weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

From the flowery spot of reclaimed Tsim Sha Tsui East, we move on to another relatively recently created residential area at Tseung Kwan O, often considered to be part of Kowloon, but really belonging to the New Territories. Unlike Tsim Sha Tsui East, which is a very urban and gentle development with mainly commercial buildings, Tseung Kwan O has a mainly residential and industrial mix and its sky-pointing towers dwarf the buildings in Tsim Sha Tsui East. Tseung Kwan O was developed after we resided in Hong Kong (from 1979 to 1984) and thus this was our first visit in 2013 to this new town. The following brief history of this town is gleaned, as usual in my information, from an article in Wikipedia.

TSEUNG KWAN O New Town is one of the nine new towns in Hong Kong, built mainly on reclaimed land in the northern half of Junk Bay (Tseung Kwan O in Cantonese) in southeastern New Territories, after which it is named. Development of the new town was approved in 1982, with the initial population intake occurring in 1988. As of 2016, the town is home to around 396,000 residents. The total development area of Tseung Kwan O, including its industrial estate, is about 17.2 km² (6.6 sq mi), with a planned population of 445,000. Administratively, the new town belongs to the Sai Kung District in southeastern New Territories, although it is often incorrectly regarded as part of Kowloon due to its close proximity to the city; the new town is bordered by the Kwun Tong District in Kowloon, a high rise built-up area, to Tseung Kwan O's west, while Tseung Kwan O is at quite a distance from Sai Kung in the New Territories.

The land where Tseung Kwan O New Town now stands was, until the 1980s, a long narrow inlet named Junk Bay, with small fishing villages (such as Tseung Kwan O Village and Hang Hau Village, etc.) and a few small shipbuilding establishments dotting its coastline. The present-day neighborhood of Tiu Keng Leng (then known as Rennie's Mill) was, from the 1950s to 1990s, a refugee village housing Kuomintang loyalists who fled to Hong Kong after their party's defeat in the Chinese Civil War.

The Hong Kong Government had long been interested in developing a new town at Hang Hau because of its proximity to the urban area. The project was postponed for a long time owing to the extensive scale of reclamation in the bay, which is rather deep. The project finally took off in 1983, when the development of the new town's Phase I was endorsed by the Governor-in-Council. This was followed by the decision to proceed with Phase II, which entailed further reclamation and the clearance of the Kuomintang refugee village at Rennie's Mill (later renamed Tiu Keng Leng), with a view to increase the planned population from 175,000 to 325,000.

In this first post on Tseung Kwan O, we look at the central Tong Ming Street Park, providing open greenery and a playground for the children. The park is adjacent to the local subway station and is surrounded by massive, good quality residential high-rise buildings and two large, 4+ star hotels.


Notes
TRIP INFO: Set # 1 provides a brief introduction to THIS SERIES on SOUTH & EAST ASIA. See it at
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-724330-1.html

HONG KONG COUNTRY INFO in set # 196: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-762698-1.html

EARLIER POSTS of this series: Access my topic list at UHH, the new posts are listed in reverse chronological order:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-topic-list?usernum=45105

Thanks for visiting, for improved clarity please view the downloads. I look forward to your comments and questions.

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1 - View of the development from the elevated walkway with the Tong Ming Street Park at the center surrounded by tall residential towers which are connected to the park, subway station and shopping malls via overhead, partially covered walkways

(Download)

2 - Open park landscape ringed by massive residential building developments, the covered elevated walkways are clearly visible

(Download)

3 - Different angle of the above, the elevated walkways facilitate crossing the busy streets and lead to a dome-covered shopping center and on to the residential buldings

(Download)

4 - Sports court with another set of high-rise apartments

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5 - 47-storey Crowne Plaza Kowloon East Hotel adjacent to the above park, located above the subway station, sporting one of Hong Kong's largest Grand Ballroom with over 1000 m² pillar-less space for up to 860 people for a sit-down banquet

(Download)

6 - One of the multitude of high-rise residential towers surrounding Tong Ming Street Park

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7 - Closing in on a facade of one of the high-rise apartment towers

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8 - Zooming in for a close view

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9 - Children's playground with a somewhat Chinese design

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10 - Partial detailed view of the playground

(Download)

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

For your reference:

11 - Trip map of the Hong Kong segment of our tour, Tseung Kwan O is at the bottom right just across the waters from Hong Kong Island

(Download)

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Wow, that's a crapload of apartments!

NMGal Loc: NE NM

I could never live in a crowded place like that.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Well yes, that is the reality of living in Hong Kong, one of the world's most crowded places. How else can you provide space for 7.5 million people living in a small area that is mainly very hilly and inaccessible. The alternative is living in China (where the quarters are often as crowded with probably less quality in construction) or living in shanty towns, where many of the earlier immigrants from China to Hong Kong were living before the government started the massive "Resettlement Estates" which were a precursor to these now commercially built housing estates with at least good quality construction and infrastructure. It is massive and impersonal - but it is home for many people.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

It is tough for us Westerners, used to "endless space" to imagine living in these crowded places - and hopefully it makes us appreciate what we have more!

Vince68 Loc: Wappingers Falls, NY

That must have been some project reclaiming that part of Junk Bay to build all those high rise towers. I hope they have a lot of park space and playground area for all those people living there. Nice set showing the area and narrative as well Joe.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I knew it was crowded, BUT...

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

An interesting insight, Joe. I note that the units do not have any central A/C.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

This whole process of reclaiming land, which Hong Kong is very good at as they have done it for well over 100 years, still gives me the shivers. To me, it is one thing to reclaim some land and then build a small house on it, and a very different thing to fill up a rather "deep" harbor and then built a whole crop of 50+ story buildings on that refilled area. I understand that these builders know what they are doing and it seems that there have been no accidents in this regards, but just the thought of it still gives me the willies. As to park space, this area is very well endowed as it stands at the edge of the large Clear Water Bay Country Park with hiking trails, beaches, etc. When we lived in Hong Kong in the Seventies and Eighties, we used to drive to the Clear Water Bay area for hiking or the beach and it was always a good experience (except maybe for the heat .....).

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Yes, one has to see this to believe it.

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thanks, Bill!

weberwest Loc: Ferndale WA

Thanks Mike, living conditions are so different around the world. That lack of central air - just about all the commercial buildings have central air, but it seems many of the residential buildings do not. I can understand that in old buildings that were built before aircon became prevalent, like the one we used to live in in the Eighties, the building was probably built in the Fifties right after the war. We had a window mounted aircon in every room, about 6 of them. One was actually installed above a doorway to a small balcony, and when we were hit by a typhoon, that aircon unit actually was blown into that room, where my wife was just standing minutes before and crashed to the floor - imagine the weight of that unit and what it would have done to my wife were she still there!

So, I cannot really understand why even many of the newer buildings still have these individual aircon units, possibly to give the users a choice of whether they want to use it or not, or to lessen the overall cost of operation.

phlash46 Loc: Westchester County, New York

Wonderful shooting, but, claustrophobia "u r us"