Fa Yuen Street

Fa Yuen Street (traditional Chinese: 花園街; simplified Chinese: 花园街; pinyin: Huāyuán Jiē; Cantonese Yale: fa1 yun4 gaai1) is a street between Boundary Street and Dundas Street in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. With over fifty stores selling sport shoes,[1] the street is famous for selling sport gears and is known as Sport Shoes Street or Sneaker Street (波鞋街). Fa Yuen (花園) means "garden" in Cantonese.

A much debated project of the Urban Renewal Authority may modify the street substantially.[1][2]

Contents

Retail

Fa Yuen Street is full of shops selling bargain-priced trendy fashion and casual wear for men, women and children and they usually open between 10:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. daily.

At one point of Fa Yuen Street, the road is closed off to private cars for the convenience of the fresh produce market, which sells a variety of exotic fruits and vegetables in the middle of the street. Directly adjacent to these produce stalls, located on the ground floors of the buildings lining Fa Yuen Street, are the cheapest clothing boutiques.

History

During the Ming Dynasty ( A.D 1368-AD. 1644 ) and the Qing Dynasty ( AD 1644-AD 1911), Fa Yuen Street was a place of growing flowers, belonged to Mong Kok village at that time.[3]

On 30th November 2011, the 2011 Fa Yuen street fire incident occurred where a fire at a hawker stall spread to a housing flat resulting in 9 deaths and 34 injuried.[4] The density of the market and residential buildings make this area prone to such fire tragedies.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Hong Kong Sneaker Street to close?", Jun 8th, 2009
  2. ^ URA spurs sports activity zone in Mong Kok
  3. ^ <油尖旺風物志> The History of Mong kok 2004. Published by Mong Kok District Council, Hong Kong Government
  4. ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/29/world/asia/hong-kong-fire/?hpt=hp_t3 Nine dead in fire at popular Hong Kong market and impacted nearby residents and shops