If you never ventured much beyond the waterfronts of Victoria Harbour, you might easily believe that Hong Kong is nothing more than chrome-and-glass skyscrapers, huge housing projects, shopping malls, and miles of glowing neon signs heralding countless open-fronted shops.
But Hong Kong was inhabited long before the British arrived, and some precolonial Chinese architecture still survives in the hinterlands. Several rural villages boast buildings and temples with fine woodcarving, and are examples of centuries-old Chinese craftsmanship. Especially fascinating are the walled villages in the New Territories, a few of which are still inhabited, and one of which has been meticulously restored and turned into a museum of traditional lifestyles. These villages were built from the 14th through the 17th centuries by clan families to protect themselves from roving bandits, invaders, and even wild tigers. A few of the clans' ancestral halls, homes, and mansions also survive. Also surviving are some of Hong Kong's temples, most famous of which is Man Mo, built in the 1840s and dedicated to the gods of literature and war.
Some colonial architecture also remains. One of Hong Kong's most familiar landmarks is the clock tower next to the Star Ferry terminus at Tsim Sha Tsui; it is all that remains of the old railway station that once linked the colony with China and beyond. On the Hong Kong Island side, the former Supreme Court in Central features Greco-Victorian columns and Chinese wood beam eaves. Today it houses the Legislative Council chamber. Nearby, in Hong Kong Park, is the Flagstaff House, Hong Kong's oldest surviving colonial-style building and now home to a museum of tea ware.
Construction in Hong Kong has been going on at such a frenzied pace that if you haven't been here in 20 years (or even 10), you probably won't recognize the skylines on both sides of the harbor. Among the most dramatic buildings are the extension of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on reclaimed land on the Wan Chai waterfront, boasting the world's largest plate-glass window and a three-tiered roof said to resemble a gull's wings in flight; the 78-story Central Plaza, located near the Wan Chai waterfront and boasting an Art Deco style with eye-catching nighttime lighting that changes color with each quarter-hour, thereby giving the time; and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, designed by British architect Norman Foster and featuring entire floors suspended from steel masts and a 48m-tall (160-ft.) sun scoop on the roof that uses 480 mirrors to reflect sunlight down into the bank's atrium and public plaza. Atop Victoria Peak is the Peak Tower, topped by a crescent-shaped bowl not unlike a wok. But Hong Kong's tallest building is the Two IFC (International Finance Centre) tower, standing 420m (1,378 ft.) high beside Hong Kong Station and the fourth-tallest building in the world.
Even though Hong Kong's structures are Western, they were built using bamboo scaffolding and constructed according to ancient Chinese beliefs, especially the 3,000-year-old Taoist principle of feng shui that allows humankind to live in peace with the environment and nature, ensuring good luck, prosperity, wealth, health, and happiness. Even today, most office and apartment buildings in Hong Kong have been laid out in accordance to feng shui principles.
