Wan Chai
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- See Wan Chai District for the broader administrative district that covers Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Happy Valley, etc.
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Wan Chai (or Wanchai, 灣仔; Cantonese IPA: ; Jyutping: waan1 zai2; Pinyin: Wān Zaǐ; lit. "a small bay, a cove") is an area situated at the west of the Wan Chai District, in the north of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong, beginning from Canal Road in the east, to Arsenal Street in the west and Bowen Road in the south. The area north of Gloucester Road is often called Wan Chai North.
Wan Chai is one of the busiest commercial areas in Hong Kong with many small- and medium-sized companies gathering, likewise various shopping centres and restaurants serving cuisines of different countries. Wan Chai North features office towers, parks, hotels and a world-class conference centre. The locality is also a highly-populated yet ever-aging residential zone, facing a urban decay problem. Arousing much public concern, the government has put an overwhelming attempt in district regeneration in recent years.
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7.1 Urban decay in Hong Kong 7.3 Demolition of Lee Tung Street |
Overview
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In addition to local residents, up to 600,000 people assemble daily to the locality to school, work, shop and enjoy its amenities. Wan Chai offers an urbane and expedient public transportation system including the Mass Transit Railway (MTR), buses, mini buses (a.k.a. light public bus or maxicab) and trams. Taking a ferry from Wan Chai is a handy method for those who need to cruise across the Victoria Harbour to Kowloon. Each day, crowds of people come to the region to experience its fascinating diversity. There are many world-class commercial complexes and skyscrapers, the most notable ones being the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Central Plaza and Hopewell Centre.
History
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Wan Chai (formerly Ha Wan 下環, lit. "a bottom ring"; as, geographically, its location is relatively low) is one of the earliest developed areas in Hong Kong. Central, Sheung Wan, West Point and Wan Chai are collectively known as the four rings (四環) by the locals.
Wan Chai literally means "a cove" in Cantonese. But Wan Chai itself was no longer a cove due to drastic city development and continual land reclamation. Before the British colonisation, there had been Chinese villagers already dwelling along the undisturbed coastline of Wan Chai, i.e. the today's location of Hung Shing Temple, and most of them were fishermen. They got together to work around the area near Hung Shing Temple overlooking the entire harbour and worshiped Hung Shing Ye as God of the Sea. Hung Shing Temple is still erecting in its original location in Queen's Road East, but years of reclamation have pushed the shoreline farther away. Now the temple is surrounded by clusters of residential and commercial buildings.When the British arrived Hong Kong, the areas around Spring Garden Lane began to develop in various businesses.
Start-up
It is said that an unknown millionaire owned Spring Garden Lane, building his residence, pier and warehouse in the vicinity. Spring Garden was the exact name of his mansion. The Cantonese name Chuen Yuen (lit. a garden in spring) is, in fact, a translating corruption of Spring Garden, which originally means "a garden with a spring". The spring mentioned possibly refers to the mountain creek beside Hopewell Centre in Queen's Road East. Around Spring Garden Lane are Lee Tung Street, Swatow Street and Amoy Street where abounded with warehouses storing cargoes to be shipped to Chinese coastline cities. There were also dockyards in Ship Street and McGregor Street for building and repairing ships. The periphery of Sun Street, Moon Street and Star Street is the original site of the first power station in Hong Kong.
Reclamations
Areas around Queen's Road East were the most hustling place in Wan Chai in the early days. The shape of Wan Chai's seashore had been alternating, being extended outward, merely owing to persistent reclamation schemes. Early in 1841, Queen's Road East, where the earliest coastline was located, was constructed and a reclamation project had undergone. The coastline was consequently extended to Praya East, i.e. today's Johnston Road. Tram rails were then built in 1902 at the same location. Twenty years later, there was another large-scale reclamation lasting for nearly a decade. As a result, the coastline was extended farther to Gloucester Road after the nine-year project; Hennessy Road and Lockhart Road were set up as well. The reclamation after WWII, from 1965 to 1972, pulled the coastline out to the areas around Convention Avenue and the Wan Chai Pier. The last reclamation happened to cater for the construction of the second phase of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Buildings
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Throughout the development of the region, the architecture in Wan Chai has changed by leaps and bounds. In the earliest stage, buildings in Wan Chai were still short in a typical Chinese style. A notable example would be the Hung Shing Temple, which was built in the Qing Dynasty. The British migrants coming to Hong Kong in the later time instilled ground-breaking western concept of building; colonial-styled roofs, columns, ceilings were commonly found in the edifices built after the British colonisation, such as the Old Wan Chai Post Office (built in 1912), the "Blue House" (1920). Some buildings, like the Wan Chai Market (1930s), were under great influence of Bauhaus architecture, a popular style of building at that time. Erecting along Johnston Road, where lie lines of tram trails, are the pre-war concrete residences. Similar structures are found in Tai Wong Street East and Heard Street. Other pre-war building include the Methodist church in Hennessy Road, print houses in Lee Tung Street, groceries in Tai Yuen Street, and the Caltex House (also known as "Ha Ba (i.e. Harbour) Oil Station"). In the 1950s and 1960s, subsequent to WWII, an increasing number of girlie bars and nightclubs were built in the red-light district by the side of Jaffe Road and Lockhart Road. Beyond Gloucester Road is the commercial area developed in the 1970s and 1980s, a time at which Hong Kong underwent economic development in full speed. At the same time, buildings like the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), and Central Plaza were constructed on the new reclaimed land. Golden Bauhinia Square and the second phase of HKCEC are situated at the seashore, overlooking Victoria Harbour.
Community life
Dining
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Like many Chinese in other places, the Wan Chai residents enjoy eating very much. In the early days, Wan Chai was still a developing business district, and people living there were not that well-off. Therefore, the restaurants in the neighbourhood usually offered food that was reasonably priced and yet nutritious. Most eateries were cha-chan-teng, a typical local-styled fast-food restaurant, selling milk tea, sweet buns, and baked egg tarts. Some food was even served as a heathy food: numerous Chinese drinking shops offered some cheap Chinese herbal tea, like leong cha (lit. cool tea) and ya-sai mei (lit. twenty-four flavours) for curing sore throat and common flu, and people thus could save money for visiting the doctor. The ex-governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, even tried a bowl of herbal tea in an old drinking shop before his return to the United Kingdom. Dai pai dong, an open-air restaurant in a big tent, was another common kind of restaurant that appeared in Wan Chai. Despite the unclean and hot conditions, many people would like to enjoy fresly-made steamed rice roll, congee and chow mein early in the morning. Due to urban renewal projects in recent years, most tai-pai-dongs have been closed down.
For those having a greater purchasing power, they would prefer having breakfast at Chinese restaurants, known as "yum cha", and enjoying their freshly-brewed cuppa. People usually had "one bowl with two pieces" (一盅兩件, meaning a cup of tea with two dim sums) for breakfast. There were three old-fashioned Chinese restaurants in Wan Chai, namely Lung Mun, Lung To, and Lung Tuen. Only Lung Mun is still operating at present. Later, there were also lots of restaurants serving vegetarian cuisine, catering for the Buddhists and people yearning to keep fit. The oldest vegetarian restaurant in the area has started its business more than a century ago.
In the 1980s, more and more western restaurants were set up in Wan Chai. Nowadays, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and Indian restaurants are also very common in the locality. There are also many fast food restaurants serving Cantonese and other Chinese dishes, such as Maxims and Café de Coral. Jaffe Road and Lockhart Road are famous for pubs.
Entertainment
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The Southorn Playground was a major landmark to the senior residents of Wan Chai. It is linked both as a place of leisure and work. Its character changed through the day. In the morning, labourers (commonly known as "coolies") came together to wait for employment. Other labourers provided "massage" service for these "coolies" to alleviate their pain and physical tiredness. In the evening, it was altered into an open-air, working class "night club" where yet other groups of labourers entertained people by selling food, performing Chinese magic and kung fu. Today, the Southorn Playground still remains popular among Wan Chai dwellers: the senior citizens would spend time playing Chinese chess in here, while the younger generation would play football and basketball. Street basketball games are held occasionally in the playground which attract flocks of Hong Kong young spectators and ball players.
Education
Several renowned schools were located in Wan Chai before and after the WWII. One of these was established by the famous traditional teacher, Mo Dunmei (莫敦梅). Started as a shushu (書塾) in 1919, the school was renamed Dunmei School (敦梅學校) in 1934. It taught classical Chinese writings and Confucian ethics. The school had once been closed during the Japanese Occupation. After the war, the school continued to provide Chinese education for children from more affluent families. In response to the great demand for school places in the neighbourhood, it also provided fee reduction for poorer children. Without a unified school premise, classes had to be run in separate apartments in pre-war tenement buildings throughout Wan Chai. This was one of the problems shared among private Chinese schools.
Sex work
Prostitution is one of the oldest occupations in Wan Chai. Senior residents recall that sex work was actually an integral part of neighbourhood life. Some residents take it for granted whereas others feel ashamed of sharing the locality with sex workers. Despite rapid changes as a result of reclamation and redevelopment, the presence of sex workers operating in the midst of ordinary residents continues to be a distinct feature of the region. The ethnic picture had been dramatically illustrated to the western world in the movie The World of Susie Wong. Now in Hennessy Road, numerous bars and nightclubs, like the Tonnochy Night Club, still can be found, with myriads of characteristical neon light signboards dazzling in the dark. They are popular particularly among visiting American navy, mainlanders and businessmen from all over the world.
Military
From the early 20th century, Wan Chai had chiefly become a Chinese residential zone, but it was also tasselled by British military establishments - the army barracks and the naval Dockyard. The Naval Dockyard is another well-remembered signpost. Instead of saying naval dockyard in conversational Chinese, they refer to dockyard as dug yar or dog yar. This Sinicization and the amalgamation of English vocabulary into the local Chinese language reflects the interconnectedness between the colonial power and ordinary people’s lives. This regal landmark also circuitously endangered the area as it became a target of the bombing both by the Japanese in 1941 and the Allies during the Japanese occupation.
Administration
Wan Chai is part of the Wan Chai District, which covers Causeway Bay, Happy Valley, Jardine's Lookout, Tai Hang and Stubbs Road. Out of the 11 constituencies of the Wan Chai District Council, 3 are within Wan Chai, and 1 is halfly lying within the area of Wan Chai.
Culture of Wan Chai people
Religious diversity and eclecticism
People in Wan Chai have a wide range of religions like Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam, showing an enormous diversity in spritual belief. Despite such great differences, eclectic mixtures of diffenent religions are yet not uncommon in the neighbourhood. Hung Shing Temple, for example, is a typically Taoist temple; the worship of mortals-turned-immortals is the distinct characteristic of the Chinese religion. There is, however, also a Buddhist Kwun Yum chapel situated beside the main altar inside the Temple. People coming to worship Hung Shing Ye would also burn joss sticks to Kwun Yum as well, showing their pious respect. Da Siu Yan, or literally known as "Hit little men", is another blended religious ceremony, a disproportional combination of Confucianism, Taoism and folk religions. Some old female "psychics" perform this ancient ceremony under the Canal Road Flyover in particular days of a lunar month. Christianity is another popular religion in the neighbourhood. The Wan Chai Church of Christ offers religious services mainly to the Filipino community in Hong Kong.
Street entertainments
Wan Chai dwellers enjoy street entertainments, from street basketball to Chinese chess, from window shopping to soccer. Some people would dress in a very casual way when taking part of these pastimes: perhaps a T-shirt and a pair of shorts going along with a pair of flip-flops. People call this kind of outfit the "neighbour look". The Southorn Park would be the best rendezvous for social gathering due to its terrific location and zero entrance fee. Sitting on the stage aside, many senior citizens would like to spend an hour or two in the Park, chatting with their old mates, playing Chinese chess, or sometimes enjoying a football match. Similar to the Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, the Southorn Park provides ball fields for both soccer and basketball, which attract many sportive youngsters to have fun in there. Occassionally, three-player drill contests and hip hop dance competitions are held in the Park.
Notable celebrities
Tourism and recreation
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Each day, crowds of people come to the locality to experience its vitality and fascinating diversity. There are many world-class commercial complexes and skyscrapers, the most notable being the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and Central Plaza. At the same time, inimitable structural design reminding people of the past has also been preserved. Wan Chai's renowned historical spots and cultural vestiges include Old Wan Chai Post Office, Hong Kong's oldest post office and a declared monument, Hung Shing Temple which sees the seaside development one and a half centuries ago, and Pak Tai Temple where a bronze figurine is dedicated to Pak Tai. Moreover, a three-storeied, highlighted pergola with a pre-war frontispiece wall exhibiting reflective classical taste and the imaginative touch of customary buildings has been built right opposite to Li Chit Garden in Li Chit Street after the Garden's renovation.
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Wan Chai's streets are steeped in history and offer an astonishing range of shopping. Walking down Queen's Road East (more often known as Tai Fat Hau) a number of excellent rattan and Chinese furniture shops could be hit upon. Spring Garden Lane is a great place to pick up clothes at very competitive prices. The market stalls exclusively sell products originally meant for export, meaning quality and price are very competitive. It also connects to local wet and dry markets, and so offers a multicultural experience in the heart of Wan Chai. Spring Garden Lane is in between Queen's Road East and Johnston Road.
Besides Sham Shui Po, which is located in Kowloon, people can buy low-priced computer hardwares and softwares in the area. Interestingly enough, certain medium-sized shopping centres are named in numerals, such as Oriental 188, 328, and 298 Computer Centre. The Wanchai Computer Centre would be the most popular computer center in Wan Chai. In spite of the abundance of sophisticated computer equipment, pirated discs abound in the computer shops.
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Central Plaza is a modern triangular office building. Completed in 1992, it stands near Wan Chai Bay and occupies 7,230 m². The land and construction costs totaled HK$ 5 billion. This 374-metre, 78-story high skyscraper was once Asia's tallest and the world's fourth tallest building. At present it is the second tallest in Hong Kong. The apex of Central Plaza is designed as a unique neon tower clock. It consists of four spandrel neon bands, each representing 15 minutes, and the colour changes from top to bottom. When the four bands are of the same colour, an hour has passed.
More than an innovative clock, LightimeTM has become a new symbol of Hong Kong in a similar way to which the Eiffel Tower reminds people of Paris.
Located outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Golden Bauhinia Square, which witnessed the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, represents the end of British colonial rule and the return of the territory to China. A flag-raising ceremony is held there on a daily basis.
Wan Chai Tai Fat Hau footbridge make an absorbing display of art available. Made up of 30,000 citizens' fingerprints, the sticker pictures on the 50 poles of the footbridge, designed by famous artists and lay out "50 landscapes of Wan Chai", are now in line for enclosure in Guinness World Records Primetime. The Footbridge Gallery is located at the junction of Hennessy Road and Queen's Road East.
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Lovers' Rock reclines on the hillside of Bowen Road near Shiu Fai Terrace and looks like a stone pen sticking out of a stone base. This special looking rock is said to have granted happy marriages to pious worshippers. In certain days, couples who want a happy marriage come to the Lovers' Rock to burn joss sticks and candles in sincere worship. Many overseas tourists, attracted by its reputation, come to marvel at the Lovers' Rock. From that location, they can also enjoy a splendid view of the whole of Wan Chai District, Happy Valley Racecourse, Central Plaza, the Hopewell Centre and other famous buildings in the community.
To appreciate a lush view of Wan Chai, tourists can take several routes up to the Peak. They may start from the old stone stairs facing Ship Street, or from the brae contiguous to Old Wan Chai Post Office and then ascend, step by step, to the top where grass and trees thrive. The flag-raising ceremony held every day at the Expo Promenade of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre is always a must-see occasion that should not be missed; especially on July 1, the anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR and on October 1, the National Day, times when the ceremony is most spectacular.
Cultural institutions
Near the waterfront are the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Hong Kong Arts Centre, two of the most popular venues for theatrical and cultural performances in Hong Kong. The Academy is a convenient venue to perform live art performances such as dramas, mini-concerts, dances, and musicals. Every year there are many Broadway musicals playing in the Academy, like Singin' in the Rain, Saturday Night Fever, and Annie, which gain overwhelming response from the locals. The Art Centre also houses a few galleries, rehearsal rooms, and restaurants that promote the views of the harbour.
On the right of the harbour is the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). A HK$ 4.8 billion convention centre extension was completed expeditiously in line with the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. The extension covers over 16 acres of newly reclaimed land, adding an extra 38,000 m² of function space to the existing convention centre. The HKCEC is not a place designated only for international conferences and commercial meetings only, but also for various cultural events in Hong Kong. Every year in July, there is a gigantic book fair held in the Centre, promoting a good reading habit to Hong Kong people. Then a comic fair follows in the next month at the same location. Comics from differnet countries, likewise their spin-out products, can be found in such occasion; a cosplay competition would be held at the same time, and cosplay fans would dress up as their favourite comic or animation characters.
Urban decay and renewal
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Wan Chai is on the brink of a serious geographical problem, urban decay. A series of urban renewal are thus underway.
Urban decay in Hong Kong
At present, there are about 9,300 private buildings in the metro area defined by the Planning Department (i.e Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, Tsuen Wan District and Kwai Tsing District) which are 30 years' old and above. In ten years' time, the number of buildings over 30 years' old will increase by 50%. The problem of ageing buildings is most serious in older urban areas.
To address the problem of urban decay and to improve the living conditions of residents in dilapidated urban areas, the Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance (Chapter 563) was enacted in July 2000. The Ordinance provides a new institutional framework for carrying out urban renewal. The Urban Renewal Authority was established on May 1, 2001.
The Urban Renewal Proposals
Introduction
The Proposals started with a broad assessment of the magnitude of the urban renewal problem. Information on building age and conditions extracted from databases kept by the Planning, Buildings, Fire Services, and Home Affairs Departments, and the Land Development Corporation was utilised as the preliminary basis for assessing the need for urban renewal. The Proposals gradually broadened to include district and planned development, transport, socio-demographic and environmental considerations in delineating urban renewal project areas. Many of the priority project areas are concerted in localised parts of the aged urban areas. The Proposals propose to take on a target area the approach to tackle the urban renewal problem on an area basis. And Wan Chai is one of the 9 target areas (others including Ma Tau Kok, Tai Kok Tsui, Sham Shui Po, Yau Ma Tei, Yau Tong, Kwun Tong, Sai Ying Pun and Tsuen Wan) initially delineated to focus redevelopment and rehabilitation actions in a corresponding manner.
Aims
Though urban renewal is somehow difficult to define clearly, it normally involves relatively large-scale redevelopment of urban areas, rather than piecemeal rebuilding of individual buildings or the provision of specific facilities. Its objectives include:
- improvements to the urban environment and infrastructure by the provision of more open space, community and other facilities;
- enhancements to urban layouts, road networks and other infrastructure;
- the substitution or overhaul of archaic buildings;
- better exploitation of land;
- thinning out of development and population densities to reduce the strain on over-burdened transport and other infrastructure;
- making accessible land to meet various uses such as housing, and
- redeveloping a particular area in order to act as a catalyst for the redevelopment of neighbouring areas by private developers, as enhanced property values make this more viable.
Examples
Two pilot townscape enhancement schemes, namely Stone Nullah Lane in Wan Chai and the area around Lan Kwai Fong and adjoining the Central District Central-Mid-Levels escalator (the Soho area), are proposed to preserve their unique local character and to enhance their attractiveness to tourists. For the Stone Nullah Lane area, it is proposed to form part of an adjoining redevelopment priority project area. The redevelopment project will be carefully designed to integrate with the preservation of a group of the adjoining buildings of heritage value. It will be carried out by the Urban Renewal Proposals.
Demolition of Lee Tung Street
Lee Tung Street is best known by its local nickname - "Wedding Card Street", stroll down, and there are a few shops that still sell customary wedding cards, coloured flashy red for luck. But after courageous struggles to save buildings from demolition and replacement, many proprietors have shut up shop and moved out; the closed stores have official looking signs on them, saying, "This is an Urban Renewal Authority Property". People against the government's action agree that the buildings above look in poor shape, but it is still sad as Hong Kong looses a little more of its character.
Renovation of Tai Yuen Street
Visitors may gain a distinctive experience of bustling local street-stall shopping in Tai Yuen Street. About 200 huckster stalls sell a wide variety of dried goods, garments and household products there. Fascinating goods are offered at bargain prices. Some of them, such as dumplings, Chinese herbal medicine and preserved food are predominantly interesting to overseas travellers. This is a place where old houses and modern mansions geographically mingle, creating an interesting disparity. Today, as Wan Chai has become a business hub, the government is planning to have these stalls moved into a new indoor market building.
Relocation
Relocation comprising both domestic and commercial premises exists. Wan Chai commercial tenants face similar problems to domestic tenants in that low-cost accommodation is becoming scarcer and they may not always be able to afford to move to newly-developed commercial space. Even owner-operators of commercial premises are not essentially enabled to relocate by the purchase price or compensation they obtain since similar property is no longer available. It is proposed that options should be offered in each urban renewal case to enable owners and tenants to choose between physical relocation by the developer, cash compensation to allow them to buy or rent elsewhere, or to wind up their businesses altogether.
Renewal of Southorn Playground
In partnership with the Wan Chai District Council, the British Council Hong Kong invites English designer Thomas Heatherwick and urban renewal specialist, Fred Manson to lead on the public art project at the Southorn Playground. The project is about augmenting public spaces via the use of art. Art in public spaces is about making art for the benefit of the citizens, the community who uses it. It is not about putting a pretty sculpture in a public space for people to look and admire only. Instead, it is about establishing relationship with the community, improving the quality of the environment. The project will endeavour to create a public art intervention in Southorn Playground, which will meet the community's needs and address the cultural complexities of Wan Chai. It is hoped that the project will serve as a model of community participatory approach in public art in Hong Kong. In summary, the project's objectives include:
- To create changes so people will fancy to use it;
- To make it better so people will benefit from it;
- To bring it up to date so that it has new significance as Wan Chai's main square in the past, present and future, and
- To make the playground a public art in its own right.
Sustainable development
Central and Wan Chai Reclamation
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Objectives
The proposed reclamation extends along the waterfront from Sheung Wan to Causeway Bay. The broad objectives of the project, inter alia, include :
- to supply land for the Hong Kong Station and the extended overrun tunnel of the Airport Express;
- to provide land for Central-Wan Chai Bypass and Island Eastern Corridor Link;
- to offer land for the upcoming Shatin to Central Link;
- to give land for the potential North Hong Kong Island Line;
- to improve the surroundings of neighbouring crowded districts by providing supplementary open space on the new reclamation; and
- to integrate the development with the existing areas.
The reclaimed land above the underground transport infrastructure could be used to construct a world-class waterfront promenade.
Wan Chai Development Project
Phase I
Wan Chai Reclamation Phase I (a.k.a. Island Reclamation for the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Extension) includes the formation of an island of 7.0 hectares by reclamation at the northern side of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to supply land for building an additional room to the Centre. The island configuration is to ensure that water quality in the vicinity remained at satisfactory levels after reclamation was completed. Works commenced in March 1994 and were completed in July 1997.
Phase II
Wan Chai Development Phase II extends along the water's edge from the Central Reclamation Phase III to Causeway Bay. This project together with Central Reclamation Phases I, II and III will mainly provide land for the construction of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass and the Island Eastern Corridor Link, the Hong Kong Island section of the Shatin to Central Link and the North Hong Kong Island Line. The project is being reviewed at the moment.
Public opposition
Not everyone welcomed with the reclamation plan warmly. Some Hong Kone people thought the action was totally unnecessary; it did nothing good, merely reducing the size of Victoria Harbour. Instead of building a bypass, the opponents urge the government to start an electronic road toll scheme in the community. In October 2003, close to 1,000 protesters marched on the Central Government Offices calling for a halt to reclamation work in the harbour. They also promised to follow up with a three-pronged protest next month using land, sea and air to get their message across. The march was one of several protests in recent weeks over harbour projects, which the government says are necessary to ease traffic congestion in Central. The government had lost the first round of a court battle, but then appealed against the decision.
Among the protesters was Save Our Shorelines spokesman John Bowden who, like many among the group, was dressed in blue. The Society for the Protection of the Harbour applied for a stay of order and judicial review in September 2003, prohibiting the government from continuing with the third phase of the Central reclamation project. The government resumed work to reclaim 23 hectares of the harbour last week after the society failed in its bid to get hold of a court order to provisionally halt work ahead of December's judicial review. The government finally won the lawsuit, and the reclamation continued under immense social dissatisfaction.
Mega Tower
The Wan Chai District Council is planning to build an entertainment complex and a hotel, Mega Tower, in the areas of Ship Street and Kennedy Road.
Transport
Geographically, Wan Chai is in the midway between the west (West Point and Central) and the east (Causeway Bay and North Point) of the Hong Kong Island, thus linking up all major roads and traffic pathways on the Island. Consequently, a transport network with a high accessibility is highly demanded. Now, Wan Chai has an efficient yet complicated transport network, merely due to various reclamations in the locality. Several highways were built to connect neighbouring districts. Like most of Hong Kong's urban areas, public transport is the common mode of travel for the majority of Wan Chai residents. So as to cater 600,000 people from different districts gathering every day to school, work, and shop in Wan Chai, a wide range of public transport services is offered to allow smooth enormous population movements during peak hours.
Main roads and tunnels
Gloucester Road is also connected to the first underwater tunnel in Hong Kong, the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, connecting Hong Kong Island at Kellet Island (a former island now connected to Hong Kong Island by reclamation) and a reclaimed site at Hung Hom Bay in Kowloon. The Tunnel provides a direct linkage between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, making it possible to drive directly between the isolated island and the peninsula. Prior to the tunnel's opening, cross-harbour vehicular traffic depended solely upon ferries. With the tunnel linking the main financial districts on both sides of Victoria Harbour, it became the busiest route in Hong Kong, with (as of March 2005) 121,700 vehicles using it daily.
- Aberdeen Tunnel
- Canal Road flyover
- Cross-Harbour Tunnel
- Gloucester Road
- Hennessy Road
- Queen’s Road East
- Wanchai Road
Mass Transit Railway
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The main MTR railway is beneath Hennessy Road in the locality. Due to the large area of Wan Chai, more than 50 entry/exit gates and 8 entrances/exits are set up. One of the entrances/exits is on the footbridge along O'Brien Road, which leads to Immigration Tower in Wan Chai North.
Trams
Trams serve between Shau Kei Wan on the east of the island, and Kennedy Town on the west, with a branch circuit in Happy Valley. The route serves the Johnston Road and Hennessy Road at Wan Chai.
Buses
Most buses travel in Wan Chai from Admiralty to Causeway Bay via Hennessy Road, whereas some would use Johnston Road or Gloucester Road as detours.
- NWFB: 2, 2A, 2X, 8, 8P, 15, 18, 18P, 19, 23, 23A, 23B, 25, 26, 38, 42, 63, 66, 81, 720, M722
- Citybus: 1, 5, 5B, 6, 6X, 8X, 10, 11, 37A, 37B, 40, 40M, 70, 72, 72A, 76, 77, 85, 90, 92, 96, 97, 260, 592, 780, 788, 789, to and from airport via WHC: A11, A12, E11
- Tunnel buses:
- Cross-Harbour Tunnel: 101, 102, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115, 116, 117, 170, 171, 182
- Eastern Harbour Crossing: 601, 603, 619, 671, 680, 681, 690, 692
- Western Harbour Crossing: 905, 914, 960, 961, 962, 968, 969
There is a bus terminal opposite the Star Ferry Pier.
Taxis
Only red taxis serve in Wan Chai. Fares are charged according to distance travelled and waiting time, measured by a meter on board, and surcharges for luggages and adjoining tolled tunnels into the bargain. Besides some restricted kerbs in the highways, there are some designated pick-up and drop-off points exclusively for taxis in the region. Most taxis are independently owned and operated, but some are owned by taxi companies like Royal Motor, and the drivers are the employees.
Minibus
Public light buses (usually referred to as minibuses, a.k.a. maxicabs) run the length and breadth of Hong Kong, through areas which the standard bus lines cannot or do not reach as frequently, quickly or directly. Minibuses carry a maximum of 16 seated passengers; no standing passengers are allowed.
There are two types of minibus: green minibus and red minibus. In general, green minibuses operate scheduled service, with fixed routes and fixed fares. Red minibuses run on non-scheduled service, although some routes may in effect become fixed over time. Minibuses typically offer a faster and more efficient transportation solution due to their small size, limited carrying capacity, frequency and diverse range of routes, although they are generally slightly more expensive than standard buses. The popularity of public light bus services in Hong Kong is due to the high population densities which are needed to support the extensive network of minibus routes.
- Green: 4A, 4B, 4C, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14M, 21A, 21M, 24A, 24M, 25, 28, 30, 31, 35M, 36X, 39M, 40, 56, 69
- Red:
- West Point - Causeway Bay (Daimaru)/Shau Kei Wan
- Tsuen Wan - Wan Chai
- Sheung Shui - Wan Chai
- Yuen Long - Wan Chai
Ferries
Star Ferry, the sole ferry operator in the area, offers several lines across the Victoria Harbour, from HKCEC, Wan Chai to Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui or to Whampoa Garden in Hung Hom. Even though there are now more modern ways to cross the harbour by MTR and road tunnels, the Star Ferry continues to provide an efficient, popular and inexpensive mode of crossing the harbour. The route is also popular with tourists, and tickets for visitors, which permit unlimited travel, are offered. All ferries have chimneys in purple colour.
Star Ferry Pier is located at Convention Avenue.
See also
Bibliography
Documents
- A Study on Historical and Architectural Context of Wan Chai Market (http://www.live-arch.net/projects/WanchaiMarket/Wan%20Chai%20Market%20study_final.pdf) written by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects. May 2004. (Adobe Acrobat pdf format)
Project pages
- "Wan Chai ‧Today‧Tomorrow and After" Roadshow (http://www.live-arch.net/projects-wanchai_roadshow_right.html)
- Save Wan Chai Market Action (http://www.live-arch.net/projects-wanchaiMarket-study_right.html)
- Wan Chai Memory‧Photo and Writing Competition (http://www.live-arch.net/projects-wanchaiMarket-contest_right.html)
Press
- Renovation of Southorn Playground (http://www.takungpao.com/news/2005-3-29/GW-382253.htm) by Ta Kung Pao. 29 March 2005.
Website
- Hong Kong Fun in 18 Districts - Wan Chai (http://www.gohk.gov.hk/eng/welcome/wc_intro.html)
- Remembering Wanchai – A Community Oral History Project (http://www.hku.hk/hkcsp/oral_wanchai.html) conducted by the University of Hong Kong Centre of Asian Studies
- Centamap (http://www.centamap.com), providing informations of transport in Wan Chai
External links
Official websites
- Wan Chai District Council (http://www.districtcouncils.gov.hk/wc/english/welcome.htm)
- Hong Kong Fun in 18 Districts - Wan Chai (http://www.gohk.gov.hk/eng/welcome/wc_intro.html)
Personal website
- A memoir of a Wan Chai District resident (http://www.geocities.com/hkcentre/wanchai.htm) (Traditional Chinese only)