Smithfield, Hong Kong
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Smithfield (Chinese: 士美菲路, formerly 士美非路; pinyin: Shìměifēi Lù; Cantonese Yale: si6 mei5 fei1 lou6) is a street with a length of approximately 1,300 m [1] in Kennedy Town, Hong Kong. The street begins at the New Praya, Kennedy Town (堅彌地城新海旁) at the shore of the town and extends south into Mount Davis. It crosses two main streets of Catchick Street (吉席街) and Belcher's Street. To the south, Smithfield forms T-intersections with Rock Hill Street (石山街), Forbes Street (科士街), Pokfield Road, Lung Wah Street (龍華街) and Pokfulam Road.
It is one of the few streets in Hong Kong without the use of words such as "Road", "Street", "Path", "Lane" etc. (the other notable examples are Queensway, in Admiralty, Broadway (百老匯街), in Mei Foo and Glenealy, in Mid-Levels.
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[edit] The Origin of Smithfield, Hong Kong as Cattle Depot and Slaughter House
Many streets in Hong Kong with Anglicized names have been the result of past British colonial influences. British administrators were likely to name places in Hong Kong in accordance with their own customs to describe the functions of a particular area.
For Smithfield, there is a namesake in the City of London. Smithfield, London, is an area in the north-western part of the City of London with a history of over 800 years. It started as an area to house live cattle from the country before they were slaughtered and sold at the meat markets in the City of London. The area was frequented by people of the grassroots of society who worked there as labourers and traders of meat and other foodstuff in the marketplaces nearby. Though situated in England, Smithfield, London has been a symbol of Scottish patriotism after William Wallace was executed there in 1305 (his story was portrayed by Mel Gibson in the 1995 movie Braveheart). Smithfield, London as a landmark was also further promoted by famous authors with their literary work such as Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" and Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper".
Similarly, Smithfield, Hong Kong began in the area bound by the present day Rock Hill Street and Pokfield Path(蒲飛徑) as a cattle quarantine depot and a slaughter house to house and slaughter live cattle when the animals first arrived in Hong Kong via the piers in Kennedy Town. Government archives suggest that the cattle depot was in existence as early as the late 19th/early 20th century.[2]
In 1961, the government decided that the slaughter house was to be relocated to the Kennedy Town Abattoir at Cadogan Street.[3] Despite calls to convert the original slaughter house site into a swimming pool, the government said in 1969 that the plan was not feasible until both the cattle depot and the former slaughterhouse complex (then occupied by the cattle depot as well) were released for redevelopment.[4] The cattle depot was still in operation well into the 1980s, when the government finally decided that the cattle depot was to be removed.[5] The land was subsequently redeveloped into the present day Kennedy Town Swimming Pool(堅尼地城游泳池), Smithfield Market (士美菲路街市)and the Smithfield Municipal Services Building (士美菲路市政大廈).
Similar to Smithfield in London, Smithfield in Hong Kong was an area frequented by people of the grassroots of society who worked as labourers at the cattle station, and the marketplaces nearby that have since become the Forbes Street Temporary Playground (科士街臨時遊樂場) and the North Street (北街) red minibus terminus, and for the loading and unloading of sea cargo coming in and out of the piers of Kennedy Town.
Coincidentally the old cattle stations in both Smithfield, London and Smithfield, Hong Kong have since ceased to exist and the locations were both replaced by a market. Both areas have since been redeveloped to accommodate middle class residents as well.
It was very likely that Smithfield, Hong Kong began as an area of its own and was later merged into the greater area of Kennedy Town. Such can be traced from the allocation of the street numbers of the land along the street, some of which with "12" "12K", "12N", "12R" etc, occupy the middle section of Smithfield between Rock Hill Street and Pokfield Road. Many street numbers to the north and south of this section are larger than the number "12". Some street numbers north of Belcher's Street in Smithfield were only re-assigned with numbers smaller than 12 when old buildings were demolished and new buildings were erected. The Kennedy Town Fire Station (堅尼地城消防局) used to have the address of "51 Smithfield"[6], but the address has since been changed to "6 Kennedy Town New Praya" with the same station remaining at the original location. These findings, though not absolutely conclusive, are circumstantial evidences that Smithfield began as an area containing the cattle depot and the slaughterhouse, only to be extended in the north-south direction later.
[edit] The Former Hong Kong and China Gas Company Gasometer (煤氣鼓廠房)
Following the fire at the Gasometer in Shek Tong Tsui (formerly known as West Point), the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited has by 1936 purchased an area of land situated to the south of the cattle depot and erected a gasometer to replace the former gasometer at West Point.[7] The gasometer was in existence until the early 1980s when it was demolished to make way for the construction of Smithfield Terrace (嘉輝花園) by Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd, the largest shareholder of Hong Kong and China Gas Company.
[edit] Smithfield Extension
Until the mid-1990s, Smithfield, Hong Kong was a dead end street at the top end with Wah Fai House (華輝大廈), Mei Wah Mansion(美華大廈) and Smithfield Garden (士美菲園), which are to the south of the Lung Wah Street junction, marking the end of the street. However, record of the Lands Department shows that Ho Chong(何莊), a Hotung ancestral family property situated at the hillside beyond the top end of the street, is given the address of "40A Smithfield" and should thus be treated technically as the original top end of Smithfield.
Later the soil on the hillside behind Wah Fai House and Mei Wah Mansion was removed, and a vehicle link between between Smithfield and Pokfulam Road was constructed. The link was opened to vehicles in early 1998 and is now known as Smithfield Extension, to be distinguished from the original top end of the street adjacent to Lung Wah Street.
[edit] 2007 Proposed Name Change
The street is often mistakenly written as Smithfield Road by local residents, affected by the Chinese suffix 路 (lo, lit. road) and in Chinese, 士美非路 was often mistaken as 士美菲路 too. Another reason for this mistaken identity could be that streets signs were only provided along the short section of Smithfield north of its intersection with Belcher's Street, which covers only a length of about 72 m. The remainder of this street with an approximate length of 1,300m has, over the years, not been provided with any street signs at all[8], notwithstanding that the government has previously stated that "[i]n the case of long streets, name plates are usually provided at approximately 200 metre intervals".[9] It was not until May 2008 that additional street name plates were installed at the upper section of Smithfield. [10]
On 2 February 2007, the Lands Department proposed to rename Smithfield (士美非路) as Smithfield Road (士美菲路). [11] However, the idea to add the word "Road" was opposed on the ground that the street name was unique in that it was named after and had a similar historical development as Smithfield, London. On 18 October 2007, the Government amended the proposal and announced that only the Chinese name of the street would be changed (from 士美非路 to 士美菲路). [12] The name change became official on 14 December 2007. [13]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The length of the street is given by the Lands Department in the HKSAR Government Notice 945 of 2007 (in PDF) as 1,380m, in the HKSAR Government Notice 6812 of 2007 (in PDF) as 1,300m, and in the HKSAR Government Notice 8290 of 2007 (in PDF) as 1,300m as well. Therefore, on balance of probabilities, the description of the length of the street is put as 1,300m.
- ^ Official Report of Hong Kong Legislative Council Proceedings, 11 Mar 1901, page (28), right column, 6th paragraph(in PDF)
- ^ Official Report of Hong Kong Legislative Council Proceedings, 13 Dec 1961, page 319, 2nd paragraph(in PDF)
- ^ Official Report of Hong Kong Legislative Council Proceedings, 4 June 1969, page 312, item 4(in PDF)
- ^ Official Report of Hong Kong Legislative Council Proceedings, 23 April 1986, page 1055, 3rd full paragraph(in PDF)
- ^ [Information provided by the author as a local resident of Smithfield]
- ^ Official Report of Hong Kong Legislative Council Proceedings, 24 June 1936, page 319, 2nd paragraph(in PDF)
- ^ Observation noted by the author, a resident in the neighbourhood
- ^ Official Report of Hong Kong Legislative Council Proceedings, 30 March 1994, page 3052, item 17, reply (b) given by the Secretary for Transport (in PDF)
- ^ As previously confirmed by the Highways Department and as observed by the author in situ.
- ^ HKSAR Government Notice 945 of 2007 (in PDF)
- ^ HKSAR Government Notice 6812 of 2007 (in PDF)
- ^ HKSAR Government Notice 8290 of 2007 (in PDF)
[edit] External links
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