History
The settlement of Wan Chai began in pre-British times as a small Chinese community around the present Hung Shing Temple on Queen's Road East. The temple was probably built in 1847 and may have existed previously as a shrine. Originally built next to the shoreline, facing the sea, it is now surrounded by clusters of residential and commercial buildings, as the consequence of successive land reclamation.
Queen's Road East was first developed into a European commercial and residential centre after the arrival of the British in 1841. It had become a mainly Chinese residential, labouring and shop-keeping community by the 1860s.
The eastern part of the road was cut through Morrison Hill, which formerly separated Wanchai from Happy Valley. This section was known as 'Gap Road'. That name was still in use around 1930, even though the high land to the north of the 'gap' was levelled in the 1920s and the materials used to reclaim land from the harbour, under the Praya East Reclamation Scheme.
Although associated with Queen's Road Central and Queen's Road West, the name 'Queen's Road East' has been in use since at least the 1870s.
Read more about this topic: Queen's Road East
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