Lascar Row is the combined name of two streets between

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 ...

and

Queen's Road Central 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 ...

in Sheung Wan,

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 Delta i ...

, Upper Lascar Row () and Lok Ku Road (Historically Lower Lascar Row). The immediate area is notable for its antique stalls.

Name

Although ''摩囉'' is not in the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

dictionary, its meaning stems from the English word

lascar A lascar was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, British Somaliland, or other land east of the Cape of Good Hope, who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the middle of the ...

. Derived from the Persian ''lashkar'' (military camp), it was used by the British to refer to Indian seamen. The word ''摩囉'' comes from "Musselmen", Muslims from the Middle East who traded in China. The name ''row'' derives from the row of houses that served as accommodations for Indian seamen.

Other names

The Indian community formed a mini market, which provided a place for Indians to trade at ease. Since the 1920s, it gradually developed as a market for a wide range of antiques, including obsolete electronic appliances. It therefore gained the name "Antiques Street", along with the neighbouring

. Cat Street () derives from the sale by some shops of stolen goods, known as "mouse goods" (老鼠貨) in Chinese. With its lower prices, many were attracted to shop in the area. Shoppers who walked cautiously down the street while selecting their goods were likened to cats trying to catch a mouse. Foreigners, particularly, came to refer to Lascar Row as Cat Street.

Upper Lascar Row

Upper Lascar Row is a narrow alley in Mid-Levels which runs parallel to

on the north side. The straight alley measures over , and there was an Indian police dormitory in the street. On 11 February 1911 a fire broke out on Upper and Lower Lascar Row, destroying 16 houses and damaging another 24.Section 43 "fires" of appendix P ''Report of the director of Public Works for the Year 1912'' of the Hong Kong Government Gazette.

History

In Chinese, it is common to use "摩囉" to describe Indians. At the beginning, it did not contain any derogatory sense.

Shops and products

Hollywood Road and Upper Lascar Row's antiques shops have copper mirrors, electric fans, jade gems, watches, ancient coins,

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

vases, stamps, newspapers and calendars.

Renaming request

In 2010, eight district officers from the

Central and Western District The Central and Western District () located on northwestern part of Hong Kong Island is one of the 18 administrative districts of Hong Kong. It had a population of 243,266 in 2016. The district has the most educated residents with the secon ...

expressed the objection by South Asians to the

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

word 「摩羅」 and asked the Hong Kong government to consider changing the name of the street. However, the

Lands Department The Lands Department is a government department under the Development Bureau responsible for all land matters in Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic ...

decided not to do so. It ruled that it did not find the word offensive to South Asians. According to some officers, the refusal reflected government indifference to discrimination against ethnic minorities. The

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

criticised the government for not considering the sensibilities of South Asia, saying that the term is pejorative. According to the government, a name change would diminish the alley's historical value and the word ''Mouro'' is neutral. Inconvenience was also cited, since the street name "Upper Lascar Row" has been used for more than a century. Public input was suggested before any name change.

References

External links

17 June 2010
''hkheadline.com''.

''681busterminal.com''. {{coord, 22.284812, 114.149759, display=title Roads on Hong Kong Island Sheung Wan Shopping districts and streets in Hong Kong China–India relations Indian diaspora in China