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Wanchai with Central Plaza (the tall skyscraper - I had an office in there...) and the Convention And Exhibition Centre.
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Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wan_Chai:
Wan Chai is located in the western part of Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is bounded by Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west, and Bowen Road to 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 offices of many small and medium-sized companies. Wan Chai North features office towers, parks, hotels and an international conference and exhibition centre. Wan Chai is also well known for its famous night life which has evolved over decades. As one of the first areas developed in Hong Kong, the locale is densely populated yet with noticeable residential zones facing urban decay. Arousing considerable public concern, the government has undertaken several urban renewal projects in recent years.[neutrality is disputed] There are various landmarks and skyscrapers within the area, most notably the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Central Plaza and Hopewell Centre.
Wan Chai originally began as Ha Wan (下環), literally meaning "a bottom ring" or "lower circuit". As one of the earliest developed areas in Hong Kong along the Victoria Harbour, Central ("centre ring" in Chinese), Sheung Wan ("upper ring"), Sai Wan ("western ring") and Wan Chai are collectively known as the four rings (四環) by the locals. Wan Chai literally means "a cove" in Cantonese, from the shape of its coastal line; however, owing to drastic city development and continual land reclamation, the area is no longer a cove.
Excerpt from www.localiiz.com/post/culture-history-woo-cheong-pawn-sho...:
Anyone who has taken even a cursory stroll through Wan Chai will have noticed the beige, four-storey tong lau (唐樓; Chinese-style tenement building) sitting in the heart of the neighbourhood. Fondly known as the Woo Cheong Pawn Shop, the striking historic building was once home to a famous local pawnshop for over half a century, witnessing the rise and fall of the city’s age-old pawnbroking industry. While the original pawnshop has moved out, its concrete host has withstood the test of time, having been revitalised and transformed into a vibrant dining node.
Occupying a prime address along the ever-bustling Johnston Road, Woo Cheong Pawn Shop (和昌大押) has been a permanent fixture in Wan Chai’s business hub since 1888. Constructed as a traditional tong lau shophouse—an architectural style widely embraced in Hong Kong from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century—the elongated building spans 60 to 66 Johnston Road, comprising four adjoining blocks of verandah-type tenement houses.
In the early days, the building accommodated both residential and commercial functions, with the lower floors hosting a string of shops while the upper floors serving as living quarters predominantly for Chinese residents. The erection of the building came in step with the burgeoning Chinese community that began to take root in Wan Chai after the closure of the sprawling colonial mansion Spring Gardens in 1867, which previously attracted mostly wealthy foreigners to the area.
Far from the glamorous high-end complex that it is recognised as today, Woo Cheong Pawn Shop—like most other tong lau—was traditionally associated with the local blue-colour class and a dime a dozen among the sea of other commercial buildings in its time. As such, the shophouses were minimally furnished. They had no toilet facilities and instead relied on bucket latrines that were manually emptied and collected at night.
Although the name Woo Cheong Pawn Shop seems to harken back to the building’s pioneer days, it actually wasn’t until decades later that the famous pawnshop came into existence.
Pawnbroking was no new business in Hong Kong, the practice having been done under the wraps since the early nineteenth century. However, it was only when pawnshops were legalised with official government licensing in 1926 that the industry exploded. Proceeding to emerge as one of the city’s most reputable pawnshop traders is the Lo family, who acquired block 66 of the building on Johnston’s Road and made it their operation base in 1947.
Synergising the established name of the Lo family with the timely, and much-needed facelift that the building received the following year, Woo Cheong Pawn Shop was poised to become a flourishing business. Sure enough, the venture came to fruition and the old tong lau soon thereafter become synonymous with Woo Cheong Pawn Shop, easily recognised from afar by the iconic pawnshop signage—a flashy red-and-green emblem in the shape of a bat holding a coin.
There were, of course, other shops that called the building home. In 1966, the Yu clan bought the neighbouring block 64 and opened up a bird shop on the site. To mark the premise as the clan’s base, they commissioned an inscription bearing the words “The Hong Kong Yu Clansmen” (余氏宗親會 ) in Chinese to be placed on top of the verandah.
Other units in the building were occupied by beauty salons, boutiques, and various small, local shops, most of which were family-run businesses. Yet, while many shops checked in and out throughout the decades, the Lo family’s pawn shop claimed the longest run among all its brethren, leaving an indelible mark on the building’s history.
Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wan_Chai:
Wan Chai is located in the western part of Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is bounded by Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west, and Bowen Road to 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 offices of many small and medium-sized companies. Wan Chai North features office towers, parks, hotels and an international conference and exhibition centre. Wan Chai is also well known for its famous night life which has evolved over decades. As one of the first areas developed in Hong Kong, the locale is densely populated yet with noticeable residential zones facing urban decay. Arousing considerable public concern, the government has undertaken several urban renewal projects in recent years.[neutrality is disputed] There are various landmarks and skyscrapers within the area, most notably the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Central Plaza and Hopewell Centre.
Wan Chai originally began as Ha Wan (下環), literally meaning "a bottom ring" or "lower circuit". As one of the earliest developed areas in Hong Kong along the Victoria Harbour, Central ("centre ring" in Chinese), Sheung Wan ("upper ring"), Sai Wan ("western ring") and Wan Chai are collectively known as the four rings (四環) by the locals. Wan Chai literally means "a cove" in Cantonese, from the shape of its coastal line; however, owing to drastic city development and continual land reclamation, the area is no longer a cove.
Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wan_Chai:
Wan Chai is located in the western part of Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is bounded by Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west, and Bowen Road to 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 offices of many small and medium-sized companies. Wan Chai North features office towers, parks, hotels and an international conference and exhibition centre. Wan Chai is also well known for its famous night life which has evolved over decades. As one of the first areas developed in Hong Kong, the locale is densely populated yet with noticeable residential zones facing urban decay. Arousing considerable public concern, the government has undertaken several urban renewal projects in recent years.[neutrality is disputed] There are various landmarks and skyscrapers within the area, most notably the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Central Plaza and Hopewell Centre.
Wan Chai originally began as Ha Wan (下環), literally meaning "a bottom ring" or "lower circuit". As one of the earliest developed areas in Hong Kong along the Victoria Harbour, Central ("centre ring" in Chinese), Sheung Wan ("upper ring"), Sai Wan ("western ring") and Wan Chai are collectively known as the four rings (四環) by the locals. Wan Chai literally means "a cove" in Cantonese, from the shape of its coastal line; however, owing to drastic city development and continual land reclamation, the area is no longer a cove.
Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wan_Chai:
Wan Chai is located in the western part of Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is bounded by Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west, and Bowen Road to 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 offices of many small and medium-sized companies. Wan Chai North features office towers, parks, hotels and an international conference and exhibition centre. Wan Chai is also well known for its famous night life which has evolved over decades. As one of the first areas developed in Hong Kong, the locale is densely populated yet with noticeable residential zones facing urban decay. Arousing considerable public concern, the government has undertaken several urban renewal projects in recent years.[neutrality is disputed] There are various landmarks and skyscrapers within the area, most notably the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Central Plaza and Hopewell Centre.
Wan Chai originally began as Ha Wan (下環), literally meaning "a bottom ring" or "lower circuit". As one of the earliest developed areas in Hong Kong along the Victoria Harbour, Central ("centre ring" in Chinese), Sheung Wan ("upper ring"), Sai Wan ("western ring") and Wan Chai are collectively known as the four rings (四環) by the locals. Wan Chai literally means "a cove" in Cantonese, from the shape of its coastal line; however, owing to drastic city development and continual land reclamation, the area is no longer a cove.
Excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wan_Chai:
Wan Chai is located in the western part of Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is bounded by Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west, and Bowen Road to 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 offices of many small and medium-sized companies. Wan Chai North features office towers, parks, hotels and an international conference and exhibition centre. Wan Chai is also well known for its famous night life which has evolved over decades. As one of the first areas developed in Hong Kong, the locale is densely populated yet with noticeable residential zones facing urban decay. Arousing considerable public concern, the government has undertaken several urban renewal projects in recent years.[neutrality is disputed] There are various landmarks and skyscrapers within the area, most notably the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Central Plaza and Hopewell Centre.
Wan Chai originally began as Ha Wan (下環), literally meaning "a bottom ring" or "lower circuit". As one of the earliest developed areas in Hong Kong along the Victoria Harbour, Central ("centre ring" in Chinese), Sheung Wan ("upper ring"), Sai Wan ("western ring") and Wan Chai are collectively known as the four rings (四環) by the locals. Wan Chai literally means "a cove" in Cantonese, from the shape of its coastal line; however, owing to drastic city development and continual land reclamation, the area is no longer a cove.
"Blue House", situated at Stone Nullah Lane in Wanchai, is a four-storey Lingnan-style house built in the 1920s. The distinctive blue colour was not a deliberate aesthetic decision, but rather the workers only had blue paint for repairing work.
In the 1950s and 1960s, kung fu master Wong Fei-hung’s student Lam Sai-wing launched the kung fu studio here.
The Blue House is conserved under the Revitalization Scheme of Historic Building in Hong Kong.
灣仔籃屋