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 vicinity of Kowloon Bay. During the Song dynasty, it was a site of salt production. Since the 1980s, a number of housing estates were constructed in Lam Tin.
A high-density residential district built on a coastal knoll, Lam Tin hosts residential housing estates, transport infrastructure, mass-transit 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 and Yau Tong. 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.Geography
Lam Tin is overlooked to the east by Black Hill, or Ng Kwai Shan. The rock below this locality is Hong Kong Granite from the Cretaceous period. Most granite rock in Lam Tin is medium-grained. The granite in Lam Tin is of the Lion Rock suite. Farther towards the shore, a small area of land to the west of Cha Kwo Ling was reclaimed.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 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 within the Lam Tin area
Located along the coast of southern China, Lam Tin was first settled around the 9th century BC by the Nanyue people. The Qin dynasty 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 Kowloon Bay salt-fields under the management of Dongguan County or Xin'an County 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. 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, the region gradually became a small fishing, farming and quarrying town.
In 1662, the Kangxi Emperor moved all residents along southern China coastline inland by 50 Chinese miles and abandoned the salt-fields in hopes of weakening the pirate Zheng Chenggong'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 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. 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, 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 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 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 Eastern Harbour Crossing, and the MTR – 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 in 2022.
Housing
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. The late 1980s saw the district's first private residential buildings. Various facilities built during the 1990s 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.
Lam Tin Estate
consisted of tower blocks 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, 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 cuboids 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 rooms and bedrooms. Lifts 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 and completed in the early 1990s.In the late 1980s, Cheung Kong acquired two pieces of land in Lam Tin, one being a former Shell oil depot, 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 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. 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. 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
- Lam Tin Estate
- Lei On Court
- Ping Tin Estate
- Sceneway Garden
- Tak Tin Estate