Arts and culture Wan Chai is a major hub of foreign and Chinese cultural institutions in Hong Kong. It is home to the French
Alliance Francaise, German and the
British Council (until 2001). Near the waterfront, there are the
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and
Hong Kong Arts Centre, two of the most popular venues for theatrical and cultural performances in Hong Kong. The Academy for Performing Arts is a higher education institution that trains musicians, performers, actors and dancers, as well as a public venue for drama, concerts, dance, and
musicals productions. Every year the academy produces a number of
Broadway musicals, including ''
Singin' in the Rain, Saturday Night Fever, and Annie''. The Arts Centre, just opposite to the academy, houses a studio theatre, art galleries, rehearsal rooms, the
Goethe-Institut and a restaurant overlooking the
Victoria Harbour. The
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), a HK$4.8 billion convention centre with an extension completed in 1997, covers over 16 acres (65,000 m2) of newly reclaimed land that added an extra 38,000 m2 of functional space to the existing convention centre. It remains a venue for international trade fairs, some of which are among the biggest in the world: the annual
Hong Kong Book Fair in July, food fair and festival, technology exhibitions, anime conventions and
cosplay competitions.
Dining •
Cha chaan teng are local-styled
fast-food restaurants, and
Chinese pastry. Many of the restaurants can be found all along
Jaffe Road. Numerous
tea shops offer cheap
Chinese herbal tea, like
leong cha (
lit. cool tea) and
24-mei. •
Dai pai dong, open-air restaurants in a big tent, is another classic restaurant type that appeared in Wan Chai. Despite the often unclean and uncomfortable eating conditions, many people are attracted to the freshly made
steamed rice roll,
congee and
chow mein early in the morning. Due to
urban renewal projects in recent years, most of these restaurants are fading away. •
Yum Cha, is the name associated with having
dim sum, e.g.
Fook Lam Moon restaurant. People usually have "
one bowl with two pieces" (, meaning a cup of tea with two dim sums) for breakfast. There were three old-styled dims restaurants remaining in Wan Chai, namely
Lung Mun,
Lung To, and
Lung Tuen.
Lung Mun, the last of the trio, closed on 30 November 2009. A number of
Buddhist cuisine restaurants are also available in the area. • The
1980s also saw an expansion of
Western-cuisine restaurants in Wan Chai. Nowadays,
Japanese,
Korean,
Vietnamese,
Thai and
Indian restaurants are all very common. There are also many
fast food restaurants serving
Cantonese and other Chinese dishes, including the franchised
Maxim's and
Café de Coral.
Jaffe Road and Lockhart Road are famous for pubs.
Bar district The area towards the western end of
Lockhart Road, including a small part of the parallel
Jaffe Road, is one of Hong Kong island's two main bar districts (the other being the more upmarket
Lan Kwai Fong in Central). Once considered primarily as a
red light district, this area is now more diverse with bars, pubs, restaurants and
discos. A number of the raunchier bars still remain; however, their doorways festooned with women from
Thailand and the
Philippines. The famous novel and film
The World of Suzie Wong sets many scenes in this area. The bar district has been popular with visiting sailors and navies, when Fenwick Pier, west of the
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, was in use as a military pier.
Recreational activities Southorn Playground on Johnston Road (the tram line) is a meeting place for the locals in Wan Chai, particularly the senior residents. During the prime years of the British colonial administration,
coolie workers would convene at the playground in the morning to await employment opportunities. In the evening, the playground became an open-air pitch where people sold food, performed
magic and
kung fu. Some of those trademark activities still exist through today: senior citizens socialise and play
Chinese chess, young people at school play
football and
basketball, ad-hoc street basketball games that attract flocks of spectators and players. Occasionally, the entire playground is used for carnival fairs, three-player drill basketball contests and
hip hop dance competitions.
Religious diversity Wan Chai's places of worship represent
Buddhism,
Taoism,
Catholicism,
Protestantism, Christianity,
Mormonism,
Sikhism, and
Islam. Despite the wide variety, many religious structures are located in close proximity to each other.
Hung Shing Temple, for example, is a typically
Taoist temple. Inside, there are
Buddhist Kwun Yum chapels next to the main altar. People coming to worship
Hung Shing Ye could also burn
joss sticks to Kwun Yum as well.
Villain hitting is another blended ceremony, combining in different proportions
Confucianism,
Taoism, and
folk religion. Some old female "psychics" perform this ancient ceremony under the
Canal Road Flyover in particular days of a lunar month. The Wan Chai
Khalsa Diwan Sikh Temple is the biggest
Sikh temple in Hong Kong. The Asia
Area Office of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with chapels where multiple congregations meet throughout the week, is on
Gloucester Road. ==Tourism and landmarks==