Sham Shui Po District

Infobox HK District
official_name = Sham Shui Po




map_caption = Location in Hong Kong
leader_title = District Council Chairman
leader_name = Tam Kwok-kiu, MH, JP
constituencies = 21
area_note =
area_magnitude =
area_total = 9.48
area_land =
area_water =
population_as_of = 2006
population_note =
population_total = 365,540 | population_density = 39,095
latitude =
longitude =
website = [http://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/ssp/english/welcome.htm Sham Shui Po District Council]
footnotes =

Sham Shui Po District (zh-t|t=深水埗區) is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong. It includes Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan and Lai Chi Kok of New Kowloon, and Stonecutter's Island of Kowloon. It had a population of 353,550 in 2001. The district has the second oldest residents with the third lowest income.

Administration

Sham Shui Po District administers:
*Cheung Sha Wan 長沙灣
*Kowloon Tong 九龍塘 (west of the route of East Rail Line)
*Lai Chi Kok 荔枝角
**Mei Foo Sun Chuen 美孚新邨
*Sham Shui Po 深水埗
*Shek Kip Mei 石硤尾
*So Uk 蘇屋
*Stonecutter's Island 昂船洲 (excluding the reclaimed lands for Container Terminal 8)
*Yau Yat Tsuen 又一村

Demographics and housing

Sham Shui Po was already a densely populated district in 1950s and 1960s. It is heavily poverty-stricken, having the lowest median monthly domestic household income among the 18 districts. It has the highest percentage of elderly over 65 years. The percentage of new immigrants is also very high.

Local private housing Mei Foo Sun Chuen in Lai Chi Kok, which was built in 1966, was Hong Kong's first large-scale private housing estate, comprising 8 phases with a total of 99 blocks.

Politics

Partly because of the large presence of the low-income group in Sham Shui Po, the area has bred many pro-grassroots politicians. The current chairman of the Sham Shui Po District Council, Mr Tam Kwok-kiu, is a veteran local politician fighting for the interests of public housing tenants for many years.

Sham Shui Po is the stronghold of Tam's political party, the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood. Of the 26 District Councillors in Sham Shui Po, nine belong to his group, including party chief Frederick Fung Kin-kee. Fung was returned to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong in 2000 by direct election in the geographical constituency of Kowloon West, in which Sham Shui Po is the biggest area.

However, Hong Kong's largest pro-government and pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), has gained a foothold in Sham Shui Po too. In 2000, Tsang Yok-sing, the then chairman of DAB and member of the Executive Council, Hong Kong SAR chief executive Tung Chee-hwa's inner cabinet, won a seat in the Legislative Council representing the Kowloon West constituency, which includes Sham Shui Po.

DAB members Chan Wai Ming, representative of "So Uk", Fu Shu-wan, a representative of "Lei Cheng Uk", and Cheung Man-to, a representative of "Nam Cheong Central" are District Councillors in Sham Shui Po.

The Democrats have been less successful at canvassing grass-roots support. Pro-Beijing politicians have won favour in Sham Shui Po by organizing such things as free banquets and tours to southern China.

Transport

There are four railway lines serving Sham Shui Po District:

MTR

* Kwun Tong Line: This oldest MTR line's original western terminus is at Shek Kip Mei Estate in this district.
* Tsuen Wan Line: Stopping at stations Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, Lai Chi Kok and Mei Foo.
* Tung Chung Line: Has a stop at Nam Cheong.
* West Rail Line: Has a terminus at Nam Cheong, its trains also call at Mei Foo.

Buses

There are also various bus routes serving the district. Most of them are operated by Kowloon Motor Bus, and some by New World First Bus and Citybus. These three companies also jointly operate some routes, most of these crossing the harbour to the Hong Kong Island.

ee also

* Politics of Hong Kong

External links

* [http://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/ssp/english/welcome.htm Sham Shui Po District Council]
* [http://www.eac.gov.hk/pdf/distco/2007dc/dc2007f.pdf List and map of electoral constituencies (large PDF file)]