Spring Garden Lane

History

During the early development of Wan Chai, one of the focal area of development was Spring Gardens. The name was used by the British during the early colonial Hong Kong era in the 1840s. The word "spring" in "Spring Gardens" was supposed to be referring to a water spring. However, when the name "Spring Garden Lane" was translated into Chinese, the resulting name became "", with the character "" meaning spring season. The water spring mentioned possibly refers to the mountain creek beside Hopewell Centre in Queen's Road East.

In the early 1900s, Spring Garden Lane and Sam Pan Street () became a red-light district with western and eastern prostitutes. To attract attention, brothels were displaying large street number plates, and the area became known as "Big Number Brothels".

During the founding of the People's Republic of China around 1948 to 1949, many of the Communist party guerrilla forces found their way to Hong Kong after World War II. One of them was the East River Guerrilla Force (), which formed a pro-Communist underground group called the Hailiushe (). They were headquartered in the rooftop of a multi-story house on Spring Garden Lane. The area and group was raided by the Hong Kong police, while it was an operating network cell.

Around Spring Garden Lane are Lee Tung Street, Swatow Street and Amoy Street where warehouses abounded, storing cargoes to be shipped to Chinese coastline cities.

Intersections

References

References

1. Wordie, Jason. (2002). "Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island". [[Hong Kong University Press]].
2. (25 December 2022). "Foreign influence Part 1: Lost in translation, Hong Kong's weird and wonderful street names".
3. [http://www.undo.net/it/mostra/16991 "Early Hong Kong Brothels"], Exhibition at the [[University Museum and Art Gallery, Hong Kong. University Museum and Art Gallery]], 26 November 2003 to 29 February 2004
4. [http://www.wcheritage.org.hk/pdf/wan_chai_map_e.pdf Wan Chai Heritage Trail flyer. p.2] {{webarchive. link. (15 October 2011)
5. Fung, Chi Ming. (2005). "Reluctant Heroes: Rickshaw Pullers in Hong Kong and Canton, 1874–1954". [[Hong Kong University Press]].
6. OpenStreetMap contributors. "Spring Garden Lane". [[OpenStreetMap]].