Po Lam (Chinese: 寶琳 or 寶林) is aneighbourhood in northernTseung Kwan O,Kowloon. AnMTR stationwith the same name,Tseung Kwan O Village,Yau Yue Wan Village,King Lam Estate, andPo Lam Estate are located there.

Po Lam is named after one of the first roads in Tseung Kwan O, thePo 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 (nowHaven of Hope Hospital) at the time.^[1][2] WhenPo Lam Estate was under planning, it was named "寶林邨", with a different second character but pronounced in the same way. ThePo LamMTR 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.

Same asHang Hau, Po Lam was developed as part of the first phase of theTseung Kwan O New Town.^[5] Its first population intake came in 1988 with the opening ofPo Lam Estate.^[6] Before 2002, there was no railway access to or from Po Lam. TheTseung Kwan O line, includingPo 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.

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 asHome Ownership Scheme andSandwich Class Housing Scheme projects) and private housing.^[8]

• Po Lam Estate (寶林邨). The second character ("林",Lam) is different from the one in the neighbourhood's name
• King Lam Estate

• Yan Ming Court
• Ying Ming Court
• Ho Ming Court

• The Pinnacle (developed by theHong Kong Housing Society under theSandwich Class Housing Scheme)
• Radiant Towers (developed by the Hong Kong Housing Society under the Sandwich Class Housing Scheme)
• Verbena Heights (developed by the Hong Kong Housing Society under the Flat-for-Sale Scheme)

• Well On Garden
• Finery Park
• Serenity Place
• Metro City Phases 1 to 3

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 annualLunar New Year Fair takes place.^[10] These facilities and the Po Tsui Park, situated next toPo Lam Estate, are all managed by theLeisure and Cultural Services Department.

The neighbourhood is also home to theMetro 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]

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 (nowHaven of Hope Hospital) toTiu Keng Leng andMa Yau Tong.^[12] During theTseung Kwan O New Town development, Po Lam Road was extended eastward, into the new town, and westward, toSau 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 theMTRC,Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) (NWFB) andCitybus. Citybus operates cross-harbour routes to Central (690) andSiu Sai Wan (694). Citybus also operates routes toHong Kong International AirportTung Chung, andShatin. KMB runs routes toMei Foo,Tsim Sha Tsui East,Mong Kok andTsuen Wan, among others. The MTRC only runsTseung Kwan O line, on whichPo LamMTR station is the only rail and subway station in the neighbourhood. In the Railway Development Strategy 2014, thegovernment proposed theEast Kowloon line will connect Po Lam station toDiamond Hill station. It is expected to open in 2025.^[13]

• Urban areas of Hong Kong
• Po Lam
• Sai Kung District
• Tseung Kwan O
• Places in Hong Kong

• CS1 Chinese-language sources (zh)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Chinese-language text
• Pages with Cantonese IPA