Balakong
Balakong is a large township in Selangor, Malaysia. Balakong is situated exactly at the boundary of Kajang and Cheras. The township consists mainly of residential condominiums, office complexes and factories.
History
Name
According to locals, the name Balakong comes from the Chinese New Village which name is Balakong New Village. The village was drawn up and barred wired by the British government during the Communist Emergency Period.
There was a river running through the village, whose name was Sungai Balak. The immediate guess was the village was named after the river. The meaning of Kong has 2 origins.
One was "Kong" in Hakka, which means port or location. There was upper kong and lower kong within the village. the other meaning was said to be "ong", which means prosperity.
Before 1980s (1980-1990)
The village was surrounded by rubber plantation used Tin Mining Lakes. Most families in the village were rubber tappers. There was a primary school, a few Chinese temple, a wet market, a Lutheran church(on a hilltop), a cowboy town street, a people's town hall and a football field. The village was divided by Sungai Balak.
After 1990s{1990-2008}
During the development of Taming Jaya. the Locals said that the developer Taming Jaya had rebuild the balakong road, a two lane aside highway started from Mines wonderland to Cheras 11th mile.
Later, Taman Connaught from behind of the village had a road connect Cheras.
Taming Jaya had develop rubber plantation opposite the village into a small-industry area and housing estate.
Today
Today Balakong is accessible via 
Balakong SILK Highway which is connected with Kajang Silk highway which exist at the North-South Expressway Southern Route 
. The surrounding area of Balakong now is a busy town with small, light and middle industries.
Balakong consists of various shopping malls that are frequented by tourists and locals, such as MINES Resort City former known as Mines Shopping Mall, Jusco Cheras Selatan, Giant Balakong, Econsave Balakong and Carrefour Bandar Tun Hussein Onn. On the site of New village Balakong, there are Selangor Turf Club, Palace of the Golden horses which is a hotel located within Mines Resort City, and Serdang KTM.
The area is served by two international schools, Australian International School Malaysia and Alice Smith School. To anticipate an increase in public demand for better healthcare services and facilities within Balakong and Cheras area in the future, Columbia Asia Hospital, the international healthcare provider is built in 2010. It provides care with an emphasis on the most prevalent medical issues of a region, from births and children's health to waterborne illnesses, broken bones, diabetes and other health challenges.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Balakong. |
Coordinates: 3°1′48″N 101°45′0″E / 3.03000°N 101.75000°E