Tai Ping Shan Street

Its junction with Po Yan Street near Tung Wah Hospital

Tai Ping Shan Street

Its junction with Square street and Kui In Fong

Tai Ping Shan Street (Chinese: 太平山街; pinyin: Tàipíngshān Jiē; Cantonese Yale: taai3 ping4 saan1 gaai1) is a street marking the early colonial history in Hong Kong. Located at the north slope of Victoria Peak in Sheung Wan, the street starts east from a ladder street at the junction with Bridges Street and end west in Po Yan Street near Tung Wah Hospital. The street runs parallel to Hollywood Road.

Today, Tai Ping Shan Street is well-known for its contemporary art, with plenty of pop-up galleries and other specialty retailers offering their wares to shoppers passing by.^[1]

History

Tai Ping Shan (太平山) is an alternative name to Victoria Peak, and literally means "Peace Hill". After the cession of Hong Kong Island from Qing China to British in the 1840s, British forces made garrison here and later the government relocated all Chinese residents in Choong Wan to the area surrounding Tai Ping Shan Street.

The Chinese writer Wang Tao wrote in 1860 that the street was full of brothels: "gaudy houses, sporting brightly painted doors and windows with fancy curtains".^[2]

The population soared after Eight-Nation Alliance invasion of China. In May 1894, the bubonic plague, which had been ravaging China, erupted and caused massive deaths in the area. The Hong Kong Government soon implemented a series of measures including cleaning of street, demolishing residences to build Blake Garden, and establishing the Bacteriological Institute.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tai Ping Shan Street.

• Description on the plague outbreak in History of Colonial Hong Kong
• Central and Western Heritage Trail
• First Opium War
• List of streets and roads in Hong Kong

References

Coordinates: 22°17′04″N 114°08′55″E / 22.28452°N 114.14850°E / 22.28452; 114.14850