SoHo ( Chinese: ; also and 荷南美食區; formally 中環蘇豪區) is an area of

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 ...

located on the western edge of Central, bordering

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 ...

, known for its bars, restaurants and entertainment venues. The name is derived from its location: South of Hollywood Road.

History

The

Central–Mid-Levels escalator The Central–Mid-Levels escalator and walkway system in Hong Kong is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The system covers over in distance and traverses an elevation of over from bottom to top. It opened in 1993 to p ...

was built in 1993; the now vibrant character of SoHo is attributed to the creation of the escalator system, which at the time was the longest escalator system in the world. Prior to the escalator construction, the area was populated by many elderly locals, old go-downs and

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

shops. The area now consists of

restaurants A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in app ...

, bars,

nightclubs A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and ...

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

and

antique store An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

s of Staunton Street and Elgin Street. SoHo also is home to the first full-time

comedy club A comedy club is a venue where a variety of comedic acts perform to a live audience. Although the term usually refers to establishments that feature stand-up comedy, stand-up comedians, it can also feature other forms of comedy such as improvisati ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

The TakeOut Comedy Club Hong Kong The TakeOut Comedy Club Hong Kong is a venue for stand-up comedy and improvisational comedy located at 34 Elgin Street, basement, Central, Hong Kong. Founded in February 2007 by Jami Gong, a leading Chinese American stand-up comedian, TakeOut ...

. Hong Kong

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

drivers usually regard "SoHo" to mean either

Staunton Street Staunton Street () is a street in Central, Hong Kong, Central and Sheung Wan, on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Together with the upper section of Elgin Street, Hong Kong, Elgin Street, it is the heart of the SoHo, Hong Kong, Soho entertainment ...

or Elgin Street. Buildings in the SoHo area are a mix of commercial/residential, with the commercial businesses on the lower floors, and residential above the First Floors. Around the same time the Mid-Levels Escalator was built, a few foreigners started to move into the area, taking up both commercial premises and renting flats. At the time the flats were cheaper than other expat areas in Hong Kong, and only a few minutes' walk from the business district. The name SoHo was first mentioned in a 1996 article in the

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

newspaper attributed to Elgin Street restaurant owner Thomas Goetz, who came up with the acronym. Goetz was also instrumental in forming SoHo's first business group, and The SoHo Association Limited (TSAL) was established in 1998 to represent its members in relation to difficulties they were experiencing with the local government departments in relation to licensing, and to collectively promote the area. The first Chairman was Jean-Paul Gauci, who had opened many businesses in the area. However, in 2000, Democratic Party member Kam Nai-wai wanted to see SoHo formally renamed the "Elgin/Staunton Street Themed Dining Area", and Kam and some long-term residents associated the name SoHo with being a place of disrepute, with red light district associations. The irony is Elgin Street was known in the 1860s as "Hung Mo Giu Gai," or "Foreign Girls Street," due to the vast number of European-staffed brothels. It was renamed after Lord Elgin, British envoy to China, during the Second Opium War (1857–1860). For several years the Democratic Party fought an ongoing battle against the new bars and restaurants in the area, and also against formal adoption of the name "SoHo", preferring instead the descriptive "Staunton/Elgin Street Themed Dining Area" so as not to associate the area with

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

consumption. The name "SoHo" could also cause association with the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

area of the same name. Like much of

, this district treads a precarious balance between preserving the Chinese and colonial culture that shaped it, and recent modern developments. The escalator is a quintessential symbol of modernity which has encroached on the residential neighbourhood, bringing with it expats and the bars,

cafes A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

and boutiques which help cocoon some from Cantonese traditions. The contrast between the past and present enriches the area and makes for great sightseeing on foot. The newly signposted ''Sun Yat-sen Historical Trail'' guides visitors along 16 points of historical interest from The

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

to Central, taking in century old steps and leafy residential lanes. Unfortunately, most of the sites from Dr Sun's past have long been razed, replaced by concrete skyscrapers that are characteristic of 21st century Hong Kong. Even the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum's grandiose facade off Caine Road is easy to miss, perched as it is upon Castle Road which turns up through

Mid-Levels Mid-Levels () is an affluent residential area on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is located between Victoria Peak and Central. Residents are predominantly more affluent Hong Kong locals and expatriate professionals. It has a population ...

, surrounded by modern blocks. Nowhere is the contrast more apparent than on the northern edge of SoHo, on Hollywood Road itself where the brand new multistorey Centre Stage upscale residential complex towers alongside the historic Man Mo Temple.

References

External links

I Love SoHo
{{Authority control Central, Hong Kong Sheung Wan Places in Hong Kong Tourist attractions in Hong Kong Restaurant districts and streets in Hong Kong

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links