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History of Hong Kong districts

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History of Hong Kong districts
Follow us as we take a historical tour of Hong Kong's districts, exploring the intriguing stories behind the city's different neighbourhoods. From Soho before the escalator, and the colonial elite's dancing parties in 1920s Repulse Bay to Hakka farms and prowling tigers in Tsuen Wan's early days, we'll show you a different side to Hong Kong's districts, revealing what they used to be like before the highways and slick skyscrapers appeared.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
An artist’s impression of an inflatable fountain that resembles a school of koi in Tsuen Wan Park in Hong Kong. Image: Design District Hong Kong
Art

Artistic attractions with designs on tourism make districts worth a look

Often overlooked by tourists, Tsuen Wan and Sha Tau Kok might just rise up the bucket-list rankings thanks to outdoor artworks by En Iwamura and Vivian Ho.

Old Hong Kong

The little-known history of one of Hong Kong’s oldest neighbourhoods

Art

He no longer recognised Hong Kong scenes so he paints how they used to look

Chinese culture

Language Matters | Why Hong Kong’s fire dragon dances are so important

Events like the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance help Hong Kong’s intangible cultural heritage, including its language traditions, to survive.

Members of the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance team spin balls of joss sticks as the “dragon” winds through Tai Hang on September 29, 2023. Photo: AFP
Hong Kong society

Hong Kong team finds 1940s Japanese ‘shrine’ but officials reject ‘conjecture’

Researchers say rare remnants of Japanese shrine have been hiding in plain sight in popular Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens.

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Explore Hong Kong

A tour of Po Leung Kuk HQ shows history of caring for children in need

Hong Kong charity Po Leung Kuk was founded in 1878 to care for women and children kidnapped in China to work in the then colony, and its headquarters still house around 180 children in need.

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What to do in Hong Kong

5 of the best things to do this weekend, August 9-11, in Hong Kong

A neon signs exhibition, a K-pop girl group pop-up store, a boozy night out and more awaits those looking for entertainment in Hong Kong this weekend.

videocam
The “Whispers of Signs” exhibition in Cheung Sha Wan, Hong Kong, showcasing vintage store signboards. Photo: May Tse
Hong Kong culture

Hong Kong’s Southorn Playground, haven for sports and socialising

Since 1934, Southorn Playground in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai neighbourhood has offered a respite from the stress of urban living, as well as hosting protests, parties, and Covid-19 testing.

Old Hong Kong

Then & Now | Hong Kong stores’ floorwalkers helped the lost and kept an eye on the suspicious

Men with a certain bearing – often former military – were paid to walk round department stores like Lane Crawford and Whiteaway, Laidlaw & Co keeping an eye out

Hong Kong economy

Letters | How Hong Kong can give tourists a smart street-level taste of history

Readers discuss how street signs can point visitors to historical stories of interest, and ways to improve taxi services

Tourists at Upper Lascar Row in Sheung Wan in February 2018. Photo: Winson Wong
Beauty

How Hong Kong’s scent branders design aromas to encourage customer loyalty

From The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel to the city’s malls and airport, enticing aromas are used to attract new clients and increase customer loyalty. A Hong Kong expert breaks down scent branding.

Businesses from The Peninsula Hong Kong hotel to the city’s international airport use enticing smells to increase patronage and customer loyalty. A Hong Kong expert in scent branding explains how such aromas are created. Photo: Intime Artisan de Parfum
Asia travel

How 4 Hong Kong hotels help guests venture beneath city’s skin

The Park Lane, Ovolo, Mandarin Oriental and Heritage Lodge are among Hong Kong hotels offering activities like heritage tours to help visitors discover the city’s culture, history and stories.

History

How malaria, or ‘barrack fever’, messed with British Hong Kong’s beginnings

Marsh miasma, barrack fever, Hongkong Fever – colonisers called the disease that struck as they built their new town on the north shore of Hong Kong Island by a variety of names. It’s the subject of a new book.

History

Then & Now | ‘A poor man’s nightclub’: the hidden history of Hong Kong’s night markets

Recent attempts to revitalise the city’s after-hours attractions may have been met with a lukewarm response, but Hong Kong’s night markets once played a vital role in the city’s social fabric

While some of the sparkle may be fading, night markets have played a vital role in the social tapestry of cities across East and Southeast Asia, with Hong Kong’s Temple Street night market, pictured here in 2023, a well-established tourist attraction. Photo: Elson Li
Hong Kong society

On This Day | Hong Kong architects praised for revitalising former shophouses – SCMP archive

On this day 10 years ago, the regeneration of the pre-war Green House in Mallory Street and Burrows Street, Wan Chai, wins plaudits.

Hong Kong-based firm Aedas was honoured for its work on 10 Wan Chai shophouses on July 18, 2013. Photo: David Wong
Architecture and design

‘Ghost staircase’, outdoor gym: Hong Kong architecture tour opens eyes

New group City Unseen begins a planned series of guided walks with a tour of Prince Edward that reveals curious architectural features and ways residents have repurposed urban spaces.

History

Profile | Historian behind Gwulo.com on documenting Hong Kong’s past, and moving on

David Bellis, founder of Gwulo.com, a digital repository of expat memories, talks about documenting Hong Kong and moving to Wales, ahead of his upcoming farewell talk at the Royal Geographical Society.

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Hong Kong culture

Letters | Film’s success shows why Hong Kong must invest in creative industries

Readers discuss the benefits of supporting the development of Hong Kong’s film and cultural industries, why we must not give up on waste charging, and the plan to ban the Great Artesian Basin from being used for carbon capture.

Director Soi Cheang and cast members of the film “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” pose on the red carpet as they arrive for the screening of the film at Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, on May 16. Photo: Reuters
History

City of darkness: Kowloon Walled City reimagined by artist using AI

Hong Kong artist Bianca Tse has created whimsical AI images of the notorious Kowloon Walled City, a warren of slum buildings in the city demolished in 1993 and 1994. She talks about what inspired her project.

videocam
Hong Kong society

Video | Remembering Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong’s ‘City of Darkness’

The absence of effective administration and law enforcement allowed the Kowloon Walled City to grow organically.

videocam
Asia travel

How the heritage of Tai O, Hong Kong fishing village, is being preserved

With its young people moving away, the culture and history of Tai O on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island were at risk of being forgotten. A non-profit foundation stepped in 15 years ago to help preserve them.

Kayakers pass stilt houses in Tai O, a fishing village on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island. As more young people move away, efforts to preserve its culture and history, such as the opening of the Tai O Heritage Hotel, have kicked in. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Architecture and design

‘A Hong Kong story’: typography show explores Kowloon communities

A new Hong Kong exhibition at Gate33 in Kai Tak’s Airside uses typography to explore the built environments, communities and culture of Wong Tai Sin, San Po Kong, Kowloon City and To Kwa Wan.

The Infinite Mirror Room of Bestowment, which includes hand-lettered signs inspired by the graphic landscape of To Kwa Wan, along with 110 four-character aphorisms engraved on mirrored pillars, is part of TypePOP Show in Hong Kong. Photo: Gate33 Gallery
Hong Kong

‘Lotus rock’ temple in Tai Hang, Hong Kong, where worshippers seek mercy

In a quiet corner of Tai Hang, the Lin Fa Kung Temple has been providing solace and serenity to residents of the urban village since 1863.

Hong Kong culture

Opinion | Don’t be so quick to ‘renew’ Hong Kong at the expense of its heritage

The Urban Renewal Authority’s plan to redevelop the area around Mong Kok flower market is a reminder of the inevitable clash between ‘progress’ and preservation. To maintain the market’s appeal to locals and visitors, minor tweaks should be considered instead of massive overhauls.

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Old Hong Kong

Then & Now | Trees, plants are telltale signs of former Hong Kong squatter settlements

The 1.5 million refugees from China’s civil war who flooded post-war Hong Kong were practical folks. The fruit trees and bushes they planted are a legacy of the squatter settlements they once inhabited.

Squatter huts alongside Mount Parker Road in Quarry Bay in 1977. A legacy of such squatter areas in Hong Kong that were cleared but not concreted over for public housing is the trees and plants settlers left behind when they were moved out. Photo: SCMP
Architecture and design

Now a Hong Kong university campus, its darker past is of war and prisoners

Nestled in verdant Pok Fu Lam, the University of Chicago’s Hong Kong campus tells the story of the city’s wartime defeat to the Japanese and of its buildings’ subsequent occupants: prisoners.

Block C jail cells at Victoria Road Detention Centre Site in Pokfulam. 14DEC23 SCMP / Jonathan Wong
Hong Kong culture

Opinion | See the beauty in Hong Kong’s ‘boring’ housing estates, don’t tear them down

Redevelopment decisions should not be taken lightly, especially with regard to the iconic Choi Hung Estate and Tai Hang Sai Estate, an architectural gem. We should cherish the buildings people are already celebrating and preserve them, while finding meaning and beauty in everyday architecture.

Art

Hong Kong’s ‘spooky’ abandoned villages featured in photo exhibition, book

In his new photo book Abandoned Villages of Hong Kong, British urban explorer Stefan Irvine documents ‘eerie’ deserted buildings and furniture found inside them to preserve the memory of them.

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