Hollywood Road

Hollywood Road is a road in Central, Hong Kong, China.

Hollywood Road is filled with trinket and antique shops of all sorts: from Chinese furniture to porcelain ware, from Buddha sculptures to Tibetan rugs, from Japanese netsukes to Coromandel screens, from Ming dynasty ceramic horsemen and kitsch Maoist memorabilia. The street runs between Central and Sheung Wan, with Wyndham Street, Arbuthnot Road, Ladder Street, Upper Lascar Row, and Old Bailey Street 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. It was the first to be completed. The Man Mo Temple was a place for trial in very early years.

Brief history

More than 100 years ago, Hollywood Road was rather close to the coastline, compared to the current position of Bonham Strand. It was the first road to be constructed in the crown colony, predating the development of the film industry in Hollywood, California. 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. In early 1960s there was a celebrated Hollywood movie called "The World of Suzie Wong" whose shooting was taken part in Hollywood Road. An old wood-built building was re-constructed as a bar for the movie scene.

The Union Church

There was a Union Church in the street founded in 1844 by the Reverend James Legge, a Scottish missionary who had been sent to Hong Kong in 1843 by the London Missionary Society. 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.

Man Mo Temple

Man Mo Temple or Man Mo Miu (文武廟) is a commonly sort of temple worshipping the Man Tai (文帝), Pau Kung and Mo Tai (武帝), Kwan Yu, 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 since 1908. It is one of Grade I historic buildings in the famous District.

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.

Origin of the name

Some people think that the road was named after the box-office success of the illustrious movieland flick, "The World of Suzie Wong". In fact the road was put up early in 1844, at least forty years before the more famous Hollywood in California was settled. It was named after Hollywood, the family home of Hong Kong's second British governor, Sir John Francis Davis, near Bristol, England.

ee also

*Central-Mid-levels escalator
*Soho
*""'List of streets and roads in Hong Kong

References

*China.org.cn. [http://www.china.org.cn/english/olympic/218807.htm] . Retrieved Sept. 1, 2007