Name(English): Chungking Mansions
Name(Chinese): 重慶大廈
Category: Food & Beverages, Markets & Malls, Historical
Address(English): Chungking Mansion, 36-44 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui
Address(Chinese): 香港九龍尖沙咀彌敦道36-44號
Address Google Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/RDEL1oBe8167nHLV6
Address longitude and latitude: 22.296648722753638, 114.17277349562285
Nearest MTR Station: Tim Sha Tsui MTR station Exit E
Nearest MTR Station Google Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/PrUYhDhrbyD9mDpQA
Nearest MTR Station longitude and latitude: 22.29625337938316, 114.17216151601818
How far from the nearest MTR Station: 3 mins walk from Tim Sha Tsui MTR station Exit E
Opening Hours:
MON 00:00 – 23:59
TUE 00:00 – 23:59
WED 00:00 – 23:59
THU 00:00 – 23:59
FRI 00:00 – 23:59
SAT 00:00 – 23:59
SUN 00:00 – 23:59
Recommended Time to Visit: 12:00-22:00
Accessibility Note: The area is crowded, not convenient for wheelchair users
Located in Tsim Sha Tsui district, Chungking Mansion is a kind of Babel Tower, filled to the brim with all kinds of people. It has long had a reputation amongst locals as a sleazy gathering ground for illegal immigrants and drug dealers. This is mostly due to its depiction in cult movies, notably Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express in which drug dealers smuggle illegal substances into a teddy bear. Although the building was originally designated to be for residential purpose only, it is lined with a dizzying array of shops, from Indian groceries, cheap electronics, to more famously, curry restaurants and BnB’s throughout its 17 storeys. It’s recorded that about 4,000 people reside in the four blocks of Chungking Mansions, mostly South East Asians, Africans and refugees newly arriving in Hong Kong.
Chungking Mansions first opened in 1961, when colonial Hong Kong was enjoying an unprecedented rapid growth in tourism and immigration. Enjoying a proximity to the renowned Peninsula Hotel, it became an icon of residential status among the privileged. It gradually became known as the centre for smugglers and prostitution, and a hub for the Hong Kong mafia, thus earning its notoriety. One of its most fascinating temporary residents is Edward Snowden, the controversial whistleblower on the National Security Agency of the USA. Weeks before he shocked the world with his revelations in 2013, the then-29 year old flew to Hong Kong with USBs packed with information. After he gave his story to the Guardian, they both realised he would become an enemy of the state. With the help of a human rights lawyer, an immigrant family received Snowden for a short period of time, in a tiny flat on the 4th floor of Chungking Mansion.
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