View source for Lai Chi Kok

{{Use Hong Kong English|date=August 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox settlement
<!-- See Template:Infobox settlement for additional fields and descriptions -->
| name                    = Lai Chi Kok
| native_name             = {{lang|zh-HK|荔枝角}}
| native_name_lang        = zh
| settlement_type         = 
| image_skyline           = Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Banyan Garden (Hong Kong).JPG
| image_alt               = 
| image_caption           = View from [[Lai Chi Kok Park]]. [[Banyan Garden]] is at the far end. [[Mei Foo Sun Chuen]] phase 5 and 7 is on the left and right respectively.
| image_flag              = {{flag|Hong Kong}}
| flag_alt                = 
| image_seal              = 
| seal_alt                = 
| image_shield            = 
| shield_alt              = 
| nickname                = 
| motto                   = 
| image_map               = 
| map_alt                 = 
| map_caption             = 
| pushpin_map             = 
| pushpin_label_position  = 
| pushpin_map_alt         = 
| pushpin_map_caption     = 
| coordinates             = 
| coor_pinpoint           = 
| coordinates_footnotes   = 
| subdivision_type        = District
| subdivision_name        = [[Sham Shui Po District]]
| subdivision_type1       = 
| subdivision_name1       = 
| subdivision_type2       = 
| subdivision_name2       = 
| subdivision_type3       = 
| subdivision_name3       = 
| established_title       = 
| established_date        = 
| founder                 = 
| seat_type               = 
| seat                    = 
| government_footnotes    = 
| leader_party            = 
| leader_title            = 
| leader_name             = 
| unit_pref               = Metric
<!-- ALL fields with measurements have automatic unit conversion -->
<!-- for references: use <ref> tags -->
| area_footnotes          = 
| area_urban_footnotes    = <!-- <ref> </ref> -->
| area_rural_footnotes    = <!-- <ref> </ref> -->
| area_metro_footnotes    = <!-- <ref> </ref> -->
| area_magnitude          = <!-- <ref> </ref> -->
| area_note               = 
| area_water_percent      = 
| area_rank               = 
| area_blank1_title       = 
| area_blank2_title       = 
<!-- square kilometers -->
| area_total_km2          = 
| area_land_km2           = 
| area_water_km2          = 
| area_urban_km2          = 
| area_rural_km2          = 
| area_metro_km2          = 
| area_blank1_km2         = 
| area_blank2_km2         = 
<!-- hectares -->
| area_total_ha           = 
| area_land_ha            = 
| area_water_ha           = 
| area_urban_ha           = 
| area_rural_ha           = 
| area_metro_ha           = 
| area_blank1_ha          = 
| area_blank2_ha          = 
| length_km               = 
| width_km                = 
| dimensions_footnotes    = 
| elevation_footnotes     = 
| elevation_m             = 
| population_footnotes    = 
| population_total        = 
| population_as_of        = 
| population_density_km2  = auto
| population_demonym      = 
| population_note         = 
| timezone1               = 
| utc_offset1             = +8
| timezone1_DST           = 
| utc_offset1_DST         = 
| postal_code_type        = 
| postal_code             = 
| area_code_type          = 
| area_code               = 
| iso_code                = 
| website                 = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| footnotes               = 
}}
{{Chinese
|c=荔枝角
|j=Lai6 zi1 gok3
|y=Laih jī gok
|p=Lìzhī Jiǎo
}}
[[Image:Mei foo sun chuen07.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Mei Foo Sun Chuen]] housing estate in Lai Chi Kok]]
[[Image:Lai Chi Kok Hospital.JPG|thumb|right|300px|[[Lai Chi Kok Hospital|Former Lai Chi Kok Hospital]]]]

'''Lai Chi Kok''' is a neighbourhood in [[Kowloon]], [[Hong Kong]], east of [[Kwai Chung]] and west of [[Cheung Sha Wan]]. [[Mei Foo Sun Chuen]] is the largest housing estate in the area and also the largest in Hong Kong with 99 blocks. Administratively, it belongs to [[Sham Shui Po District]].<ref>{{zh|}}《九龍街道命名考源》梁濤 著，第52頁，市政局出版，1993年</ref><ref>{{zh|}}《香港歷史文化小百科16－趣談九龍街道》 爾東 著，第24-25頁，明報出版社，2004年11月，{{ISBN|962-8871-46-3}}</ref>

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2023}}
''Xin an county gazette'' ({{lang|zh-HK|新安縣志}}), published in AD 1819, did not have any description of Lai chi kok, therefore, we did not have detail information of earlier history of the region. {{OR|date=September 2023}}

Lai Chi Kok literally means "[[lychee]] corner", referring to a seashore named after a type of fruit tree native to southern China. However, some historians such as Leung Ping Wah suggested the original name of the region was Lai Tsai Kuok ({{lang|zh-HK|孺仔脚}}), literally mean the footprint of the youngest son. The river once separated Cheung Sha Wan from [[Lai Chi Kok Bay]], and a river from [[Butterfly Valley]] separated Cheung Sha Wan from Lai Chi Kok. <!--what does this mean? Today, [[Mei Lai Road]] approximates the shore and [[Butterfly Valley Road]] the river before any reclamation.--> At the innermost area of Lai Chi Kok Bay, namely present-day [[Lai King Hill Road]], is a settlement called [[Kau Wa Keng]].

The [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] government had set up a customs station in Lai Chi Kok, to collect [[customs duties]] after ceding [[Hong Kong Island]] and [[Kowloon Peninsula]] to the British.<ref>{{cite book | last = Sayer | first = G. R. | title = Hong Kong 1862-1919 | publisher = Hong Kong University Press | year = 1975 | location = Hong Kong | isbn = 962-209-118-0 }}</ref> After the lease of the New Territories, the British reclaimed Lai Chi Kok for military use. A torpedo storage facility was also erected on the west point of Lai Chi Kok Bay, an area near Kwai Chung. <!--what? Later, the British used Lai Chi Kok for petroleum oil storage and later turned into [[Mei Foo Sun Chuen]].-->

At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Lai Chi Kok was 173.<ref>{{Cite journal| last = Hase| first = Patrick |author-link=Patrick Hase| title = Traditional Life in the New Territories: The Evidence of the 1911 and 1921 Censuses| journal =Journal of the [[Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch]]| volume = 36| page = 83| year = 1996| url = https://hkjo.lib.hku.hk/archive/files/ecc123316b3526a31a101b3c4cf08a12.pdf| issn = 1991-7295}}</ref>

==Buildings==
[[Lai Chi Kok Hospital]] is a special hospital located on the original location of the cap. Its neighbour, the [[Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre]], is managed by the [[Hong Kong Correctional Services]]. At one point, the [[Lai Chi Kok Incinerator]] was one of three [[incinerator]]s in Hong Kong; however, it was demolished because it released pollutants into the Hong Kong air. The headquarters of the [[Kowloon Motor Bus]] was also in Lai Chi Kok, before being relocated; the site has since been replaced by a private housing project called [[Manhattan Hill]].

==Transport==
{{main|Mei Foo station}}
The area is served by [[Mei Foo station]] on the [[MTR]] [[Tsuen Wan line]] and [[Tuen Ma line]]. The MTR's [[Lai Chi Kok station]] is actually in [[Cheung Sha Wan]], not Lai Chi Kok. Mei Foo is a transportation hub due to its geographic location in the north-western end of [[Kowloon]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.kmb.hk/tc/services/search.html,bus|title=Bus stop|publisher=[[Kowloon Motor Bus]]}}</ref> [[Lai Chi Kok Road]] is named after this place, but most part of the road lies outside Lai Chi Kok.

==Education==
Lai Chi Kok is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 40. Within the school net are multiple aided schools (operated independently but funded with government money) and two government schools: Fuk Wing Street Government Primary School and Li Cheng Uk Government Primary School.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/spa-systems/primary-1-admission/school-lists/2023dpnet-40b.pdf|title=POA School Net 40|publisher=[[Education Bureau]]|accessdate=2022-09-12}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park]]

==Footnotes==
<references/>

==See also==
{{Commons category|Lai Chi Kok}}
*[[Cheung Sha Wan]]
*[[Mei Foo Sun Chuen]]

{{Sham Shui Po District}}
{{Hong Kong Urban Areas}}
{{Reclaimed land in Hong Kong}}
{{coord|22|20|N|114|08|E|region:CN-91_type:city_source:kolossus-dewiki|display=title}}

[[Category:Lai Chi Kok| ]]
[[Category:Capes of Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Sham Shui Po District]]
[[Category:New Kowloon]]