"Queen's Road East" () is a song by Taiwanese singer-songwriter

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 ...

, featuring Hong Kong singer

Ram Chiang Ram Chiang Chi-kwong (born 2 July 1961), Although TVB's website lists his birthday as July 1 Ram Chiang has gone on record saying that date is wron is a Hong Kong people, Hong Kong actor and former singer-composer, currently under Television Bro ...

. It was released on 23 January 1991 as the title track of Lo's Cantonese-language compilation album of the same name. The song was composed by Lo and written by Hong Kong lyricist

Albert Leung Albert Leung (born 7 December 1961, ) is a lyricist and writer based in Hong Kong. Education Leung attended all-boy secondary schools at Chan Sui Ki (La Salle) College and La Salle College. He received a bachelor of arts in translation from th ...

. It is named after

Queen's Road East Queen's Road East is a street in Wan Chai, in the north of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, connecting Admiralty, Hong Kong, Admiralty in the west to Happy Valley, Hong Kong, Happy Valley in the east. Queen's Road East is one of the four ...

, a street in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, and satirically expresses the anxiety felt by the city's residents over the impending

handover of Hong Kong Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the British Hong Kong, former colony. Hong Kong was establ ...

in 1997. The song was banned in Mainland China twice, once upon its release in 1991 and a second time in 2019, during that year's protests in Hong Kong.

Background

Queen's Road was the first road in Hong Kong, built between 1841 and 1843. Named 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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, it became a local landmark and a symbol of British rule. The modern road is split into four sections: Queen's Road West, Queen's Road Central, Queensway, and

left Taiwan in 1985 to practice medicine in the United States, before moving to Hong Kong two years later. In 1991, he established his own record label called Music Factory, with the ''Queen's Road East'' album as its first release. "Queen's Road East" was Lo's second song about Hong Kong after "Pearl of the Orient" (), which he composed in 1986. While initially performed by

Michael Kwan Michael Kwan Ching-kit is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer previously with the Philips label (the brand Polygram was not adopted until later in Hong Kong), and later with EMI. His back catalogue (1986–1988) continues to be published by Universal Mus ...

with Cantonese lyrics by , Lo later wrote and performed a Mandarin-language version of the song, which appears as the final track of the ''Queen's Road East'' album.

Composition

Lo was inspired to write "Queen's Road East" by the sight of road signs while out shopping. He first composed the melody and basic lyrics for the chorus, which mention Queen's Road West, Queen's Road East, and Queen's Road Central. The lyrics were completed by Hong Kong lyricist

, who was introduced to Lo by lyricist

James Wong Jim James Wong Jim (; 18 March 1941 – 24 November 2004, also known as "霑叔" or "Uncle Jim") was a Cantopop lyricist and songwriter based primarily in Hong Kong. Beginning from the 1960s, he was the lyricist for over 2,000 songs, collaboratin ...

. Leung's lyrics satirically express the anxiety felt by the city's residents over the impending

in 1997. In 1991, he spoke of a possibly "more restrictive creative environment" after the handover, which Leung said was why he "wrote

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

now". He expressed his hope that "people will still remember it fter 1997and make comparisons... To exaggerate a bit,

will serve as a witness of history". In a 1991 episode of the

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

programme ''

Hong Kong Connection ''Hong Kong Connection'' (), formerly ''The Common Sense'', is a long-running news documentary television programme produced by Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK. It mainly covers Hong Kong politics, economics, education, disadvantaged, environme ...

'', Lo and Leung discussed the song's musical composition and lyrics. Lo described the song's instrumental introduction as having a "mystical" quality that reflects the "vibrancy" he sees in Hong Kong. He also explained his personal interpretation of "Queen's Road": Queen' obviously is the

Queen of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...

. 'Road' is one's way of life. The United Kingdom is the global pioneer of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

, so the 'Queen's Road' is actually capitalism." Lo thus characterises the song's chorus, "Queen's Road West and Queen's Road East/Queen's Road East turns into Queen's Road Central" as a reference to the journey of Hong Kong (East) from the United Kingdom (West) to China (Central), while bringing along the capitalist system (Queen's Road). The song's lyrics mention both "the Queen" and "the

Comrade The term ''comrade'' (russian: товарищ, tovarisch) generally means 'mate', 'colleague', or 'ally', and derives from the Spanish and Portuguese, term , literally meaning 'chamber mate', from Latin , meaning 'chamber' or 'room'. It may also ...

". "The Queen" indirectly refers to the reigning British monarch at the time,

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. The opening verse describes the Queen as a "noble friend on the back of coins" with "everlasting youth". One verse also describes her as "beautiful even when saying goodbye", a reference to the nightly television sign-offs in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

featuring "

God Save the Queen "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, bu ...

" and the Queen's portrait. On the other hand, "the Comrade" is called a "virtuous friend" who "looks familiar and friendly, thus allowing horse races to continue twice a week", referring to the Chinese authorities' promises to allow

horse races Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

involving gambling to continue in Hong Kong. One verse of the song laments that Hong Kong will "have to rely on great comrades to cook up new ideas". According to Leung and Lo, while the line implies the comrades are "other people", they intended it as a reference to the people of Hong Kong, as Leung believed that the term "comrade" ( tongzhi in Chinese) would extend to them after the handover. Thus, Lo said the line was meant to encourage the people of Hong Kong to succeed into the future.

Release

The ''Queen's Road East'' album was released on 23 January 1991, with "Queen's Road East" as its title track. Later that year, Lo released an album in Taiwan titled ''Homeland'' (), which included a

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 70% ...

version of the song featuring

Lim Giong Lim Giong (; born 7 June 1964) is a Taiwanese musician, DJ, actor, and an active figure in the Taiwanese experimental electronic music scene. He is known for recording rock songs in Taiwanese Hokkien, starting with his first hit song "Marching F ...

, titled "Everyone is Not Shocked" ()''.'' This version was featured in the 1992 Taiwanese film ''

Dust of Angels ''Dust of Angels'' () is a 1992 Taiwanese crime film directed by Hsu Hsiao-ming, executive produced by Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien. It was entered into Directors' Fortnight at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. "''An lah''" () is a Taiwanes ...

'', with Lim and Lo performing the song in a cameo appearance.

Music videos

One of the music videos for the "Queen's Road East" was produced by

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...

. In the video, Lo and Chiang perform the song in

Red Guard Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard lead ...

uniforms while uniformed young people imitate the poses of revolutionary statues and display red flags and banners. The video also shows cars and pedestrians moving in reverse, and the two singers imitating Chinese state leaders by walking along a street while clapping their hands. Researcher Sun Hongmei described the video as "shed

ing Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 1992 ...

all subtlety" compared to the song's lyrics, which "rel on uncertainty, uneasiness, and subtle satire". An alternate music video for the song presents it in a more subtle manner, alternating between Lo and imagery of Hong Kong.

Awards

"Queen's Road East" received awards for Best Lyrics and Best Composition at the 1991 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation.

Censorship

Due to its politically sensitive lyrics, "Queen's Road East" was banned in Mainland China upon its release in 1991, before being unbanned in 2000. During the Hong Kong protests in 2019, lyrics from the song were used by Mainland Chinese internet users to circumvent censorship on the topic and express support for the protests. According to ''Quartz'', some comments may have been referring to the occupation of Queensway during the protests on 12 June 2019. "Queen's Road East" was removed from major Chinese music streaming platforms in June 2019, with some reports stating the song was banned due to its lyrics and association with the Hong Kong protests. Later that year, over 3000 songs written by Leung were reportedly taken off Chinese music streaming platforms after he voiced support for the protests in Hong Kong. Also in 2019, the ''

Sing Tao Daily The ''Sing Tao Daily'' () (also known as ''Sing Tao Jih Pao'') is Hong Kong's oldest and second-largest Chinese language newspaper. It is owned by Sing Tao News Corporation, of which Kwok Ying-shing () is chairman. Its English language sister p ...

'' reported that a

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

operator in the Chinese city of

Beihai Beihai (; Postal romanization: Pakhoi) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Guangxi, People's Republic of China. Its status as a seaport on the north shore of the Gulf of Tonkin has granted it historical importance as a port of internation ...

was investigated and fined for playing a music video of "Queen's Road East", which features a scene with the portraits of Chinese state leaders repeated across the screen accompanied with the song's lyrics. The reported cited an Administrative Penalty Decision by the local police, which characterised "Queen's Road East" as a "prohibited song" and stated that the scene "mocked" state leaders.

Legacy

Lyrics from "Queen's Road East" were shared by Hong Kong internet users in remembrance of Queen Elizabeth II following her death in September 2022.

Notes

References

{{Authority control Cantonese-language songs 1991 songs Hong Kong songs Songs about streets Political songs Songs about Hong Kong Songs about queens Censorship of music