Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park set for Hong Kong comeback with modern tech twist
Son of late owner says he wants younger Hongkongers to experience a classic piece of city history
Hong Kong's original amusement park is being reinvented with a touch of modern technology, the man bringing back the long-lost Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park says.
Duncan Chiu, whose entertainment tycoon father Deacon Chiu Te-ken owned the original park, will throw the doors open at the Lai Yuen Super Summer 2015 at the Central harbourfront a week from today with a mission to evoke nostalgia for the original park.
Chiu, who is president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council in addition to his role as chairman of Lai Yuen Amusement Park, said yesterday he would modernise some of the park's classic attractions.
For example, he said, the new haunted house attraction would come with a smartphone app. Visitors who find the four hidden ghosts in the attraction can unlock a photo frame as a trophy.
Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park, also known as Lai Yuen, opened in 1949 and closed in 1997 to make way for residential development in northwest Kowloon.
In its heyday, it was the largest amusement park in Hong Kong. It had a zoo with an elephant, a haunted house attraction, Hong Kong's first ice-skating rink, boats on a lake and carnival games … all of which have vanished into Hong Kong's collective memory.
In the oral history archive Hong Kong Memory, a retired garment worker who was born in 1942 recalls how she enjoyed riding the merry-go-round, watching Cantonese opera and skating.