It is a seedy, trendy, creative, residential, business-focused community that is home to people of all ages. For many, Wan Chai is unlike any district in Hong Kong. Stretching from police headquarters in the west, to the fire station in the east, and from the waterfront to its southern border on Queen’s Road East, the area is, in many respects, a mini-city all on its own. And like the city that surrounds it, has grown and developed almost beyond all recognition over the past 60 years. Lockhart Road is a prime example. Before reclamation projects in the 1950s Victoria Harbour was far closer than it is today, and the roads around it were home to bars, brothels, nightclubs, restaurants, and businesses large and small. They still are, but Wan Chai is so much more than a historic red light district. Urban regeneration Wan Chai has been built and rebuilt countless times over the years. The government offices on Gloucester Road, the convention centre, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the police headquarters are all relative newcomers. As are the soaring blocks of flats, hotels, and other businesses that sprang up since the area was heavily bombed in the second world war. Then and now: Hong Kong’s Wan Chai in pictures Now the Tourism Commission wants to add a splash of colour and some modern art into the mix. Walking down Stone Nullah Lane, a huge dining table painted on the pavement grabs the attention. It is part of an urban design initiative aimed at reshaping the district into a “creative community” with a local flavour. “The dining table on Stone Nullah Lane transforms the street into a traditional dining room that recalls happy memories of being with family and friends,” local artist Yao Cheuk-ni says. Hints of community spirit are visualised at different corners of the district. If you walk past the Kong Wan Fire Station near the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, you might notice the very different hand-painted signs on the gate. Unlike the standard fonts adopted across different stations, the words fire station are in Cantonese and English and come in a range of styles, from traditional Chinese calligraphy to fonts used in movie title screens. Other artwork includes more than 20 pieces by artists from around the world; a flowery installation bursting with colour and life on the ceiling of the footbridge leading to Immigration Tower, a green tramway on Luard Road, interactive furniture in the Fleming Road Garden, all adding to the vibrancy that is one of the city’s most diverse communities. It’s a nice try with good intentions, but I am not sure how much benefit the initiative will bring to the local community Clarisse Yeung, Wan Chai district councillor Not that the project has met with universal approval, or even recognition, some have barely given the new additions to their home more than a passing glance. “It’s a nice try with good intentions, but I am not sure how much benefit the initiative will bring to the local community,” says Clarisse Yeung Suet-ying, a Wan Chai district councillor. A design showcase The artwork is linked to a project that includes community tours, educational activities, and self-guided walking tours. “Design District Hong Kong #ddHK” is a collaboration between the commission, the Hong Kong Design Centre and the Hong Kong Comics and Animation Federation. The wider Wan Chai administrative district, which includes Causeway Bay, Happy Valley and Tai Hang, is the first to be showcased by a project that aims to capitalise on the living culture of Hong Kong for “creative tourism” by promoting social conversations and participatory design. HK$60 million scheme to promote creative tourism in old districts unveiled Some residents remain unconvinced and say the three-storey-high painting on the side of the Tai Hang Residents’ Welfare Association Tai Hang Youth Centre is disturbing. “One of the residents doesn’t even dare to open the curtains at night because the dragon looks scary. Some young children are frightened too. A great community artwork should blend into the neighbourhood in harmony without arousing huge response,” says Yeung, who taught art at university before being elected as a councillor. The organiser of the project consulted the district council and organised a few design workshops with the locals before installing the artworks. “They collected stories from community members with help from local NGOs, and the final product is quite nice with the beautiful craft of the artist. Yet for many paintings, the district councillors were only consulted for the locations of installation,” Yeung says. On the other hand, some of the art installations go unnoticed. “I walk past this every day, but did not notice that the thing on the ceiling is an artwork,” says Anson Yeung, who goes to work via the footbridge that connects Immigration Tower. “I personally cannot relate this to the local culture of Wan Chai, but it’s nice to have something different to look at on your daily commute.” From the fire dragon dance in Tai Hang, to “petty person beating”, a traditional superstitious Chinese practice, under the Ngo Keng Kiu flyover, Wan Chai has a diversity of traditional culture. There have already been similar art initiatives to capture these unique local flavours, but it is the first time for a governmental organisation such as the Tourism Commission to launch a project on a larger scale. Clarisse Yeung worries the artworks will become nothing more than Instagramable spots which will lead to a lack of any authentic interaction between visitors and the community. “The intention is good and the artwork might attract more visitors, but I don’t like the idea of creating Instagram photo spots, which may merely be a background of a photo, while the visitors may not bother to immerse themselves in the local culture,” she says. She also doubts the cost-effectiveness of the project, with a mobile app for a self-guided tour reportedly costing more than HK$1 million (US$128,200). Under the surface For many, the project has only captured one of Wan Chai’s many faces. “There’s nowhere else like this in Hong Kong,” says Lai Chak-fun, who grew up in a Wan Chai that largely resembled the world of the iconic fictional character Suzie Wong. Wan Chai’s incarnation as the city’s red light district started in the 1950s, but was slightly more subtle than today. Walking tours that show tourists another side of Hong Kong “When you walked down the quiet streets of Lockhart Road and Jaffe Road and looked up, among the residential blocks, you would find window frames painted in green. These ‘green windows’ were actually brothels,” Lai says. Hong Kong was relatively poor in those days and while it was common for families to have as many as seven children, girls had little chance at going to school, and had to work to support their brothers, who were educated. “Those poorest families who could not make ends meet would send their daughters to brothels,” Lai says. In the 1960s, the Vietnam war brought American and British soldiers to Wan Chai, kicking off the era of a neon world where bar girls like Suzie Wong worked. There were small dance clubs hidden on the second floor of buildings along Lockhart Road. “When we talk about the nightlife in Wan Chai, it isn’t just about the bars and clubs scene, but also how these clubs triggered the development of the whole district,” Lai says. Can one of Hong Kong’s oldest and poorest neighbourhoods take off as design hub? The vivid nightclub scene gave birth to a flourishing economy which provided foreign soldiers and sailors with all-round service, from restaurants, tattoo studios, currency exchange shops, to tailors making suits in one day. “Unless you worked for a merchandising company in Central, most people in Hong Kong seldom wore suits in those days – maybe only once a year for wedding banquets,” Lai says. “These tailors did not serve the locals, their customers were the soldiers who visited Hong Kong.” Starting anew The economy blossomed in the 1970s and 80s, taking the nightlife in the district to another level, as grand spots such as the famed Tonnochy Night Club emerged. “It was as huge as a five-storey building and was the most luxurious nightclub in Hong Kong,” Lai says. Another big name was the Chinese Palace Nightclub on Marsh Road. Both nightclubs have since been demolished and no trace remains of those heady days. The Wan Chai of the 21st century is undergoing another regeneration. The neighbourhood is expecting many changes with a range of development projects. The Hopewell Centre on Queen’s Road East is to be redeveloped, and there are plans for the harbourfront to be revamped. It is still unknown what changes these projects will bring, but Wan Chai will remain and the stories of its residents will be told through its development, its artwork, and in the memories of its people.