Canton Road

Canton Road is a major road in Hong Kong, linking the former west reclamation shore in Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and Prince Edward on the Kowloon Peninsula. The road runs mostly parallel and west to Nathan Road. It starts from the junction with Salisbury Road in the south and ends in the north at the junction with Lai Chi Kok Road in the Prince Edward area. The southern part Canton Road is home to many upscale retail shops, shopping centres and others business establishments, with busy traffic from both vehicles and pedestrians from morning till late night.

Canton Road
Harbour City (left side of the road) in the Tsim Sha Tsui section.
Traditional Chinese廣東道
Simplified Chinese广东道
Guccistore in the Tsim Sha Tsui section.

Name

The road was originally named as MacDonnell Road. To avoid confusion with MacDonnell Road on the Hong Kong Island, its name changed to Canton Road in 1909.[1] The roads in the area were mainly named after cities of China and Vietnam. The translator of Canton Road misinterpreted Canton as Guangdong (廣東) instead of the city of Canton (廣州).

Sections and features

Canton Road is not one continuous road, instead it is divided into 3 sections, interrupted by a major housing estate (Prosperous Garden) and disjointed by a traffic intersection (Jordan Road) as the result of urban development in the past hundred years.

The following list follows a south-north order. (W) indicates the western side of the road, while (E) indicates the eastern side.

Tsim Sha Tsui section
Southern end of Canton Road, along the 1881 Heritage

The section starts at Salisbury Road and ends at Jordan Road. Features include:

Jordan to Yau Ma Tei section
Jade monument in Canton Road, near the intersection with Jordan Road.
Yau Ma Tei Police Station, at the intersection of Canton Road and Public Square Street.

The section starts at Jordan Road and ends at Public Square Street. The part of this section between Jordan Road and Kansu Street is sometimes called "Jade Street" because of the number of jewellery shops selling jade.[3][4]

  • (W) Giant jade stone near the intersection with Jordan Road (north side)[5][6]
  • (E) > junction with Nanking Street
  • (E) > junction with Ning Po Street
  • > intersection with Saigon Street
  • (E) No. 578 Canton Road, a building proposed for conservation,[7] at the intersection with Saigon Street
  • (E) > junction with Pak Hoi Street
  • > intersection with Kansu Street
  • (W) Yau Ma Tei Police Station, a Grade III historic building, at the intersection with Public Square Street

The road is interrupted north of Public Square Street, and Prosperous Garden, a housing estate, is located in its place. The Broadway Cinematheque is located within Prosperous Garden.

Yau Ma Tei section
Yau Ma Tei section: a primary school occupies the whole eastern side of this section. The vehicles are within Canton Road.

This very short section (about 30m long) starts at Tung Kun Street, north of Prosperous Garden and ends at the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market, a Grade III historic building. This section is bordered by two schools:

  • (W) Tung Koon District Society Fong Shu Chuen School
  • (E) Wanchai Church Kei To School

Yau Ma Tei to Prince Edward section
No. 1235 Canton Road.

The section starts at Waterloo Road, north of the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market and ends at Lai Chi Kok Road. This section features a street market in the Mong Kok area.[8]

  • > intersection with Pitt Street
  • (E) > junction with Hamilton Street
  • > intersection with Dundas Street
  • > intersection with Soy Street
  • > intersection with Shantung Street
  • > intersection with Nelson Street
  • (W) > junction with Nam Tau Street
  • (W) Mongkok Market Complex between the junctions with Nam Tau Street and Argyle Street
  • > intersection with Argyle Street
  • (W) China Cafe (No. 1077A),[9] a cha chaan teng[10] featured in several Hong Kong films, including the 2001 Fulltime Killer,[11] the 2003 PTU,[12] the 2005 Election[13] and the 2007 Whispers and Moans.
  • (E) > junction with Fife Street
  • > intersection with Mong Kok Road
  • > intersection with Bute Street
  • > intersection with Arran Street
  • > intersection with Prince Edward Road West
  • (W) No. 1235 Canton Road, tong-lau proposed for conservation[14]

West Rail Line

It was proposed that a station, Canton Road on the Kowloon Southern Link of the West Rail Line extension, could be built beneath the Tsim Sha Tsui section of the road, outside Harbour City. The plan was put off after unsuccessful negotiation between KCRC and The Wharf on financial arrangement. Another station, Austin, near the junction of Canton Road and Wui Cheung Road in Kwun Chung opened in August 2009.

Tsim Sha Tsui section
  • Hard Rock Cafe, G/F & 1/F, Silvercord (closed since 24 November 2008)[15]
  • Canton Road Government Offices, demolished in 2011
  • Canton Road near Silvercord in the evening, looking north
  • Canton Road along Harbour City at night, looking south

See also

References
  1. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, March 19, 1909
  2. Film Services Offices: Canton Road Government Offices
  3. Hong Kong Tourism Board: Theme Shopping Streets
  4. "Film Services Office: Canton Road (between Jordan Road and Kansu Street)". Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
  5. "Giant jade lure in survival fight", The Standard. 25 June 2008
  6. Jade Market & Jade Street. Hong Kong Tourism Board
  7. Brief Information on Proposed Grade III Items, pp. 997–998 Archived 22 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Kinoshita, Hikaru (2001). "Chapter 2: The Street Market as an Urban Facility in Hong Kong". In Miao, Pu (ed.). Public places in Asia Pacific cities: current issues and strategies. Springer. pp. 71–86. ISBN 978-0-7923-7083-3.
  9. 中國冰室 China Cafe
  10. "Cha Chaan Chow" Archived 11 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, HK magazine 18 September 2009
  11. Fulltime Killer – China Cafe. Hong Kong on Film
  12. "They Haven't Torn It Down... Yet" Archived 11 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, HK magazine 11 January 2008
  13. "48 hours in cinematic Hong Kong", The Vancouver Sun 24 April 2008
  14. Brief Information on Proposed Grade III Items, pp. 625–626 Archived 22 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  15. bloomberg.com "Hong Kong Recession Cuts Jobs at Hard Rock, Retailer, SCMP Says", Bloomberg. 15 November 2008

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