Sham Shui Po District

Sham Shui Po District (深水埗區), sometimes called Shamshuipo District, is a 936-hectare district located in northwestern Kowloon, bordered by the Lion Rock Country Park in the north, the East Rail Line in the east, Boundary Street in the south and Stonecutters Island in the west.

History[]

Sham Shui Po was already inhabited more than 2,000 years ago, and ancient tombs were built during the Han Dynasty. In 1955, when the government built the Lei Cheng Uk Resettlement Area, it was discovered by workers and converted into a museum open to the public, which is located at 41 Tonkin Street near the Lei Cheng Uk Estate, and it is one of the declared monuments.

However, the development of Sham Shui Po started only in the 1920s, and the district has grown from a population of a few thousand at the beginning of the century to a population of 366,000 today, making it the most densely populated district in Hong Kong. Sham Shui Po can be roughly divided into eight districts, including Yau Yat Chuen, Shek Kip Mei, Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, Lai Chi Kok, Mei Foo, Stonecutters Island and West Kowloon Reclamation Area.

Sham Shui Po is a predominantly residential district with industrial and commercial developments. It has a large number of old tenement buildings, the first public housing estate in Hong Kong (i.e. Shek Kip Mei Estate, occupied in 1954) and the first large-scale private housing estate (Mei Foo Sun Chuen, occupied since 1968).

Yau Yat Chuen, located to the east of Shek Kip Mei and to the west of the East Rail Line tracks, is planned as a low-density residential area and is geographically quite close to Kowloon Tong, which has led to a common misconception among the public that it is within the Kowloon City District.

Located between Sham Shui Po and Lai Chi Kok, Cheung Sha Wan Industrial Area was one of the early industrial centres of Hong Kong, focusing on textile and garment, apparel, hiking and wholesale and retail of non-staple food. With the relocation of industries to the north in the 1980s, the Cheung Sha Wan Industrial Area has been transformed into a centre for commerce and industry, wholesale fashion and logistics.

The boundary between Sham Shui Po and Kwai Tsing districts is rather ambiguous, with Stonecutters Island belonging to Sham Shui Po and Kwai Chung Container Terminals to Kwai Tsing. After Lai Wan was reclaimed, there was a farce in which the same property - Nob Hill, was situated in two administrative districts until the boundaries of the District Council constituency were redrawn in 2007 and the estate was finally included in the Sham Shui Po District.

Street/road structure[]

The streets in Sham Shui Po are densely populated, with an orderly pattern of vertical and horizontal streets; the main backbone streets in the district are Cheung Sha Wan Road and Lai Chi Kok Road, which run horizontally and horizontally, while the Kowloon section of Castle Peak Road (青山道) connects to the New Territories section of Castle Peak Road (青山公路) and terminates at Tai Po Road. The names of bus stops also reflect the actual locations of the streets, such as "Pei Ho Street", "Ki Lung Street", "Cheung Lai Street", etc. The names of bus stops also reflect the actual locations of the streets.

Streets in the longitudinal zone are quite easy to recognise. From the south of Tai Po Road, horizontal streets served by buses include Castle Peak Road (southbound), Un Chau Street (northbound), Cheung Sha Wan Road, Yu Chau Street (northbound), Lai Chi Kok Road, Hai Tan Street (northbound) and Sham Mong Road, which was born after the completion of the West Kowloon Reclamation Area. As for the longitudinal streets most frequently travelled by buses, they include Mei Lai Road, Tung Chau West Street (northbound),Tai Nan West Street (northbound), Hing Wah Street (westbound), Tonkin Street, Yen Chow Street, Nam Cheong Street and Wong Chuk Street (eastbound). Streets north of Tai Po Road connect a number of large housing estates in Shek Kip Mei, including Shek Kip Mei Estate, Tai Hang Tung Estate, Pak Tin Estate, Chak On Estate, and so on.

If one pays close attention, it is not difficult to find that many streets in Sham Shui Po are actually missing a section, and this situation is more frequent than that in other districts in Hong Kong. There are two main ways for the Government to deal with this situation, and the first one is adopted in Cheung Sha Wan Industrial Area, where the word "West" is added before the word "Street" in the names of the existing streets, i.e. Tung Chau Street West, Yee Kuk Street West, Tai Nan West Street and Yu Chau West Street; interestingly enough, the corresponding streets, namely, Tung Chau Street, Yee Kuk Street, Tai Nan Street and Yu Chau Street, are in Sham Shui Po. It is very likely that the latter street was intended to be connected to Sham Shui Po during the planning of the district, but the development process has led to a gap. The second category follows the same name; Fuk Wing Street (near Cheung Sha Wan Catholic English Secondary School), Fuk Wa Street (near Cheung Sha Wan Catholic English Secondary School) and Yee Kuk Street near Cheung Sha Wan Wholesale Vegetable Market) are also obviously missing a section, but there is no separation of the names, and they are mostly the result of the development of housing estates or community facilities.

After the formation of the West Kowloon Reclamation Area, many existing streets were extended into the area. To facilitate identification, the extended sections also have the word "West" added at the end of the street name, i.e. Hing Wah Street West, Fat Tseung Street West, Tonkin Street West and Yen Chow Street West. KMB's Lai Chi Kok Depot, originally located at Po Lun Street (now Manhattan Hill), was relocated to a new depot at Hing Wah Street West in 2005, while the old depot site was redeveloped into today's private housing estate, Manhattan Hill.

Apart from the bus routes serving the district, there are also many other routes serving the New Territories from other districts in Kowloon which pass through the district. Bus routes between Kowloon West and New Territories East pass through a section of Lung Cheung Road in Sham Shui Po with intermediate stops, and some routes enter and exit Sham Shui Po at Tai Po Road, Lung Cheung Road/Nam Cheong Street (near Beacon Heights) or Cornwall Street.

Traditionally, bus routes travelling between Kowloon West and New Territories West need to pass through Mei Foo before entering the western part of the New Territories; KMB Route 35X is the only one that goes to the area via Ching Cheung Road. The full opening of the West Kowloon Corridor and the West Kowloon Highway in 1997 provided motorists with a faster route to and from the western part of the New Territories, but few bus routes were diverted to the new routes. Some morning peak hour routes now take the West Kowloon Corridor (also nicknamed West Bridge) to Yau Tsim Mong, while the latter are mainly Western Harbour Crossing cross-harbour routes, leaving Sham Shui Po as the main stopover for routes between Kowloon and the New Territories.

Bus and minibus termini[]

Lai Chi Kok and Mei Foo[]

Lai Chi Kok (Kau Wa Keng) Public Transport Interchange : Located on the ground floor of Nob Hill, the bus terminus was once demarcated as Kwai Tsing District in the constituency boundary, which was amended to Sham Shui Po District in 2007.
Mei Foo: Located above Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Mei Foo Station (Tsuen Wan Line), it is the largest bus terminus in the district.

Cheung Sha Wan[]

Cheung Sha Wan: Located on the ground floor of Cheung Sha Wan Plaza, connected to Lai Chi Kok Station.
Cheung Sha Wan (Kom Tsun Street): Located at the western end of the Cheung Sha Wan Industrial Area, with two bus termini.
Cheung Sha Wan (Cheung Shun Street): Located at Cheung Shun Street near the junction with Cheung Lai Street, with green minibus terminus and resident bus pick-up/drop-off points.
Cheung Sha Wan (Yu Chau West Street): A green minibus terminus is located at Rejuvenation Street West near the junction of Castle Peak Road.
Cheung Sha Wan (Yee Kuk Street West): A public light bus terminus is located at Hospital Street West near the junction of Castle Peak Road.
Cheung Sha Wan (Fat Tseung Street West): A green minibus terminus is located at Fat Cheung Street West near West Kowloon Law Courts Building.
Castle Peak Road: Located at the junction of Un Chau Street near Castle Peak Road, it is a terminus for public light buses.
Caritas Medical Centre: Located to the north of Cheung Sha Wan Industrial Area and west of So Uk Estate, it is the largest hospital in the area.
Cheung Sha Wan (Cheung Fat Street): Located at the north-west of Un Chau Estate, with a green minibus terminus.

Sham Shui Po and So Uk[]

So Uk Bus Terminus: Located at Kwong Lee Road near Camelia House So Uk Estate.
Lai Kok Bus Terminus: Located outside Lai Kok Shopping Centre, Tonkin Street.
Sham Shui Po (Yen Chow Street) Terminus: Located on the ground floor of Dragon Centre, it is one of the few indoor bus terminals in the area.
Sham Shui Po (Castle Peak Road) Minibus Terminus: The terminus of PLB Castle Peak Road - Sheung Shui Route, near Yen Chow Street.
Sham Shui Po (Fuk Wing Street) Minibus Terminus: The terminus of PLB Sham Shui Po - Tsuen Wan Route, near Golden Shopping Centre, one-way service only.
Sham Shui Po (Ki Lung Street) Minibus Terminus: Two GMB routes terminate at Ki Lung Street, with a pick-up point at Yu Chau Street near Jockey Club Betting Centre.
Sham Shui Po (Kweilin Street) Minibus Terminus: There is a GMB terminus at Kweilin Street near the entrance of Lai Chi Kok Road.

Shek Kip Mei, Tai Wo Ping and Yau Yat Chuen[]

Caldecott Road: Located in the north-west of Shek Kip Mei, with an allotment reservoir, nearby mansion "Caldecott Hill", and the Catholic Cemetery on the opposite hillside.
Dynasty Heights: A medium-density private housing estate in Tai Wo Ping, with residents' buss picking up and dropping off at Yin Ping Road.
Beacon Heights Bus Terminus: A medium-density private housing estate located in Tai Wo Ping, with green minibus terminus and resident bus pick-up/drop-off point at Lung Ping Road.
Chak On Estate Bus Terminus: A public housing estate in Tai Wo Ping, with bus terminus and green minibus terminus.
Pak Tin (Pak Wan Street) Public Transport Interchange: Located at the base of Pak Tin Shopping Centre, opposite to On Tin House Pak Tin Estate.
Pak Tin (North) Bus Terminus: A roadside bus terminus located opposite to Chak Tin House Pak Tin Estate on westbound Pak Wan Street.
Tai Hang Tung Bus Terminus: Located outside Tung Lung House, Tai Hang Tung Estate, Shek Kip Mei, it is the terminus of KMB Route 203C.
Kowloon Tong (Festival Walk) Public Transport Interchange: located on the ground floor of Festival Walk Shopping Centre, opposite to City University of Hong Kong.
Festival Walk Car Park: located at the underground car park of Festival Walk on Tat Chee Avenue, with pick-up and drop-off points for resident buses.

West Kowloon Reclamation Area[]

Cheung Sha Wan (Sham Mong Road) Bus Terminus: A temporary bus terminus to tie in with the decommissioning of Sham Shui Po (Tonkin Street) Bus Terminus.
Nam Cheong Station Public Transport Interchange: Located outside Nam Cheong Station, now out of service.
Hoi Lai Estate Public Transport Interchange: Located to the south of Lai Chi Kok and west of the West Kowloon Reclamation, with the bus terminus in the estate shopping centre.
Fu Cheong Estate Minibus Terminus: Built on the old Sham Shui Po Ferry Pier, with a green minibus terminus opposite Fu Wong House and another bus stop on Sham Mong Road near Nam Cheong Station.
Hoi Ying Estate Bus Terminus: Built southwest of Lin Cheung Road and northwest of Cheung Sha Wan Wholesale Food Market, it is a roadside bus terminus outside Hoi Lok Court.
Hoi Tat Public Transport Interchange: Located at the base of Hoi Shing House Hoi Tat Estate, Sham Mong Road, opposite Ying Wa College, at the former site of the Sham Shui Po (Tonkin Street) Bus Terminus.

Stonecutters Island/Ngong Shuen Chau[]

Stonecutters Island (or Ngong Shuen Chau) is the only outer island in the Sham Shui Po district and has been linked up after the completion of the West Kowloon Reclamation project.

Ngong Shuen Chau Barracks
Stonecutters Island (Government Dockyard) Minibus Terminus

Decommissioned bus and minibus termini[]

Sham Shui Po Ferry Bus Terminus: once the second largest bus terminal in the district, it was demolished due to the West Kowloon Reclamation project. The alighting stop of the former bus terminus has been renamed as "Nam Cheong Estate Sham Shui Po", and the site of the terminus has been converted into Fu Cheong Estate.
Cheung Sha Wan Bus Terminus at Un Chau Estate: The present-day "Cheung Sha Wan Station" bus stop opposite Un Chau Estate was the former Cheung Sha Wan Terminus of the KMB Route 4, which was decommissioned after the opening of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Tsuen Wan Line.
Shek Kip Mei MTR Station Bus Terminus: Once one of the feeder stations for the MTR, it was decommissioned with the opening of the Tsuen Wan Line, with the old terminus in a different location from the current intermediate stop.
Shek Kip Mei Bus Terminus: initially located at Berwick Street (now opposite Mei Hong House and Mei Shan House), it was relocated to Woh Chai Street in the 1970s opposite Block 23 Shek Kip Mei Estate, which is also the intermediate stop for the northbound direction of the current Route 2D.
Nam Cheong Estate Bus Terminus: Located opposite the last generation of Sham Shui Po Ferry Pier, the GMB terminus opposite Cheong Yin House, which ceased operation on 7 July 2011 with the cessation of 10M.
Sham Shui Po (Kiu Kiang Street) Minibus Terminus : located at Kiu Kiang Street near the entrance to Cheung Sha Wan Road, it used to be a terminus for green minibuses.
Cheung Sha Wan (Fat Tseung Street) Bus Terminus: Near the present Fortune Estate, the terminus was called Cheung Sha Wan by KMB, which used to be the terminus of KMB Route 52 and KMB Route 60.
Cheung Sha Wan (Hing Wah Street) Minibus Terminus : Located at Hing Wah Street, it was once a terminus for green minibuses.
Tai Wo Ping Bus Terminus
Nam Cheong Station Public Transport Interchange: Located outside Nam Cheong Station, the site was decommissioned due to the property development above the station, and is now the site of a shopping centre, V Walk, and the property above the station, Cullinan West.
Sham Shui Po (Tonkin Street) Bus Terminus: Located at the junction of Sham Mong Road and Tonkin Street West, opposite the Ying Wa College, the site was demolished due to the impact of public housing development and is now Hoi Tat Estate.
Pak Tin Bus Terminus: Located opposite to Block 2 of Pak Tin Estate at Pak Wan Street; due to the redevelopment of Pak Tin Estate, the Pak Tin Bus Terminus was closed on 22 September 2015, and the routes originally using it were temporarily relocated to the roadside parking on the nearby roads until Pak Tin (Pak Wan Street) Public Transport Interchange was opened.

Bus routes[]

Template:List of Sham Shui Po District Bus Routes

External Links[]

Template:Administrative Districts

To facilitate quoting and enquiries, the following redirect page(s) will direct to this page:

Sham Shui Po, Sham Shui Po District Council, Shamshuipo, Shamshuipo District, Sham Shui Po Central, Chak On and Tai Wo Ping