Lai Chi Kok is a neighbourhood in Kowloon,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, east of

Kwai Chung Kwai Chung is an urban area within Tsuen Wan New Town in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Together with Tsing Yi Island, it is part of the Kwai Tsing District District of Hong Kong. It is also part of Tsuen Wan New Town. In 2000, it had a popula ...

and west of

Cheung Sha Wan Cheung Sha Wan is an area between Lai Chi Kok and Sham Shui Po in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is mainly residential to the north and south, with an industrial area in between. Administratively it is part of Sham Shui Po District, which als ...

Mei Foo Sun Chuen Mei Foo Sun Chuen or simply Mei Foo is a large private housing estate in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Mei Foo Sun Chuen was the first large scale private housing estate in Hong Kong and at the time of completion, the 99-tower complex w ...

is the largest housing estate in the area and also the largest in Hong Kong with 99 blocks. Administratively, it belongs to

Sham Shui Po District Sham Shui Po District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is the 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 ...

History

Lai Chi Kok literally means "

lychee Lychee (US: ; UK: ; ''Litchi chinensis''; ) is a monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus ''Litchi'' in the soapberry family, ''Sapindaceae''. It is a tropical tree native to Southeast and Southwest China (the Guangdong, Fujian, Yun ...

corner", referring to a river named after a type of fruit tree native to China. However, some historians such as Leung Ping Wah suggsted the original name of the region was Lai Tsai Kuok (孺仔脚), literally mean the footprint of the youngest son . The river once separated Cheung Sha Wan from

Lai Chi Kok Bay Lai Chi Kok Bay ( Chinese: 荔枝角灣) or Lai Wan ( Chinese: 荔灣) was a bay west of Lai Chi Kok in Hong Kong. North of the bay is Kau Wa Keng. The bay was largely recreational during its history. In the early and mid 20th century, bathing pav ...

, and a river from

Butterfly Valley Butterfly Valley, or Wu Tip Kuk (), is a valley in north of Lai Chi Kok in New Kowloon of Hong Kong, located between O Pui Shan and Piper's Hill. The valley was a habitat of butterflies before Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and thus named aft ...

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 also erected on the west point of Lai Chi Kok Bay, an area near Kwai Chung. At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Lai Chi Kok was 173.

Buildings

Lai Chi Kok Hospital The former Lai Chi Kok Hospital, located at No.800 Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, was listed as one of the Grade III historic buildings in Hong Kong on 24 June 2010. The site has now been transformed into Jao Tsung-I Academy under ...

is a special hospital located on the original location of the cap. Its neighbour, the

Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre () is a prison in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is operated by the Correctional Services Department and is one of the largest prisons in the territory. History The Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre was built to rel ...

, is managed by the

Hong Kong Correctional Services Hong Kong Correctional Services (also called Correctional Services Department (CSD)) is responsible for the management of prisoners and prisons in Hong Kong. The Commissioner of Correctional Services reports to the Secretary for Security. ...

. At one point, the

Lai Chi Kok Incinerator Lai or LAI may refer to: Abbreviations * Austrian Latin America Institute (Österreichisches Lateinamerika-Institut) * ''Latin American Idol'', TV series * La Trobe Institute, Melbourne, Australia * Leaf area index, leaf area of a crop or ve ...

was one of three incinerators in Hong Kong; however, it was demolished because it released pollutants into the Hong Kong air. The headquarters of the

Kowloon Motor Bus The Kowloon Motor Bus Company (1933) Limited (KMB) is a bus company operating franchised services in Hong Kong. It is the largest bus company in Hong Kong by fleet size and number of bus routes. It is a subsidiary of Transport International. ...

was also in Lai Chi Kok, before being relocated; the site has since been replaced by a private housing project called

Manhattan Hill Manhattan Hill () is a high-rise development located in the Lai Chi Kok district of Kowloon in Hong Kong, formerly Kowloon Motor Bus Lai Chi Kok Depot. The complex consists of five towers. Towers 1 and 2, which are interconnected, rise 51 fl ...

Transport

The area is served by

Mei Foo station Mei Foo () is a Hong Kong MTR station located in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Lai Chi Kok, New Kowloon. It is the only interchange station between the and the , situated between and stations on the Tsuen Wan line and and stations on the Tuen Ma ...

on the MTR

Tsuen Wan line The Tsuen Wan line is one of the eleven lines of the metro network in Hong Kong's MTR. It is indicated in red on the MTR map. There are 16 stations on the line. The southern terminus is Central station on Hong Kong Island and the no ...

and

Tuen Ma line The Tuen Ma line () is a rapid transit line that forms part of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. Coloured brown on the map, the Tuen Ma line is in length, making it the longest line of the MTR network. It has a total of ...

. The MTR's

Lai Chi Kok station Lai Chi Kok () is a rapid transit station on the of the Hong Kong MTR system, between and stations. It was opened on 17 May 1982. The station is in an orange-red colour, and is a simple through station with an island platform. Platform ...

is actually in

, 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 Lai Chi Kok Road is a road in western Kowloon, Hong Kong. It links Lai Chi Kok to Mong Kok, via Tai Kok Tsui, Sham Shui Po and Cheung Sha Wan. It starts from a junction with Nathan Road near Pioneer Centre in the south and ends near Mei Foo ...

is named after this place, but most part of the road lies outside Lai Chi Kok.

Education

Lai Chi Kok 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.

History

Buildings

Transport

Education

Footnotes

See also