The story of Tsim Sha Tsui’s clock tower: how it survived World War II bombs and moves to demolish it, and rang up 100 years this spring
- Built as part of the Kowloon-Canton Railway terminus, the clock tower began operating in March 1921; it was spared demolition along with the station in 1978
- Every 15 days, technicians climb its staircases to maintain its four clock faces. Only Japanese occupation in World War II stopped it telling the time
For Hans Fok, the clock tower on the southern tip of the Kowloon peninsula in Tsim Sha Tsui holds a lot of memories.
Hongkongers of his generation remember the clock tower being part of the Kowloon-Canton Railway’s Edwardian-style terminus next to the Star Ferry terminal. From there, trains took passengers to Guangzhou in southern China, where many boarded other trains to reach cities throughout the country.
“When I was five years old, I came here to take the train during Ching Ming Festival. At the time it was so crowded, I followed the adults. We couldn’t get onto the train so the adults lifted us up into the train through the train window. It was quite an emotional memory for me,” says the 60-year-old Fok.
All that is left of the railway station today is the 44-metre-tall clock tower, whose mechanism began operating 100 years ago this spring; the anniversary fell in March.
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Hong Kong’s historic clock tower in Tsim Sha Tsui marks 100th anniversary
According to Christine Mok Yuk-ha, a representative of the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO), the colonial British administration decided in 1906 to build a railway line from Hong Kong to Canton [now Guangzhou] but had not settled on a location for its terminus.
“The train system was in operation by 1910, but the actual location for the railway terminus … wasn’t finalised until 1912,” Mok says.