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Butterfly Valley

Lai Chi KokValleys of Hong Kong

Butterfly Valley, or Wu Tip Kuk (Chinese: 蝴蝶谷), is a valley in north of Lai Chi Kok in New Kowloon of Hong Kong, located between O Pui Shan and Piper's Hill. The valley was a habitat of butterflies before Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and thus named after the creatures. During Japanese occupation between 1941 and 1945, the forest in valley was damaged by the Japanese military for obtaining wood. The butterflies lost their habitat and hence became extinct. The reforestation after war did not help to return the butterflies. The lower section of the valley was the site of a demolished squatter of Wai Man Tsuen (衛民村). The site now on the construction of Route 8. The upper section is part of country park. On the side above Piper's Hill, there are Roman Catholic Cemetery, Yew Chung International School of Hong Kong. On another side above O Pui Shan is O Pui Shan Boy's Home. A river is running along the valley. Its upper course was blocked for collecting water in Kowloon Reservoirs and its lower course has become a covered nullah under Butterfly Valley Road, which is the border of Lai Chi Kok and Cheung Sha Wan. Although its proximity to Lai Chi Kok, large part of valley belongs to Kwai Tsing District.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Butterfly Valley (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Butterfly Valley
青沙管制區 Tsing Sha Control Area,

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N 22.343638888889 ° E 114.144975 °
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青沙管制區 Tsing Sha Control Area

Hong Kong, China
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Lai Chi Kok Hospital
Lai Chi Kok Hospital

The former Lai Chi Kok Hospital, located at No.800 Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, was listed as one of the Grade III historic buildings in Hong Kong on 24 June 2010. The site has now been transformed into Jao Tsung-I Academy under batch 1 of the Hong Kong Government's revitalisation scheme.In the 19th century, the hospital first served as a labourers' dormitory for The Chamber of Mines Labour Importation Agency. In 1912, the British Army set up the Lai Chi Kok Barracks and was stationed there for two years. It became Lai Chi Kok Internment Camp later in 1924. The camp was then closed until the establishment of Stanley Prison in 1937. In the same year, Hong Kong became an epidemic zone under the spread of smallpox. The site was then rebuilt as a hospital for infectious diseases. Those patients from the hospital for leprosy, which was located in Hei Ling Chau and closed in 1974, were sent to the reconstructed hospital. The hospital was later changed to serve long-term psychiatric patients after the number of leprosy patients declined. In the early 2000s, the Hospital Authority planned to send its 400 mental patients to different psychiatric hospitals and transformed the site into a long-term nursing home under the supervision of the Social Welfare Department for patients who were queuing for such service. While the SWD refused to take it over, the HA then set up H.A. Care Limited to manage the hospital. In June 2004, patients were relocated to Caritas Jockey Club Lai King Rehabilitation Centre, which was completed in April 2005, and was the former site of Lai Chi Kok Hospital, which was returned to the SAR government. At that time the site was planned to be reconstructed as the staff dormitory of Correctional Services Department as well as their families.