Mong Kok
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A busy street in Mong Kok, Hong Kong |
Mong Kok (; the
English name is a
transliteration of its older name 望' or '') or
Mongkok is an area in the
Yau Tsim Mong District on
Kowloon Peninsula,
Hong Kong. Before a
1994 merge, Mong Kok was part of the
Mong Kok District.
The name in
Chinese means "flourishing/busy corner". Recent road works revealed some potteries as old as
Jin Dynasty (
265-
420), indicating that there might be settlements that early.
The district is characterised by a mixture of old and new multi-story buildings, with shops and
restaurants at street level and commercial or residential units above. Major industries in Mong Kok are
retail, restaurants (including fast food) and
entertainment.
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A busy street in Mong Kok. |
The area of Mong Kok was quite different from the present-day context. The heart of the present-day Mong Kok was
Ho Man Tin whilst the proper Mong Kok was north of it, near present-day
Mong Kok Station of
KCR. With cultivated lands, it was bounded south by Argyle Street, west by Coronation Road (present-day
Nathan Road), and east by the hills. To its south is Ho Man Tin and west
Mong Kok Tsui. Stream from the hills east offered water for cultivation.
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Traffic Congestion in Mong Kok |
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A busy street corner in Mong Kok |
Mong Kok preserves its traditional characteristics with an array of
markets, small shops, and food stalls that have already disappeared from other areas in Hong Kong over the past several decades of economic developments. As such, a few of these streets in Mong Kok have acquired interesting nicknames reflecting their own characteristics. Some interesting sites are:
*
Ladies' Street (女人街,
Ladies' Market on
Tung Choi Street) - This market specializes in women's clothing, accessories, cosmetics, and the like. It is open daily from noon to 10:30 p.m. at Tung Choi Street on the east of Nathan Road. Typically, where there is a market, there are also food stalls selling noodles, seafood, and
congee for mid-afternoon or late-night snacks. A grocery market is also located in the vicinity, quite convenient for housewives to buy fresh vegetables and
pantyhose on the same trip.
*
Sai Yeung Choi Street South, (西洋菜南街) - A street full of shops selling consumer electronic products, comestics, and discount books, the last of which usually located on the lower floors above ground floor of buildings.
*
Temple Street (廟街, sometimes referred to as
Men's Street), extending into
Jordan, is also in the area, however, the area famous for the Hong Kong specific goods are only in the section between
Yaumatei and
Jordan.
* Bird Garden - Hundreds of songbirds in exquisitely crafted cages can be seen at this market, which is on the other side of Nathan Road on Yuen Po Street. The garden is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is close to Mong Kok
KCR station and Mong Kok stadium. Packed with booths selling birds, Hong Lok Street (Bird Street, 雀仔街) was closed as part of an urban renewal project in June
1998. The Garden was constructed by the government to accommodate some of the booths.
*
Sport Shoes Street (波鞋街) - This is a small neighbourhood with many small retailers which sell sports equipment and clothing. It has a wide diversity of sports shoes. Many shoes of rare or special editions from different places are available here.
* Flower Market (花墟) - This is a street market near the KCR train station with lots of flower shops and street hawkers showing colourful displays, the sweet scents and the exotic blossoms of many houseplants.
* Goldfish Market - There are a dozens shops and hawkers selling various tropical freshwater or marine fish near the KCR train station. Different types of aquarium equipments can also be found there. This market opens very early in the morning.
* Tile Street - This is a section of
Portland Street near Argyle Street and Butt Street with more than 50 retailers selling materials for construction or renovation, such as tiles, wall paper, window frames and bath tubs.
* Photocopy Street (影印街) - This small neighbourhood near
Ho Man Tin is noted in the area because there are quite a few schools in the vicinity, and the students in these schools have a strong demand for
photocopying -- remarkably the shops there are famous for photocopying copyrighted books in mass quantities.
Some popular shopping plazas are located in this dense area, including:
*
Sino Centre Arcade (信'中心) " In this plaza, there are many products about Japanese cartoon, such as
Video CDs,
DVDs, and comics. Beside that, there are shops for selling pop singers' CD albums. They carry many music albums, including ones by Hong Kong, Japanese, and western pop singers.
*
Ho King Shopping Centre (好景商場)- In this plaza, you can find many products having to do computer and video games. They are sold for relatively low prices compared with other shops. The fourth floor of the plaza is infamous for being the biggest base of pornographic CDs and DVDs. These have recently been diminished in a large operation by the police and customs, although this action has driven some shops to the office section of the building, with the products and customers causing distress to female workers there.
* New Century Plaza - This is a new plaza next to the Mong Kok KCR station. Most of the famous-brand and popular shops can be found here. The plaza is especially crowded on public holidays and Sunday in Hong Kong.
* Mong Kok Computer Centre (旺'電腦中心)- The MK Computer Center has around 50 to 70 computer shops. They sell various kinds of products including laptops, software, and computer hardware and accessories.
*
Langham Place (朗豪坊)- This shopping mall/hotel/office complex opened in 2004 in central Mong Kok. Built according to the Hong Kong Government urban redevelopment scheme, and at 59 stories high, it is the tallest landmark in Mong Kok.
The Mong Kok area has many curb-side "
food-booths". Most of them sell traditional snacks such as fish balls, fried
beancurd (tofu) and various
dim sum. These snacks and "fingerfood" are very popular in Hong Kong, especially for folks on the run.
In addition to the street food, there are many different kinds of cuisines, including
Japanese,
Chinese,
Italian, and
Thai food.
* Part of
Nathan Road is in this area.Four rail lines serve the district.
* The
MTR Tsuen Wan and
Kwun Tong lines have
two interchanges in this area:
Prince Edward Station to the north and
Mong Kok Station to the south.
* The
Tung Chung Line of
MTR has a through station west of the area in
Tai Kok Tsui, named
Olympic.
*
East Rail also has a
station in the eastern part of the area.
Mong Kok was the setting for the
2004 hit film
One Night in Mongkok directed by
Derek Yee. The movie portrays Mong Kok, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, as a hotbed of illicit activity.
zh-yue:旺'
