Гонконгтағы тарихи PMQ ғимараты

Historic building in Hong Kong

PMQ (formerly, Police Married Quarters) is the historic site of the old Hollywood Road Police Married Quarters, which is now a mixed use arts and design venue in Hong Kong, between Aberdeen Street, Staunton Street, Hollywood Road, and Shing Wong Street. The compound has been listed as a Grade III historic building since 2010. In 2014, after nearly 15 years of disuse, it was renamed PMQ and opened to the public. Its residential units were turned into exhibitions spaces, studios, shops and offices for creative enterprises.

The Central Government School was built on Gough Street in 1862 and was the first government primary and secondary school in Hong Kong which provided Western education to the public. In 1889, due to the increasing number of students, the school relocated to a new campus on Hollywood Road. Later on the school was renamed 'Victoria College', then Queen's College in 1894. At that time, the school was one of the largest and most expensive buildings in Hong Kong. Many local leaders and talent were nurtured at this school, including the Father of Modern China, Dr Sun Yat sen, and business tycoons such as Sir Robert Ho Tung. However, during the Japanese occupation in 1941, the building was destroyed. In 1948, the remaining building was demolished. In 1951, in order to increase police recruitment in response to the influx of Chinese immigrants after the Chinese Civil War, PMQ provided 140 single room units and 28 double room units for the rank and file officers serving at the nearby Central Police Station. Former Hong Kong Chief Executives C. Y. Leung and Donald Tsang have both lived there. In 2000, the building was emptied. In 2009, the 'Conserving Central' project mentioned in the Policy Address that eight heritage sites in Central including PMQ should be renovated. In April 2014, PMQ started to operate as a creative hub.

The original site area was around 6,000 square meters. After the revitalization, the total floor areas became 18,000 square meters. Because the location is near galleries and boutiques along Hollywood Road and SoHo, it was successful in attracting around 100 design galleries, shops, bookstores and office units. Moreover, there are 15 ‘pop up’ units for design exhibitions and outlets. The 1,000 square meter central courtyard has held events like "Panda mania" in 2014, with 1,600 paper versions of the endangered animal. To promote the historic background of PMQ, a tunnel allows visitors to go through the foundation of the former Victoria College.

PMQ organizes free arts programs, events and workshops every month. One special event is the monthly night market, which is divided into three parts: live band show, product design and food stalls. Some international exhibitions are held in PMQ also. Previously, there were an international exhibition called “1600 Pandas” organized by WWF. In order to raise people's awareness of protecting the environment, the exhibition displayed 1600 paper made pandas.