Choi Hung Estate

Choi Hung Estate (Chinese: 彩虹邨; lit. 'rainbow estate') is a public housing estate in Ngau Chi Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was built by the former Hong Kong Housing Authority (屋宇建設委員會) and is now managed by the current Hong Kong Housing Authority (香港房屋委員會). It received a Silver Medal at the 1965 Hong Kong Institute of Architects Annual Awards.[1]

Choi Hung Estate
Bird's-eye view (2018)
General information
LocationNgau Chi Wan
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Coordinates22°20′06″N 114°12′24″E
StatusCompleted
CategoryPublic rental housing
Population18,435 (2016)
No. of blocks11
No. of flats7,400
Construction
Constructed1963
AuthorityHong Kong Housing Authority
Choi Hung Estate
Chinese彩虹邨
Cantonese Yalechói hùhng chyūn

Location

Choi Hung Estate is located in Ngau Chi Wan and is surrounded by several of eastern Kowloon Peninsula's major roads. To the north is Lung Cheung Road; to the south Prince Edward Road East; to the west Kwun Tong Bypass and to the east Clear Water Bay Road.

History
Opening ceremony plaque

The Hong Kong government granted the land to the Hong Kong Housing Authority to build a large housing estate in 1958. The blocks of the estate were completed between 1962 and 1964. An opening ceremony was held in 1963 with the presence of then Hong Kong Governor, Sir Robert Brown Black. A signboard commemorating the ceremony is located in the estate's Lam Chung Avenue.

Accommodating nearly 43,000 people, it was the largest public housing estate at the time. It subsequently attracted several prominent visitors, including Richard Nixon in 1964 (who became President of the United States in 1969), Britain's Princess Margaret in 1966, and Princess Alexandra in 1967.[2]

Buildings and facilities

The estate has 11 residential blocks, one car park, and five schools, with various shops and restaurants on the ground floor of each block. Roads in the estate connect the blocks to each other and to major roads.

Residential blocks
Name Block Type of building Phase Year of completion
Chi Mei House (紫薇樓) 1 Old Slab 1 1962
Tan Fung House (丹鳳樓) 2
Luk Ching House (綠晶樓) 3 2 1963
Pak Suet House (白雪樓) 4
Pik Hoi House (碧海樓) 7
Chui King House (翠瓊樓) 5 3
Kam Hon House (金漢樓) 9A 1964
Hung Ngok House (紅萼樓) 6 4
Kam Wan House (錦雲樓) 8 5
Kam Pik House & Kam Wah House (金碧樓及金華樓) 9B 6

Public facilities
  • car park
  • post office
  • bus terminus
  • 2 markets

Demographics

According to the 2016 by-census, Choi Hung Estate had a population of 18,435. The median age was 48 and the majority of residents (96 per cent) were of Chinese ethnicity. Cantonese was the predominant usual spoken language (93 per cent), followed by other varieties of Chinese excluding Mandarin (4.5 per cent), non-English and non-Chinese languages (2 per cent), Mandarin (0.5 per cent), and English (0.3 per cent).

The average household comprised 2.5 persons. The median monthly household income of all households (i.e. including both economically active and inactive households) was HK$15,290.[3]

Education

Secondary schools

Primary schools
  • CCC Kei Wa Primary School (中華基督教會香港區會基華小學)
  • S.K.H. Ching Shan Primary School (聖公會靜山小學)
  • S.K.H. Yat Sau Primary School (聖公會日修小學)

Transport
The bus terminal at Choi Hung

Because the estate is accessible from major roads of Kowloon, the bus network is very convenient.

Buses

MTR

The Choi Hung MTR Station on the Kwun Tong line, which is named after the estate, is in the north of the estate. Exits C3 and C4 are available for access to the estate.

Photography
Basketball court at carpark rooftop has become a tourism hot-spot
A photographer setting a vintage camera at the basketball court

The estate is photogenic and has become a tourism hot-spot.[4][5] The most photographed view of the estate includes the basketball court and rainbow apartments behind.[6] Some journalists and researchers have been vocal against the growing Instagram popularity of the area, criticising that it is a shallow view of the complex social history of the council estate in Hong Kong, as well as driving away locals who want to use the space.[7][8] Though some locals have also begun selling photos for profit to tourists.[8] It has been suggested that the location is popular not only for the aesthetics, but also because it allows the photographers and selfie-takers to feel as if they are in the middle of the world - compared to the more detached equally-aesthetic Hong Kong skyline shots.[9] In 2017, a photograph of the building was shortlisted for the Arcaid Award, an architecture photography prize.[10]

After featuring in a music video for Korean boyband Seventeen, the fame of the backdrop made the Hong Kong government tourist office begin heavily promoting it.[11]

See also

References
  1. List of Past HKIA Annual Awards
  2. "Dignitaries Visiting Public Housing Estates in Earlier Years". Hong Kong Housing Authority. 1 November 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  3. "Major Housing Estates". 2016 Population By-census. Census and Statistics Department. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  4. Keegan, Matthew. "A Photographer's Guide to Choi Hung Estate". Culture Trip. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  5. "The 13 best Instagram photo locations in Hong Kong". Time Out Hong Kong. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  6. Travels, Lolapan (2018-05-31). "Choi Hung Estate Hong Kong - A Colourful Photography Hotspot". Lolapan Travels. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  7. Wainwright, Oliver (2018-11-23). "Snapping point: how the world's leading architects fell under the Instagram spell". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  8. "Hong Kong's Instagram-friendly public housing estates". The Independent. 2019-06-08. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  9. Hui, Mary (2018-08-09). "Public Housing for Some, Instagram Selfie Backdrop for Others". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  10. "Amazing architecture: The 20 best photographs of buildings from around the world". The Telegraph. 2017-10-05. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
  11. "Instagram tourists push Hongkongers into the shadows". South China Morning Post. 2019-02-15. Retrieved 2019-06-09.
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