Nathan Road: a glimpse of old Hong Kong


The popular Nathan Road has been changed along the years . Especially form 1970. Now, some photos, posted on the Government Records Service’s Educational Resources Portal website,  show many landmark buildings and sites in the past. And now. 





The photos were taken as a record od road conditions at MTR construction sites from Prince Edward Station to Tsin She Tsui in 1970s. They include the Nathan Hotel, first built in 1933 and still operating today; Tai Lin Radio, one of the city’s largest electrical appliance retail chains founded in 1946 and closed in 2008; and Bargain, an electrical appliance retail chain that closed in 2003.
The photos also feature a former HSBC branch; Chung Kiu Chinese Products Emporium, founded in 1958 and closed in 1997; Kwong Wah Hospital, which has been operating since 1911; Methodist College, established in 1958; the popular Astor Theatre and the construction site of the former Hotel Miramar, now the Mira hotel. 


Nathan Road was originally named Robinson Road, after Hercules Robinson, the fifth colonial governor of Hong Kong. 
It was renamed in 1909 after Matthew Nathan, the 13th governor, to avoid confusion with the Robinson Road on Hong Kong Island.







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