The road was originally named MacDonnell Road. It was renamed to Canton Road in 1909 to avoid confusion with MacDonnell Road on Hong Kong Island.[1][2]
The road is named after the City of Canton (now Guangzhou, 廣州), following a pattern where roads in the area were named after cities in China and Vietnam. However, an error resulted in Canton being interpreted as referring to the Province of Canton (Now Guangdong, 廣東), resulting in the Chinese name of the road becoming 廣東道 instead of the intended 廣州道. [citation needed]
Sections and features
Canton Road is not one continuous road, instead, it is divided into four sections, interrupted by a major housing estate (Prosperous Garden) and disjointed by a traffic intersection (Jordan Road) as the result of urban development in the past hundred years.
The following list follows a south-north order. (W) indicates the western side of the road, while (E) indicates the eastern side.
(W) Canton Road Government Offices (廣東道政府合署) (No. 393). It was one of the oldest remaining government office buildings[3] at the time of its demolition in 2011.
The section starts at Jordan Road and ends at Public Square Street. The part of this section between Jordan Road and Kansu Street is sometimes called "Jade Street" because of the number of jewellery shops selling jade.[4][5]
(W) Giant jade stone near the intersection with Jordan Road (north side)[6][7]
(E) > junction with Nanking Street
(E) > junction with Ning Po Street
> intersection with Saigon Street
(E) No. 578 Canton Road, a building proposed for conservation,[8] at the intersection with Saigon Street
The road is interrupted north of Public Square Street, and Prosperous Garden, a housing estate, is located in its place. The Broadway Cinematheque is located within Prosperous Garden.
The final shootout sequence of the 2003 film PTU, directed by Johnnie To, takes place in Canton Road. The sequence was actually shot in Ap Lei Chau.[16]
Gallery
Tsim Sha Tsui section
Hard Rock Cafe, G/F & 1/F, Silvercord in December 2005 (closed since 24 November 2008)[17]
Canton Road Government Offices in January 2008, demolished in 2011
Canton Road near Silvercord in the evening, looking north in December 2005
Canton Road along Harbour City at night, looking south in March 2015
See also
Shanghai Street, a 2.3 km long street, generally parallel to Canton Road and Nathan Road
^Kinoshita, Hikaru (2001). "Chapter 2: The Street Market as an Urban Facility in Hong Kong". In Miao, Pu (ed.). Public places in Asia Pacific cities: current issues and strategies. Springer. pp. 71–86. ISBN978-0-7923-7083-3.