Shek Tong Tsui
Encyclopedia
Sai Wan
Sai Wan , or Western District, or simply Western, is an area in Hong Kong that corresponds to Sai Ying Pun, Shek Tong Tsui, Belcher Bay and Kennedy Town....
on the north shore of Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km², as of 2008...
in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. Administratively, it belongs to the Central and Western District
Central and Western District
The Central and Western District located on northern part of Hong Kong Island is one of the 18 administrative districts of Hong Kong. It had a population of 261,884 in 2001...
.
This district is bounded to the east by Ka On Street, north by the Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour
Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour situated between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on the South China Sea were instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony and its subsequent...
, south by Pokfulam Road and Third Street
Third Street (Hong Kong)
Third Street , is a street in Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood of Hong Kong. It runs one way from Pok Fu Lam Road, then crosses Water Street, then Pok Fu Lam Road again, then western, Centre Streets and terminates at Eastern Street....
, and west by the intersection of Queen's Road West and Belcher's Street
Belcher's Street
Belcher's Street is a main street in Kennedy Town of Hong Kong. It connects east Victoria Road and joins west Queen's Road West. A small section in its west end built a turn around for Hong Kong Tramway....
. To the east lies Sai Ying Pun
Sai Ying Pun
Sai Ying Pun is an area in Western District on the Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is part of Central and Western District in district administration....
and to the west is Kennedy Town
Kennedy Town
Kennedy Town is at the western end of Sai Wan on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It was named after Arthur Edward Kennedy, the 7th Governor of Hong Kong from 1872 to 1877...
. The area to the south is the slopes of Victoria Peak
Victoria Peak
Victoria Peak is a mountain in Hong Kong. It is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak. The mountain is located in the western half of Hong Kong Island...
and High West
High West
High West is a hill next to the famous Victoria Peak on the Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. With height , the hill is west of the Peak and north of the Pok Fu Lam. Queen Mary Hospital is at its west slope and Harlech Road passing near its peak north...
.
History
The name Shek Tong Tsui was derived from the nearby old quarry, or "Shek Tong" (石塘) in Cantonese. It was located around modern-day Hill Road and The Belcher'sThe Belcher's
The Belcher's is a high-rise residential development situated in the Western Mid-levels area of Hong Kong Island. It consists of six residential buildings which were constructed in two phases; three buildings were constructed in each phase. Construction for the first phase was completed in 2000,...
, and was used by the Hakka people
Hakka people
The Hakka , sometimes Hakka Han, are Han Chinese who speak the Hakka language and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China....
since the 17th century. "Tsui" (嘴) indicates that the area was a headland
Headlands and bays
Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...
.
The area was first settled in 1880 by granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
miners. In the early 1900s, Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km², as of 2008...
's brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s were moved from Possession Point
Possession Point
Possession Point is a former point of land on the northwestern coast of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong, before land reclamation moved the coast further north.- History :...
in Sheung Wan
Sheung Wan
Sheung Wan is an area in Hong Kong, located in the north-west of Hong Kong Island, between Central and Sai Ying Pun. Administratively, it is part of the Central and Western District...
to this area under orders from the Hong Kong Governor Matthew Nathan
Matthew Nathan
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan GCMG, PC was a British soldier and civil servant, who variously served as the Governor of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Queensland...
. The place thus flourished as a red light district
Red Light District
Red Light District may refer to:* Red-light district - a neighborhood where prostitution is common* The Red Light District - the title of the 2004 album by rapper Ludacris* Red Light District Video - a pornography studio based in Los Angeles, California...
and came to its golden period. During this period, Chinese affluents in Hong Kong came to Shek Tong Tsui for entertainment, and numerous Cantonese opera
Cantonese opera
Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Cantonese culture. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia. Like all versions of Chinese opera, it is a traditional Chinese art form, involving music, singing,...
theatres and Cantonese restaurant
Cantonese restaurant
A Cantonese restaurant is a type of Chinese restaurant that originated from Southern China. This style of restaurant soon flourished in Hong Kong.-History:Some of the earliest restaurants in Colonial Hong Kong were influenced by Cantonese people...
s were founded in the area. It was known locally in the Cantonese phrase "tong sai fung yuet" (塘西風月), which means "good times west of the quarry". Brothels in this area inspired numerous novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and Hong Kong film
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
s, most notably Rouge
Rouge (film)
Rouge is a 1988 Hong Kong film, directed by Stanley Kwan. The movie is the adaptation of the novel by Lilian Lee.-Plot:Chan Chen-Pang, better known as the "12th Young Master" , was a fashionable playboy who frequented the opium dens prevalent in Hong Kong in 1934, where he met the high-class and...
(1987) which starred Anita Mui
Anita Mui
Anita Mui Yim-fong was a popular Hong Kong singer and actress. During her prime years she made major contributions to the cantopop music scene, while receiving numerous awards and honours. She remained an idol throughout most of her career, and was generally regarded as a cantopop diva...
and Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung
Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing , nicknamed elder brother , was a film actor and musician from Hong Kong. Cheung was considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop", and "combining a hugely successful film and music career".In 2000, Cheung was named Asian Biggest Superstar by China Central...
.
This golden period lasted until the ban of prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
by the Hong Kong Government in 1935. However, during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong
Japanese occupation of Hong Kong
The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began after the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the territory of Hong Kong to Japan on 25 December 1941 after 18 days of fierce fighting by British and Canadian defenders against overwhelming Japanese Imperial forces. The occupation lasted...
, the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese military government relocated all Chinese brothels to the area, which was renamed as Kuramae (蔵前) by the Japanese. Again the area boomed, with about 500 brothels in the area at the time, but they could only serve Japanese agents since the lives under Japanese rule were too harsh to enjoy for commoners.
After the Japanese retreat, the name of the area was reverted back to its Chinese name, as with the rest of Hong Kong. The British ban went back into place, and all traces of Shek Tong Tsui's amorous history were washed away by decades of urbanization.
Transport
The tram terminus near Whitty StreetWhitty Street
Whitty Street is a street in Shek Tong Tsui, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Named after R.C. Whitty, the first manager of the Hong Kong and China Gas Company, the street is well-known as one of seven terminals of the Hong Kong Tramway...
is one of the termini of Hong Kong Tramways
Hong Kong Tramways
Hong Kong Tramways is a tram system in Hong Kong and one of the earliest forms of public transport in Hong Kong. Owned and operated by Veolia Transport, the tramway runs on Hong Kong Island between Shau Kei Wan and Kennedy Town, with a branch circulating Happy Valley...
. Bus and minibus services are also available along the main streets. The West Island Line
West Island Line
The West Island Line is a rapid transit line under construction of the Hong Kong MTR metro system. Planned as an extension to Island Line, the construction of the West Island line depended on reclamation and redevelopment of Western District....
, an extension of the existing MTR Island Line
Island Line (MTR)
The Island Line is one of 10 lines of the MTR, the mass transit system in Hong Kong. It runs from Sheung Wan in the Central and Western District to Chai Wan in the Eastern District. The line first opened in 31 May 1985...
, will have a station
University (MTR)
Hong Kong University Station is the official name for a proposed station on the Hong Kong MTR West Island Line, an extension to the existing Island Line.-Naming disputes:...
near this area.
The major roads on Shek Tong Tsui are the western ends of Des Voeux Road
Des Voeux Road
Des Voeux Road Central and Des Voeux Road West are two roads on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. They were named after the 10th Governor of Hong Kong, Sir George William Des Vœux...
West and Queen's Road West, Hill Road and part of Pok Fu Lam Road
Pok Fu Lam Road
Pokfulam Road, or Pok Fu Lam Road, is a four-lane road in Hong Kong. Built on Hong Kong Island, the road runs between Sai Ying Pun and Wah Fu, through Pok Fu Lam....
. Connaught Road West is the major access road. Hill Road is a "double decker" road taking traffic downhill from Pok Fu Lam Road to Connaught Road.
There are also a number of smaller terraces roads, including Yat Fu Lane, Woo Hop Street, Clarence Terrace, Po Tuck Street and South Lane.
Constituency
Water Street
-Canada:*Water Street, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada*Water Street, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada*Water Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-United States:*Water Street, Boston, Massachusetts*Water Street, Eau Claire, Wisconsin...
and intrudes into Sai Ying Pun. The major housing developments in the electorate are: Chong Yip Centre, Dragonfair Garden, Elegant Garden, Kong Chian Tower, Kwan Yick Building Phase I, Wah Ming Centre. The population estimate in 2006 was 16597. Chan Choi Hi was elected in 1999, and 2003.
The Belcher constituency also covers part of Shek Tong Tsui south of Queens Road West. Yeung Sui Yin was elected in 2003. Wong Chit Man was elected in 1999.