https://www.scmp.com/rss/500511/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com This article was first published in the South China Morning Post on July 6, 1998. It has been republished online as part of Hong Kong 25, which looks at how the city has changed since the handover, and what its future holds. By Rachel Clarke The lights were turned out at Kai Tak at 1.16 this morning, marking the end of the airport’s 73-year history. “Goodbye Kai Tak and thank you,” said Director of Civil Aviation Richard Siegel, before throwing the switch. As the lights went out, hundreds of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3177315/july-6-1998-roger-over-and-out-kai-tak-hong-kongs-old?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3177315/july-6-1998-roger-over-and-out-kai-tak-hong-kongs-old?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2022 03:30:23 +0000 A Covid-19 isolation centre in Hong Kong’s prime Kai Tak development area could be turned into transitional housing for low-income residents when the pandemic eases, the Post has learned. Concern groups for housing welcomed the idea, saying it could provide quick relief given the city’s severe shortage of public housing. But developers and tourism sector players said they believed the temporary housing should not remain too long, or it could affect tourism and plans to transform the former... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3176884/hong-kong-covid-19-isolation-centre-prime-kai-tak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3176884/hong-kong-covid-19-isolation-centre-prime-kai-tak?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 May 2022 12:30:16 +0000 I was born in 1953 in Branscombe, a small village in Devon (in southwest England), and we lived a couple of miles outside the village. Although I was born eight years after the second world war, we still had rationing, so it was fairly austere. My father was a farm labourer, my mother worked for the market garden and I had a younger brother and sister. It was a tremendous place to grow up, we had the beach in the summer and shooting in the winter, but I knew there were no jobs unless I wanted to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3165424/ship-captain-who-rescued-crashed-plane-hong-kongs-harbour?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3165424/ship-captain-who-rescued-crashed-plane-hong-kongs-harbour?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Feb 2022 05:15:09 +0000 A distressed sale last week at Hong Kong’s former Kai Tak airport site has clouded the outlook of the city’s property market, as an expected glut of residential land weighs on prices. Five plots of land at Kai Tak, valued together at up to HK$71.3 billion (US$9.15 billion), may fail to live up to expectations when they go on sale, analysts said. The parcels - yet to be converted from commercial land into residential usage - can yield about 5,800 average-size flats, according to the rezoning... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3158744/outlook-dims-kai-taks-waterfront-land-hong-kongs-northern-metropolis-plan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3158744/outlook-dims-kai-taks-waterfront-land-hong-kongs-northern-metropolis-plan?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Dec 2021 23:30:20 +0000 Water seeps through the wall, the broken back door does nothing to block the sound of barking stray dogs and, frequently, rats and cockroaches scuttle across the floor. This flat in Hong Kong’s Kowloon City has been home to Wareerat Kanchat for 16 years. “I have lived here for so long, I can’t imagine a life elsewhere,” says the 60-year-old, who left her native Thailand for Hong Kong in 1993 to work as a domestic helper after her husband died. Wareerat shares the three-bedroom flat in a... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3128129/renewal-plan-hong-kongs-little-thailand-leaves-long-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3128129/renewal-plan-hong-kongs-little-thailand-leaves-long-time?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Apr 2021 00:00:17 +0000 “City of Darkness” is an exhibition exploring the long gone Walled City of Kowloon in Hong Kong as photographed by Greg Girard and Ian Lambot. Lambot and Girard set about photographing the Walled City shortly before its demolition in 1994 due to a deep fascination with the site. Nearly 30 years on from the Walled City’s demolition, this project offers a unique insight into the remarkable community, home to an estimated 50,000 people at its peak, and by far the most densely populated neighborhood... https://www.scmp.com/society/take-tour-kowloons-infamous-walled-city-city-darkness/article/3039211?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/take-tour-kowloons-infamous-walled-city-city-darkness/article/3039211?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Nov 2019 11:53:21 +0000 Landing airplanes can be tricky. Taking photos of those landings can be even trickier. Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak Airport was infamous for having one of the world’s most challenging descents. Pilots had to navigate over buildings that stood just outside the runway, which itself was just a tiny sliver jutting into a harbor. The landing made for dramatic photo ops. For Birdy Chu, a former photojournalist and now a professor at the City University of Hong Kong, plane-spotting became something of a... https://www.scmp.com/travel/hong-kong-kai-tak-airport-extreme-photography/article/3005782?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/travel/hong-kong-kai-tak-airport-extreme-photography/article/3005782?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Apr 2019 13:47:46 +0000