Demographics of Hong Kong
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Hong Kong, including population density, education level, health of the populace, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with an overall density of some 6,300 people per square kilometre. At the same time, Hong Kong has one of the world's lowest birth rates—1.11 per woman of child-bearing age as of 2012, far below the replacement rate of 2.1. It is estimated that 26.8% of the population will be aged 65 or more in 2033, up from 12.1% in 2005. Hong Kong recorded 8.2 births per 1,000 people in 2005–2010. Ethnically, Hong Kong consists of Han Chinese who constitute 92% of the population. Of these, many originate from various regions in Canton. There are a number of descendants of immigrants from elsewhere in Southern China and around the world after the end of World War II. People from Hong Kong refer to themselves, in Cantonese, as Hèung Góng Yàhn.
In English, the term'Hong Kongers' is used to refer to Hong Kongese people, while the term'Hongkongese' is sometimes used as an adjective to describe people or things related to Hong Kong. The following census data is available for Hong Kong between the years 1841–2011. In 2011, Hong Kong had a population of just over 7 million, with a density of 6,300 people per square kilometre; this makes Hong Kong the fourth most densely populated region in the world, after Macau and Singapore. According to the 2016 by-census, 92% of the Hong Kong population is ethnic Chinese. 8% are other non-Chinese ethnic groups, including a large number of Filipinos and Indonesians, making up 4% of the population. The Hong Kong census does not categorise Han Chinese subgroups. However, the majority of Hong Kongers of Chinese descent trace their ancestry to various parts of Southern China: the Guangzhou area, followed by Siyi, Chaoshan and Shanghai; some Cantonese people originate from Hakka-speaking villages in the New Territories.
Most Teochew-speaking migrants immigrated to Hong Kong from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, while migrants from Fujian have constituted a large-growing number of migrants since 1978. Many Taishanese and Cantonese migrated after 1949; the major Chinese groups include the Punti, Cantonese and Tanka. Punti and Tanka are Hong Kong indigenous people, while Cantonese people are not Hong Kong indigenous people. For Hakka and Hoklo, they have both non-indigenous people in Hong Kong; the following lists ethnic groups with significant presence in Hong Kong in alphabetical order by category: Africa East Asia Japanese Koreans Europe British French Russians North America Americans Canadians Oceania Australians South Asians Indians Pakistanis Nepalis Southeast Asia Filipinos Indonesians Thais Vietnamese Census data from 2006, 2011, 2016. According to United Nations estimates from 1 July 2013, Hong Kong's population is distributed in the following age ranges, with the largest age group represented being 50–54 years: The Hong Kong government provides the following estimates for mid-2013: 0–14 years: 11.0% 15–24 years: 11.7% 25–34 years: 15.2% 35–44 years: 15.9% 45–54 years: 17.7% 55–64 years: 14.2% 65 and over: 14.3% Median age: 45.0 Sources: 1961,1971: 1991: 1996: 2001: 2006, 2011, 2016: According to The World Factbook in 2013, the Hong Kong population was divided into the following male/female ratios: At birth: 1.07 male/female 0–14 years: 1.09 male/female 15–24 years: 1.01 male/female 25–54 years: 0.88 male/female 55–64 years: 1 male/female 65 years and over: 0.88 male/female Total population: 0.94 male/female According to The World Factbook estimates in 2002, 93.5% of the population over the age of 15 had attended schooling, including 96.9% of males and 89.6% of females.
The following table shows birth rates and mortality rates in Hong Kong between 1950 and 2015. At the end of the 20th century, Hong Kong had one of the lowest birth rates in the world. However, the number of births doubled in the decade between 2001 and 2011 due to an increase in the number of children born in Hong Kong to women with residence in Mainland China. In 2001 there were 7,810 births to Mainland women out of a total of 48,219 births; this increased to 37,253 births to Mainland women out of a total of 82,095 births. According to The World Factbook in 2013, the infant mortality rate in Hong Kong was 2.89 deaths/1,000 live births. According to The World Factbook in 2013, the average life expectancy for the total population was 82.2 years. Hong Kong is the territory with the worlds highest life expectancy according to the United Nations. Source: UN World Population Prospects According to The World Factbook in 2006, the average marriage age in Hong Kong was 30 years for males and 27 years for females, the population wa
Central and Wan Chai Reclamation
Central and Wan Chai Reclamation is a project launched by the government of Hong Kong since the 1990s to reclaim land for different purposes. This includes transportation improvements such as the Hong Kong MTR Station, Airport Express Railway & Central-Wanchai Bypass, as well as public recreation space such as the Central Harbourfront Event Space, Tamar Park and the Hong Kong Observation Wheel; the project was first mentioned in the 1985 planning strategy by the Government. The Government completed a feasibility study in 1989, followed by endorsement of the Land Development Policy Committee on the project; the proposed reclamation extends along the waterfront from Sheung Wan to Causeway Bay. The ostensible objectives of the project, among other things, include: to supply land for the Hong Kong Station and the extended overrun tunnel of the Airport Express; the project is divided into five phases. The Central Reclamation Phase 1 involved reclaiming 20 hectares of land, plus redevelopment of 6 hectares of land, between Rumsey Street and Pedder Street, for the construction of Hong Kong Station of the Airport Express Railway.
It provided land for new piers, replacements of other facilities affected by reclamation. Works started in 1993 and were completed in June 1998; this phase of reclamation is part of the Airport Core Programme. The cost was HK$2,710 million. Upon completion of the project, the coastline of Central was extended up to 350 metres beyond the original coastline; the Central Reclamation Phase 2 reclaimed 5.3 hectares of land at the former Tamar naval base. The reclamation formed land for the Tamar Site, five commercial development sites. Works started in December 1994 and were completed in September 1997; the cost was HK$320 million. It has been proposed that a new complex housing the headquarters of the Government and the Legislative Council be built on the reclaimed land; the Central Reclamation Phase 3 involves reclamation for the overrun track of Airport Express, the west section of the proposed North Island Line and the Central-Wan Chai Bypass, new Star Ferry piers, new roads, other facilities. The cost is HK$3,561.5 million.
It was planned to reclaim 32 hectares of land, but has been reduced to 18 due to public opposition. Works have started on 2003-02-28. Above-ground construction is scheduled to be completed in 2011; the underground Central-Wan Chai Bypass has opened on 20 January 2019. Wan Chai Reclamation Phase I includes the formation of an island of 70,000 m² by reclamation at the northern side of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to supply land for building an additional room to the Centre; the island configuration is to ensure that water quality in the vicinity remained at satisfactory levels after reclamation was completed. Works commenced in March 1994 and were completed in July 1997. Wan Chai Development Phase II extends along the water's edge from the Central Reclamation Phase III to Causeway Bay; this HK$10.5-billion project, together with Central Reclamation Phases I, II and III, is to provide land for the construction of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass and the Island Eastern Corridor Link, the Hong Kong Island section of the Shatin-to-Central Link and the North Island Line.
Construction work commenced in 2009 and is planned to be completed in 2017. Because of the multi-faceted nature of the project, involving road creation, land reclamation and foreshore development, the project is overseen jointly by Highways Department and Civil Engineering and Development Department, who together commission a single contractor for each location involved; the works involve the temporary reclamation – for a period of several years – of Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter and the former public cargo working area. In a judicial review before the Court of First Instance, it was held in March 2008 that the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance applied to such works, hence the government was required to demonstrate an'over-riding public need' for the reclamation, it undertook to keep the temporary reclamation "to the minimum" and to reinstate the seabed after completion of the construction works. Not everyone welcomed with the reclamation plan warmly; some Hong Kong residents thought the action was unnecessary.
Instead of building a bypass, the opponents urge the government to start an electronic road toll scheme in the community. On 5 October 2003, over 1,000 protesters dressed in blue marched on the Central Government Offices calling for a halt to reclamation work in the harbour, they promised to follow up with a three-pronged protest next month using land and air to get their message across. The march was one of several protests in recent weeks over harbour projects, which the government says are necessary to ease traffic congestion in Central due to the increase in private cars; the government had lost the first round of a court battle, but appealed against the decision. The Society for Protection of the Harbour applied for a stay of order and judicial review on 25 September 2003, prohibiting the government from continuing with the third phase of the Central reclamation project; the government resum
Sheung Wan
Sheung Wan is an area in Hong Kong, located in the north-west of Hong Kong Island, between Central and Sai Ying Pun. Administratively, it is part of the Western District; the name can be variously interpreted as Gateway District. Sheung Wan was one of the earliest settled places by the British, belonged to the historical Victoria City; the site of the original occupation of Hong Kong Island by British forces in 1842 was at Possession Street, between Queen's Road Central and Hollywood Road. A plaque to this effect can be found in Hollywood Road Park at the top of Possession Street; the foot of Possession Street, Possession Point, was at that time on the shoreline, but is now several hundred yards inland due to reclamation. Sheung Wan is surrounded by Sai Ying Pun in the west, Central in the east, Victoria Harbour in the north and Victoria Peak in the south. Part of the Mid-Levels is located within Sheung Wan; the border between Central and Sheung Wan consists of the entire Castle Lane, the entire Aberdeen Street, the entire Wing Kut Street, the section of Des Voeux Road Central between Wing Kut Street and Wing Wo Street, the section of Wing Wo Street north of Des Voeux Road Central, the section of Connaught Road Central between Wing Wo Street and Rumsey Street, the section of Rumsey Street from Connaught Road Central to the waterside.
Garfield Mansion is in Sheung Wan. The border's location south of Seymour Road in the Mid-Levels is unknown. Blake Garden Hollywood Road Park Man Mo Temple Pak Tsz Lane Park Sheung Wan Civic Centre Shun Tak Centre Soho, Hong Kong The Center Tung Wah Hospital Western Market Sheung Wan Market Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences YMCA of Hong Kong Bridges Street Centre Asia Art Archive The Sheung Wan Route is one part of Central and Western Heritage Trail designed by the Antiquities and Monuments Office and Leisure and Cultural Services Department; the route covers 35 historic sites in Sheung Wan. Streets in Sheung Wan include: Aberdeen Street, marking the border with Central Bonham Strand and Bonham Strand West Bridges Street Cleverly Street. Named after Charles Saint George Cleverly, the 2nd Surveyor General of Hong Kong Government. Des Voeux Road Central and Des Voeux Road West Gough Street Hillier Street Hollywood Road Jervois Street Ladder Street and other ladder streets Man Wa Lane Morrison Street Possession Street Pound Lane, a ladder street Queen's Road Central and Queen's Road West Rumsey Street Shing Wong Street, a ladder street Tai Ping Shan Street, a popular shopping street Upper and Lower Lascar Row Wellington Street, Hong Kong Wing Lee Street Wing Lok Street Wing Sing Street Sheung Wan is served by the Sheung Wan Station the western terminus of the Island Line of the MTR metro system.
Kennedy Town became the new terminus of the Island on December 28, 2014. Trams run through Sheung Wan, one of the tram termini, Western Market, is located at the junction of Des Voeux Road Central and Morrison Street near its namesake; the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal in the Shun Tak Centre has ferries and helicopters to Macau and to several destinations in Mainland China. Numerous bus routes run through Sheung Wan. Central Bus Terminus, located next to the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal, is one of the largest bus termini on Hong Kong Island; the head office of Wing On is in Wing On Centre in Sheung Wan. Due to the high French expatriate population, the French International School of Hong Kong operated a Kindergarten campus in Shops 2-4 on the ground floor of Tung Fai Gardens in Sheung Wan. Central and Western Heritage Trail: Sheung Wan Route Dr Sun Yat-sen Historical Trail List of areas of Hong Kong
Western world
The Western world known as the West, refers to various nations depending on the context, most including at least part of Europe and the Americas, with the status of Latin America in dispute. There are many accepted definitions, all interrelated; the Western world is known as the Occident, in contrast to the Orient, or Eastern world. Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome are considered to be the birthplaces of Western civilization: the former due to its impact on philosophy, democracy and art, building designs and proportions, architecture. Western civilization is founded upon Christianity, in turn shaped by Hellenistic philosophy and Roman culture; the ancient Hellenes had been affected by ancient Near East civilizations, including Judaism and Early Christianity. In the modern era, Western culture has been influenced by the Renaissance, the Ages of Discovery and Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolutions. Through extensive imperialism and Christianization by Western powers in the 15th to 20th centuries, much of the rest of the world has been influenced by Western culture.
The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in the theological and emphatical division between the Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. West was literal, opposing Catholic Europe with the cultures and civilizations of Orthodox Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the remote Far East, which early-modern Europeans saw as the East. By the mid-20th century. Worldwide export of Western culture went through the new mass media: film and television and recorded music, while the development and growth of international transport and telecommunication played a decisive role in modern globalization. In modern usage, Western world sometimes refers to Europe and to areas whose populations originate from Europe, through the Age of Discovery. Western culture was influenced by many older great civilizations of the ancient Near East, such as Phoenicia, Ancient Israel, Minoan Crete, Sumer and Ancient Egypt, it originated in its vicinity.
Over time, their associated empires grew first to the east and west to include the rest of Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal areas and absorbing. They expanded to the north of the Mediterranean Sea to include Western and Southeastern Europe. Christianization of Ireland, Christianization of Bulgaria, Christianization of Kievan Rus', Christianization of Scandinavia and Christianization of Lithuania brought the rest of present-day European territory into Western civilization. Historians, such as Carroll Quigley in "The Evolution of Civilizations", contend that Western civilization was born around AD 500, after the total collapse of the Western Roman Empire, leaving a vacuum for new ideas to flourish that were impossible in Classical societies. In either view, between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Renaissance, the West experienced a period of first, considerable decline, readaptation and considerable renewed material and political development; this whole period of a millennium is known as the Middle Ages, its early part forming the "Dark Ages", designations that were created during the Renaissance and reflect the perspective on history, the self-image, of the latter period.
The knowledge of the ancient Western world was preserved during this period due to the survival of the Eastern Roman Empire and the introduction of the Catholic Church. Since the Renaissance, the West evolved beyond the influence of the ancient Greeks and Romans and the Islamic world, due to the successful Second Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial revolutions peaked with the 18th century's Age of enlightenment, through the Age of exploration's expansion of peoples of Western and Central European empires the globe-spanning colonial empires of 18th and 19th centuries. Numerous times, this expansion was accompanied by Catholic missionaries, who attempted to proselytize Christianity. There is debate among some as to. Whether Russia should be categorized as "East" or "West" has been "an ongoing discussion" for centuries; the term "Western culture" is used broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, specific artifacts and technologies.
Western culture may imply: a Biblical Christian cultural influence in spiritual thinking and either ethic or moral traditions, around the Post-Classical Era and after. European cultural influences concerning artistic, folkloric and oral traditions, whose themes have been further developed by Romanticism. A Graeco-Roman Classical and Renaissance cultural influence, concerning artistic, philosophic and legal themes and traditions, the cultural social effec
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin abbreviated to pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China and to some extent in Taiwan. It is used to teach Standard Mandarin Chinese, written using Chinese characters; the system includes four diacritics denoting tones. Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters; the pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang, based on earlier forms of romanizations of Chinese. It was published by revised several times; the International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as an international standard in 1982, was followed by the United Nations in 1986. The system was adopted as the official standard in Taiwan in 2009, where it is used for international events rather than for educational or computer-input purposes, but "some cities and organizations, notably in the south of Taiwan, did not accept this", so it remains one of several rival romanization systems in use.
The word Hànyǔ means'the spoken language of the Han people', while Pīnyīn means'spelled sounds'. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing; this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, issued his Xi Ru Ermu Zi at Hangzhou. Neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing dynasty scholar-official, Fang Yizhi; the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the stunning effect of the kana syllabaries and Western learning there; this galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script.
While Song did not himself create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, further improved by Herbert Giles in the Chinese–English Dictionary of 1892, it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. In the early 1930s, Communist Party of China leaders trained in Moscow introduced a phonetic alphabet using Roman letters, developed in the Soviet Oriental Institute of Leningrad and was intended to improve literacy in the Russian Far East; this Sin Wenz or "New Writing" was much more linguistically sophisticated than earlier alphabets, but with the major exception that it did not indicate tones of Chinese. In 1940, several thousand members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Society's new journal.
Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Fo. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, some contemporary Chinese literature, a spectrum of textbooks. In 1940, the movement reached an apex when Mao's Border Region Government declared that the Sin Wenz had the same legal status as traditional characters in government and public documents. Many educators and political leaders looked forward to the day when they would be universally accepted and replace Chinese characters. Opposition arose, because the system was less well adapted to writing regional languages, therefore would require learning Mandarin. Sin Wenz fell into relative disuse during the following years. In 1943, the U. S. military engaged Yale University to develop a romanization of Mandarin Chinese for its pilots flying over China. The resulting system is close to pinyin, but does not use English letters in unfamiliar ways. Medial semivowels are written with y and w, apical vowels with r or z.
Accent marks are used to indicate tone. Pinyin was created by Chinese linguists, including Zhou Youguang, as part of a Chinese government project in the 1950s. Zhou is called "the father of pinyin," Zhou worked as a banker in New York when he decided to return to China to help rebuild the country after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he became an economics professor in Shanghai, in 1955, when China's Ministry of Education created a Committee for the Reform of the Chinese Written Language, Premier Zhou Enlai assigned Zhou Youguang the task of developing a new romanization system, despite the fact that he was not a professional linguist. Hanyu Pinyin was based on several existing systems: Gwoyeu Romatzyh of 1928, Latinxua Sin Wenz of 1931, the diacritic markings from zhuyin. "I'm not the father of pinyin," Zhou said years later. It's a lo
Mid-Levels
Mid-Levels is an affluent residential area on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. It is located between Victoria Central. Residents are predominantly more affluent Hong Kong locals and expatriate professionals; the Mid-Levels is further divided into four areas: Mid-Levels West, Mid-Levels Central, stretching from Garden Road in the west to Happy Valley in the east), Mid-Levels East, Mid-Levels North. Aside from the panoramic view of Victoria Harbour or the rest of the city or both, it is close to Central and Admiralty, which are both significant business areas, thus providing easy and convenient access for the business people living in Mid-Levels. An added attraction of the Mid-Levels is its close proximity to nature and comparatively better air quality than many parts of the Hong Kong Island. Many wealthy people in Hong Kong are willing to pay higher residential property price for a residence, away from pollution and yet remain so close to the centre of the city. Many streets are named after former Governors of Hong Kong.
Examples include Kennedy Road. Many of the roads in this area are within walking distance of the Central Business District, accessible by the Mid-Levels escalator from Central. Many choices for housing are available, from ultra-luxurious apartments to compact, near-luxury apartments; the costs of these apartments vary according to the size and age of the building. The cost ranges from the high ten million dollars to over five hundred million Hong Kong dollars for an apartment in a Frank Gehry-designed building. Many prestigious colleges and schools can be found in Mid-Levels, including the University of Hong Kong, St Francis' Canossian College, Island School, King's College, Ying Wa Girls' School, St. Paul's Co-educational College and St. Joseph's College, to name a few. Hong Kong Park, 80,000 m2 in area, is located next to Cotton Tree Drive in Central. There are modern facilities surrounded by a natural landscape; the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens is one of the oldest Zoological and Botanical centres in the world.
It is located on the northern slope of Victoria Peak and has been opened to the public since 1862. In 1871, it was renamed to Botanical Gardens, in 1975, the name was changed again to Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens; this venerable park was named Bing Tao Garden, meaning the Chief Commander's Garden. It was linked to the garden of the Government House. In 1941, a bronze statue of King George VI was erected in the garden to mark the centenary year in which Hong Kong became a British Colony. Keeping wild animals in the garden can be traced as early as 1876. At that time, animals were kept for entertainment. From 1970s, the emphasis changed to techniques in captive breeding and conservation breeding programmes for zoological collection. Today, the garden has a collection of over 600 birds, 70 mammals and 40 reptiles which are housed in about 40 enclosures; the collection includes orangutans and other primates. There is an active breeding programme for many of these species, notably the orangutans and lemurs which breed in captivity.
The garden keeps for more than 1000 species of inland plant such as conifer, palm, gum trees and magnolia. Besides, a greenhouse at the eastern boundary of the garden houses over 150 native and exotic species including orchids, bromeliads and house plants etc. Lung Fu Shan Country Park covers the densely vegetated slopes of Lung Fu Shan, including the disused Pinewood Battery and the Pinewood Garden picnic area, providing a scenic backdrop to the residential and commercial districts of Hong Kong Island, it is situated at the north of Pok Fu Lam Country Park. Towards the east of Lung Fu Shan Country Park is Hatton Road, to the south is Harlech Road whereas to the north and west is a covered conduit constructed by the Water Supplies Department; this country park covers an area of about 470,000 m2 and commands an excellent vista of the western part of the territory and the Victoria Harbour. Wan Chai Nature Trail is a short footpath and it only takes about 2 hours to complete. Along the way, one can gain knowledge about nature concerning biological and geographical aspects.
Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, a branch museum of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, is located at the Hong Kong Park. The building was built in the 1840s, served as the office and residence of the Commander of the British Forces in Hong Kong, it was converted to the Museum of Tea Ware in 1984, with a new wing, the K. S. Lo Gallery, constructed in 1995. Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware specialises in the collection and display of tea ware; the museum promotes Chinese tea drinking culture through many exhibitions. There are video programmes and audio guides conducted in Cantonese and Japanese, regular presentations and lecture programmes, free guided tours for the visiting tourists; the Chinese Teahouse, a part of the museum, holds serving tea demonstrations regularly. The Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre is located at Kennedy Road in Central, with the main aim of supporting local art creation; the centre was restructured from an early 20th
Admiralty, Hong Kong
Admiralty is the eastern extension of the central business district on the Hong Kong Island of Hong Kong. It is located on the eastern end of the Central and Western District, bordered by Wan Chai to the east and Victoria Harbour to the north; the name of Admiralty refers to the former Admiralty Dock in the area. The dock was demolished when land was reclaimed and developed northward as the naval base HMS Tamar; the Chinese name, Kam Chung, lit. "Golden Bell", refers to a gold-coloured bell, used for timekeeping at Wellington Barracks. The area was developed as a military area by the British military in the 19th century, they built the Wellington Barracks, Murray Barracks, Victoria Barracks and Admiralty Dock at the site. Following the urbanisation of the north shore of Hong Kong Island, the military area split the urban area; the Hong Kong Government tried many times to get the land from the British military to connect the two urban areas, but the military refused. It was not until the 1970s that the land was returned to government and changed to commercial buildings and gardens.
The Admiralty Station of the MTR was built on the former site of the Hong Kong dockyards, built in 1878 and demolished in the 1970s. After its completion, the area became known as Admiralty, rather than Central. During the 2014 Hong Kong protests, substantial tracts of the area were occupied by suffragists, who dubbed it Umbrella Square. Buildings in Admiralty consist of office buildings, government buildings, shopping malls and hotels. There are several parks in the area: Hong Kong Park, Tamar Park and Harcourt Garden; the main development of the area in recent years has been the development of the Tamar site into the Central Government Complex, which started operating in 2011. Facing Victoria Harbour, the complex houses the Office of the Chief Executive, the Legislative Council Complex and the Central Government Offices; as one of the main financial areas in Hong Kong, there are plenty of Grade-A commercial buildings in Admiralty including: Admiralty Centre Bank of America Tower British Consulate General Hong Kong Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building CITIC Tower Far East Financial Centre High Court Building Lippo Centre, which houses the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office Pacific Place, a complex featuring a shopping mall, several hotels and office towers, that opened in Admiralty in phases between 1988 and 1991.
The complex is connected to the MTR Admiralty Station via an underground walkway. A phase, Three Pacific Place, is located in Wan Chai Queensway Government Offices Queensway Plaza, a shopping centre located above Admiralty Station United Centre Queensway and Harcourt Road are the major roads in the area. Both roads run from west to connect Central to Wan Chai. Other streets include Tim Mei Avenue. Trams are running across Admiralty along Queensway. Most of the buildings of the area are connected through the Central Elevated Walkway, an extensive footbridge network which extends to the western part of Central; the area is served by the peaktram and Admiralty Station of the MTR. It is an interchange station between Tsuen Wan Line and South Island Line, it is planned to be the terminus of the future Sha Tin to Central Link. The Admiralty Public Transport Interchange, a major bus terminus, is located above the station. Major corporations headquartered in Admiralty include: Everbright International, in the Far East Finance Centre List of buildings and areas in Hong Kong Central and Wan Chai Reclamation