About Diamond Hill Station

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:31:59 +0000

Diamond Hill Station is an MTR station within the jewelry district of Northern Kowleen in Hong Kong. Situated on the Kwun Tong line, the station is in the heart of Diamond Hill a haven of jewelry shops and diamond selling. It is unclear as to why Diamond Hill was named as such as it does not contain any diamond deposits. There is some thought that the rocks of diamond hill resemble the type of rocks commonly found around diamond rich areas, but it is possible that is just folklore. Other hypotheses are that it was merely a mistranslation from the Cantonese.

From the name came the trade, and it was only when Western tourists began to get off at Diamond Hill Station that the first jewellers arrived in the area in the late 1970s. Fooled into thinking the area was a good place to look for cheap diamond rings and other diamond jewelry, tourists flocked to this area and traders were quick to capitalise. Renowned for fake diamonds (for example cubic zirconia) the area brought disrepute to the jewelry industry throughout Kowleen. It was not until 1992 that a massive crack-down on illegal and fake diamonds resulted in several arrests and the closure of around 4 shops in the area, restoring faith in the jewelry shops around. Now something of a mystery in its own right many tourists travel through Diamond Hill Station to see the area which has brought so much interest to the Hong Kong diamond industry.

Today the area is a cosmopolitan district close to the Fung Tak Estate, and dominated by high rise housing. Whilst there are still many jewelry shops in the area, it is unlikely that Diamond Hill Station will ever return to its former glory as a diamond jewelry market.

Diamond Hill itself has been written about in the recently published memoirs of Feng Chi-sun “Diamond Hill – Memories of growing up in a Hong Kong squatter village” in which she explores the depravity of the area, and its rise into a cosmopolitan suburb. Diamond Hill has also been the subject of two films by famed director Cheang Pou-soi and the lesser known Fruit Chang.