Canton Road


Canton Road is a major road in Hong Kong, linking the former west reclamation shore in Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and Prince Edward on the Kowloon Peninsula. The road runs mostly parallel and west to Nathan Road. It starts from the junction with Salisbury Road in the south and ends in the north at the junction with Lai Chi Kok Road in the Prince Edward area. The southern part Canton Road is home to many upscale retail shops, shopping centres and others business establishments, with busy traffic from both vehicles and pedestrians from morning till late night.

Name

The road was originally named as MacDonnell Road. To avoid confusion with MacDonnell Road on the Hong Kong Island, its name changed to Canton Road in 1909. The roads in the area were mainly named after cities of China and Vietnam. The translator of Canton Road misinterpreted Canton as Guangdong instead of the city of Canton.

Sections and features

Canton Road is not one continuous road, instead it is divided into 3 sections, interrupted by a major housing estate and disjointed by a traffic intersection as the result of urban development in the past hundred years.
The following list follows a south-north order. indicates the western side of the road, while indicates the eastern side.

Tsim Sha Tsui section

The section starts at Salisbury Road and ends at Jordan Road. Features include:
The section starts at Jordan Road and ends at Public Square Street. The part of this section between Jordan Road and Kansu Street is sometimes called "Jade Street" because of the number of jewellery shops selling jade.
The road is interrupted north of Public Square Street, and Prosperous Garden, a housing estate, is located in its place. The Broadway Cinematheque is located within Prosperous Garden.

Yau Ma Tei section

This very short section starts at Tung Kun Street, north of Prosperous Garden and ends at the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market, a Grade III historic building. This section is bordered by two schools:
The section starts at Waterloo Road, north of the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market and ends at Lai Chi Kok Road. This section features a street market in the Mong Kok area.
It was proposed that a station, Canton Road on the Kowloon Southern Link of the West Rail Line extension, could be built beneath the Tsim Sha Tsui section of the road, outside Harbour City. The plan was put off after unsuccessful negotiation between KCRC and The Wharf on financial arrangement. Another station, Austin, near the junction of Canton Road and Wui Cheung Road in Kwun Chung opened in August 2009.

Gallery

Tsim Sha Tsui section