Kowloon Park 5.23

Kowloon Park is a large public park in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It has an area of and is managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.HistoryThe park was formerly the site of the Whitfield Barracks of the British Army, with a former battery (Kowloon West II Battery) in the northwestern part of the Park.The Urban Council redeveloped the site into the Kowloon Park in 1970. More than 70 buildings were demolished to make way for the park. The first stage of the park was officially opened on 24 June 1970 by the then Governor of Hong Kong, Sir David Trench. The opening was celebrated by a lion dance as well as a folk dance by students of the Tai Hang Tung Primary School PM Session. Music was provided by the band of the First Battalion, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Sir David unveiled a commemorative plaque and declared Kowloon Park open. The first phase comprised 18 acres out of a planned 26 acres. It featured a floral clock as well as a Chinese garden set within an English landscape, which a government spokesman called "a reminder of Hongkong's cosmopolitan cultural heritage."However, part of the site was occupied in the construction of an MTR rapid transit line—originally the Kwun Tong Line, now the Tsuen Wan Line—from 1975 to 1978, and this was cited as a reason for the slow progress in developing the remaining three stages of the park for recreational use. The Urban Council also placed some of the blame on the construction of Kowloon Park Drive, which cut through a corner of the park at the insistence of the government.