Shek Kip Mei, is an area in

New Kowloon New Kowloon is an area in Hong Kong, bounded in the south by Boundary Street, and in the north by the ranges of the Eagle's Nest, Beacon Hill, Lion Rock, Tate's Cairn and Kowloon Peak. It covers the present-day Kwun Tong District and Wong Tai S ...

, to the northeast of the

Kowloon Peninsula The Kowloon Peninsula is a peninsula that forms the southern part of the main landmass in the territory of Hong Kong, alongside Victoria Harbour and facing toward Hong Kong Island. The Kowloon Peninsula and the area of New Kowloon are collect ...

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 Delt ...

. It borders

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 (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui P ...

and

Kowloon Tong Kowloon Tong () is an area of Hong Kong located in Kowloon. The majority of the area is in the Kowloon City District. Its exaclocationis south of the Lion Rock, north of Boundary Street, east of the East Rail line and west of Grampian Road. It i ...

History

The Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre 2009

At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Shek Kip Mei was 72. A major fire on 25 December 1953 destroyed the Shek Kip Mei shanty town of immigrants from

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

who had fled to Hong Kong, leaving 53,000 people homeless. After the fire, the governor

Alexander Grantham Sir Alexander William George Herder Grantham, GCMG (; 15 March 1899 – 4 October 1978) was a British colonial administrator who governed Hong Kong and Fiji. Early life, colonial administration career Grantham was born on 15 March 1899 ...

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 . Each unit could house five people, and each building had a capacity of 2,500 residents.The rent was

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and ...

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. At the north of Shek Kip Mei is Tai Wo Ping (), along Beacon Hill. This was a

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

area (a type of resettlement accommodation) from the 1950s to 1970s, but it has been developed into a

public housing estate Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

, Chak On Estate (), and two

private housing estates Private housing estate is a term used in Hong Kong for private mass housing – a housing estate developed by a private developer, as opposed to a public housing estate built by the Hong Kong Housing Authority or the Hong Kong Housing Socie ...

, Beacon Heights () and Dynasty Heights ().

Present

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 The region of Hong Kong has been inhabited since the Old Stone Age, later becoming part of the Chinese Empire with its loose incorporation into the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). Starting out as a farming fishing village and salt production site, ...

. 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 The Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC; ) is a multi-disciplinary arts centre in Shek Kip Mei, Hong Kong, housed in a converted nine-storey factory estate. JCCAC was established through the co-operation of the Hong Kong Arts Development ...

Transportation

Since 1 October 1979, it has been served by

Shek Kip Mei station Shek Kip Mei () is a station on the Hong Kong MTR . It is located in Shek Kip Mei. History The station served as a terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or term ...

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 New World First Bus Services Limited (NWFB) is the third-largest bus operator in Hong Kong. Established by NWS Holdings and FirstGroup in September 1998, it took over 88 China Motor Bus services in Hong Kong Island. Since 2020 it has been a s ...

operates a number or routes that travel within the area.

Education

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.

References

External links