Haiphong Road is one of the few roads in Hong Kong not named after Chinese or British cities, counties or provinces. Instead, it was named after a northern Vietnamese port in 1909, when dozens of streets in Kowloon were renamed after cities that had close commercial ties with Hong Kong. Before then, it was known as Elgin Road after Lord Elgin - the British plenipotentiary who officially received Kowloon from Qing officials in Beijing in 1860. He in turn handed Kowloon over to Governor Robinson of Hong Kong. Five years later, when Tsim Sha Tsui was still what its name means - a sharp sandy spit - two roads were laid out on the peninsula: Nathan Road (originally called Robinson Road after the governor), and Elgin Road (now Haiphong Road), the shorter road leading off it.
The roads were the government's first attempt at infrastructure in this new addition to the colony. For almost a century Haiphong Road had grass verges and was hardly used, servicing only the army battalions stationed in the Whitfield Barracks (now located in Kowloon Park) and the traditional Chinese hamlets scattered around the area. It wasn't until the 1960s that the road began to bustle the way it does today, with pedestrians strolling between Nathan Road and the large shopping arcades that sprouted along the west end of Canton Road.
The whirlwind of Tsim Sha Tsui's recent development has somehow bypassed Haiphong Road which still boasts a few reminders of the past. The old colonial house atop the grassy knolls to the north of the road, for instance, dates back to the 1890s. Originally a barrack, it later became the temporary site for the Museum of History. The earth god shrine, said to be at least 100 years old, is still filled with the smoke from joss sticks that would have drifted next door, stinging the eyes of those in the market all those years ago. The rest of Haiphong Road is a jumble of post-war buildings and tourist shops. But no, there is nothing even loosely related to Haiphong here - not even a Vietnamese snack stall.
Fok Tak Temple No one remembers the exact year when the Fok Tak Temple was built, but the temple plaque claims it is 'well over 100 years old' and has 'helped Hong Kong weathered through the storms'. Once the centre for worship for Kowloon residents, the shrine is dedicated to Fok Tak Pak Gong, the local earth god. He and his thousands of counterparts elsewhere were so respected in imperial China that it was decreed every village and town should build a shrine in their honour.
When the government announced its plan to demolish the temple in 1978 to make way for a new market, the public was infuriated, fearing dire consequences. Following a petition, a tiny lot next to the site of the market was allocated for the construction of the present building, which was completed in the same year.
Henderson and Co.