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 Wyndham Street is a one-way street in Central, Hong Kong. It is one of the earliest colonial streets, once known as Pedder Hill. Location It starts at the junction with Hollywood Road and Arbuthnot Road, near the Central Police Station, an ...

, Arbuthnot Road, Ladder Street, Upper Lascar Row, and

Old Bailey Street Old Bailey Street is located in Central, Hong Kong. The name is derived from the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court in central London, United Kingdom. Location Old Bailey Street runs downhill from Caine Road in the south to Hollywood Road ...

in the vicinity. Hollywood Road was the second road to be built when the colony of Hong Kong was founded, after

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 ...

. It was the first to be completed. The Man Mo Temple was a place for trial in very early years.

Name

It was probably named by Sir

John Francis Davis Sir John Francis Davis, 1st Baronet (16 July 179513 November 1890) was a British diplomat and sinologist who served as second Governor of Hong Kong from 1844 to 1848. Davis was the first President of Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong. Backgrou ...

, the second

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and commander-in-chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. ...

, after his family home at

Westbury-on-Trym Westbury on Trym is a suburb and council ward in the north of the City of Bristol, near the suburbs of Stoke Bishop, Westbury Park, Henleaze, Southmead and Henbury, in the southwest of England. With a village atmosphere, the place is partly ...

, near Bristol, England. Another origin mentioned for the name is that holly shrubs were growing in the area when the road was constructed. Such plants were not indigenous to the area and would have been imported.

History

Hollywood Road was the second road to be built when the colony of Hong Kong was founded, after

. It was the first to be completed. Like most major roads in the early years of the colony, Hollywood Road was built by the Royal Engineers. More than 100 years ago, Hollywood Road was rather close to the coastline. In those days, foreign merchants and sailors would put up the antiques and artefacts they "collected" from China for sale here on their way back to Europe. This is how Hollywood Road began its role as an antique market. The 1960 Hollywood film ''

The World of Suzie Wong ''The World of Suzie Wong'' is a 1957 novel by British writer Richard Mason. The main characters are Robert Lomax, a young British artist living in Hong Kong, and Suzie Wong, the title character, a Chinese woman who works as a prostitute. ...

'' was shot in part in Hollywood Road. An old wood-built building was re-constructed as a bar for the movie. There was a Union Church in the street founded in 1844 by the Reverend James Legge, a Scottish

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

who had been sent to Hong Kong in 1843 by the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...

. The first Union Church was built in 1845 on Hollywood Road above Central. Every Sunday an English language service was held in the morning and a Chinese language service in the afternoon. The Church was later relocated to a new site on Staunton Street. In the afternoon of December 15, 1941, during the Battle of Hong Kong, a stick Japanese bombs hit the junction of

and

Caine Road Caine Road is a road running through Mid-Levels, Hong Kong. It connects Bonham Road to the west (at the junction with Hospital Road and Seymour Road), and Arbuthnot Road, Glenealy and Upper Albert Road to the east. The road is named after Wi ...

, the junction of

Pottinger Street Pottinger Street is a street in Central, Hong Kong. It is also known as the ''Stone Slabs Street'' () since the street is paved unevenly by granite stone steps. It was named in 1858 after Henry Pottinger, the first Governor of Hong Kong, ser ...

and Hollywood Road, Wellington Street and the Central Police Station. The bombing was part of a systematic bombardment of the Hong Kong Island's north shore that was launched on that day.

Features

Hollywood Road is filled with trinket and antique shops of all sorts: from Chinese furniture to porcelain ware, from Buddha sculptures to

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

an rugs, from Japanese

netsuke A is a miniature sculpture, originating in 17th century Japan. Initially a simply-carved button fastener on the cords of an box, later developed into ornately sculpted objects of craftsmanship. History Traditionally, Japanese clothing – ...

s to

Coromandel screen Coromandel lacquer is a type of Chinese lacquerware, latterly mainly made for export, so called only in the West because it was shipped to European markets via the Coromandel coast of south-east India, where the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) a ...

s, from

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

ceramic horsemen and kitsch

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

memorabilia. Previously known solely for antique shops, Hollywood Road has developed into a

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...

district in Hong Kong. The first gallery to open was Plum Blossoms in 1987. From then on, many galleries opened in the area.

Man Mo Temple

Man Mo Temple Man Mo Temple or Man Mo Miu is a temple for the worship of the Civil or Literature God Man Tai () / Man Cheong () and the Martial God Mo Tai () / Kwan Tai (). The two Deities were popularly patronized by scholars and students seeking progress in ...

or Man Mo Miu (文武廟) is a common sort of temple for worshipping the Man Tai (文帝), Man Cheong and Mo Tai (武帝),

Kwan Tai Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on m ...

, to pray for good results in examinations in China. The one on the Hollywood Road was built in 1847. It has been managed by

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (), with a history dating back to 1870, is the oldest and largest charitable organisation in Hong Kong. It provides extensive education and community services through 194 service centres spread across Hong Kong. ...

since 1908. It is a declared monument.Antiquities and Monuments Office
Man Mo Temple Compound, Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan

Central Police Station

Central Police Station was the first police station in Hong Kong. The oldest structure within the compound is a barrack block built in 1864. It is a three-storey building constructed alongside Victoria Prison (see below). A storey was later added to the mass in 1905. In 1919, Headquarters Block facing Hollywood Road was constructed. Subsequently in 1925, the two-storey Stable Block was constructed at the northwest end of the procession ground and later used as a munitions store. The Police Station accompanied by the former Central Magistracy and Victoria Prison form a group of historical architecture representing law and order in Hong Kong.

Other features

Other features along Hollywood Road include: *

Hollywood Road Park Hollywood Road Park () is an urban public park in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The park is built in Chinese architectural style and is surrounded by buildings nearby. History In maps of the 1980s and before, Hollywood Road Park is ...

Liang Yi Museum Liang Yi Museum () is a private museum of design, craftsmanship, and heritage. It is located in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Started in the 1980s, the collection has grown to over 400 pieces, three decades later. Selected pieces h ...

, a private museum of design, craftsmanship and heritage. * PMQ, a historic site containing the old Hollywood Road Police Married Quarters, now used as a

mixed-use Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to som ...

venue for arts and design.

Intersections

References

*China.org.cn

Retrieved 1 Sep 2007

External links

* {{Coord, 22.284172, 114.150201, format=dms, display=title Central, Hong Kong Sheung Wan Roads on Hong Kong Island