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Recreational and Sports Facilities Sports facilities and other amenities in Hong Kong's 18 districts comprise 41 gazetted beaches, 37 swimming pools, two outdoor stadia (Hong Kong Stadium and Mong Kok Stadium), 46 natural turf pitches, 25 artificial turf pitches, 233 hard-surface soccer pitches, two hockey pitches, two rugby pitches, 88 sports centres, 298 squash courts, 24 sports grounds, 272 tennis courts, four golf driving ranges, five water sports centres, four holiday camps, 22 major parks and 671 children's playgrounds. These leisure facilities cover a total area of 2 272 hectares.
The LCSD manages about 1 470 parks and gardens of different sizes, including the following major parks.
Hong Kong Park, which covers an area of 8.16 hectares, was officially opened in May 1991 on the former Victoria Barracks garrison site. The major facilities of the Park include an aviary, a conservatory, a vantage point, an Olympic Square, a squash centre, a sports centre, a children's playground and a restaurant. The aviary is designed to resemble a tropical rainforest and is home to about 600 birds of 90 different species. Several bird species successfully reared broods in the year, namely the White-eared Catbird and the Maroon-breasted Crowned Pigeon. The conservatory comprises a 'Display Plant House', a 'Dry Plant House' and a 'Humid Plant House' with environmental controls that simulate different climatic conditions for plants from arid and tropical regions. At different times of the year, new and attractive plants are showcased. For example, the 'Elephant-yam', a rare plant species that is famous for a corpse-like smell during its flowering period, bloomed for the first time in May 2007 in the conservatory. A Wollemi Pine, one of the world's oldest and rarest plants, dating back to the time of the dinosaurs, was introduced to the Park under the Valuable Tree Donation Project in September 2007.
Victoria Park, which is named after its statue of Queen Victoria, was commissioned in October 1957. Opened to the public for half a century, the 19-hectare Park remains one of the most popular parks in Hong Kong. In addition to providing the public with a wonderful venue for its sporting and leisure needs, the Park is a popular location for community events, such as the annual Lunar New Year Fair, the Hong Kong Flower Show and the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival, which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors. Kowloon Park Kowloon Park, which is 13.47 hectares in size and was an encampment during the 1860s, was converted into a park in 1970. It was redeveloped into its present form by the former Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club in 1989. Conveniently located in the centre of Tsim Sha Tsui, the Park is the largest park in Kowloon and provides a wide diversity of indoor and outdoor recreational facilities, including a hard-surface soccer pitch, a sports centre and a swimming pool complex.
In addition to these opportunities for more active physical exercise, the Park offers a number of gardens and walks. The Sculpture Walk features permanent and temporary displays by both local and overseas artists. The 'Concept of Newton', a permanent sculpture by Eduardo Paolozzi, is also displayed in the Sculpture Garden. A 240-metre-long tree walk features 35 of Hong Kong's most common flowering species. Another significant attraction is the landscaped bird lake and aviary with a collection of more than 100 flamingos and different kinds of birds.A number of major attractions are held in the Park throughout the year, including the Kung Fu Corner and Arts Fun Fair, which are conducted on Sundays and/or on public holidays. Regular bird watching activities are organised in the morning to introduce the common bird species found in the Park. In addition, district-wide community events such as carnivals, outdoor exhibitions and entertainment events are regularly held at the piazza. These activities attract hundreds of thousands of locals and tourists.
Opened to the public in 2006, Nan Lian Garden covers an area of 3.5 hectares and is situated in the midst of urban hustle and bustle. The Garden, designed in the Tang Dynasty style, is a classical circulatory landscape garden based on the blueprints of the Jiangshouju Garden in Shanxi Province. Thousands of trees and shrubs, including rare and precious species, have been planted. There are also rocks, hillocks and water features that blend in harmoniously with timber structures in the Tang architectural style, such as pavilions, verandas and gates. Tai Po Waterfront Park The 22-hectare Tai Po Waterfront Park is the largest park managed by the LCSD.
The Park's varied facilities include a 1 000-metre-long promenade, an insect house with exhibits on insect ecology, a 600-seat amphitheatre, a central water feature, a 660-seat sheltered viewing terrace, children's play areas, bowling greens and a gateball court. Its theme gardens, the Floral Display, Scented Garden, Malvaceae Garden, Western Garden, Ecological Garden, Palm Garden and Herb Garden, are very popular with the public. Tuen Mun Park Tuen Mun Park is the first major park in the New Territories to provide a wide range of facilities. Phases I, II and III of the Park were opened to the public in 1985, 1988 and 1991, respectively. Built on reclaimed land, the 12.5-hectare Park provides a mass of greenery, with more than 2 500 trees and 120 000 shrubs of various species, to residents of Tuen Mun and visitors from all over the territory. Its nearly one-hectare artificial lake is a popular spot, as is the Reptile House which attracts annual patronage of more than 390 000, including 47 000 group visitors. Other facilities include a water cascade, a model boat pool, an amphitheatre, a Yuen Long Park Opened to the public in early 1991, Yuen Long Park is located on 7.5 hectares of natural woodland with more than 1 000 trees, including two native Yanmin — a large evergreen tree. A pagoda at the top of a hill features an aviary on its lower level and an upper level that serves as a viewpoint for visitors. An exquisite ravine garden includes a small footbridge, a stream, an artificial lake and a cascade. The Park also features a Conservation Corner, which promotes the conservation of wild birds, butterflies and dragonflies, and other facilities include a turfed gateball court, soccer pitches, a children's playground, a fitness trail and a fountain plaza. Tsing Yi Park The 7.09 hectare European-style Tsing Yi Park was fully opened to the public in September 1996 and attracts many visitors due to its proximity to the Tsing Yi MTR Station.
Other recreational facilities include two quali-walk paths in the length of 900 and Beaches and Swimming Pools Swimming is one of the most popular summer pastimes in Hong Kong. In 2007-08, more than 20 million visits were made to the beaches (11.05 million) and public swimming pools (9.09 million) managed by the Department. To promote water sports safety, the Department co-organised a series of campaigns and activities in collaboration with the Hong Kong Life Saving Society and the other departments concerned.
Water Sports Centres and Holiday Camps The LCSD manages five water sports centres (Chong Hing, Stanley Main Beach,St. Stephen's Beach, Tai Mei Tuk and Wong Shek) and four holiday camps (Lady MacLehose Holiday Village, Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre, Tso Kung Tam Outdoor Recreation Centre and Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village). During the year, 105 000 people participated in the water sports programmes offered at the water sports centres, and 566 000 people enjoyed the facilities at the holiday camps. The Department also provides evening camp programmes to allow more people to enjoy the camping facilities after office hours. More than 38 000 people took part in these evening programmes during the year.
Renowned for staging international events, Hong Kong Stadium serves the community with a maximum seating capacity of 40 000 and is the largest outdoor multi-purpose entertainment and sports venue in Hong Kong. To sustain its world-class services and to meet the requirements of the 5th East Asian Games to be held in Hong Kong in 2009, a series of improvement projects have been initiated. More than 53 events were held at the Stadium during the year, attracting an aggregate audience of 684 000. Major events included the HKSAR 10th Anniversary Reunification Cup, Soaring Eagles Celebrate Reunification, Barclays Asia Championship Soccer Match and the Hong Kong Sevens 2007 and 2008. Initiatives and Improvements in Venue Management Work Improvement Teams By the end of March 2008, 262 Work Improvement Teams had been set up in district leisure venues to implement self-initiated and departmental improvements.
Conversion of Underutilised Facilities To meet local needs, two underutilised free-standing squash court buildings, namely the Morse Park Squash Court and the Fanling New Town Squash Courts, have been converted into open space and now offer fitness equipment for the elderly.
The Department will continue to explore the flexible conversion of underutilised sports facilities for other, more gainful uses to meet local needs. Free Use Scheme The Free Use Scheme aims to maximise the use of recreational facilities by allowing eligible organisations free access to the main arenas and activity rooms of all sports centres, squash courts, hockey pitches, outdoor bowling greens and obstacle golf courses during non-peak hours. Eligible organisations include schools, National Sports Associations (NSAs), district sports associations and subvented LCSD Leisure Link Leisure Link Services, which enable the public to book leisure facilities and enrol in community recreation and sports programmes online, over the telephone or at booking counters located throughout the territory, were launched in 2002. To further enhance the efficiency and quality of these booking services, and to tie in with the Government's promotion of electronic services, the Department launched self-service kiosks in March 2008. These self-service kiosks allow members of the public to book leisure facilities or enrol in programmes simply and quickly by using their Smart Identity Cards and paying by Octopus cards. As at March 3, 2008, self-service kiosks were currently provided at 47 LCSD venues, including eight on Hong Kong Island, 13 in Kowloon and 26 in the New Territories. One-Stop Service A one-stop service has been fully implemented at 150 recreational venues. This service enables the public to book facilities, register and pay for recreational programmes and obtain professional advice and assistance on facility usage and sports programming at one venue. Facilities for NSAs The Department provides 37 NSAs with National Squad Training Centres to train athletes. This arrangement encourages the associations to use LCSD facilities and provides more training opportunities for national squads and athletes. |
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