Lam Tin

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Lam Tin (藍田, Jyutping: laam4 tin4, lit. blue-field) is an area in the Kwun Tong District in southeastern New Kowloon, Hong Kong. Lam Tin is majorly a housing area and transport interchange, with several renowned shopping attractions.^[1]

Most of the residents in Lam Tin are Chinese, but due to influence by Japanese immigrants during the 1990s, Japanese people are also common in Lam Tin, particularly in Sceneway Garden and Laguna City.

Contents 1 Geographical location 1.1 Geography 1.2 Politics 2 History 3 Infrastructure 3.1 Highway and road surface 3.2 MTR 3.3 Franchised buses 3.3.1 List of bus termini and routes in Lam Tin 3.4 Surface transport 4 Residence 4.1 Lam Tin Estate 4.2 Laguna City and Sceneway Garden 4.3 List of villages and housing estates in Lam Tin 5 Facilities 5.1 Waste disposal 5.2 Recreation 6 Notes 7 References 7.1 Publications 7.2 Websites

[edit] Geographical location

In common speech, the name Lam Tin in the past usually included the areas of Lei Yue Mun and Yau Tong. However as new infrastructures and housing estates were built, they were currently usually excluded.^[2]

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 the harbour.

[edit] Geography

Lam Tin is overlooked by Black Hill or Ng Kwai Shan to the east. The rock under this locality is Hong Kong Granite from the Cretaceous period. Most granite rock in Lam Tin are medium-grained. The granite in Lam Tin is of the Lion Rock suite. Farther towards the shore, a small area of land on the west of Cha Kwo Leng was reclaimed.

[edit] Politics

The entire Lam Tin area is located in Kwun Tong District. Politically, Lam Tin is the name of a constituency of Kwun Tong District, which includes the area formerly occupied by Lam Tin Estate. However, in common speech, the name Lam Tin usually meant a bigger area which includes nine constituencies of Kwun Tong District.

Constituencies of the Kwun Tong District Council within the Lam Tin area

• J14 Hing Tin (興田)
• J15 Tak Tin (德田)
• J16 Lam Tin (藍田)
• J17 Kwong Tak (廣德)
• J18 Ping Tin (平田)
• J19 Hong Pak (康柏)
• J21 Yau Tong / Sze Shan (Hill no.4) West (油塘四山西)
• J22 Laguna City / Lai Kong (麗港)
• J23 Sceneway Garden / King Tin (景田)

[edit] History

Lam Tin, called Ham Tin Shan (鹹田山) at that time, literally meaning "salty field hill", had been part of Kowloon Bay salt-fields (九龍灣鹽田, also known as Guanfuchang 官富場) under the management of Dongguan county (東莞縣) or Xin'an county (新安縣) in different dynasties. The salt-fields were first officially operated by the Song Dynasty 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. As the region is located near the shore, agricultural activities started with the plantation of high-salinity crops. With a quarry found in So Mo Ping (掃墓坪), literally meaning "funeral plains" (also So Mau Ping 蘇茅坪; now renamed Sau Mau Ping 秀茂坪, lit. nice and prosperous with similar Cantonese pronunciation due to taboos), the region gradually became a small fishing, farming and quarrying town.

In 1662, Emperor Kangxi moved all residents along southern China coastline inland by 50 Chinese miles and abandoned the salt-fields in hope to weaken pirate Zheng Chenggong's power through cutting his support from coastline residents. Although the residents were allowed to return in 1669 after Kangxi discovered that the migration brought great economic harm, the salt industry in Ham Tin never prospered again.

In 1841, the British Empire occupied Hong Kong. The western half of the Kowloon Bay salt-fields were acquired by Britain in 1860 and the eastern half in 1898. Under the British rule, the salt-fields were abandoned for reclamation to facilitate the building of Kai Tak Airport, and Ham Tin was renamed Lam Tin (藍田) of similar pronunciation because the village no longer produced salt. The name Lam Tin came from Lantian, Shaanxi, which came from a phrase "藍田生玉", literally "produced from the blue fields is jade". The name Lam Tin was officially endorsed on September 1, 1970.^[3]

The colonial government built Lam Tin Estate in the 1960s to settle low-income residents during the influx of population from mainland China after the Korean War. Gradually, Lam Tin became a common term to Hongkongers describing the areas around Lam Tin Estate. The dragon emblem painted on block 15 of Lam Tin Estate was a sign of Lam Tin's unity before the building's demolition in the 1990s.^[4] The land of Lam Tin Estate was rebuilt into Ping Tin Estate, Kai Tin Estate, Tak Tin Estate and Kwong Tin Estate.

With the building of three major transport infrastructures, Kwun Tong Bypass, Eastern Harbour Crossing, and MTR that all incurred outlets to Lam Tin, in late 20th century, continuously people moved into the district. Now Lam Tin is one of the major transport interchanges in Hong Kong.

[edit] Infrastructure

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 in East Kowloon.^[5]

Before British occupation, most Lam Tin residents travelled on foot or by boat to nearby villages such as Ma Tau Wai. During the occupation, roads, tunnels and railways were built in Lam Tin to facilitate transport between Lam Tin and other districts, making Lam Tin an outlet and a bridge between different areas of Eastern Hong Kong.

[edit] Highway and road surface

The first motor road built in Lam Tin was Lei Yue Mun Road, which succeeded Kwun Tong Road and ran between Kwun Tong and Lei Yue Mun. Cha Kwo Ling Road was later built to tap traffic to Cha Kwo Ling. However, both roads did not literally serve Lam Tin. Both Lei Yue Mun Road and Kwun Tong Road were widened and became today's part of Route 7.

The first road that carried commuters into and out of Lam Tin was Kai Tin Road, which was built in the 1960s to facilitate road transport to Lam Tin Estate. When Kai Tin Road was built, Lam Tin Hill, geologically made up of subcircular leucocratic monzogranite intrusions, was blasted in the middle to create a pathway. This act attracted much attention to nearby residents. Owing to its method of construction, Kai Tin Road was considered an abrupt outlet from the hill.^[6]

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.

By 1989, Eastern Harbour Crossing and Kwun Tong Bypass were built. To construct an outlet and interchange for both roads, the intersection between Lei Yue Mun Road and Kai Tin Road were rebuilt into a flyover-roundabout. This made Lam Tin a bridge between the Eastern Harbour Crossing and the Kwun Tong Bypass of Route 2, with the Lei Yue Mun Interchange as the interchanging point.

In 1990, Tseung Kwan O Tunnel was built, with its southern entrance located in Lam Tin. Since then, Lam Tin acts as an entrance to the Tseung Kwan O Tunnel, and leads traffic to Tseung Kwan O in great convenience.^[7]

Moreover, also in 1990, Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery was built. Despite being located in Tseung Kwan O, the cemetery's only motor-enabled outlet is located in Lam Tin. Therefore, on grave-sweeping days, Lam Tin will become crowded with grave-sweepers.^[8]

Between 1990 and 1992, Sceneway Garden and Laguna City were built, causing extra road networks to be built in Lam Tin, mainly near Sai Tso Wan. One of the new roads is Wai Fat Road, a four-lane carriageway which serves as an interchange between Route 2 and Route 7 and an outlet from Kwun Tong Bypass to Kwun Tong Industrial Area.

To facilitate transport to newly-built areas higher up Lam Tin Hill, Pik Wan Road and Lin Tak Road were built in 1992. Hanging out from a precipice and being only two-lane wide, Lin Tak Road brought both convenience and safety concerns.^[9]

In 2001, along with the construction of Ocean Shores in Tseung Kwan O, part of the former Po Lam Road South was rebuilt and extended to Pik Wan Road. The reconstructed road was renamed O King Road and became the first road outlet from modern Tiu Keng Leng.

[edit] MTR

Main article: Lam Tin (MTR)

Between 1979 and 1989, Kwun Tong Line terminated at Kwun Tong Station. A train parking space, which spawned from behind Kwun Tong Station. The parking space had three parallel, straight railroads with interchange tracks between them. It terminated near Kwun Tong Law Court.^[10] This parking space 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 Cross Harbour Tunnel. As a result, the first railway-road tunnel in Hong Kong, Eastern Harbour Crossing was built. Kwun Tong Line was extended to Quarry Bay, running through the tunnel, with an additional stop, Lam Tin, built in the middle. The new MTR station, opened in November 8, 1989, caused an influx of population into Lam Tin.

Built together with Lam Tin Station was Lam Tin Bus Terminus. It is located on the opposite side of Lei Yue Mun Road and houses 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.^[5]

As part of the Tseung Kwan O Line project, Kwun Tong line was briefly extended to North Point on 27 September 2001 but soon diverted to Tiu Keng Leng when the Tseung Kwan O Line opened in August 18, 2002. Now, Lam Tin is on Kwun Tong Line, the third station from the terminus station of Tiu Keng Leng at Rennie's Mill.

[edit] Franchised buses

The first bus terminus 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. It was built to serve residents of Lam Tin Estate. Buses ran from Kwun Tong to the bus terminus through Lei Yue Mun Road, then turn left and go up the hill along Kai Tin Road, Ping Tin Street, On Tin Street and Tak Tin Street.

From 1989 to 1992, Lam Tin MTR Station, Laguna City and Pik Wan Road were built. To serve these newly populated areas, three new bus termini were constructed. They were 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. The name "Lam Tin Bus Terminus" now usually refers to Lam Tin MTR Bus Terminus. After reconstruction of Lam Tin Estate, Lam Tin (North) Bus Terminus became 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 July 6, 2003, Ping Tin Bus Terminus was opened and overtook most of the routes from Tak Tin Bus Terminus.^[11]

[edit] List of bus termini and routes in Lam Tin

Currently, in Lam Tin, there are 5 bus terminals, namely:

• Lam Tin Bus Terminus (with the full name Lam Tin MTR Station Bus Terminus) with routes A22, 42C, 61R, 74S, 89D, 89P, 93M, 216M, 258D, 298P
• Laguna City Bus Terminus with routes 40, 219P, 219X, 621
• Ping Tin Bus Terminus with routes 15, 15A, 15P, 38, 277X, 603, 603P, 603S, 889
• Tak Tin Bus Terminus (with the official name Lam Tin (North) Bus Terminus) with route E22
• Kwong Tin Bus Terminus (with the full name Lam Tin (Kwong Tin Estate) Bus Terminus) with routes 14B, 16, 215X

Excluding the bus routes mentioned above, the following routes also stop in Lam Tin, but not terminating: 14, 14C, 14S, 16M, E22P, R22, 62X, 70X, N216, 259D, 302, 307, 373, 373P, 601, N601, 606, 619, 619P, N619, 641, 671, 680, 680A, 680X, N680, 681, 681P, N681, 682, 690, 690P, N690, N691, 692, 694, 698R.

For a total, 64 bus routes run through Lam Tin.

[edit] Surface transport

Surrounded by hills, Lam Tin does not have a direct outlet to the Victoria Harbour. However, merchant ships and ferries dock at Kwun Tong Pier and Lei Yue Mun 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 Eastern Harbour Crossing entrance inside the district. Residents prefer using the cross-harbour tunnel buses and MTR instead of ships as means of transport as a result.

[edit] Residence

The first modern housing estate in Lam Tin was Lam Tin Estate. The estate was built in the 1960s and the 1970s to settle the influx of mainland immigrants. In the late 1980s, private residential buildings first developed in the district. With various facilities built since the 1990s, Lam Tin became a compact residential area. Lam Tin Estate was demolished in the 1990s and was rebuilt into Ping Tin Estate, Tak Tin Estate and Kai Tin Estate.

[edit] Lam Tin Estate

Lam Tin Estate consisted of Blocks 1 to 24. Blocks 1 to 15 towers of Lam Tin Estate were built between 1962 and 1965 as types 3 and 4 public housing buildings (第三及四型公屋); the other 9 towers were built between 1969 and 1975 as type 6 public housing buildings (第六型公屋). However, there was no Block 9, leaving the number of buildings in Lam Tin Estate at 23.

The Chinese dragon symbolizes unity of Chinese people since it was the first national emblem of unified China. Block 15 of Lam Tin Estate has multicolour dragon emblems painted on two of its walls which faced south and north because it was the 500th public housing building in Hong Kong. As a result, during its operation, Block 15 served the symbol of Lam Tin and represented the unity of Lam Tin district.^[12] After demolition and reconstruction, Block 15 became part of Ping Tin Estate.

Building structure of Lam Tin Estate's blocks is standardized by the government. The buildings are in the shape of cuboids and looked like regular candy-boxes standing on a knoll.^[13] Most buildings were 16-storey high and hosted about 800 housing units. Each building had an estimated capacity of 3,000 residents and an approximate space allocation at 30ft² per person. Bathrooms and kitchens were combined into one compartment; living room and bedrooms were the same place. Lifts only reached some of the floors. To access the other floors, one needed to hop of 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 not luxurious, the living environment of Lam Tin Estate fostered close relationships in the neighbourhood.^[14]

The reconstruction of Lam Tin Estate was announced in September 1995. Demolition started in 1997 and completed in 2002. After reconstruction, Lam Tin Estate became Kai Tin Estate, Tak Tin Estate, Ping Tin Estate and Hong Yat Court.^[15]

[edit] Laguna City and Sceneway Garden

Main articles: 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 and completed in the early 1990s.^[16]

In the late 1980s, Cheung Kong acquired two pieces of land in Lam Tin, one being a former Shell oil depot, the other on top of the newly-built Lam Tin MTR Station and bus terminus. They were developed 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 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 the construction of the podium. It has a total of 17 towers and a gross floor area of 280,760m². There are altogether 4112 flats hosting approximately a population of 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.^[5]

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. Laguna City consists of four phases, giving a total of 38 towers upon its total completion in 1991. Built together with Laguna City was Laguna Park, which was completed in 1994 and then handed over to Urban Council. Laguna Park has a total area of 320,000ft².^[17] 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.^[18]

[edit] List of villages and housing estates in Lam Tin

In addition, Ko Chun Court and Ko Yee Estate in Yau Tong and Ma Yau Tong Village in Tiu Keng Leng are sometimes considered as part of Lam Tin.

[edit] Facilities

Being a compact residential area, Lam Tin has various facilities to satisfy its residents' daily needs.^[19] These include shopping malls, recreational facilities, water and other supplies. Furthermore, during the 1970s and 1980s, Lam Tin hosted landfills.

[edit] Waste disposal

From 1978 to 1981, Sai Tso Wan Landfill (茜草灣堆填區) served East Kowloon. Approximately 1.6 million tonnes of domestic waste and commercial waste were dumped in the site during its four-year operation. The disposed rubbish stacked up to 65 metres high. After its closure in 1981, it was sealed with soil. Grasslands and trees were planted on top of the soil. Sin Fat Road, which runs up the hill, was constructed. Sin Fat Road hosts Sceneway Garden Minibus Terminus. 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 (馬游塘中堆填區). The area measured 10.87 hectares. It operated until 1986 and was the last urban landfill to be closed. After its closure, the landfill was sealed and became a government-owned grassland.^[20]

Since the total closure of urban landfills in 1986, rubbish from Lam Tin is first transferred to a treatment plant in Kowloon Bay where it is compressed, and then to New Territories Southeast Landfill (新界東南堆填區) where it is disposed.

[edit] Recreation

Sai Tso Wan Recreation Ground was built from 1995 to 2004 from 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 control system was used to deploy methane from the decomposed rubbish as fuel, and a leachate management system was built to collect leachate for further processing. The recreation ground started its operation in April 30, 2004.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] Publications

[edit] Websites