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King Yin Lei, Billionaire's Mansion, Public Open Day in Summer 2019



It was one of the first luxury houses on the hillside of HK Island.


Also, it was “Han’s Mansion” in Bruce Lee’s movie - “Enter The Dragon”.


This was where some super rich asians used to live in 1930s.


King Yin Lei was built in 1937 by a local Chinese couple. The wife was one of the members of Li Sing family. Li Sing was the richest man in the late 19th century of Hong Kong. The couple decided to spend a fortune to make the house built in Chinese Renaissance style. At that time the salary of a housekeeper was one Hong Kong dollar a month, they spent six hundred thousand HK dollars to build the house.


Li Sing

That’s why the house is just magnificent.

Photo source: oldhkphoto.com, by Doug Price


When you enter King Yin Lei, you will see a swimming pool. This was something really fancy 80 years ago especially in Hong Kong. The owners used to have poolside party every week with their rich friends.


The house is on the hill side of Hong Kong Island above Wan Chai.

A century ago Hong Kong had a law that “only non-Chinese residents are allowed to live in the peak area except the governor’s permission”. There were less than 5 exceptions at that time.


When you enter the house, you will see the main hall and furniture with the style of the 70s. They were owned by the second owner of the house since 1978.


The mansion has two dining halls, one in Chinese style with a round table and one in western style with a long table, classy.


Passing through the courtyard, the other side is the Rosewood hall where the host would treat the guests with some awesome tea.


The ground floor is mostly for the guests whereas the first floor is where the family lived.


You may be able to tell that the mansion has some features which look like the Chinese palace. Yes. The first owner hired officials from Ching dynasty as consultants to design the house , so they could live like a king and queen.


Besides the bedrooms, the bathroom, and the kitchen, there is an interesting area which is worth to see - the pet area.

The owner raised chicken their own in order to make sure what they ate had the highest quality.

King Yin Lei is a unique and historical site which is worth to check out. However it is opened for around 6 different weekends only per year.


Open Day 2019

HK government has announced the open days of King Yin Lei in 2019.


The public open days will be held on June 29 and 30, July 20 and 21, and August 17 and 18. Each open day will have four visit sessions:

* From 9.30am to 11am; * From 11am to 12.30pm; * From 2pm to 3.30pm; and * From 3.30pm to 5pm.      A total of 21 600 admission tickets for these six public open days will be distributed at the following venues and times on a first-come, first-served basis on June 15 and 16 (Saturday and Sunday). Each person can obtain a maximum of four tickets for one of the sessions. * Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, Kowloon Park, Haiphong Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon (10am to 6pm) * Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, Hong Kong Park, 10 Cotton Tree Drive, Central, Hong Kong (10am to 5pm) * Hong Kong Heritage Museum, 1 Man Lam Road, Sha Tin, New Territories (10am to 6pm)

     The remaining tickets will be distributed at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre from June 17. The Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre is open from Mondays to Fridays (except Thursdays) from 10am to 6pm, and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 10am to 7pm (enquiry hotline: 2208 4400).


Address: 45 Stubbs Road, Mid-Level

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