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Chungking Mansions
Chungking Mansions is a building located at 36–44 Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Though the building was supposed to be residential, it is made up of many independent low-budget guesthouses, shops, and other services. As well as selling to the public, the stalls in the building cater to wholesalers shipping goods to Africa and South Asia. The unusual atmosphere of the building is sometimes compared to that of the former Kowloon Walled City.
Chungking Mansions features guesthouses, curry restaurants, African bistros, clothing shops, sari stores, and foreign exchange offices. It often acts as a large gathering place for some of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, particularly South Asians (Indians, Nepalis, Pakistanis), Middle Eastern people, Nigerians, Europeans, Americans, and many others. Peter Shadbolt of CNN stated that the complex was the "unofficial African quarter of Hong Kong".
The building was completed on 11 November 1961. The developer, Jaime Tiampo, a Chinese-Filipino immigrant, had financed the construction by selling strata title lots off the plan. Many of the buyers were from overseas, leading to a multicultural environment from the complex's earliest days. Now, after more than five decades of use, there are an estimated 4,000 people living there.
Located on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Chungking Mansions is in one of the busiest districts of Hong Kong; it is surrounded by entrances to the Tsim Sha Tsui station and East Tsim Sha Tsui station of the MTR.
The area surrounding the building is popular with tourists, with adjacent hotels, including the lavish Peninsula and a Holiday Inn. Nearby shopping malls include Isquare and Harbour City, while the Star Ferry is only a ten-minute walk away. Cultural attractions such as the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the Museum of Art are also only a few minutes away across Salisbury Road. Across the road is Kowloon Park, anchored by the Kowloon Mosque. Being located on expensive land, Chungking Mansions, with its budget-friendly guesthouses and shops, contrasts sharply with its surroundings.
Chungking Mansions was named by developer Jaime Tiampo after the Chinese city of Chongqing, to commemorate the time when the Republic of China established a provisional capital there during WWII. The old postal name of the city, "Chungking", was specifically chosen, as this resembles its Cantonese pronunciation more closely.
The building is 17 storeys tall and consists of five blocks, named A, B, C, D, and E. There are two elevators in each block, one of which serves even-numbered floors, the other odd-numbered floors. A CCTV camera system exists at the ground-floor level for each of the elevator cars.[citation needed]
The first two floors are public spaces where most shops are located and where residents wander around under the blocks; the third floor is a terrace level between the blocks where the tower blocks start to rise out of the base of the building. All floors above this floor are accessible only by the stairways and elevators contained in each block.
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Chungking Mansions
Chungking Mansions is a building located at 36–44 Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Though the building was supposed to be residential, it is made up of many independent low-budget guesthouses, shops, and other services. As well as selling to the public, the stalls in the building cater to wholesalers shipping goods to Africa and South Asia. The unusual atmosphere of the building is sometimes compared to that of the former Kowloon Walled City.
Chungking Mansions features guesthouses, curry restaurants, African bistros, clothing shops, sari stores, and foreign exchange offices. It often acts as a large gathering place for some of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, particularly South Asians (Indians, Nepalis, Pakistanis), Middle Eastern people, Nigerians, Europeans, Americans, and many others. Peter Shadbolt of CNN stated that the complex was the "unofficial African quarter of Hong Kong".
The building was completed on 11 November 1961. The developer, Jaime Tiampo, a Chinese-Filipino immigrant, had financed the construction by selling strata title lots off the plan. Many of the buyers were from overseas, leading to a multicultural environment from the complex's earliest days. Now, after more than five decades of use, there are an estimated 4,000 people living there.
Located on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Chungking Mansions is in one of the busiest districts of Hong Kong; it is surrounded by entrances to the Tsim Sha Tsui station and East Tsim Sha Tsui station of the MTR.
The area surrounding the building is popular with tourists, with adjacent hotels, including the lavish Peninsula and a Holiday Inn. Nearby shopping malls include Isquare and Harbour City, while the Star Ferry is only a ten-minute walk away. Cultural attractions such as the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the Museum of Art are also only a few minutes away across Salisbury Road. Across the road is Kowloon Park, anchored by the Kowloon Mosque. Being located on expensive land, Chungking Mansions, with its budget-friendly guesthouses and shops, contrasts sharply with its surroundings.
Chungking Mansions was named by developer Jaime Tiampo after the Chinese city of Chongqing, to commemorate the time when the Republic of China established a provisional capital there during WWII. The old postal name of the city, "Chungking", was specifically chosen, as this resembles its Cantonese pronunciation more closely.
The building is 17 storeys tall and consists of five blocks, named A, B, C, D, and E. There are two elevators in each block, one of which serves even-numbered floors, the other odd-numbered floors. A CCTV camera system exists at the ground-floor level for each of the elevator cars.[citation needed]
The first two floors are public spaces where most shops are located and where residents wander around under the blocks; the third floor is a terrace level between the blocks where the tower blocks start to rise out of the base of the building. All floors above this floor are accessible only by the stairways and elevators contained in each block.
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