Photo Features

Central Mid-Levels Escalator

Along the steps

Photos & text by Polly Leung, Coni Tam, Jill Yung, Jennifer Zhang, Antony Tam
Graphics by Emily Wong

Linked with the old, shabby Central Market, surrounded by an incomplete construction site, here is the starting point of the modernized Central Mid-Levels Escalator.

With a length of 800 metres, it is longest covered outdoor escalator ever around the world. Though constructed in 1993, it still carries about 50,000 people each day now.

It goes downhill from six to ten o'clock in the morning and then operates uphill until ten at night.

Apart from its transportation function, the escalator maintains close connection within the community by offering 20 jump-off points. This congregates people from different walks of life.

“It is ideal to observe the differences in the surrounding community along the escalator,” said by Gavin Lam, a final year architectural student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong .

The journey of the escalator starts at the Central Market in Des Voeux Road Central, marked with urban commercial and old colonial buildings.

The second part goes to the SoHo District, a renowned area for delicacies from all over the world. This area features the convergence of both eastern and western architecture.

Indonesian restaurants, Spanish cafe, Chinese restaurants, Japanese sushi houses, and traditional Chinese grocery shops all stand in Hollywood Road .

This multi-cultural architecture adds colour to the district and attracts a great many tourists.

Edward and Jane Jenkins, a couple from Wales in the United Kingdom said, “We love to see the mixture of different architecture. This is the unique trait in the area.

Those old shops have a strong sense of Chinese culture, while those new shops are just like the buildings in some cosmopolitan cities such as New York and Sidney.”

The final part is the expensive high-class residential area in Mid-Levels, where blocks of skyscrapers are found.

“Although the design of most buildings is not magnificent except for the heights, they are still some of the most expensive estates in Hong Kong,” said Mr. Lam.