• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Though very much open to debate, Central’s limits are Garden Rd to the east, somewhere between the disused Central Market and Wing On Centre to the west, Caine Rd and the Hong Kong Zoological & Botanical Gardens to the south, and the harbour to the north.

Central’s main thoroughfares going west to east are Connaught Rd Central, Des Voeux Rd Central and Queen’s Rd Central. Important streets running (roughly) south (ie uphill) from the harbour are Garden Rd, Ice House St, Pedder St and Pottinger St.

The best way to view Central is from the Star Ferry as it crosses the harbour from Kowloon.

HSBC BUILDING Map

1 Queen’s Rd, Central; MTR Central (exit K)

Make sure you have a close-up look at the stunning headquarters of what is now HSBC (formerly the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank) headquarters, designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster in 1985. The building is a masterpiece of precision, sophistication and innovation. And so it should be. On completion in 1985 it was the world’s most expensive building (it cost upward of US$1 billion). The building reflects architect Sir Norman’s wish to create areas of public and private space and to break the mould of previous bank architecture. The ground floor is public space, which people can traverse without entering the building; from there, escalators rise to the main banking hall. The building is inviting to enter – it’s not guarded or off limits. Hong Kong Chinese, irreverent as always, call the 52-storey glass and aluminium structure the ‘Robot Building’.

* * *

JUST LION THERE

Say hello to Stephen and Stitt, the pair of handsome bronze lions guarding the southern side of the HSBC headquarters. Named after the general managers of the two main branches in Hong Kong and Shanghai when they were cast in the 1930s, they have been through the wars (well, just one actually). Bullet scars from WWII still pepper their noble rumps and for years a piece of unexploded ordnance was lodged inside one of them until removed by a bomb disposal team. Rub their mighty paws for luck.

A pair of lion statues outside a doorway is a common sight in Hong Kong. The larger and fiercer the better, they ward off evil sprits, which all makes for good feng shui (the art of creating good energies in a building or living space; see the boxed text ).

* * *

HONG KONG ISLAND

It’s worth taking the escalator ( 9am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-12.30pm Sat) to the 3rd floor to gaze at the cathedral-like atrium and the natural light filtering through its windows.

STATUE SQUARE Map

Edinburgh Pl; MTR Central (exit K)

Don’t be fooled by the name: Statue Square isn’t full of statues. In fact just one survives here. Instead of the usual gods, warrior heroes or royalty, it’s of a chubby man in a suit with a cheerful smile. This is Sir Thomas Jackson, a successful Victorian chief manager of the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank.

The square derives its name from the various effigies of British royalty once on display here, until they were spirited away by the Japanese during the occupation. While it lacks statues, there’s plenty else to see. In the northern part, reached via a pedestrian underpass, is the Cenotaph (1923), a memorial to Hong Kong residents killed during the two world wars. Due west is the venerable Mandarin Oriental (Click here), which opened in 1963 and is consistently voted as one of the best hotels in the world. To the east the Hong Kong Club Building (1 Jackson Rd) houses a prestigious club of that name that was still not accepting Chinese members until well after WWII. The original club building, a magnificent four-storey colonial structure, was torn down in 1981 despite public outcry and was replaced with the modern bow-fronted monstrosity there now.

On the south side of Chater Rd, Statue Square is a pleasant collection of fountains and seating areas, somewhat marred by the tiling, which gives them the look of a 1980s municipal washroom. Statue Square is also the meeting place of choice