Spring Garden Lane

Spring Garden Lane is a street in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. It was one of the first focal areas developed by the British in the 1840s.

History

During the early development of Wan Chai, one of the focal area of development was Spring Gardens. The name was used by the British during the early Colonial Hong Kong eras in the 1840s.Wordie, Jason. [2002] (2002) Streets: Exploring Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 962-2095631] The name was supposed to be 泉园街 meaning water spring. Instead it was translated to 春園街 meaning spring season. The water spring mentioned possibly refers to the mountain creek beside Hopewell Centre in Queen's Road East.

During the founding of the People's Republic of China around 1948 to 1949, many of the Communist party guerrilla forces found their way to Hong Kong after world war II. One of them was the "East River Guerrilla Force" (東江縱隊), which formed a pro-Communist underground group called the Hailiushe (海流社). They were headquartered in the rooftop of a multi-story house on Spring Garden Lane. The area and group was raided by the Hong Kong police, while it was an operating network cell. [Fung, Chi Ming, [2005] Reluctant Heroes: Rickshaw Pullers in Hong Kong and Canton, 1874-1954. ISBN 9622097340]

Around Spring Garden Lane are Lee Tung Street, Swatow Street and Amoy Street where abounded with warehouses storing cargoes to be shipped to Chinese coastline cities.

References