"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. 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 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 ...

. 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 section ...

, a street in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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

handover of Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a specia ...

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 January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, 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 with Cantonese lyrics by , Lo later wrote and performed a Mandarin-language version of the "Pearl of the Orient", which appeared 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, collaborating ...

. 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 drove him to write the song sooner rather than later. He expressed his hope that "people will still remember it fter 1997and make comparisons... To exaggerate a bit,

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

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

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of 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'', 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 form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British cons ...

. '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 use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

, 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 In political contexts, comrade means a fellow party member. The political use was inspired by the French Revolution, after which it grew into a form of address between socialists and workers. Since the Russian Revolution, popular culture in t ...

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

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. 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 under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

featuring "

God Save the Queen "God Save the King" ("God Save the Queen" when the monarch is female) is '' de facto'' the national anthem of the United Kingdom. It is one of two national anthems of New Zealand and the royal anthem of the Isle of Man, Australia, Canada and ...

" 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". This refers to the Chinese authorities' promises to allow horse races involving

betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three ele ...

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 "the people up there n Mainland China">Mainland_China.html" ;"title="n Mainland China">n Mainland China, they intended it to refer to Hongkongers, as Leung believed that they would also be referred to as "comrades" (Tongzhi (term), tongzhi in Chinese) after the handover. Thus, Lo intended the line to encourage the people of Hong Kong to succeed in 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 ( , ), or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taigi ( zh, c=臺語, tl=Tâi-gí), Taiwanese Southern Min ( zh, c=臺灣閩南語, tl=Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gí), Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively ...

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 ...

, titled "Don't Be Surprised" ()''.'' This version was featured in the 1992 Taiwanese film '' Dust of Angels'', in which Lim and Lo perform 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; zh, t=電視廣播有限公司) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong. The company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Canton ...

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

Red Guard The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

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' 199 ...

all subtlety" compared to the song's lyrics, which " elyon 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 among Hong Kong's oldest Chinese language newspapers. It is owned by Sing Tao News Corporation, of which Kwok Ying-shing () is chairman. Its English-language sister is the free ...

'' reported that a

karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...

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 internati ...

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 by 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 Protest songs Songs about Hong Kong Songs about queens Censorship of music