When work on one of Hong Kong’s most Instagram-friendly places, Choi Hung Estate, was announced, and the day it opened
- The South China Morning Post reported the building of public housing on Clearwater Bay Road in 1960. This became the now Instagram-famous Choi Hung Estate
- Warning against ‘underestimating the housing problems of the future’, the then Hong Kong governor called the estate ‘something of incalculable importance’
“The Housing Authority will build a new estate on Clearwater Bay Road, with accommodation for 43,500 people in 7,630 flats,” reported the South China Morning Post on May 3, 1960. “It will be one of the largest domestic housing schemes in the Far East when it is completed at the end of 1963 […]
“Eight 20-storey blocks, as well as an interconnecting seven-storey building raised on stilts will be constructed on a 27-acre site at the junction of Clearwater Bay Road, Choi Hung Road and Kun Tong Road.
“The vast building scheme includes primary and secondary schools, playing fields, a post office, shops and a bus terminus. Approval for the project, which was first announced by Government in May 1957, has now been given, a Government spokesman said yesterday.
“This estate is the fourth major low-cost housing scheme that the Housing Authority has undertaken since it was created. The Authority, which is empowered to deal with certain aspects of the vast housing problem of Hongkong, is a non-profit-making organisation which aims at providing good, permanent housing at the lowest economic cost.
“The Authority has examined 13 schemes for the development of the Clearwater Bay Road site before finally agreeing on a scheme offering maximum site utilisation and economy of design.”
On December 19, 1963, the Post reported that, “His Excellency the Governor, Sir Robert Black, yesterday promised full Government support for the future plans of the Hongkong Housing Authority […] speaking at the opening of the $50m Choi Hung Housing Estate.
“‘We can see in an estate such as Choi Hung something of incalculable importance,’ Sir Robert said. ‘The Authority has tackled the housing problem of the income group with whom it is concerned with enlightenment.’
“The governor warned against underestimating the housing problems of the future.”
