In 2014, construction work for the Sung Wong Toi MTR station unearthed six ancient wells and a plethora of relics dating from the Song-Yuan period (960 – 1368).
The surprise discovery prompted the government to suspend construction for 11 months, allowing for an archaeological team to fully excavate the site. The delay cost over 3 billion HK dollars, but lead to one of the region’s largest archaeological finds, with the discovery of over 700,000 artifacts.
The station’s location was originally a small hill on the Kowloon coastline, known as Sacred Hill. According to legend, two young monarchs of the Southern Song dynasty evaded a Mongol onslaught by fleeing to the hill, leading to area to be named ‘Sung Wong Toi’, meaning ‘Terrace of the Song Emperors’.
Perched atop Sacred Hill was a giant rock, inscripted with the Chinese characters ‘Sung Wong Toi’. The rock was a well-known tourist destination, but was almostly completely levelled to allow for the expansion of the former Kai Tak Airport during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in World War II. The section of rock bearing the inscription survived the Japanese army’s blasting, and was subsequently cut out of the boulder in 1956. This inscribed rectangular stone slab now stands in neighbouring Sung Wong Toi Garden.
The Treasures from Sacred Hill exhibit first opened in 2021, and was expanded in 2024 to showcase around 500 artifacts discovered on-site. Among the more notable pieces in the collection are the collection of wine containers, vases and incense burners.
For those venturing from Sung Wong Toi station to nearby Kowloon City or the Walled City Park, be sure to examine the Treasures from Sacred Hill Exhibition before leaving the station’s paid area. The historical value and splendid intricacies of the exhibit’s artifacts are engrossing, as is the oddity of seeing ancient, museum-worthy relics on display in the middle of a modern underground train station.