Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HISTORIC BUILDING, MALL
WESTERN MARKET
Market St, Sheung Wan; 9am-7pm; Sheung Wan, exit B)
Textile vendors driven off nearby streets in the 1990s moved into this renovated market
building (1906) with its red-and-white facade, four-corner towers and other Edwardian fea-
tures. Now bolts of cloth flank the corridors of the 1st floor. Souvenir shops and restaurant
Grand Stage
occupy the ground and top floors.
STREET
MAN WA LANE
Kiosks in this alley just east of the Sheung Wan MTR station specialise in name
chops
: a
stone (or wood or jade) seal with the owner's name carved in Chinese on its base. It's com-
bined with Chinese red ink or cinnabar paste to make a seal imprint that can be used in lieu
of a handwritten signature. Tell the shop owner your name and he will create an auspicious
Chinese version for you.
Western District
HISTORIC BUILDING
?SAI YING PUN COMMUNITY COMPLEX
A high-rise imposed on Victorian remains constitute this complex that's fondly nicknamed
the High Street Haunted House. The grey stone facade and arched verandah, both heritage
structures (c 1892), were part of a nurses' dormitory, then a mental asylum and an execution
hall during the Japanese Occupation. Rumours of men bursting into flames, women wailing
and decapitated spirits spread in the 20 years the building was abandoned. Fires subse-
quently swallowed everything, except what you see today.
HISTORIC BUILDING
?WESTERN DISTRICT COMMUNITY CENTRE
NGO offices and amenity rooms occupy this red-brick Georgian house at the junction of
Western and Third Sts. The listed building was opened in 1922 as the Tsan Yuk Maternity
Hospital to offer obstetrics and gynaecological services and to train midwives for the British
colony.
UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
