Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [36]
GOVERNMENT HOUSE Map
2530 2003; Upper Albert Rd; MTR Central (exit G)
Parts of this erstwhile official residence of the governor of Hong Kong, opposite the northern end of the Zoological & Botanical Gardens, date back to 1855 when Governor Sir John Bowring was in residence. Other features, including the dominant central tower linking the two original buildings, were added in 1942 by the Japanese, who used it as military headquarters during the occupation of Hong Kong in WWII. Hong Kong’s first chief executive, Tung Chee Hwa, refused to occupy Government House after taking up his position in 1997, claiming the feng shui wasn’t satisfactory, and his successor, Donald Tsang, has followed suit.
Government House is open to the public three or four times a year, notably one Sunday in March, when the azaleas in the mansion gardens are in full bloom.
HONG KONG CITY HALL Map
2921 2840; 5 Edinburgh Pl; 9am-11pm; MTR Central (exit J3)
Southwest of Star Ferry pier, the recently face-lifted City Hall was built in 1962 and is still a major cultural venue in Hong Kong, with concert and recital halls, a theatre and exhibition galleries. Within the so-called Lower Block, but entered to the east of City Hall’s main entrance, the Hong Kong Planning & Infrastructure Exhibition Gallery ( 3102 1242; www.infrastructure.gallery.gov.hk; 2 Murray Rd, Central; admission free; 10am-6pm) may not sound like a crowd-pleaser, but it will awaken the Meccano builder in more than a few visitors. The exhibition follows an 18.5m ‘walk’ past recent, ongoing and future civil engineering, urban renewal and environment improvement projects, including the massive land reclamation project underway outside along the harbour side, which is leaving City Hall marooned ever further inland.
CENTRAL HONG KONG
JARDINE HOUSE Map
1 Connaught Pl; MTR Hong Kong (exit B2)
This 52-storey silver monolith punctured with 1750 porthole-like windows was Hong Kong’s first true ‘skyscraper’ when it opened as the Connaught Centre in 1973. Inevitably the building has earned its own irreverent nickname: the ‘House of 1000 Arseholes’.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL BUILDING Map
8 Jackson Rd; MTR Central (exit G)
The colonnaded and domed building on the east side of Statue Square was once the old Supreme Court. Built in 1912 of granite quarried on Stonecutters Island, it has served as the seat of the Legislative Council (LegCo) since 1985. Standing atop the pediment is a blindfolded statue of Themis, the Greek goddess of justice and natural law. During WWII it was a headquarters of the Gendarmerie, the Japanese version of the Gestapo, and many people were executed here. The only time you’ll see much going on is during periodic protests (invariably well ordered and controlled) when the council is sitting.
ST JOHN’S CATHEDRAL Map
2523 4157; www.stjohnscathedral.org.hk; 4-8 Garden Rd; admission free; 7am-6pm; MTR Central (exit J2)
Consecrated in 1849, this Anglican cathedral is one of the very few colonial structures still standing in Central. Criticised for blighting the colony’s landscape when it was first erected, St John’s is now lost in the forest of skyscrapers that make up Central. The tower was added in 1850 and the chancel extended in 1873.
CENTRAL HONG KONG
Services have been held here continuously since the cathedral opened, except in 1944, when the Japanese Imperial Army used it as a social club. The cathedral suffered heavy damage during WWII and after the war the front doors were remade using timber salvaged from HMS Tamar, a British warship that used to guard the entrance to Victoria Harbour, and the beautiful stained-glass East Window was replaced. You walk on sacred ground in more ways than one at St John’s: it is the only piece of freehold land in Hong Kong. There’s usually a free organ concert at 1.15pm on