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| Ngau Tau Kok | |||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 牛頭角 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 牛头角 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | cow head cape | ||||||||||||
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Ngau Tau Kok (Chinese:牛頭角) is an area of easternKowloon in Hong Kong, in the north ofKwun Tong District east toKowloon Bay. Largely residential, Ngau Tau Kok has a population in excess of 210,000.
In Chinese, Ngau Tau Kok translates toox horn orox head cape - before the reclamation of Kowloon Bay, the coastline of Ngau Tau Kok was shaped like the horn of anox. Ngau Tau Kok includes two hills -Jordan Valley (Shum Wan Shan) and Crocodile Hill (Ngok Yue Shan), where around half of the residential blocks are located.
Crocodile Hill is a relatively quiet residential area encircled by Kung Lok Road. This road is mainly lined with residential blocks and is home to two parks, the similarly-named Kung Lok Road Playground and the Kung Lok Road Children's Playground (about 100 metres apart). The former comprises a cycling area and is linked to the Lok Wah Playground. The latter houses a garden and a children's playground. The two parks were completed by theUrban Council in 1988.[1]
Kung Lok Road is also home to theMu Kuang English School, founded byElsie Elliot. Hong Lee Road travels up to the summit of the hill, terminating in a dead end at theSt Catharine's School for Girls, founded in 1968.
Ngau Tau Kok is a residential area close to the town centre of Kwun Tong District. The area aroundLower Ngau Tau Kok Estate is known for itsstreet food, includingcongee,noodles and other traditionalCantonese cuisine. In summer, Ngau Tau Kok hosts many religious ceremonies to celebrate the Yu-lan festival, a festival from Chinese ghost tales.
In 2024, theEast Kowloon Cultural Centre opened on part of the site of the formerLower Ngau Tau Kok Estate.[2]
Ngau Tau Kok has a long history ofHakka inhabitants. In the early colonial days of Hong Kong, it was one of the "Four hills of Kowloon" (九龍四山)[3] in eastern Kowloon wheregranite was extracted. The granite from Ngau Tau Kok was transported toVictoria City onHong Kong Island acrossVictoria Harbour. Some stone was even exported toCanton City for the construction of itsSacred Heart Cathedral.
At the time of the 1911 census, the population of Ngau Tau Kok was 440. The number of males was 314.[4]
Before being a residential area, Ngau Tau Kok was an industrial area.Amoy Food sited a factory in Ngau Tau Kok to manufacturesoy sauce. A high-density private housing estate,Amoy Gardens was constructed on the factory site.
Areservoir inJordan Valley formerly provided fresh water to Ngau Tau Kok but is now disused and used as alandfill area. Anartillery battery was also located in Jordon Valley but it was removed to make way for the urban development project.
The site of theMTR Kowloon BayDepot was formerly the Ngau Tau Kok Industrial Estate.
During the spring of 2003, Ngau Tau Kok was severely impacted by theSARS outbreak. A concentration of cases of the deadly disease occurred inAmoy Gardens (淘大花園),[citation needed] mainly in its Block E. The drainage design (which was widely used across Hong Kong) was later criticised and amended.[citation needed]
On 11 April 2006, a fatal underground explosion occurred onNgau Tau Kok Road and Jordan Valley North Road: two people died and eight were injured.Wai King Building (偉景樓) was seriously damaged by the blast which was caused by leakage oftown gas from underground pipes belonging toHong Kong and China Gas, a major local utility.[5]
Ngau Tau Kok was the site of theAmoycan Industrial Centre fire in which two firemen were killed.
Major roads in Ngau Tau Kok include:
AMTRstation in the northern part of Ngau Tau Kok is namedKowloon Bay station; theNgau Tau Kok station is located in the southern part of Ngau Tau Kok, which actually nearKwun Tong. Both stations are on theKwun Tong line.
Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong's airport was located next door and recently part of it has been converted into a cruise terminal.
Hong Kong Public Libraries maintains the Ngau Tau Kok Public Library in the Ngau Tau Kok Municipal Services Building.[6]
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Urban areas of Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories | |||||||||||
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| MHong Kong1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9a,10,11,12,14,15,16 |  | ||||||||||
| MOld KowloonKL,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9a,10,11,12,14,15,16 |
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| MNew KowloonNKL,2,3,4,5,6,7,9a,10,11,12,14,15,16 |
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| New Territories |
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Official place names are summarized from "Geoinfo Map" of Government ofHong Kong Special Administrative Region, "Hong Kong Guide" ofLands Department, "Hong Kong Guide Book" of Universal Publications Ltd. and "Areas and Districts" ofRating and Valuation Department. M：Narrow meaning of urban areas KL:Kowloon Peninsula at the south ofBoundary Street NKL: Former New Territories area at the north of Boundary Street and at the south ofLion Rock 1: Common definition (1) 2: Common definition (2) 3: Common definition (3) 4: Areas not adopting small house concessionary right ofindigenous inhabitants 5: Jurisdiction area of formerUrban Council 6: Definition of "Metropolitan Area" ofPlanning Department 7: Jurisdiction area ofUrban Renewal Authority 8: Unique operating area ofurban taxis 9: "Urban" (9a) and "Extended Urban" (9b) areas defined byHong Kong Housing Authority 10: Definition of Urbanrates 11: Hospital cluster belongs to Hong Kong or Kowloon 12: Police region belongs to Hong Kong or Kowloon 13: Regions having 999-year land lease 14:Geographical Constituency inHong Kong Legislative Council belongs to Hong Kong or Kowloon 15:Regional Education Office belongs to Hong Kong or Kowloon 16:Primary One Admission School Net belongs to Hong Kong or Kowloon | |||||||||||
22°19′17″N114°13′6″E / 22.32139°N 114.21833°E /22.32139; 114.21833