Lam Tin is primarily a residential area but also hosts a major transport interchange and several shopping attractions.

[1] In common speech, the name Lam Tin in the past usually included the areas of Lei Yue Mun and Yau Tong.

However, in common speech, the name Lam Tin usually refers to a larger area which includes nine constituencies of Kwun Tong District.

[6] Located along the coast of southern China, Lam Tin was first settled around the 9th century BC by the Nanyue people.

[7] Lam Tin, called Ham Tin Shan (鹹田山) at that time, literally meaning "salty field hill", had been part of Kowloon Bay salt-fields (九龍灣鹽田, also known as Guanfuchang 官富場) under the management of Dongguan County or Xin'an County in different dynasties.

Although the residents were allowed to return in 1669, after the Kangxi Emperor discovered that the migration brought great economic harm, the salt industry in Ham Tin never prospered again.

The name Lam Tin came from Lantian, Shaanxi, which came from a phrase "藍田生玉", literally "produced from the blue fields is jade".

[11] The colonial government built Lam Tin Estate in the 1960s to settle low-income residents during the influx of population from mainland China after the Korean War.

[13] With the building of three major transport structures in the late 20th century – the Kwun Tong Bypass, the Eastern Harbour Crossing, and the MTR – Lam Tin became even more interconnected with the rest of Hong Kong, spurring a population surge in the district and becoming a major transport interchange.

[22] Block 15's distinctive imagery made it a recognisable symbol of Lam Tin and the district's unity.

As types 3, 4 and 6 buildings, the 23 towers of Lam Tin Estate were shaped as cuboids and resembled candy-boxes standing on a knoll.

Although densely packed, the living environment of Lam Tin Estate fostered close relationships in the neighbourhood.

[24] Owing to the ageing of buildings, the reconstruction of Lam Tin Estate was announced in September 1995 as part of an urban renewal project.

[25] Laguna City and Sceneway Garden were the earliest large-scale private-housing estates built in Lam Tin.

The podium was built in a valley between Cha Kwo Ling and Lam Tin Hill, which hosted a waste-car dump-site before its construction.

[28] Being a compact residential area, Lam Tin has various facilities to satisfy its residents' daily needs.

To meet the daily demands of its residents, Lam Tin hosts a number of shopping malls and markets.

Lam Tin Park was built along Black Hill in 1991 to serve the needs of the fast-growing community.

The facilities of the complex includes two indoor swimming pools (25x25 and 25x10 metres respectively), the Kwun Tong Music Centre, a self-study room, rooftop gardens, and the new two-floor Lam Tin Public Library, which relocated from smaller premises in Tak Tin Estate.

The section starts at Exit A of Lam Tin MTR station, runs east along Kai Tin Road and Lei Yue Mun Road, up Black Hill along the road towards Junk Bay Chinese Permanent Cemetery, west along the Black Hill, and finally leaves Lam Tin near Ma Yau Tong towards the section's terminus at Tseng Lan Shue.

[34][35] Lam Tin has an underground network of safe water, town gas and domestic electricity supplies.

Built together with Lam Tin Estate, the low level reservoir is covered with a concrete-surfaced football field.

Sin Fat Road, which runs up the hill and hosts Sceneway Garden Minibus Terminus, was constructed.

The area measured 10.87 hectares (26.9 acres), and operated until 1986 when it became the last urban landfill to be closed, after which it was sealed and converted to government-owned grassland.

When the British arrived, most Lam Tin residents travelled on foot or by boat to nearby villages such as Ma Tau Wai.

This made Lam Tin a bridge between the Eastern Harbour Crossing and the Kwun Tong Bypass of Route 2, with Lei Yue Mun Interchange as the exit point.

[48] The 1990 and 1992 construction of Sceneway Garden and Laguna City, respectively, worsened the traffic congestion in the Lam Tin area, mainly near Sai Tso Wan.

Because it hangs off a precipice and carries only two-lanes, Lin Tak Road was surrounded by both questions of convenience and concerns about its safety.

The tunnel enabled Kwun Tong line's extension to Quarry Bay, with an additional stop, Lam Tin, built in the middle.

Following the construction of these new facilities, Lam Tin gradually became a major transport interchange in Hong Kong.