Mong Kok

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Mong Kok

Chinese: 旺角
Literal meaning: flourishing/busy corner

Mong Kok or Mongkok (Chinese: 旺角; the English name is a transliteration of its older name 望角 or 芒角) is an area in the Yau Tsim Mong District on Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong, China. Before a 1994 merge, Mong Kok was part of the Mong Kok District.

The name in Chinese means "flourishing/busy corner". Recent road works revealed some potteries as old as Jin Dynasty (265-420), indicating that there might be settlements that early.

The district is characterized by a mixture of old and new multi-story buildings, with shops and restaurants at street level and commercial or residential units above. Major industries in Mong Kok are retail, restaurants (including fast food) and entertainment.

Mong Kok population density is extremely high, according to Guinness World Records, Mong Kok has the highest population density in the world (mean 130,000 per km2)and with a 4 times development parametres.

Contents

[edit] History of Mong Kok

The area of Mong Kok was quite different from the present-day context. The heart of the present-day Mong Kok was Ho Man Tin whilst the proper Mong Kok was north of it, near present-day Mong Kok East Station of MTR. With cultivated lands, it was bounded south by Argyle Street, west by Coronation Road (present-day Nathan Road), and east by the hills. To its south is Ho Man Tin and west Tai Kok Tsui. Stream from the hills east offered water for cultivation.

[edit] Streets & Markets

A busy street in Mong Kok.
A busy street in Mong Kok.
A busy street corner in Mong Kok
A busy street corner in Mong Kok
Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mong Kok
Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mong Kok

Mong Kok preserves its traditional characteristics with an array of markets, small shops, and food stalls that have already disappeared from other areas in Hong Kong over the past several decades of economic developments. As such, a few of these streets in Mong Kok have acquired interesting nicknames reflecting their own characteristics. Some interesting sites are:

  • Ladies' Street (女人街, Ladies' Market on Tung Choi Street) - This market specializes in women's clothing, accessories, cosmetics, and the like. It is open daily from noon to 10:30 p.m. at Tung Choi Street on the east of Nathan Road. Typically, where there is a market, there are also food stalls selling noodles, seafood, and congee for mid-afternoon or late-night snacks. A grocery market is also located in the vicinity, quite convenient for housewives to buy fresh vegetables and pantyhose on the same trip.
  • Sai Yeung Choi Street South, (西洋菜南街) - A street full of shops selling consumer electronic products, comestics, and discount books, the last of which usually located on the lower floors above ground floor of buildings.
  • Temple Street (廟街, sometimes referred to as Men's Street), extending into Jordan, is also in the area, however, the area famous for the Hong Kong specific goods are only in the section between Yaumatei and Jordan.
  • Bird Garden - Hundreds of songbirds in exquisitely crafted cages can be seen at this market, which is on the other side of Nathan Road on Yuen Po Street. The garden is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is close to Mong Kok MTR station and Mong Kok stadium. Packed with booths selling birds, Hong Lok Street (Bird Street, 雀仔街) was closed as part of an urban renewal project in June 1998. The Garden was constructed by the government to accommodate some of the booths.
  • Fa Yuen Street (花園街, sometimes referred to as 波鞋街, which means Sport Shoes Street) - This is a small neighbourhood with many small retailers which sell sports equipment and clothing. It has a wide diversity of sports shoes. Many shoes of rare or special editions from different places are available here.
  • Flower Market (花墟) - This is a street market near the MTR train station with lots of flower shops and street hawkers showing colourful displays, the sweet scents and the exotic blossoms of many houseplants.
  • Goldfish Market - There are a dozens shops and hawkers selling various tropical freshwater or marine fish near the MTR train station. Different types of aquarium equipments can also be found there. This market opens very early in the morning.
  • Tile Street - This is a section of Portland Street near Argyle Street and Butt Street with more than 50 retailers selling materials for construction or renovation, such as tiles, wall paper, window frames and bath tubs.
  • Photocopy Street (影印街) - This small neighbourhood near Ho Man Tin is noted in the area because there are quite a few schools in the vicinity, and the students in these schools have a strong demand for photocopying -- remarkably the shops there are famous for photocopying copyrighted books in mass quantities.

Some popular shopping plazas are located in this dense area, including:

  • Sino Centre Arcade (信和中心) – In this plaza, there are many products about Japanese cartoons, such as Video CDs, DVDs, and comics. Beside that, there are shops for selling pop singers' CD albums. They carry many music albums, including ones by Hong Kong, Japanese, and western pop singers.
  • Ho King Shopping Centre (好景商場)- In this plaza, you can find many products having to do computer and video games. They are sold for relatively low prices compared with other shops. The fourth floor of the plaza is infamous for being formerly the biggest base of pornographic CDs and DVDs. These have recently been diminished in a large operation by the police and customs, although this action has driven some shops to the office section of the building, with the products and customers causing distress to female workers there.
Langham Place, 4th floor
Langham Place, 4th floor
  • Grand Century Place (新世紀廣場) - This is a new plaza next to the Mong Kok East MTR station. Most of the famous-brand and popular shops can be found here.
  • Langham Place (朗豪坊)- This shopping mall/hotel/office complex opened in 2004 in central Mong Kok. Built according to the Hong Kong Government urban redevelopment scheme, and at 59 stories high, it is the tallest landmark in Mong Kok.
  • Mong Kok Centre (旺角中心) - This is a centre next to the Mong Kok MTR station. Most of the clothes and shoes sell at low prices. This centre is crowded everyday.

[edit] Food

The Mong Kok area has many curb-side "food-booths". Most of them sell traditional snacks such as fish balls, fried beancurd (tofu) and various dim sum. These snacks and "fingerfood" are very popular in Hong Kong, especially for folks on the run.

In addition to the food, there are many different kinds of cuisines, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and Thai food.

[edit] Transport

Traffic Congestion in Mong Kok
Traffic Congestion in Mong Kok

[edit] Mong Kok in popular culture

Mong Kok was the setting for the 2004 hit film One Night in Mongkok directed by Derek Yee. The movie portrays Mong Kok, one of the most densely populated places on Earth, as a hotbed of illicit activity. Similarly, the district was also the setting of the 1996 film Mongkok Story (Chinese: Wong gok fung wan) directed by Wilson Yip which depicts a young man who becomes involved in a Triad gang. [1][2] The Mong Kok is mentioned frequently in Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Supremacy.

[edit] External links

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