Sung Wong Toi

Sung Wong Toi is an important historic relic in Ma Tau Chung, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

While its remaining portion is now located in the Sung Wong Toi Garden (宋皇臺花園) at the junction of Ma Tau Chung Road and Sung Wong Toi Road, it was originally a 45-metre-tall boulder standing on the top of Sacred Hill (聖山) in Ma Tau Chung above Kowloon Bay.

The colonial government in 1959 recognized the nature of this intentional word choice, preferred using the character for "emperor" (皇) to name the surrounding locations associated with Sung Wong Toi, namely the park built for settling the trimmed monolith, the nearby road and the metro station.

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in 1941–1945, the boulder was dislodged from its place when the Sacred Hill was levelled for an extension of the Kai Tak Airport.

After World War II, this portion of the stone was shaped into a rectangular block and moved to the Sung Wong Toi Garden, a small park especially constructed for it.

c. 1920s. The boulder bearing the three carved characters is situated on top of the hill (right); both were protected as sacred relics by a special ordinance in 1899. The gate, the steps to the inscription and the balustrade around the boulder were erected in 1915. The hill was levelled and the boulder was broken up in blasting operations to extend Kai Tak Airport.
Sung Wong Toi before the Second Sino-Japanese War
Stone carving before its separation from the original rockface (c.1950)
Sung Wong Toi Garden in 2009
Sung Wong Toi Garden in 2020.