Queen's Road is a collection of roads along the northern coast of

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

, in Hong Kong, within the limit of

Victoria City Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. It was the first road in Hong Kong, constructed by the British between 1841 and 1843, spanning across Victoria City from

Shek Tong Tsui , other_name = Belcher Point , settlement_type = , image_skyline = HK Shek Tong Tsui Pacific Plaza n Hong Kong Plaza.JPG , imagesize = , image_caption =Shek Tong Tsui near Pacific Plaza , image_flag = , flag_size = , flag_border = , fl ...

Wan Chai Wan Chai (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 灣仔) 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, Hong Kong, Canal Road to the east, Arsenal St ...

. At various points along the route, Queen's Road marks the original shoreline before

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

projects permanently extended land into

Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbor, harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. It acts as both a major trading hub and tourist attraction of Hong Kong in general. Lying in ...

. The four sections of the roads are, from west to east: Queen's Road West (), Queen's Road Central (), Queensway (), and

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 section ...

().

History

The road was originally 4 miles (6.5 km) long. The

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

built the first section to

Sai Ying Pun Sai Ying Pun is an area in Sai Wan, on Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It is administratively part of the Central and Western District. Etymology In Cantonese, ''Sai'' ( zh, t=西, labels=no) means "west" and ''Ying Pun'' ( zh, t=營盤, l ...

with the help of 300

coolies Coolie (also spelled koelie, kouli, khuli, khulie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a pejorative term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian or Chinese descent. The word ''coolie'' was first used in the 16th century by Europ ...

from

Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...

(Hong Kong), then a territory of China. This section of Queen's Road ran parallel to the beach where

Sir Henry Pottinger Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Pottinger, 1st Baronet (3 October 1789 – 18 March 1856) was an Bombay Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the first governor of Hong Kong from 1843 to 1844. Early life Henry Pottinger was bor ...

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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. It was mistakenly translated into Chinese as , meaning "

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

", instead of referring to the sovereign ruler (). When Hong Kong was founded as a

British Crown Colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...

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 a gentlemen's club in Hong Kong, the first in the city. 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 peo ...

for

tai-pan A taipan (,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 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 was a frie ...

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 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 curr ...

). 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 () runs from

Sheung Wan Sheung Wan (Chinese: 上環) is an List of places in Hong Kong, area in Hong Kong, located in the north-west of Hong Kong Island, between Central, Hong Kong, Central and Sai Ying Pun. Administratively, it is part of the Central and Weste ...

to Shek Tong Tsui. It begins in Sheung Wan at the junction with Possession Street and ends where it meets the coastal road, Kennedy Town Praya.

Queen's Road Central

Queen's Road Central () runs from Central to

. It was one of the first roads, along with

Hollywood Road Hollywood Road ( Chinese: 荷李活道) 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 Bai ...

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: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. 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 Voeux Road Central (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 德輔道中) and Des Voeux Road West (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 德輔道西) are two roads on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. They were named af ...

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, Tra ...

as a business district next to Central, this section was renamed Queensway 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, Hong Kong, Great George Street in East ...

Queen's Road East

Queen's Road East () 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 and Lockhart roads. Namesake Ja ...

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, Hong Kong, East Point. History The ro ...

, 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

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 acquisi ...

, 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 Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil W ...

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 Taiwanese songwriter, and

Albert Leung Albert Leung Wai Man (, born 7 December 1961), better known by his pen name Lin Xi (), is a Hong Kong lyricist and writer. A prominent figure in Cantopop and Mandopop, he has written lyrics for nearly all major Hong Kong singers, with notable ...

, a local lyricist, have therefore composed ''

'' in 1991. This song was performed by the songwriter himself and Ram Cheung Chi Kwong () 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