Songhuangtai MTR Station, full of historical relics from the Song Dynasty

Sung Wong Toi Station (English: Sung Wong Toi Station), formerly known as To Kwa Wan Station in the early days of construction, is located at Shi Wan Road, Ma Tau Chung, Kowloon City, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is a railway station on the Tuen Ma Line of the MTR. The station is part of the Sha Tin to Central Link (Tai Wai to Hung Hom section) project and will be opened on June 27, 2021. The station is adjacent to Sung Wong Terrace and Sai Wan Road in Ma Tau Chung, and mainly serves areas 2A and 2B of the Kai Tak Development, Ma Tau Chung, Ma Tau Wai and South Point Road in Kowloon City. On April 21, 2014, Ming Pao reported that workers discovered a square stone well from the Southern Song Dynasty near Songhuangtai Park, including 6 ancient wells and thousands of cultural relics, including ceramic fragments, coins and iron blocks. The Antiquities and Monuments Office stated that in view of the major archaeological discoveries, it has requested the MTR Corporation to expand the archaeological scope to the surrounding land. The MTR Corporation also decided to expand the research scope to Sung Wong Tai Station and underground stations at the Kai Tak construction site. At that time, the archaeological work was expected to be completed in 2014 Season 3 completed. On the 26th of the same month, the Antiquities and Monuments Office confirmed that during the archaeological inspection of the station site, a square well from the Song and Yuan Dynasties was discovered again. The Antiquities Office immediately sent personnel to the site to inspect the discovered cultural relics, and discussed protection plans with archaeologists to ensure that the relics and cultural relics were properly protected and would not be damaged by the project. However, the then Director of the Development Bureau, Chan Mo-po, stated in his blog that currently only one of the complete ancient square wells has been allowed to be preserved on its original site, and that the square well and Songhuangtai Park are being considered for comprehensive planning; but there are four other stone wells from the Song and Yuan Dynasties to the late Qing Dynasty and more than 200 stone wells. After discussing with the MTR Corporation, the Antiquities Office and the MTR Corporation only made records before destroying the ruins. Some outsiders suspected that this was to accommodate and speed up the project. In the second phase, the construction site where the Song Dynasty stone well was discovered was suspended for three weeks. By mid-May of the same year, most of the construction sites had been handed over to the MTR Corporation, and the construction of shafts was started simultaneously so that giant drilling machines could be installed in the future to build tunnels. However, during the construction of the shafts, the closer they were to the square shafts and house sites of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the closer they were to the square wells and house ruins of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The Highways Department Only then did they ask the MTR to stop construction of the protective wall and assess whether the monuments would be damaged before resuming work. According to the documents of the Ancient Advisory Committee, the MTR Corporation launched the first round of archaeological work at the end of 2012, covering an area of ​​about 150,000 square feet. As a result, more than 200 relics were found. Among them, a square well from the Song Dynasty was preserved in its original location, but the document did not explain the status of other relics. Some non-governmental organizations have asked the government to fully take over the excavation work to avoid damage to historical cultural relics. The Antiquities Office pointed out that some projects at the Songhuangtai Station site have been suspended and the handling of cultural relics is in line with archaeological principles. In June 2017, the MTR Corporation submitted the latest design plan for Song Wong Toi Station and discussed it at the Antiquities Advisory Committee. The MTR Corporation proposes to install a concrete well trench on the top of the station as a site for relocating ancient wells from the Song and Yuan Dynasties and water troughs from the late Qing Dynasty. Part of the false ceiling in the station lobby has been replaced with transparent glass, allowing the public to look up and appreciate it, and showcases will be set up in the lobby to display cultural relics. #Hong Kong #China #MTR #Song Dynasty Historical Relics #Songhuangtai Station