Po Lam Explained

Po Lam (Chinese: 寶琳 or 寶林) is a neighbourhood in northern Tseung Kwan O, Kowloon. An MTR station with the same name, Tseung Kwan O Village, Yau Yue Wan Village, King Lam Estate, and Po Lam Estate are located there.

Name

Po Lam is named after one of the first roads in Tseung Kwan O, the Po Lam Road, whose name was taken from the Chinese translation of the first name of Barbara B. Whitener (寶琳), Rev. Sterling H. Whitener's wife. Rev. Whitener was a missionary based at the Haven of Hope Tuberculosis Sanatorium (now Haven of Hope Hospital) at the time.[1] [2] When Po Lam Estate was under planning, it was named "寶林邨", with a different second character but pronounced in the same way. The Po Lam MTR station, on the contrary, used "琳". Government documents have used both names, referring to the area as "寶琳" in a brochure issued by the Planning Department,[3] but also using "林" for the Po Lam Sports Centre within Po Lam Estate.[4] Residents generally use both name interchangeably.

History

Same as Hang Hau, Po Lam was developed as part of the first phase of the Tseung Kwan O New Town.[5] Its first population intake came in 1988 with the opening of Po Lam Estate.[6] Before 2002, there was no railway access to or from Po Lam. The Tseung Kwan O line, including Po Lam station, opened in August 2002.[7]

In addition to the new town area, two villages, Tseung Kwan O Village and Yau Yue Wan Village, are also considered part of Po Lam, although their histories date back to long before the Tseung Kwan O New Town was conceived.

Demographics

Po Lam is designated Tertiary Planning Units 836 in the 2016 Population By-census. It is home to 88,272 people, where major ethnic groups are Chinese (95.2%), Indonesians (2.3%) and Filipino (1.5%). Most households live in subsidised home ownership housing (such as Home Ownership Scheme and Sandwich Class Housing Scheme projects) and private housing.[8]

Housing

Public housing

Home Ownership Scheme housing

Others

Private housing

Education[9]

Primary schools

Secondary schools

Recreation

Po Lam hosts a number of public amenities, including the Tseung Kwan O Sports Centre, the Tseung Kwan O Public Swimming Pool and the Tseung Kwan O Public Library, all of which are located close to each other. Also in close proximity to the trio is Po Hong Park, where the annual Lunar New Year Fair takes place.[10] These facilities and the Po Tsui Park, situated next to Po Lam Estate, are all managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

The neighbourhood is also home to the Metro City Plaza, claimed to be the largest shopping complex in East Kowloon and which, same as the private housing development of which it is a part, comprises three phases: MCP One (formerly Metro City Plaza Phase 1), MCP Central (formerly Metro City Plaza Phase 2) and MCP Discovery (formerly Metro City Plaza Phase 3).[11]

Transport

Po Lam Road North and Po Hong Road are two major roadways in the neighbourhood, with most of the developments sandwiched between them. Po Lam Road North is the extension of Po Lam Road, where the area of Po Lam got its name. Po Lam Road opened in 1956 to connect the Haven of Hope Tuberculosis Sanatorium (now Haven of Hope Hospital) to Tiu Keng Leng and Ma Yau Tong.[12] During the Tseung Kwan O New Town development, Po Lam Road was extended eastward, into the new town, and westward, to Sau Mau Ping. The extension within the new town, which starts from Mau Wu Tsai Village and leads into Po Lam, was named Po Lam Road North. The other extension was still called Po Lam Road. The old section from Tiu Keng Leng to Ma Yau Tong was renamed to Po Lam Road South.

Public transportation in Po Lam is served by the MTRC, Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) (NWFB) and Citybus. Citybus operates cross-harbour routes to Central (690) and Siu Sai Wan (694). Citybus also operates routes to Hong Kong International Airport Tung Chung, and Shatin. KMB runs routes to Mei Foo, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Mong Kok and Tsuen Wan, among others. The MTRC only runs Tseung Kwan O line, on which Po Lam MTR station is the only rail and subway station in the neighbourhood. In the Railway Development Strategy 2014, the government proposed the East Kowloon line will connect Po Lam station to Diamond Hill station. It is expected to open in 2025.[13]

Current District Councillors (2020-2023)

CodeConstituencyRange[14] NamePolitical affiliationNotes
Q05Hang Hau WestTseung Kwan O Village, Yau Yue Wan Village, Tai Po Tsai, Mau Wu Tsai Village and Ma Yau TongYu Tsun-ning
Q16Hong KingSerenity Place, Hong Sing Garden and King Ming CourtFrankie Lam Siu-chung
Q18Po LamPo Lam EstateFung Kwan-on
Q19Yan YingMetro City Phase 2, Yan Ming Court and Ying Ming CourtBen Chung Kam-lun
Q20Wai YanFinery Park, Radiant Towers, Verbena Heights and Well On GardenChun Hoi-shing
Q21Wan HangMetro City Phases 1 and 3 and The PinnacleGary Fan Kwok-wai
Q22King LamKing Lam Estate and Ho Ming CourtCheung Wai-chiu

Notes and References

  1. Book: 義章 . 劉 . 孤島扁舟:見證大時代的調景嶺 . 2015 . . Hong Kong . 9789620438110 . 87 . zh.
  2. Web site: Whitener, Sterling Hegnauer . . 20 March 2020 . 30 January 2017.
  3. Web site: Tseung Kwan O . 27 March 2020 . zh . PDF.
  4. Web site: Po Lam Sports Centre . . 27 March 2020 . zh.
  5. Web site: 政府規劃的發展 . Planning Department . 27 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200328115537/https://www.pland.gov.hk/pland_tc/press/publication/nt_pamphlet02/tko_html/develop.html . 28 March 2020 . zh.
  6. Web site: E1 Tseung Kwan O New Town . . 27 March 2020.
  7. Web site: Tseung Kwan O . Planning Department . 27 March 2020 . PDF.
  8. Web site: 2016 Population By-census . . 28 March 2020.
  9. Web site: Education Bureau School List by District - Sai Kung . . 5 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200405152308/https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/student-parents/sch-info/sch-search/schlist-by-district/school-list-sk.html . 5 April 2020.
  10. Web site: Auction of 2020 Lunar New Year Fairs Stalls . Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.
  11. Web site: Metro City Plaza . Metro City Plaza . 5 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200405125707/https://www.metrocityplaza.com/en/ . 5 April 2020.
  12. News: 西貢寶琳路落成 彭德主持開放禮 . . 7 November 1956.
  13. News: Fung . Fanny . Siu . Phila . Surprise new MTR line planned for Kwun Tong . 6 March 2020 . . 18 September 2014.
  14. Web site: Recommended District Council Constituency Areas . . 7 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190605174452/https://www.eac.hk/pdf/distco/2019dc/final/en/Q_descriptions(Eng).pdf . 5 June 2019.