Canton Road is a major road in Hong Kong, linking the former west reclamation shore in Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and Prince Edward on the Kowloon Peninsula. The road runs mostly parallel and west to Nathan Road. It starts from the junction with Salisbury Road in the south and ends in the north at the junction with Lai Chi Kok Road in the Prince Edward area. The southern section of Canton Road is home to many upscale retail shops, shopping centres and others business establishments, with busy traffic from both vehicles and pedestrians from morning till late at night.

Name

The road was originally named MacDonnell Road. It was renamed to Canton Road in 1909 to avoid confusion with MacDonnell Road on Hong Kong Island. The road is named after the City of Canton (now Guangzhou, ), following a pattern where roads in the area were named after cities in China and Vietnam. However, an error resulted in Canton being interpreted as referring to the Province of Canton (Now Guangdong, ), resulting in the Chinese name of the road becoming instead of the intended.

Sections and features

Canton Road is not one continuous road, instead, it is divided into four sections, interrupted by a major housing estate (Prosperous Garden) and disjointed by a traffic intersection (Jordan Road) as the result of urban development in the past hundred years. The following list follows a south-north order. (W) indicates the western side of the road, while (E) indicates the eastern side.

Tsim Sha Tsui section

The section starts at Salisbury Road and ends at Jordan Road. Features include:

Jordan to Yau Ma Tei section

The section starts at Jordan Road and ends at Public Square Street. The part of this section between Jordan Road and Kansu Street is sometimes called "Jade Street" because of the number of jewellery shops selling jade. The road is interrupted north of Public Square Street, and Prosperous Garden, a housing estate, is located in its place. The Broadway Cinematheque is located within Prosperous Garden.

Yau Ma Tei section

This very short section (about 30m long) starts at Tung Kun Street, north of Prosperous Garden and ends at the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market, a Grade III historic building. This section is bordered by two schools:

Yau Ma Tei to Prince Edward section

The section starts at Waterloo Road, north of the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market and ends at Lai Chi Kok Road. This section features a street market in the Mong Kok area.

West Rail line (Tuen Ma Line)

It was proposed that a station, Canton Road on the Kowloon Southern Link of the West Rail line, could be built beneath the Tsim Sha Tsui section of the road, outside Harbour City. The plan was put off after unsuccessful negotiation between KCRC and The Wharf on financial arrangement. Another station, Austin, near the junction of Canton Road and Wui Cheung Road in Kwun Chung opened on 16 August 2009.

In popular culture

The final shootout sequence of the 2003 film PTU, directed by Johnnie To, takes place in Canton Road. The sequence was actually shot in Ap Lei Chau.

Gallery

Tsim Sha Tsui section