Lam Tin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lam Tin (藍田, Jyutping: laam4 tin4, lit. blue-field) is an area in the Kwun Tong District in southeastern New Kowloon, Hong Kong. Lam Tin is majorly a housing area and transport interchange, with several renowned shopping attractions.
Most of the residents in Lam Tin are Chinese, but due to influence by Japanese immigrants during the 1990s, Japanese people are also common in Lam Tin, in particularly in Sceneway Garden and Laguna City.
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[edit] Geographical Location
The unshaded region of the map on the top-right corner of this page is normally known as Lam Tin. In common speech, the name Lam Tin in the past usually included the areas of Lei Yue Mun and Yau Tong. However as new infrastructures and housing estates were built, they were currently usually excluded.
Conventional boundaries: west to Laguna City, southeast to Kwong Tin Estate, north to the entrance of Tseung Kwan O Tunnel, southwest to the harbour.
[edit] Constituencies of the Kwun Tong District Council within the Lam Tin area
- J14 Hing Tin (興田)
- J15 Tak Tin (德田)
- J16 Lam Tin (藍田)
- J17 Kwong Tak (廣德)
- J18 Ping Tin (平田)
- J19 Hong Pak (康柏)
- J21 Yau Tong / Sze Shan (Hill no.4) West (油塘四山西)
- J22 Laguna City / Lai Kong (麗港)
- J23 Sceneway Garden / King Tin (景田)
[edit] History
Before colonisation of the nearby Hong Kong Island in 1841, Lam Tin, called Ham Tin Shan (鹹田山) at that time, literally meaning "salty field hill", had been part of Kowloon Bay salt-fields (九龍灣鹽田) under the management of Dongguan county (東莞縣) or Xin'an county (新安縣) in different dynasties.
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. Agricultural activities started, and with a quarry found in So Mo Ping (掃墓坪), literally meaning "funeral plains" (now renamed Sau Mau Ping "秀茂坪" with similar Cantonese pronunciation due to taboos), the region gradually became a small fishing, farming and quarrying town.
This lasted on for years until the British occupation of Hong Kong (see History of Hong Kong). Under the British rule, the salt-fields were abandoned to facilitate the building of Kai Tak Airport (啟德機場), and Ham Tin was renamed Lam Tin (藍田) because the village no longer produced salt.
With the building of 3 major transport infrastructures, Kwun Tong Bypass, Eastern Harbour Crossing, and MTR that all incurred outlets to Lam Tin, in late 20th century, continuously people moved into the district. Now Lam Tin is one of the major transport interchanges in Hong Kong.
[edit] Infrastructure
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Lam Tin is known as one of the most important transport interchange centres in Hong Kong.
[edit] MTR
Lam Tin is on the Kwun Tong Line, the third station from the terminus station of Tiu Keng Leng at Rennie's Mill.
The Lam Tin MTR station opened in 1989. Following this, Lam Tin gradually developed into a major transport interchange in Hong Kong.
[edit] Franchised buses
In Lam Tin, there are 5 bus terminals, namely:
- Lam Tin Bus Terminus (with the full name Lam Tin MTR Station Bus Terminus) with routes A22, 42C, 61R, 74S, 89D, 89P, 93M, 216M, 258D, 298P
- Laguna City Bus Terminus with routes 40, 219P, 219X, 621
- Ping Tin Bus Terminus with routes 15, 15A, 15P, 38, 277X, 603, 603P, 603S, 889
- Tak Tin Bus Terminus (also known as Lam Tin North Bus Terminus) with route E22
- Kwong Tin Bus Terminus (with the full name Lam Tin Kwong Tin Estate Bus Terminus) with routes 14B, 16, 215X
Excluding the bus routes mentioned above, the following routes also stop in Lam Tin, bus not terminating: 14, 14C, 14S, 16M, E22P, R22, 62X, 70X, N216, 259D, 302, 307, 373, 373P, 601, N601, 606, 619, 619P, N619, 641, 671, 680, 680A, 680X, N680, 681, 681P, N681, 682, 690, 690P, N690, N691, 692, 694, 698R.
For a total, 64 bus routes run through Lam Tin.
[edit] Highway and road surface
Lam Tin acts as a bridge between the Eastern Harbour Crossing and the Kwun Tong Bypass of Route 2, with the Lei Yue Mun Interchange as the interchanging point.
Lam Tin acts as an entrance to the Tseung Kwan O Tunnel, which leads to Tseung Kwan O in great convenience. Two other major roads in eastern Kowloon, Kwun Tong Road and Lei Yue Mun Road, both of Route 7, also run through the western region of Lam Tin.
In addition, on grave-sweeping days, Lam Tin will become crowded with grave-sweepers as it is the only motor-enabled outlet to the Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery.
[edit] Surface transport
Surrounded by hills, Lam Tin does not have a direct outlet to the Victoria Harbour. However, merchant ships and ferries dock at Kwun Tong Pier and Lei Yue Mun Pier, which are both within 15 minutes' walk from Lam Tin, and provide surface transport for Lam Tin residents. Another reason for Lam Tin's absence of an outlet to the Harbour is the presence of an Eastern Harbour Crossing entrance inside the district. Residents prefer using the efficient cross-harbour tunnel buses and MTR instead of ships as means of transport as a result.
[edit] Residence
As a residential district, most areas in Lam Tin feature housing estates.
[edit] List of villages and housing estates in Lam Tin
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In addition, Ko Chun Court and Ko Yee Estate in Yau Tong and Ma Yau Tong Village in Tiu Keng Leng are sometimes considered as part of Lam Tin.
