Wong Tai Sin District

Being Neighbourly visits the urban sprawl with its eponymous tourist-draw temple; nunnery and public housing estates.

Author/ Being Neighbourly
10 June 2026

Wong Tai Sin District is the only landlocked district in Hong Kong. It is the northernmost district in Kowloon and, perhaps best known for the Wong Tai Sin Temple located there. That said, it is also the location of another tourist draw, well worth a detour: the Chi Lin Nunnery; and the Nan Lian Garden, oases of tranquility amid the urban sprawl.

Land Area
9.36 km²

Population*
406,802

*2021 figures

Biggest Neighbourhood
Tsz Wan Shan

Diamond Hill

Diamond Hill is a hill (you might have guessed) but the name of the neighbourhood also refers to the area adjacent to the hill.

The area was once home to squatter dwellings, but over the years, these shanties were demolished for various development projects, such as the expansion of Kai Tak Airport during the Japanese occupation and the construction of the MTR. Due to a severe shortage of public housing for resettlement, the last sections were cleared in 2001.
Despite its name, Diamond Hill has no actual diamond deposits. Its name is said to derive from a mistranslation; in which, ‘diamonds’ can mean ‘to drill for rocks.’ Another theory is that the crystals in the mined rocks gave them a diamond-like appearance or even that the hill’s shape resembles that of a diamond.

Wang Tau Hom

Wang Tau Hom is best known for its public housing estate, Wang Tau Hom Estate.

Lok Fu

Lok Fu was the site of an influx of refugees in the 1940s. Back then, the hillsides were covered with squatter huts. In 1957, the construction of public housing estates began, leading to the renaming of the area to its current name, which means ‘Happiness and Wealth’ in Chinese. The housing estates underwent significant rebuilding in the 1980s and 1990s.

Chuk Yuen

Chuk Yuen, literally, ‘Bamboo garden’ was a village established in the late 17th century, and centered around what is today’s Wong Tai Sin Fire Station. It was home to a mixture of clans, primarily the Lins, the Lis, and the Kos.

In 1921, a Taoist priest built Wong Tai Sin Temple west of the village, and the Taoist organization Sik Sik Yuen was founded to manage it. It’s hard to imagine, but pre 1950s, the area was largely agricultural with a small population of just a few hundred residents. Back then, the surroundings were fields, dairy farms, and industries including cloth dying.

Wong Tai Sin

Wong Tai Sin is both a neighbourhood and the name of the eponymous district which includes the neighbourhood. The area was previously known as Chuk Yuen or Chuk Un. However, Wong Tai Sin Temple and the completion of Wong Tai Sin MTR station has eclipsed the neighbourhood’s former name.

Tsz Wan Shan

Tsz Wan Shan is a residential area located below Temple Hill. The first school village in Hong Kong was established in 2002 in Tsz Wan Shan. Today, it boasts an elevated 1km cycling track and skater park for players of extreme sports, namely freestyle BMX, skateboarding and inline skating.

Ngau Chi Wan

Ngau Chi Wan used to a bay beneath Hammer Hill but now refers to the area where Choi Hung Estate is located. It is home, not only to Choi Hung Estate, popularly known as ‘Rainbow Estate’, but Choi Wan Estate. Both are public housing estates.

Stay tuned for Being Neighbourly’s other upcoming Lens On guides of districts in Kowloon.