| Shek Kip Mei | |||||||||||||||||
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 Shek Kip Mei in 2009 | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 石硤尾 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 石硖尾 | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Gorge End | ||||||||||||||||
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| Shek Kap Mei | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 石甲尾 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 石甲尾 | ||||||||||||||||
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Shek Kip Mei,originally known as Shek Kap Mei,[ citation needed ] is an area in New Kowloon,to the northeast of the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong. It borders Sham Shui Po and Kowloon Tong.
At the time of the 1911 census,the population of Shek Kip Mei was 72. [1]
A major fire on 25 December 1953 destroyed the Shek Kip Mei shanty town of immigrants from Mainland China who had fled to Hong Kong,leaving 53,000 people homeless.
After the fire,the governor Alexander Grantham launched a public housing programme to introduce the idea of multi-storey building for the immigrant population living there. The standardised new structures offered fire- and flood-resistant construction to previously vulnerable hut dwellers. The programme involved demolishing the rest of the makeshift houses left untouched by the fire,and the construction of the Shek Kip Mei Low-cost Housing Estate in their stead. The apartments were small,only about 300 square feet (28 m2).[ citation needed ] Each unit could house five people,and each building had a capacity of 2,500 residents. [2] The rent was HK$17 per square foot per month,while the rent for a commercial store downstairs was HK$100 per month. Foreign tourists visiting the apartment complexes referred to them as "prisons". Some scholars have argued that the government has been overstating the role of the fire in the history of public housing in Hong Kong. [3]
At the north of Shek Kip Mei is Tai Wo Ping (大窩坪),along Beacon Hill. This was a cottage area (a type of resettlement accommodation) from the 1950s to 1970s,but it has been developed into a public housing estate,Chak On Estate (澤安邨),and two private housing estates,Beacon Heights (畢架山花園) and Dynasty Heights (帝景峰). [4] [5]
 | This section needs to be updated.(August 2014) |
The Government has backed off from its plans to redevelop the area, following great opposition from many who believe they symbolised the history of Hong Kong. An alternative plan to renovate it for use as a hostel and museum has been completed. The museum includes restored rooms, resident stories and photos, and documentation of the history of public housing estates.
Shek Kip Mei now has several types of housing including the public apartments, Pak Tin Estate and private housing such as Beacon Heights and Dynasty Heights. Several malls and churches can also be found in the area now.
The old Shek Kip Mei Factory Estate was renovated and now serves as the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre.
Since 1 October 1979, it has been served by Shek Kip Mei station on the MTR at Woh Chai Street and Wai Chi Street.
Route 7 passes to the north of the area and accessed via Nam Cheong Street.
KMB and New World First Bus operates a number or routes that travel within the area.
Shek Kip Mei is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 40. Within the school net are multiple aided schools (operated independently but funded with government money) and two government schools: Fuk Wing Street Government Primary School and Li Cheng Uk Government Primary School. [6]
Kowloon Tong (Chinese: 九龍塘) is an area of Hong Kong located in Kowloon. The majority of the area is in the Kowloon City District. Its exact location is south of the Lion Rock, north of Boundary Street, east of the East Rail line and west of Grampian Road. It is one of the most expensive residential districts in Hong Kong.
Ho Man Tin is a mostly residential area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, part of the Kowloon City District.
Tsz Wan Shan is a residential area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Located below Temple Hill, it is administratively part of Wong Tai Sin District. Temple Hill is also called Tsz Wan Shan 慈雲山, but Tsz Wan Shan usually refers to the area.
Public housing in Hong Kong is a set of mass housing programmes through which the Government of Hong Kong provides affordable housing for lower-income residents. It is a major component of housing in Hong Kong, with nearly half of the population now residing in some form of public housing. The public housing policy dates to 1954, after a fire in Shek Kip Mei destroyed thousands of shanty homes and prompted the government to begin constructing homes for the poor.
Sham Shui Po District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is the second poorest district in Hong Kong, with a predominantly working-class population of 405,869 in 2016 and the lowest median household income of all districts. Sham Shui Po has long been home to poorer new immigrants from mainland China. It also saw the birth of public housing in Hong Kong, as the government sought to resettle those displaced by a devastating fire in its slums. Sham Shui Po also hosted a Vietnamese refugee camp during the influx of migration in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
Shek Kip Mei Estate is the first public housing estate in Hong Kong. It is located in Sham Shui Po and is under the management of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. The estate was constructed as a result of a fire in Shek Kip Mei in 1953, to settle the families of inhabitants in the squats over the hill who lost their homes in one night.
Mei Ho House, formerly part of Shek Kip Mei Estate, Hong Kong, is the last remaining example of a "Mark I" building in a single-block configuration. While the other buildings of the estate dating from the 1950s have been demolished, being replaced by new ones, Mei Ho House was chosen to be preserved and was reopened in 2013 as a youth hostel and heritage museum.
Shek Lei Estate, also known by Shek Lei is a public housing estate in Hong Kong, situated in the Shek Lei Pui (石梨貝/石梨背/石犁背) area in northeast Kwai Chung, New Territories, near Shek Yam Estate, On Yam Estate and Shek Yam East Estate.
Tai Hang Sai Estate is a private housing estate in Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is located between Shek Kip Mei Estate and Tai Hang Tung Estate, near MTR Shek Kip Mei station. It consists of 8 residential buildings which were built in 1965 and 1977 respectively. Although it is rental housing, it was developed by a privately owned company, unlike other public housing estates which are built and managed by either Hong Kong Housing Authority or Hong Kong Housing Society.
Tai Hang Tung Estate is a public housing estate in Kowloon Tong, Sham Shui Po District, Kowloon, Hong Kong, located near the Tai Hang Sai and Nam Shan Estates as well as Shek Kip Mei station.
Chuk Yuen Estate is a public housing estate in Kowloon, Hong Kong, located north of Wong Tai Sin and underneath Lion Rock. Its site was formerly the Chuk Yuen Resettlement Area.
Public housing estates in Shek Kip Mei are public housing in an area originally known as Kap Shek Mi in New Kowloon on the North Eastern Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong.
Tsui Ping Estate is a public housing estate in Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is divided into Tsui Ping (South) Estate and Tsui Ping (North) Estate. After redevelopment, the estate has a total of 19 blocks built in the 1980s and 1990s.
Mei Tung Estate is a public housing estate located at the south of Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon, Hong Kong opposite Kowloon Walled City Park. It consists of 2 Old Slab-typed blocks, each building is 8-storey, providing over 600 flats. Although the estate is near Kowloon City, it belongs to Wong Tai Sin District rather than Kowloon City District because it is located at the north of Tung Tau Tsuen Road, the boundary between two districts. A third block opened in 2010, and a fourth opened in 2014.
The Resettlement Department was a department of the Government of Hong Kong, responsible for constructing resettlement estates for homeless refugees, established in 1954. In 1973, the Resettlement Department and the Building Section of the Urban Services Department were merged to form the Housing Department, which acts as the Housing Authority's executive body.
Woh Chai Shan, a.k.a. Shek Kip Mei Hill (石硤尾山), Mission Hill or Bishop Hill (主教山), is a hill in Shek Kip Mei, New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is approximately 86 metres tall.
Garden Hill is a 300-foot-tall (90.6-metre) hill in the Sham Shui Po District in northwestern Kowloon, Hong Kong, near Un Chau, Om Yau and Pak Tin. Its summit is a popular place among photographers for its views of urban Hong Kong. One entrance to the trail leading to the summit can be found next to Grade II historic building Mei Ho House.
Nam Cheong Street is a street in Shek Kip Mei and Sham Shui Po, Sham Shui Po District, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It begins in the north at Lung Ping Road and Yan Ping Road in Shek Kip Mei and terminates in the south at Tung Chau Street and Boundary Street in Sham Shui Po.
Mark Blocks are an early type of public housing that preceded the designs of modern public housing blocks. There are seven types of Mark blocks. It improved by each design, from Mark I as H-shaped to Mark VII as a slab block. Early blocks have small units. The height may vary by type. The conditions are poor. Early blocks have no bathroom and kitchen, making it unhabitable by modern standards. Later designs incorporated a kitchen and a bathroom.
