© Emons Verlag GmbH // 2016
All rights reserved
Text: Kathrin Bielfeldt and Raymond Wong
© Photographs: Jürgen Bürger, except
Beef & Liberty (place 4): Beef and Liberty Ltd;
Central Market (place 13): Chan See Ting;
Opus Hong Kong (place 67): Swire Properties;
Sammy’s Kitchen (place 82): Mogens Andersen;
Tsui Wah (place 102): Raymond Wong;
Wang Fu (place 105): Chan See Ting
© Cover icon: supakitmod/depositphotos.com
Design: Emons Verlag
Maps based on data by Openstreetmap, © Openstreet Map-participants, ODbL
ISBN 978-3-96041-172-7
eBook of the original print edition published by Emons Verlag
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Foreword
1_Arch Angel Antiques |
Better than a museum
2_Art Supermarket |
Pick up a picture
3_Avenue of Comic Stars |
The hands that created them …
4_Beef & Liberty |
All about burgers and gridiron buttons
5_Betsy |
Homecoming of an old lady
6_Bibo |
Art picked off the streets
7_Blue House |
Power to the people
8_Bridges Street |
Water, but not a bridge in sight
9_Casadei |
Rediscovering a forgotten artist
10_Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception |
A corner of Italy in Hong Kong
11_Cattle Depot Artist Village |
The wide arch of history
12_Central Ferry Pier |
A building with a moving history
13_Central Market |
Classic Streamline Moderne architecture
14_Chancery Lane |
A small alley behind the prison wall
15_Chater Road |
The first steps onto new land
16_Chinese Arts & Crafts |
Chinese craftsmanship at its best
17_Chu Wing Kee Store |
Made with pride in Hong Kong
18_Chungking Mansions |
“Home to the world”
19_Colonial Mailboxes |
A piece of living history
20_Comix Homebase |
Starting point of the Wan Chai Heritage Trail
21_Discovery Bay |
Where golf carts go for US$129,000
22_The Double Oval |
A widely travelled sculpture
23_Duck Shing Ho Bakery |
What makes people queue at 4.30 in the morning?
24_Duddell Street |
Rats and lanterns
25_Financial District |
Very different at weekends
26_The Flying Frenchman |
The hidden angel on the promenade
27_Foo Tak Building |
Art on the up and up
28_Former Kowloon British School |
Hijacking the spirit of education
29_The Fringe Club |
Theatre and all that jazz
30_Government House |
The big puzzle
31_Gutzlaff Street |
A German language genius on a larger mission
32_The Helena May |
The legacy of the suffragettes
33_HKWalls |
If you have the wall, they have the art
34_The Horizon Plaza |
Bargain hunting in an old factory building
35_The HSBC |
The cathedral of capitalism
36_Hysan Place |
A change of perspective
37_IFC Mall Roof Garden |
Out in the sunshine in the middle of town
38_Jamia Mosque |
An oasis of calm
39_Jao Tsung-I Academy |
A different computation of time
40_Jardine House |
The house of a thousand coins
41_The JCCAC |
Myriad artists under one big roof
42_The John Osborn Statue |
The story of a hero
43_The Kadoorie Farm |
A tangerine tree and its consequences
44_Kau Ling Chung |
A most secluded campsite
45_Kom Tong Hall |
A not-so-thoroughly classical monument
46_Kubrick and Broadway |
The mecca of film aficionados
47_Kwan Tai Temple |
The art of the potter
48_The Lily |
Asia’s richest woman and her feng shui master
49_Lin Heung Tea House |
A tradition with a difference
50_Lock Cha Tea House |
A paradise for tea lovers
51_Lugard Road |
The higher the better
52_Lui Seng Chun |
A much-loved building
53_Mama Chau |
Heavy on heat, light on the wallet
54_Maritime Museum |
All hands on deck
55_Mavericks |
Beach life in Pui O
56_Methodist Church |
In the end, churches are just companies
57_Mini Great Wall |
The Cheung Chau Family Trail
58_Mui Wo |
The art of slowing down
59_Murray House |
What became of the old barracks
60_Nan Lian Garden |
Breathtakingly beautiful
61_Nathan Road |
In praise of the neon tube
62_Ngong Ping |
An architect with a vision
63_Oi! Art Space |
Creative freedom at US$2.50 per square metre
64_Old Mental Hospital |
The 111th monument
65_Old Stanley Police Station |
Tiger hunting in Hong Kong?
66_Old Trees |
Afforestation – English style
67_Opus Hong Kong |
Where you would be happy to own a closet
68_Pak Tai Temple |
The most beautiful picnic table in Hong Kong
69_Pak Tsz Lane Park |
Cutting off the old pigtail
70_Parsee Cemetery |
A very pragmatic solution
71_Peng Chau Island |
Looking back on a long history
72_Ping Shan |
Discovering Hong Kong’s first heritage trail
73_Police Married Quarters |
Perfect conditions
74_Possession Point Hill |
Where Hong Kong became British
75_Qing Stone Tablet |
Fighting back against authority
76_Queen’s Road West |
Honouring the ancestors
77_Rednaxela Terrace |
Chinglish and other confusions
78_The Repulse Bay Hotel |
The “Riviera of the Orient”
79_The Rock Carvings |
It began long before the British
80_St Andrew’s Church |
A rare group of buildings in neo-Gothic style
81_St Joseph’s Church |
All good things come in threes
82_Sammy’s Kitchen |
Where’s the beef?
83_SARS Memorial |
Heroes in white coats
84_Sha Tin Heritage Museum |
A visit to the opera
85_Shanghai Street |
An El Dorado of culinary hardware
86_Shek Kip Mei |
A fire and a very rare find
87_Signal Hill |
A hill with a German past
88_Silvermine Waterfall |
No silver, but an outhouse
89_The Sing Lee Factory |
No construction site, even if it looks like one
90_The Stoep |
The oldest South African restaurant in Hong Kong
91_The Tai Chi Series |
In serenity is strength
92_Tai O Heritage Hotel |
Nine bullet holes
93_Tai Ping Shan |
The telegram was faster
94_Taikoo Artwalk |
Kevin Fung - living the dream
95_Taikoo Shing |
Skating, sachets of sugar and a cable car
96_Tak Sun School |
Bruce Lee’s yellow jumpsuit
97_Tamar Park |
A park with a past
98_Tanka Boat People |
A life at sea
99_To Tsu Kok |
A curious little shop on Peng Chau
100_Tony’s Photo Shop |
A small shop with a long history
101_Trappist Monastery |
Contemplating the silence
102_Tsui Wah |
The Cantonese take on European food
103_The Tung Wah Group |
More than just a hospital
104_Vertical Art Space |
Keep-fit arts trail
105_Wang Fu Restaurant |
Dumplings à la carte
106_Whampoa Shopping Centre |
On the site of the old docks
107_Wing Lee Street |
How a film saved a street
108_Wing Wo Bee Farm in Sha Tin |
Honey and clever bees
109_The Wishing Tree |
Wishing on a plastic tree
110_Wontonmeen |
Ambassadors of design
111_Yau Ma Tei Theatre |
Cantonese operas and erotica
Gallery
Maps
111 Places in Hong Kong That You Shouldn’t Miss
Kathrin Bielfeldt and Raymond Wong
emons: Verlag
On January 26, 2016, Hong Kong turned 175.
To really see behind the façade of this young and magnificent city, you have to look back to the very beginning. So, imagine the following situation: in 1841 a handful of British and a couple of Europeans, most of them merchants, plus some military troops, founded a colony on a relatively barren island, thinly populated apart from a few small fishing villages. None of the occupants ascribes any real importance to this belligerently acquired island; in their eyes it is only a stopover for the merchant vessels on their way up the coast, heading to China’s harbours, which had been recently (and forcibly) opened for trade.
But contrary to their expectations, a growing number of Chinese, mostly craftsmen and merchants, have a very different view. Their home country is in rapid decline, ruined by wars, rebellions, opium addiction, and corruption. Hong Kong offers them the chance of a new beginning and they grasp it in their thousands. Hong Kong’s history will be significantly shaped by the waves of refugees that follow until the 1960s. Within a couple of years, 90 per cent of the population of Hong Kong is Chinese. Just as Chinese speak no English, so hardly any European speaks Chinese. Their cultures and traditions couldn’t be more different.
In this way, two parallel societies develop, with only a limited amount of racial interaction. However, although the British are in the driver’s seat, they grant a great deal of freedom to the Chinese population and abusive exploitation of Chinese labourers is kept within limits. The Chinese make dramatic use of this freedom, maintaining strong links with their roots in China, but taking the best from both worlds to create, in an amazingly short time, the most fascinating and likeable megacity in the world.
Better than a museum
Next
If you are interested in relics of bygone days, there are always museums where objects are usually protected by glass. Or you could go for the real thing and do what curators from museums all over the US and Europe are doing - take the direct route to Hollywood Road in SoHo, the source of many museum exhibits.
At SoHo you’ll find a row of well-organised antique shops, like Arch Angel, opened in 1992 by Koos and Bonnie Groot. This massive emporium of more than 500 square metres and stretching out over three levels comprises an exhibition space that contains only the finest collectibles, pottery figurines, porcelain, and Asian art. Arch Angel’s managing director is a member of the Antique Board of the Hong Kong Art Craft Merchants Association, which assesses antiques and issues a certificate of authenticity.
Info
Address G/F 53-55 Hollywood Road, Central, Tel +852 2851 6848 | Public Transport MTR Island Line (blue), Central, Exit D2 or Sheung Wan, Exit E1 | Hours Mon-Sat 9.30am-6.30pm, Sun to 6pm| Tip For those on a small budget, Cat Street offers a variety of attractive souvenirs from the recent past.
To check the authenticity of a pottery figurine, a small, drilled sample is taken from somewhere inconspicuous. The samples are dated using the scientific technique of thermoluminescence, or the radiocarbon method. Depending on the amount of radioactivity accumulated in the material over the years, the age can be determined.
But collectors need to be cautious, as counterfeiters are clever - they buy large fragments of broken old figurines, explained Ms Groot, and turn them into new smaller ones. Or they modify a work by reattaching a foot or an arm in a more interesting and therefore more valuable pose. Another indication of the authenticity of a piece is the documentation provided by the antique dealer, where red lines show the location of fractures before restoration, as it is rare for pottery to survive undamaged for hundreds of years.
A reliable antique dealer is an expert who knows the provenance of the pieces offered and who should have been in the business for a substantial time, trading under the same shop name.
Nearby
Pak Tsz Lane Park (0.031 mi)
Police Married Quarters (0.068 mi)
Gutzlaff Street (0.099 mi)
Lin Heung Tea House (0.106 mi)
To the online map
To the beginning of the chapter
To the text
Pick up a picture
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Until the late 1960s, Hong Kong had just a single gallery. Today there are countless art venues and major players like Gagosian and White Cube have been represented in Hong Kong for many years. Art Basel has even responded to the increased demand for contemporary Asian art with the opening of a local presence.
In Hong Kong just about everything revolves around money. Money needs to be cultivated in a way that makes the most sense economically, and those who already own an electric lawn mower as a status symbol often invest in art. (This, in fact, is no joke, as someone who needs a lawnmower has a correspondingly large lawn. And at prices of €10,000 per square metre for a building plot in fringe areas, gardens don’t come cheap.)
Info
Address G/F, 1 Prince’s Terrace, Mid-Levels, Tel +852 9422 6120, www.artsupermarketasia.com | Public Transport MTR Island Line (blue), Central, D2; just next to Central Mid-Levels Escalator | Hours Tue–Sat 1pm–8pm, Sun, Mon & public holidays by appointment| Tip If you take the escalators up to Robinson Road, and go west for about 400 yards, you will reach the Ohel Leah, Hong Kong’s oldest synagogue.
The Art Supermarket at Mid-Levels takes a new route. The idea is to integrate art into everyday life and to allow a wider audience to surround themselves with it.
Everybody is familiar with the concept of the supermarket, so the space is unintimidating. The gallery hopes that customers’ curiosity will overcome some of their inhibitions. Even the name implies that paintings and sculpture don’t have to be expensive, just as exorbitant prices don’t inevitably express a high appreciation for the artist. And it is not unusual for high-priced art to end up in vaults as sober investment decisions.
A native of Switzerland, gallery owner Michael Manzardo, who sees himself as a curator rather than an art dealer, focuses on emerging Chinese artists, many of whom have never been exhibited outside China. The mixture of contemporary paintings and sculptures at the Art Supermarket is unconventional and relaxed - pictures in stacks lean against the walls, or pile up in a shopping cart, and the inauguration of a new exhibition is often accompanied by a life art performance.
The only thing you won’t be able to do is pay with the Octopus Card.
Nearby
Rednaxela Terrace (0.025 mi)
Jamia Mosque (0.043 mi)
Chancery Lane (0.112 mi)
Kom Tong Hall (0.13 mi)
To the online map
To the beginning of the chapter
To the text
The hands that created them …
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There’s a rather beautiful and sizeable park in what could be called the heart of Kowloon, right at Nathan Road in the frenetic surroundings of Tsim Sha Tsui. Although the entrance is wide, you might not notice it as you pass by, as the steps leading to the park begin in a shopping plaza. The shops here have a living green roof and they form a kind of an embankment that shields the park area from the busy street.
Established in 1970, Kowloon Park is located on the grounds of the old Whitfield Barracks. Since 2012 a new attraction has been added: the Hong Kong Avenue of Comic Stars.
Info
Address Kowloon Park, entrance at the level of 120 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui | Public Transport MTR Tsuen Wan Line (red), Tsim Sha Tsui Station, Exit A1; Bus 606S, Park Lane Shopper’s Boulevard | Tip On the streetmarkets around Kowloon (Ladies’ Market, Temple Street Night Market) and in some specialised collectors’ shops you can find a wide variety of comic figures for sale.
Comics, especially Kung Fu comics, are as much part of Hong Kong’s popular culture as Mickey Mouse is to America. The avenue consists of 24 larger-than-life figures of local comic stars and 10 bronze casts of their creators’ hands.
One of the figures is Tiger Wong, from Tiger and Dragon Heroes (formerly Little Rascals), a Kung Fu comic about the lives of young people living in the rundown surroundings of housing estates in a big city. They are drawn by the originator of all Hong Kong comics, Tony Wong Yuk-long, also known as Huang Yulang. Born in 1950, he began drawing at the age of 13 and in 1969 he hit the bull’s eye with Little Rascals, of which the first edition alone sold 7,000 copies. In 1987, almost 20 years later, he was the most important comic artist of Hong Kong. In the 1980s, a veritable comic boom developed, triggered by the movies of Bruce Lee.
Together with his student Ma Wing Shing, who is himself represented with a figure of his own on the avenue, Wong established two companies that evolved into two of the major comic publishers in Hong Kong.
During the 1980s, fighting between Chinese heroes and Japanese gangsters were the predominant theme. Then Kung Fu comics were replaced by Japanese manga, which unlike the Kung Fu comics became very popular even in the West.
Nearby
Former Kowloon British School (0.099 mi)
St Andrew’s Church (0.149 mi)
Tony’s Photo Shop (0.23 mi)
Tak Sun School (0.236 mi)
To the online map
To the beginning of the chapter
To the text
All about burgers and gridiron buttons
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A juicy, grilled burger, accompanied by country-style fried potatoes with a homemade sauce, or a crunchy bun filled with pulled pork … whose mouth wouldn’t water at these mental images? In a side street of Wan Chai you get exactly this, and much more.
Somewhat confusingly, to reach your goal you’ll need to cut through the pizzeria on the ground floor to make it to the lift that will transport you to the first floor. Upstairs you’ll find a modern but comfortable restaurant with an open kitchen and a lot of glass.
Info
Address 2/F, 23 Wing Fung Street, Star Street Precinct, Wan Chai, Tel +852 2811 3009,www.beef-liberty.com/hk | Public Transport MTR Island Line (blue), Wan Chai, Exits B2 or A3; Admiralty, Exit F | Hours Mon-Thu 11.30am-3pm, 6pm-10.30pm, Fri 11am-3pm, 6pm-11pm, Sat & Sun 11am-11pm| Tip Right next to Beef & Liberty, on the corner of Wing Fu Street/Star Street, stands the last house of the Wan Chai Heritage Trails, a typical building of the 1930s Streamline Moderne style.
Beef & Liberty is the spinoff from a young enterprise based in Shanghai, and as well the restaurant in Wan Chai there is another in Stanley. Top points are scored with ethically produced Tasmanian beef, excellent craft beers, and a rooftop garden. Al fresco restaurants are not easy to find in Hong Kong, and Beef & Liberty’s rooftop even comes with a football table and a weekly open-air cinema.
The name of the restaurant derives from London where in 1735 the actor John Rich from the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, founded a club called The Sublime Society of Beefsteaks. Here, the upper class met to eat beefsteaks with onions and baked potatoes and to discuss current events. The meal was followed by an ample amount of port. In 1785 even the Prince of Wales and the Dukes of Clarence and Sussex were members of the Sublime Society. Women were not admitted, though.
At their weekly meetings, the members wore a blue coat, a buff waistcoat with brass buttons, and a badge bearing a gridiron motif and the words “Beef and Liberty.” They sat together on a single long table, sang songs and addressed the club steward and all waiters as “Charles.”
In 1708 Dr William King wrote a poem, the “Art of Cookery,” dedicated to “the Honourable Beef Steak Club.” It includes the couplet:
He that of Honour, Wit and Mirth partakes,
May be a fit Companion o’er Beef-steaks.
Nearby
Methodist Church (0.149 mi)
Lock Cha Tea House (0.367 mi)
Blue House (0.41 mi)
The John Osborn Statue (0.41 mi)
To the online map
To the beginning of the chapter
To the text
Homecoming of an old lady
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In New York in 1945, former Air Force pilot Roy Farrell bought a DC-3, a war-surplus World War II plane. The sturdy little aircraft is said to be the most successful aeroplane design ever, with more than 10,000 planes being produced between 1935 and 1945.
He nicknamed her Betsy, and shortly after opened a trading company in Shanghai, where he was soon joined by another former Air Force pilot, the Australian Syd de Kantzow. Just over six months later, they resettled in Hong Kong, where they officially registered their new airline on September 24, 1946. The registration fees were negligible – both had to pay HK$1 each.
Info
Address 2 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Tel +852 2732 3232, hk.science.museum | Public Transport MTR Tsuen Wan Line (red) Tsim Sha Tsui Station, Exit B2 Tsuen Wan Line (red) Jordan Station Exit D. West Rail Line (purple) East Tsim Sha Tsui Station Exit P2. Buses 8, 8A, 5, or 5C from Star Ferry Pier Kowloon to Hong Kong Science Museum | Hours Mon-Wed, Fri 10am-7pm, Sat, Sun, public holidays 10am-9pm| Tip If, as a child, you enjoyed marble runs, the huge Energy Machine is worth the trip alone; a great museum for children as well as adults.
Betsy’s maiden flight from Hong Kong was to Manila, and on board was a somewhat special cargo: 2,000 live chicks, only a day old. During a stop, mechanical problems kept them on the ground for a while, and the aircraft became hot and humid. Worrying that the chicks could suffocate, the crew did something they would later regret - they let the chicks out of their crates, inside the aircraft. After take off it took them quite a while to get them all back in.
Maybe this was the reason they decided to haul people rather than freight. They switched to passenger operations and gave their new airline a name that would become a global brand: Cathay Pacific Airways.
Being in the right place at the right time, the company grew. In those days check-in was a noble affair: all airlines had their counter right in the lobby of the Peninsula Hotel, something that nowadays is hard to imagine.
With Cathay Pacific’s steady growth and the need to invest in a new fleet of aircrafts, Betsy was finally sold in 1955.
More than 25 years later, Cathay rediscovered the aircraft in Australia, where she was still dutifully doing her job, and bought her back. On September 23, 1983, the old lady landed safely in Hong Kong where she can now be admired in the Museum of Science.
Nearby
St Andrew’s Church (0.342 mi)
Former Kowloon British School (0.348 mi)
Tak Sun School (0.36 mi)
Signal Hill (0.385 mi)
To the online map
To the beginning of the chapter
To the text
Art picked off the streets
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The brass-coloured sliding door to this extraordinary restaurant on Hollywood Road doesn’t open for everybody, but those who are admitted find themselves amidst a stupendous collection of top-class street art. Images, wheatpastes, and objects by artists Shepard Fairey (Obey), Jeff Koons, Space Invader, and KAWS, to name just a few, cover all the walls.
In 2003 when Banksy slipped one of his paintings secretly into the Tate Britain gallery, the world immediately became aware of street art. Today, even garage doors are dismantled when they hold a graffito someone deems valuable, or the world holds its breath when, in a YouTube movie, a street vendor in New York’s Central Park offers real Banksys, while passersby think these must be copies at best. So, the Bibo is more than just a fashion statement. For the restaurant’s opening in May 2013, Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, aka Vhils, used jackhammers to create a large wall relief that now adorns the main dining room. Bibo is given local colour by a scooter, which is plastered with the iconic Chinese characters created by Tsan Tsou Choi, the “King of Kowloon.” The owner of Bibo started collecting street art in its early days, so he’s able to rotate exhibits every few months.
Info
Address 163 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan, Tel +852 2956 3188, www.bibo.hk | Public Transport MTR Island Line (blue) Sheung Wan Station | Hours Mon-Fri 12 noon-3.30pm and 5pm-1am, Sat & Sun 11.30am-3.30pm and 5pm-1am| Tip A great piece of street art by Irish artist Fin Dac can be found nearby at the corner of Gough Street and Mee Lun Street - where during the day you’ll find a rather nice Hong Kong-style open air eatery.
The premises and the illuminated sign above one of the windows belonged to the Compagnie Générale Française de Tramways, which until the 1930s had its corporate headquarters here. The Art Deco furnishings successfully link the atmosphere of that time to the present.
Since the restaurant looks out on to Cat Street (Upper Lascar Row), no one has ever been able to find the front door, so they have had to mount a sign - albeit one at curb height. So, it’s still not easy to find the right door. You don’t have to eat in this high-priced but excellent restaurant if you want to look at the art; there’s also a bar, where you can enjoy a drink or two.
Nearby
Bridges Street (0.043 mi)
Wing Lee Street (0.099 mi)
Tai Ping Shan (0.106 mi)
Chu Wing Kee Store (0.149 mi)
To the online map
To the beginning of the chapter
To the text
Power to the people
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In February 2016 Hong Kong was ranked number 1 in the world’s freest economies for the 22nd time in a row. In 2015 Hong Kong’s fifth-richest property tycoon bought a US$48.5 million diamond for his 7-year-old daughter. In contrast, about 95 percent of Hong Kong’s 25-year-olds and younger still live at home, because they cannot afford to rent their own flat.
Against this background, the victory that the residents of the Blue House in Wan Chai have achieved is more than remarkable. The Blue House belongs to a group of buildings from the 1920s and 1930s, whose inhabitants have not only managed to preserve their home from the omnipresent wrecking ball, but also remain there as tenants.
Info
Address 72 Stone Nullah Lane, Wan Chai | Public Transport MTR Island Line (blue), Wan Chai Station, Exit A3; Bus 6, The Zenith, Queen’s Road East, or Buses 6A, 6X, 10, 15, 66, 109, or 113 to Wan Chai Market | Tip A nullah is a water channel and Stone Nullah Lane is an extension of the original stone water course. At the end of the lane you will find the exquisite Pak Tai Temple, the largest on Hong Kong Island.
The protests that preceded the demolition of the Queen’s Piers in 2007 had emphasised the significant sociocultural role of architecture in the collective memory of the citizens - even if it concerns buildings from the recent past, which at first sight might not look worth preserving. Feelings and personal memories are linked with neighbourhoods and communities, where social structures have emerged, and far too often are destroyed by progressive gentrification.
The government responded, and in 2008 launched the Revitalising Historic Buildings through Partnership Scheme, a programme to rejuvenate architecturally and historically valuable buildings with the help of partners. Under this scheme they bought the block of flats around the Blue House, in order subsequently to convert them into a hotel. But the residents organised themselves, started up a cultural centre, the “House of Stories,” and submitted counterproposals to the government. Success! The renovation will be kept to a minimum, so that rents can remain at a moderate level; residents will make their individual skills available to the house community and new jobs will be generated by the opening of two restaurants.
Nearby
Comix Homebase (0.286 mi)
Opus Hong Kong (0.317 mi)
Methodist Church (0.354 mi)
Beef & Liberty (0.41 mi)
To the online map
To the beginning of the chapter
To the text
Water, but not a bridge in sight
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For most visitors, a tour through Tai Ping Shan ends with the Man Mo Temple and Cat Street. You could, however, turn left immediately behind the temple, and walk up Ladder Street instead. After 30 metres the street changes into the flight of steps that has given the street its name. At the top is Bridges Street, which runs parallel to Hollywood Road. Ladder Street is actually a genuine piece of old Hong Kong, built between 1841 and 1850, and leads all the way to the Museum of Medical Science.
Bridges Street was virtually destroyed in World War II but immediately to the right of the steps lies the only building to survive, the Young Men’s Christian Association. The YMCA building, in the style of the Chicago School (which is rare to find in Hong Kong), has distinctive Chinese elements and was built in 1918 by the architectural firm Shattuck and Hussey, which specialised in YMCA buildings, and financed by donations from the YMCA in Chicago. The basement houses Hong Kong’s first indoor swimming pool where members can go for a dip. Very modern back then, the pool today seems rather small and plain.
Info
Address 70-33 Bridges Street, Tai Ping Shan | Public Transport MTR Island Line (blue), Station Sheung Wan, Exit A2 | Tip If you follow Bridges Street to the west and down the steps, you will reach Tai Ping Shan Street. This is the area to which the Chinese population was forcibly relocated from Central in 1843.
Strangely enough, during the Japanese occupation, German was taught at the YMCA, but to whom and why is unrecorded.
Directly opposite to the right is a school building from the 1960s with a noticeable straight-lined Modernist façade, and next to it the Kung Lee Church. Turning left, further up the road, is the former Bridges Street Market, one of the last wet markets in Hong Kong, influenced by the Bauhaus style and now a grade III historic building. It is the former location of the American Congregational Mission Preaching Hall, where Dr Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China, was baptised in 1883.
You can complete the short tour at Yardbird, 33 Bridges Street, a bar in a well-preserved building from the 1950s, where you can enjoy delicious Yakitori skewers.
Nearby
Bibo (0.043 mi)
Tai Ping Shan (0.068 mi)
Wing Lee Street (0.099 mi)
Kom Tong Hall (0.137 mi)
To the online map
To the beginning of the chapter
To the text
Rediscovering a forgotten artist
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