Stories behind Hong Kong districts: Mei Foo Sun Chuen, where middle-class dreams began
Spacious, well-built and home to 80,000 people, the city’s first private housing estate, modelled on a Le Corbusier design, marked a decisive break from post-war shantytowns and overcrowded tenements
If anything marked the birth of Hong Kong’s middle class, it was Mei Foo Sun Chuen. Built between 1968 and 1978, the seaside development of 99 towers was Hong Kong’s first private housing estate, a self-contained enclave home to nearly 80,000 people.
In a city of hillside shantytowns and overcrowded tenements, it was a remarkable break from the past. The estate was clean and orderly, and the flats were spacious and well-built. There were shops, community facilities and good transport links to the rest of Hong Kong.
“The concept was new and attractive to many people – a small town providing all your daily needs and with decorated common areas for various sports or leisure activities,” says retired architect Alfred Tam Yee-shun, who moved into the estate shortly after it was built.
“I found the environment very inviting. [It was great to] be able to live in your own flat, breaking away from those tenement buildings or public housing.”
Before the housing estate, though, there was oil. American oil company Mobil built a depot on the shores of Lai Chi Kok in the 1920s. Nearly four decades later, it was still on the fringes of Kowloon’s urban area.