Hong Kong Snapshot (42) – The Western Market, oldest market building in Hong Kong 香港隨拍(42) – 西港城，香港最古老街市建築

Many tourists are attracted by the beautiful outlook of the Western Market. It is the oldest existing market building in HK. There are a lot of HK stories within the building. But, it is facing a big challenge and we all don’t what it’s future will be.

很多經過西港城的遊客，都會被這座紅色的建築物深深吸引，拍照留念，它是香港現存最早的街市建築物，擁有豐富的歷史價值，內裡更有很多屬於香港的故事，不過，它正面臨困境，前路未知。

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History of the Western Market 西港城的歷史

The Western Market is located on Sai Wan. It was built in 1906 which was the oldest existing market building in Hong Kong. The building is under the English Edwardian style and built with red bricks and granite band on a granite base. There is a large granite arch over the main entrance. The building style was popular in England at the period. There are not many this style of building left in Hong Kong. The Western Market is one of them.

The Western Market was used as a market for 80 years until 1989, the new Sheung Wan Market was built. The Western Market stopped its function as a market. At the same time, the Western Market was listed as the Declared monuments of Hong Kong. After renovation, it re-opened as “The Western Market”.

西港城位於西環，前身為上環街市，建於1906年，是香港現存最早的街市建築。西港城以英國愛德華式的建築風格，用紅磚砌成，以花崗石為地基，㡳層入口有大型圓拱，這建築特色在當時的英國十分盛行，這類型的建築在香港而所餘不多，西港城正是其中之一。

西港城作為街市存在了80年，直到1989年，上環新街市落成，這個舊上環街市同時被列為法定古蹟，並改建活化成西港城。

The Old Western Market
上環街市舊貌
(from Wikipedia)

The Western Market is one of the earliest conservation and revitalizing project in Hong Kong. The new Western Market is managed by the Urban Renewal Authority. With featuring arts and crafts, we can see lots of arts and crafts shops at the ground floor of the shopping complex. The 2nd floor is a Chinese restaurant and the 3rd floor is a performance stage.

西港城是香港最早的保育活化項目之一，活化後的西港城由市區重建局管理，以傳統工藝為主打，成為了一個設有多個傳統工藝小商店的商場。商場地下是食肆及傳統工藝商店，二樓是中式餐廳，三樓則是表演舞台。

Features of the four floors
四層各有特色

Arts and Crafts shops of the ground floor
地下層的小商店

The Chinese restaurant on the 2nd floor. It was closed when I visited
2樓的中式餐廳，不過我去的那天暫停營業

And an old style telephone box!
還有一個英國舊式電話亭！

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the Western Market and Fabric Street 西港城與花布街

The reason of The Western Market to be conserved is actually not his historical value. It’s because the Fabric Street. Fabric Street referred to Wing On Street in Central. 30 years ago, there are 60-70 fabric merchants in Wing On Street. That’s why Wing On Street was also called the Fabric Street. In 1988, The government announced to renew Wing On Street. All the fabric merchants were forced to move. At the same time, western market was under the discussion of the renewal direction. So the Western Market was finally revitalized to be the traditional arts and crafts center and the fabric merchants were moved to the Western Market.

西港城當年得以保存的原因，其實並非其建築價值，而是因為花布街。花布街本位於中環的永安街，由於一條小小的街道擁有六七十家布行而聞名，更被稱為花布街。後來政府在1988年決定將永安街一帶重建，六七十家布行需被逼遷，同一時間，西港城亦面臨重建方向的問題，順理成便下，便將西港城打造成傳統手工藝中心，並將花布街的布行搬到西港城的一樓。

The old Fabric Street 舊花布街
(photos from weshare.hk)

The Wing On Street was renewed as “The Center”, which is the 31st tallest skyscraper in the world
花布街現已搖身一變成為中環中心，全球第31高大廈
(photo from wikipedia)

And the street becomes a path…
街道則變成了一條小巷
(photo from wechare.hk)

Originally It was busy in the old fabric street. But after moving to the Western Market, everything changed. The Western Market could only offer 18 shops, so only 18 merchants could move to the Western Market. They changed from big shops with 2-3 floors to small shops. And due to the lack of promotion, seldom people knew that fabric street had moved. The business languished.

本來的花布街布行主打批發生意，人來人往，熱鬧非常，但在搬到西港城後，由於西港城只能提供18個單位，故只有18家布行能搬到西港城，且由幾層的批發公司，變成只得一個舖位的小商店，加上宣傳不足，很多人都不知到花布街搬到了西港城，結果變成門庭羅雀，店家們都沒有生意。

()
No customers for whole day
整天都不見一個客人

Different from the famous fabric market in Sham Shui Po, the fabric in Western Market is all high quality
跟深水埗大眾化的布不同，酒港城的布都是走高質量路線的

Years passed, the fabric shops adapted to the new life in the Western Market. But things changed again. Because of the deficit, the Urban Renewal Authority planned to end the management of the Western Market. The fabric shops were facing the problem of forced leaving again. Due to the fight from the community, the Urban Renewal Authority renewed the management contract to 2015, and later to Aug 2018.

經過十幾年，布行們開始適應西港城的生活，市建局卻因經營虧損的原因，打算將西港城外判給外商，布行們再次面臨逼遷的慘況，後因各界力爭，市建局決定再續約3年至2015年，後再續約至2018年8年。

What is the future of the Western Market?
西港城將何去何從？

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After Aug 2018, the Urban Renewal Authority may end the contract of the Western Market. If the new contract is signed to privately held company, the Western Market may undergo big renovation again and changed to a high-end club house or other thing else. It is never a good thing for the fabric shops. There is still less than one year to Aug 2018, let us see what will happen.

2018年8月後，市建局或不再續約西港城，如外判給外商，西港城很可能會再經歷大裝修，然後變成不知是高級會所還是其他東西，總之對一班布行而言，絕不是好事，現距離2018年8月只剩不足一年，且讓我們看看西港城的命運如何。

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the Western Market 西港城

Address: 323 Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island
Opening Hour: 10:00 – 24:00

地址: 上環德輔道中323號
開放時間: 早上10時至晚上12時

!steemitworldmap 22.2873911 lat 114.1482416 long d3scr

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