Mong Kok or
Mongkok ' onMouseout='HidePop("17951")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Transliteration">transliteration
Transliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another in a systematic way.-Definitions:From an information-theoretical point of view, transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter...
of its older name 望角 or 芒角 which is pronounced "Mong Gok".
Mong Kok or
Mongkok ' onMouseout='HidePop("17951")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Transliteration">transliteration
Transliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another in a systematic way.-Definitions:From an information-theoretical point of view, transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter...
of its older name 望角 or 芒角 which is pronounced "Mong Gok". Its present Chinese name "旺角" is pronounced "Wong Gok") is an area in the
Yau Tsim Mong DistrictYau Tsim Mong District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong, located on western Kowloon peninsula. It is the core urban area of Kowloon. The district has the third highest population density of all districts...
on
Kowloon PeninsulaThe Kowloon Peninsula is a peninsula that forms the southern part of the main landmass in the territory of Hong Kong. The Kowloon Peninsula and the area of New Kowloon are collectively known as Kowloon....
,
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
, China. Before a 1994 merge, Mong Kok was part of the
Mong Kok DistrictMong Kok District was one of the districts of Hong Kong, covering the areas of Mong Kok and Tai Kok Tsui in Kowloon. In the 1994 district board election it was merged with Yau Tsim District as the Yau Tsim Mong District.With one of the highest population densities in the world...
.
The name in Chinese means "flourishing/busy corner". Recent road works revealed some antique potteries, indicating that there might be settlements that early as
Jin DynastyThe Jìn Dynasty , one of the Six Dynasties, following the Three Kingdoms period and followed by the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. The dynasty was founded by the Sima family...
(265-420).
The district is characterized by a mixture of old and new multi-story buildings, with shops and
restaurantA restaurant prepares and serves food and drink to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s at street level and commercial or residential units above. Major industries in Mong Kok are retail, restaurants (including fast food) and
entertainmentAn entertainment is any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time.Entertainment is typically passive - as in watching opera or a movie. Activities which involve participating in games or sports are more often considered to be recreation...
.
Mong Kok's
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
is extremely high, according to
Guinness World RecordsGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing an internationally recognised...
, Mong Kok has the highest population density in the world (mean 130,000 per km
2) and with a development multiple of four.
History of Mong Kok
The area of Mong Kok was quite different from the present-day context. The heart of the present-day Mong Kok was
Ho Man TinHo Man Tin Ho Man Tin Ho Man Tin ( or Ho Mun Tin is a mostly residential area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, part of the Kowloon City District.-History:The area of Ho Man Tin was quite different from the present-day context. The proper Ho Man Tin was considered as the heart of the present-day Mong Kok...
whilst the proper Mong Kok was north of it, near present-day Mong Kok East Station of
MTRMTR, or Mass Transit Railway, is the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. The MTR first began service in 1979 and officially merged with the Kowloon Canton Railway on 2 December 2007, still bearing the same name in English. The network includes 211.6 km of rail with 150 stations,...
. With cultivated lands, it was bounded south by
Argyle StreetArgyle Street is a four-lane dual-way thoroughfare in Hong Kong, connecting Mong Kok, Ma Tau Wai and Kowloon City. It runs on an east-west alignment starting at its intersection with Cherry Street, Ferry Street and Tong Mi Road in the west, and ending near the former Kai Tak Airport in the...
, west by Coronation Road (present-day Nathan Road), and east by the hills. To its south is Ho Man Tin and west
Tai Kok TsuiTai Kok Tsui is an area west of Mong Kok in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The mixed land use of industrial and residential is present in the old area. The Cosmopolitan Dock and oil depots were previously located there...
. Stream from the hills east offered water for cultivation.
On 10 August 2008 the
Cornwall Court fireThe Cornwall Court Fire was a building fire incident in Hong Kong. It began in a nightclub and karaoke bar on the morning of Sunday 10 August 2008, taking the lives of four people, including two firefighters, and injuring a further 55 people.- Incident :...
broke out. More than 200 firefighters were involved in the rescue operation with 4 dead, including 2 fire fighters.
Streets & Markets
Mong Kok preserves its traditional characteristics with an array of
marketA market is any one of a variety of different systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby persons trade, and goods and services are exchanged, forming part of the economy. It is an arrangement that allows buyers and sellers to exchange things...
s, small shops, and food stalls that have already disappeared from other areas in Hong Kong over the past several decades of economic developments. As such, a few of these streets in Mong Kok have acquired interesting nicknames reflecting their own characteristics. Some interesting sites are:
- Ladies' Street
Tung Choi Street is a street situated between Boundary Street and Dundas Street in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Its southern section is one of the most well-known street markets in Hong Kong selling items of various kinds and is known as Ladies' Market or Ladies' Street . Ladies Market has many...
(女人街, Ladies' market on Tung Choi StreetTung Choi Street is a street situated between Boundary Street and Dundas Street in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Its southern section is one of the most well-known street markets in Hong Kong selling items of various kinds and is known as Ladies' Market or Ladies' Street . Ladies Market has many...
) - This market specializes in women's clothing, accessories, cosmetics, and the like. It is open daily from noon to 00.00 a.m. at Tung Choi Street on the east of Nathan Road. Typically, where there is a market, there are also food stalls selling noodles, seafood, and congeeRice congee is a type of rice porridge that is eaten in many Asian countries. The word congee is possibly derived from the Dravidian language Tamil word kanji....
for mid-afternoon or late-night snacks. A grocery market is also located in the vicinity, quite convenient for housewives to buy fresh vegetables and pantyhosePantyhose are sheer, close-fitting coverings of the body from the waist to the feet. Traditionally considered a woman's garment, pantyhose appeared in the 1960s and provided a convenient alternative to stockings. Like stockings, pantyhose are usually made of nylon...
on the same trip.
- Sai Yeung Choi Street South, (西洋菜南街) - A street full of shops selling consumer electronic products, comestics, and discount books, the last of which usually located on the lower floors above ground floor of buildings.
- Temple Street
Temple Street is a street located in the areas of Jordan and Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is well known for its night market and the busiest flea market at night in the territory. The night market is in the Yau Ma Tei, Jordan areas of the street and not the Mong Kok area of the street...
(廟街, sometimes referred to as Men's Street), extending into JordanJordan is an area in the Yau Tsim Mong District of Hong Kong. The unofficial area is named after a road of the same name.-Geography:Jordan is located in the central part of the Yau Tsim Mong District, as suggested by the name of some bus stops nearby...
, is also in the area, however, the area famous for the Hong Kong specific goods are only in the section between Yau Ma TeiYau Ma Tei , with alternative transliterations including Yaumatei, Yau Ma Ti, Yaumati and Yau-ma-Tee, is an area in the Yau Tsim Mong district, in the south of the Kowloon peninsula in Hong Kong. Dundas Street is its north border with Mong Kok and Austin Road south border with Tsim Sha Tsui...
and Jordan.
- Bird Garden - Hundreds of songbirds in exquisitely crafted cages can be seen at this market, which is on the other side of Nathan Road on Yuen Po Street. The garden is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is close to Mong Kok East MTR Station and Mong Kok Stadium
Mong Kok Stadium is a stadium on Flower Market Road, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. With capacity of 8,500, the venue hosts Hong Kong First Division League matches, a football league in Hong Kong...
. Packed with booths selling birds, Hong Lok Street (Bird Street, 雀仔街) was closed as part of an urban renewal project in June 1998. The Garden was constructed by the government to accommodate some of the booths.
- Fa Yuen Street
Fa Yuen Street is a street between Boundary Street and Dundas Street in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. With over fifty stores selling sport shoes, the street is famous for selling sport gears and is known as Sport Shoes Street or Sneaker Street...
(花園街, sometimes referred to as 波鞋街, which means Sneakers Street) - This is a small neighbourhood with many small retailers which sell sports equipment and clothing. It has a wide diversity of sports shoes, including many shoes of rare or special editions from different places.
- Flower Market Road (花墟道) - This is a street market near the Mong Kok East MTR Station with lots of flower shops and street hawkers showing colourful displays, the sweet scents and the exotic blossoms of many houseplants.
- Goldfish Market - There are a dozens shops and hawkers selling various tropical freshwater or marine fish near the MTR train station. Different types of aquarium equipments can also be found there. This market opens very early in the morning.
- Tile Street - This is a section of Portland Street
Portland Street is a popular street in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The street is known for its business and retailing skyscraper complex Langham Place, numerous restaurants and its famous red-light district.- Geography :...
near Argyle StreetArgyle Street is a four-lane dual-way thoroughfare in Hong Kong, connecting Mong Kok, Ma Tau Wai and Kowloon City. It runs on an east-west alignment starting at its intersection with Cherry Street, Ferry Street and Tong Mi Road in the west, and ending near the former Kai Tak Airport in the...
and Bute Street with more than 50 retailers selling materials for construction or renovation, such as tiles, wall paper, window frames and bath tubs.
- Photocopy Street (影印街) - A neighbourhood near Ho Man Tin
Ho Man Tin Ho Man Tin Ho Man Tin ( or Ho Mun Tin is a mostly residential area in Kowloon, Hong Kong, part of the Kowloon City District.-History:The area of Ho Man Tin was quite different from the present-day context. The proper Ho Man Tin was considered as the heart of the present-day Mong Kok...
is noted for having remarkable number of photocopying shops due to the number of schools in the vicinity. The students from those schools have creates a great demand for photocopying, mostly for copyrighted textbookA textbook is a manual of instruction or a standard book in any branch of study. They are produced according to the demand of educational institutions...
s and class handout, in mass quantity.
- Portland Street
Portland Street is a popular street in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The street is known for its business and retailing skyscraper complex Langham Place, numerous restaurants and its famous red-light district.- Geography :...
(砵蘭街) - The best-known de facto red-light districtA red-light district is a neighborhood or a part of a neighborhood where businesses connected to the sex industry exist. In some red light districts prostitution may legally take place; other red light districts are known for their illegal prostitution scene...
in Hong Kong.
Some popular shopping plazas are located in this dense area, including:
- Sino Centre Arcade (信和中心) – In this plaza, there are many products about Japanese cartoons, such as Video CD
Video CD is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
s, DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
s, and comics. Beside that, there are shops selling music CD albums, including ones by Hong Kong, Japanese, and western pop singers.
- Ho King Shopping Centre (好景商場)- In this plaza, you can find many products having to do with computer and video games. They are sold for relatively low prices compared with other shops. The fourth floor of the plaza is infamous for being formerly the biggest base of pornographic CDs and DVDs. These have recently been diminished in a large operation by the police and customs, although this action has driven some shops to the office section of the building, with the products and customers causing distress to female workers there.
- Grand Century Place (新世紀廣場) - This is a new plaza next to the Mong Kok East MTR station. Most of the famous-brand and popular shops can be found here.
- Mong Kok Computer Centre
Mong Kok Computer Centre is a shopping mall for computer and computer related products at 8 Nelson Street, in Mong Kok, Hong Kong....
(旺角電腦中心)- This three-storey computer mall has around 50 to 70 computer shops. They sell various kinds of products including laptops, software, hardwareHardware is a general term for the physical artifacts of a technology. It may also mean the physical components of a computer system, in the form of computer hardware....
and computer accessories.
- Langham Place
Langham Place is a business and commercial complex which opened in the fourth quarter of 2004 in Hong Kong, comprising a shopping mall, hotel and office tower. Located in the Mong Kok district of Kowloon, the complex occupies two entire blocks defined by Argyle Street, Portland Street, Shantung...
(朗豪坊)- This shopping mall/hotel/office complex opened in 2004 in central Mong Kok. Built according to the Hong Kong Government urban redevelopment scheme, and at 59 stories high, it is the tallest landmark in Mong Kok.
- Argyle Centre (旺角中心) - This usually crowded centre, located next to the Mong Kok MTR station, has shops selling low-priced clothes and shoes.
Food
The Mong Kok area has many curb-side "
food-boothsStreet food is food obtainable from a streetside vendor, often from a makeshift or portable stall. While some street foods are regional, many are not, having spread beyond their region of origin. The food and green groceries sold in farmers' markets may also fall into this category, including the...
". Most of them sell traditional snacks such as fish balls, fried
beancurdor called toufu, bean curd is a soft white food made by coagulating soy milk, and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks. It is of Chinese origin, and part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and others. There are many different varieties...
(tofu) and various
dim sumDim sum is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. Yum cha is the term used to describe the entire dining experience, especially in contemporary Cantonese...
. These snacks and "fingerfood" are very popular in Hong Kong, especially for folks on the run.
Many different kinds of cuisines,
JapaneseThe modern term "Japanese cuisine" means traditional-style Japanese food, similar to what already existed before the end of national seclusion in 1868...
,
ChineseChinese cuisine originated in China and has become widespread in many other parts of the world — from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa. In recent years, connoisseurs of Chinese cuisine have also sprouted in Eastern Europe and South Asia...
,
ItalianItalian cuisine as a national cuisine known today has evolved through centuries of social and political changes, with its roots traced back to 4th century BC...
, and Thai food, can be found in the area.
Transport
- Part of Nathan Road is in this area.
- Four rail lines serve the district.
- The MTR
MTR, or Mass Transit Railway, is the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. The MTR first began service in 1979 and officially merged with the Kowloon Canton Railway on 2 December 2007, still bearing the same name in English. The network includes 211.6 km of rail with 150 stations,...
Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong lines have two interchanges in this area: Prince Edward Station to the north and Mong Kok Station to the south.
- The Tung Chung Line of MTR has a through station west of the area in Tai Kok Tsui
Tai Kok Tsui is an area west of Mong Kok in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The mixed land use of industrial and residential is present in the old area. The Cosmopolitan Dock and oil depots were previously located there...
, named Olympic.
- MTR East Rail Line also has a Mong Kok East Station in the eastern part of the area.
Mong Kok in popular culture
Mong Kok was the setting for the 2004 hit film
One Night in Mongkok directed by
Derek YeeDerek Yee Tung-sing , born in 1957 is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and former Shaw Brothers actor, who has achieved fame and respect in Hong Kong and international film festival circuits for treading carefully commercial viability concerns with artistic integrity...
. The movie portrays Mong Kok, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, as a hotbed of illicit activity. Similarly, the district was also the setting of the
1996The year 1996 in film involved some significant events. Major releases this year included Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Independence Day, Twister, Scream, Jerry Maguire and Madonna's Evita.-Events:...
film
Mongkok Story (旺角風雲) directed by
Wilson YipWilson Yip Wai-Shun is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker and screenwriter. His films include Bio Zombie, The White Dragon, SPL: Sha Po Lang and Dragon Tiger Gate.-Early career:...
which depicts a young man who becomes involved in a Triad gang. The literal Chinese title of the 1988 film
As Tears Go By by
Wong Kar-waiWong Kar-wai BBS is an award-winning Hong Kong filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized films...
is "Mong Kok Carmen". Part of
Robert LudlumRobert Ludlum was an American author of 25 thriller novels. There are more than 290 million copies of his books in print, and they have been translated into 32 languages...
's
The Bourne SupremacyThe Bourne Supremacy is the second Jason Bourne novel written by Robert Ludlum, first published in 1986. It was the sequel to Ludlum's bestseller The Bourne Identity and precedes Ludlum's final Bourne novel, The Bourne Ultimatum ....
was set in Mong Kok.
External links