Queen's Road is a collection of roads along the northern coast of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong, within the limit of Victoria City. It was the first road in Hong Kong, constructed by the British between 1841 and 1843, spanning across Victoria City from

Shek Tong Tsui Shek Tong Tsui or Belcher Point is an area in Sai Wan on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it belongs to the Central and Western District. This area is bounded north by the Victoria Harbour, south by Pok Fu Lam Road and Third ...

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area n ...

. At various points along the route, Queen's Road marks the original shoreline before land reclamation projects permanently extended land into

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental in ...

. The four sections of the roads are, from west to east: Queen's Road West ( Chinese: 皇后大道西), Queen's Road Central (皇后大道中), Queensway (金鐘道), and Queen's Road East (皇后大道東).

History

The road was originally 4 miles (6.5 km) long. The Royal Engineers built the first section to

Sai Ying Pun Sai Ying Pun is an area in Western District, on Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It is administratively part of the Central and Western District. Etymology In Cantonese, ''Sai'' () means "west" and ''Ying Pun'' () means "camp", especially a ...

with the help of 300

coolies A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

from Kowloon (Hong Kong), then a territory of China. This section of Queen's Road ran parallel to the beach where Sir Henry Pottinger set up his tent in 1842. Originally named Main Street, it was officially renamed Queen's Road in March 1842 after

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. It was mistakenly translated into Chinese as 皇后, meaning " queen consort". When Hong Kong was founded as a

British Crown Colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...

in 1842, Queen's Road was the hub of the island's activity. The development of this island had been haphazard: winding paths connected the

Hong Kong Club The Hong Kong Club () is the first gentlemen's club in Hong Kong. Opened on 26 May 1846, it is a private business and dining club in the heart of Central, Hong Kong. Its members were (and still are) among the most influential people in the city, ...

for

tai-pan A tai-pan (,Andrew J. Moody, "Transmission Languages and Source Languages of Chinese Borrowings in English", ''American Speech'', Vol. 71, No. 4 (Winter, 1996), pp. 414-415. literally "top class"汉英词典 — ''A Chinese-English Dictionary' ...

s and ran along squatter huts, military encampments and taverns. The first governors built their homes along Queen's Road; subsequently, the first post office and Christian churches soon arrived. Instead of a properly paved road, newcomers to Hong Kong found Queen's Road as a pocked dirt path that was prone to dust clouds and puddles of mud.

The Great Fire of Hong Kong 1878

On Christmas Day 1878, a fire broke out and destroyed a large area of the slums along Queen's Road. An eyewitness account was recorded by

Constance Gordon-Cumming Constance Frederica “Eka” Gordon-Cumming (26 May 1837 – 4 September 1924) was a noted Scottish travel writer and painter. Born in a wealthy family, she travelled around the world and painted described scenes and life as she saw them. She w ...

in her 1886 book ''Wanderings in China''. The fire raged for 17 hours and burnt down 400 houses across a area. Thousands of residents were left homeless. Nevertheless, the devastated ruins were recycled for

reclamation Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back". It may refer to: * Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds * Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid ...

adjacent to the area (modern-day

Bonham Strand Bonham Strand (Chinese: 文咸街) is a combination of two streets in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong: Bonham Strand (文咸東街) and Bonham Strand West (文咸西街). As the name suggests, it was a strand and close to shore in the past though curren ...

). After the Great Fire of 1878, Queen's Road become home to some of Hong Kong's most expensive land and famous buildings.

Roads

Queen's Road West

Queen's Road West (皇后大道西) runs from Sheung Wan to Shek Tong Tsui. It begins in Sheung Wan at the junction with

Possession Street Possession Street () is a street in Sheung Wan, from Queen's Road West to Hollywood Road, on the Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The street marks the boundary of Queen's Road West and Queen's Road Central. Name The original Chinese name was ...

and ends where it meets the coastal road, Kennedy Town Praya.

Queen's Road Central

Queen's Road Central (皇后大道中) runs from

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

to Sheung Wan. It was one of the first roads, along with

Hollywood Road Hollywood Road is a street in Central and Sheung Wan, on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The street runs between Central and Sheung Wan, with Wyndham Street, Arbuthnot Road, Ladder Street, Upper Lascar Row, and Old Bailey Street in the vicini ...

to be built by the British. The road became an important infrastructure to Queen's Town, which was later renamed the

City of Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Queen's Road Central intersects with the similarly named Queen Victoria Street, a short street perpendicular to the road and leads to a few blocks away from the International Finance Centre. At the western end of Queen's Road Central, the name changes to Queen's Road West. At the eastern end, it merges with

Des Voeux Road Central Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), severa ...

to become Queensway at the junction of Garden Road. When Hong Kong was occupied by the Japanese Empire from 1942 to 1945, Queen's Road Central was briefly renamed Meiji-dori, after Emperor Meiji, by the Japanese occupation government.

Queensway

Queensway was originally the westernmost section of Queen's Road East. After the development of

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

as a business district next to Central, this section was renamed Queensway (金鐘道) in 1967. It links Queen's Road Central to Queen's Road East and

Hennessy Road Hennessy Road () is a thoroughfare on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It connects Yee Wo Street on the east in Causeway Bay, at the junction with East Point Road, Jardine's Bazaar and Great George Street in East Point, through Bowrington, to ...

Queen's Road East

Queen's Road East (皇后大道東) runs between

and Happy Valley. At the western end, Queen's Road East starts at a fork junction with Queensway and Hennessy Road near Justice Drive. Although situated inland and south of five trunk routes ( Gloucester Road,

Jaffe Road Jaffe Road () is a road in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. It starts from Arsenal Street near Admiralty and ends at The Excelsior Hotel near World Trade Centre. It runs generally parallel to Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral ...

Lockhart Road Lockhart Road () is a street spanning the whole length of Wan Chai from east to west on the Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. It begins at Arsenal Street in the west and ends in East Point Road in East Point. History The road is named after Si ...

, Hennessy Road and

Johnston Road Johnston Road () is a major road in Wan Chai on the Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. Location Johnston Road spans from the junction with Heard Street, Hennessy Road and Stewart Road on its east, towards another junction with Hennessy Road and ...

) from the Victoria Harbour, Queen's Road East runs along the old, original shoreline of Hong Kong Island.

In pop culture

Queen's Road has become an icon of the British Crown colony of Hong Kong. During the transition period before

sovereignty transfer A number of methods of acquisition of sovereignty are or have been recognised by international law as lawful methods by which a state may acquire sovereignty over territory. International law adopts much of Roman property law in regards to acquis ...

, there were rumours that all streets and roads named after the British and Commonwealth colonial figures, such as Queen's Road, would be renamed in honour of the

Chinese communists The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

Lo Ta-yu Lo Ta-yu (; born 20 July 1954), also known as Luo Dayou and Law Tai-yau, is a Taiwanese singer and songwriter. During the 1980s, Lo became one of the most influential Mandopop singer-songwriters with his melodic lyrics and love songs, and his ...

, a local songwriter, and Albert Leung have therefore composed ''Queen's Road East'' in 1991. This song was performed by the songwriter himself and Ram Cheung Chi Kwong (蔣志光) in 1991, to describe their fear of change once the communists have taken over. In the 1941 crime noir movie, "The Maltese Falcon", Humphrey Bogart's character (Sam Spade) looks into Mary Astor's character's (Brigid O' Shaughnessy) hat, there was a maker's label that read; "Lucille Shop – Queen's Road C Hong Kong".

References

{{Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong Roads on Hong Kong Island Sai Ying Pun Shek Tong Tsui Sheung Wan Wan Chai