Out and about
At the extreme western end of Hong Kong Island, Kennedy Town was laid out as a suburban extension of the city of Victoria. The late 19th-century development was named after Sir Arthur Kennedy, governor of Hong Kong from 1872 to 1877. The earlier Chinese name, Sai Wan ('west circuit'), persists, and is in widespread Cantonese usage in place of the Chinese version of 'Kennedy Town' - the term even creeps into the South China Morning Post from time to time.
In line with this planned expansion, an ambitious reclamation scheme was undertaken along the waterfront. The Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, a major commercial interest controlled by magnate Sir Catchick Paul Chater, was behind the project, in conjunction with similar work on the Kowloon side. Catchick Street recalls the tycoon.
In the 19th century, the colony was regularly closed to international shipping because of disease, in spite of intermittent attempts to raise civic awareness about the importance of public health and sanitation measures. As part of efforts to combat civic filth, an infectious-diseases hospital was opened in Kennedy Town, which operated until the 1930s, mostly to quarantine bubonic plague and venereal disease sufferers.
Current construction of the MTR West Island Line to Sai Ying Pun, the University of Hong Kong and Kennedy Town has encouraged astute property investors to buy up dilapidated tong lau (tenement buildings) in the area for conversion into serviced apartments. No doubt some SoHo-flavoured urban gentrification will follow in their wake but for the time being, Kennedy Town remains a grittily authentic corner of Hong Kong, with numerous businesses that have remained in situ for years.
Until the early 1990s, the Kennedy Town Praya was the last section of tramway that still ran along the waterfront - it is now marooned inland by yet more reclamation.
Tucked away on a hillside, Kennedy Town has one of Hong Kong's most appealing small temples. On Ching Lin Terrace, at the upper end of Sands Street, a steep, 'ladder' street, the Lo Pan Miu is where the patron saint of carpenters and builders is worshipped. Also known as Kungshu Pan, Lo Pan was a historical figure, probably born in 507BC. He is credited with the invention of woodworking tools. Built in 1884 with funds donated by the Contractor's Guild, the Lo Pan temple's sharp-edged roofline is especially distinctive.
