sham Shui Po attracts a large crowd. The market on Ki Lung Street is famous for its fresh food and cheap prices. In the early 1990s, the Hong Kong government rebuilt the market and added air conditioning. There are numerous fashionwear wholesalers along Cheung Sha Wan Road. On weekends, some shops allow retail purchases, offering quality clothes at affordable prices. Nam Cheong Street and Ki Lung Street are most famous for their fabric stores, containing cloth, sash and buttons.
Once infamous for counterfeit software but today considered one of the cheapest places in Hong Kong to purchase a personal computer, the Golden Shopping Centre is a prominent IT shopping centre. Products range to various peripherals. Unlike purely consumer-oriented IT shopping centres, Golden features several stores specializing in professional and esoteric network equipment; the Golden Shopping Centre is known for the number of video game stores it contains, where people purchase gaming systems and accessories at either a discounted price, or in special in-store packages which might include an extra game or extra accessories. Since the halls are narrow, it is very congested on weekends; the mall has two floors. The upper floor, Golden Computer Centre sells games and gaming software, while the lower floor, Golden Computer Arcade, focuses on the sales of computer-oriented hardware, they were fashion markets named "Golden Shopping Centre" and "Golden Shopping Arcade" respectively. Dragon Centre is a nine-storey shopping centre.
It was the largest shopping centre in West Kowloon until Elements opened its doors above the Kowloon MTR Station. As Sham Shui Po is regarded as one of the poorest and oldest dis
Hong Kong
Hong Kong the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and abbreviated as HK, is a special administrative region on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in southern China. With over 7.4 million people of various nationalities in a 1,104-square-kilometre territory, Hong Kong is the world's fourth most densely populated region. Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after Qing Empire ceded Hong Kong Island at the end of the First Opium War in 1842; the colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 after the Second Opium War, was further extended when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. The entire territory was transferred to China in 1997; as a special administrative region, Hong Kong's system of government is separate from that of mainland China and its people identify more as Hongkongers rather than Chinese. A sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages, the territory has become one of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports.
It is the world's seventh-largest trading entity, its legal tender is the world's 13th-most traded currency. Although the city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it has severe income inequality; the territory has the largest number of skyscrapers in most surrounding Victoria Harbour. Hong Kong ranks seventh on the UN Human Development Index, has the sixth-longest life expectancy in the world. Although over 90 per cent of its population uses public transportation, air pollution from neighbouring industrial areas of mainland China has resulted in a high level of atmospheric particulates; the name of the territory, first spelled "He-Ong-Kong" in 1780 referred to a small inlet between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between local fishermen. Although the source of the romanised name is unknown, it is believed to be an early phonetic rendering of the Cantonese pronunciation hēung góng; the name translates as "fragrant harbour" or "incense harbour".
"Fragrant" may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's freshwater influx from the Pearl River or to the odor from incense factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export. Sir John Davis offered an alternative origin; the simplified name Hong Kong was used by 1810 written as a single word. Hongkong was common until 1926, when the government adopted the two-word name; some corporations founded during the early colonial era still keep this name, including Hongkong Land, Hongkong Electric and Shanghai Hotels and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The region is first known to have been occupied by humans during the Neolithic period, about 6,000 years ago. Early Hong Kong settlers were a semi-coastal people who migrated from inland and brought knowledge of rice cultivation; the Qin dynasty incorporated the Hong Kong area into China for the first time in 214 BCE, after conquering the indigenous Baiyue. The region was consolidated under the Nanyue kingdom after the Qin collapse, recaptured by China after the Han conquest.
During the Mongol conquest, the Southern Song court was located in modern-day Kowloon City before its final defeat in the 1279 Battle of Yamen. By the end of the Yuan dynasty, seven large families had settled in the region and owned most of the land. Settlers from nearby provinces migrated to Kowloon throughout the Ming dynasty; the earliest European visitor was Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares, who arrived in 1513. Portuguese merchants established a trading post called in Hong Kong waters, began regular trade with southern China. Although the traders were expelled after military clashes in the 1520s, Portuguese-Chinese trade relations were reestablished by 1549. Portugal acquired a permanent lease for Macau in 1557. After the Qing conquest, maritime trade was banned under the Haijin policies; the Kangxi Emperor lifted the prohibition, allowing foreigners to enter Chinese ports in 1684. Qing authorities established the Canton System in 1757 to regulate trade more restricting non-Russian ships to the port of Canton.
Although European demand for Chinese commodities like tea and porcelain was high, Chinese interest in European manufactured goods was insignificant. To counter the trade imbalance, the British sold large amounts of Indian opium to China. Faced with a drug crisis, Qing officials pursued ever-more-aggressive actions to halt the opium trade; the Daoguang Emperor rejected proposals to legalise and tax opium, ordering imperial commissioner Lin Zexu to eradicate the opium trade in 1839. The commissioner destroyed opium stockpiles and halted all foreign trade, forcing a British military response and triggering the First Opium War; the Qing ceded Hong Kong Island in the Convention of Chuenpi. However, both countries did not ratify the agreement. After over a year of further hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded to the United Kingdom in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. Administrative infrastructure was built up by early 1842, but piracy and hostile Qing policies towards Hong Kong prevented the government from attracting merchants.
The Taiping Rebellion, when many wealthy Chinese fled mainland turbulence and settled in the colon
Lai Chi Kok
Lai Chi Kok is a neighborhood in New Kowloon, Hong Kong, east of Kwai Chung and west of Cheung Sha Wan. Mei Foo Sun Chuen is the largest housing estate in the area and the largest in the HKSAR with 99 blocks. Administratively, it belongs to the Sham Shui Po District. Lai Chi Kok means "lychee corner", referring to a river named after a type of fruit tree native to China; the river once separated Cheung Sha Wan from Lai Chi Kok Bay, a river from Butterfly Valley separated Cheung Sha Wan from Lai Chi Kok. At the innermost area of Lai Chi Kok Bay, namely present-day Lai King Hill Road, is a settlement called Kau Wa Keng; the Qing government had set up a customs station in Lai Chi Kok, to collect customs duties after ceding Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula to the British. After the lease of the New Territories, the British reclaimed Lai Chi Kok for military use. A torpedo storage facility was erected on the west point of Lai Chi Kok Bay, an area near Kwai Chung. Lai Chi Kok Hospital is a special hospital located on the original location of the cap.
Its neighbour, the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, is managed by the Hong Kong Correctional Department. At one point, the Lai Chi Kok Incinerator was one of three incinerators in Hong Kong; the headquarters of the Kowloon Motor Bus was in Lai Chi Kok, before being relocated. The area is served by Mei Foo Station on the MTR Tsuen Wan Line and Mei Foo on the MTR West Rail Line; the MTR's Lai Chi Kok Station is in Cheung Sha Wan, not Lai Chi Kok. Mei Foo is a transportation hub due to its geographic location in the north-western end of Kowloon. Lai Chi Kok Road is named after this place. Cheung Sha Wan Mei Foo Sun Chuen
