Queen's Road Is the Oldest Street in Hong Kong

Queen’s Road Central is perhaps the most important street in Hong Kong. 1 Queen’s Road Central, for instance, has been the address of Hong Kong’s most influential company, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, or HSBC for short, since 1864.

But Queen’s Road is also the oldest street in Hong Kong. Immediately after Commodore Bremer took possession of Hong Kong Island in 1841, the Royal Engineers began constructing a 6.5-kilometer (or 4-mile) section westward, running parallel to the coastline.

Initially called Main Street, this section was renamed Queen’s Road after Queen Victoria, the British monarch at the time, in March 1842, shortly before Hong Kong Island was officially ceded to the British.

Today, Queen’s Road is divided into four sections: Queen’s Road Central, which corresponds to the original section of the street; Queen’s Road West, which runs from Sheung Wan to Shek Tong Tsui; Queen’s Road East, which runs from Arsenal House in Wan Chai to the Happy Valley Racecourse; and Queensway, which links Queen’s Road Central to Queen’s Road East.

Incidentally, Queen’s Road was mistranslated into Chinese: it literally means "Queen Consort" (皇后) Road instead of "Ruling Queen" (女皇) Road. Indeed, during the Qing Dynasty, it was inconceivable for Chinese people to have a female ruler of the nation.