History of Queen's Pier

Queen's Wharf was formerly the Queen's Statue Wharf, a simple wooden berth built around the beginning of the 20th century. The mooring is named after it is located in front of Statue Square, so the "Queen" actually refers to Queen Victoria. In 1921, the then Harbor Engineering Office decided to rebuild the pier, and it was renamed Queen's Pier by the Hong Kong Legislative Council on July 31, 1924. The pier was completed in October 1925, and its location is near today's Statue Square and Queen's Row (the current site of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong). At that time, Queen's Pier had arches and columns, and the upper cover was made of steel and concrete piles. It cost HK$200,000 to build. The British flag was also flown on the pier.

The Queen's Pier at that time was not open to the public, but was exclusively used by the Governor of Hong Kong and major British officials when traveling to and from Hong Kong, and at the same time, welcome or farewell ceremonies were held. The first user of Queen's Pier was the Governor of Hong Kong, Stuart Stuart, when he left Hong Kong at the end of his term of office on October 31, 1925. The first Hong Kong Governor to disembark at Queen's Pier was Clementi who took office in November of the same year. In addition, Queen's Pier held a parade in 1928 to celebrate the birthday of King George V, and later there were also activities to celebrate the birthday of the Queen. In April 1953, due to the reclamation project in Central, Queen's Pier and the Star Pier were relocated to their current location. The new Queen's Pier was officially put into use in late 1953 and was fully open to the public. The old Queen's Pier was officially demolished in February 1954, and a superstructure was built on the new pier. The opening ceremony of the new Queen's Pier was officially held on June 28 of the same year by Karen Graham, wife of the then Hong Kong Governor Grantham.

In the colonial era, Queen's Pier was used by Hong Kong government officials and members of the British royal family. The tradition of successive Governors taking office is to arrive in Central on the Governor's yacht (called "Lady Mulan" from Brickey), disembark at Queen's Pier, hold an inauguration ceremony such as a welcome and military parade in Edinburgh Square, and then go to the Hong Kong Assembly Take the oath. In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II visited Hong Kong for the first time. After landing at Kai Tak Airport on the afternoon of May 4, she took the "Lady Mule" across Victoria Harbor and landed at Queen's Pier.

On the other hand, Queen's Pier was also the end point of cross-harbour swimming in Hong Kong in the past. In 2000, Queen's Pier was required to cooperate with the Hong Kong government's Central reclamation plan, so it was decided to be demolished together with the Star Pier after the new Central Pier was opened in November 2006. However, the demolition period of Queen's Pier is longer than that of the Star Pier. Hong Kong civil society groups are now working with district councilors to block the demolition decision. Several groups will launch a candlelight rally called "A Starry Christmas" in Edinburgh Place at 8pm on Christmas Eve, December 24, demanding that the government restore Edinburgh Place Pier and strive to retain the soon-to-be-demolished Queen's Pier.

As of August 1, there are still more than a dozen people who are fighting to retain Queen’s Pier sitting in sit-ins, sleeping in the open, and holding photo exhibitions and signature events at the pier. Movie star Chow Yun-fat even arrived at Queen's Pier in the early morning of April 28, 2007 to sign a petition in support of retaining the pier. On July 27, 2007, three pier conservationists announced that they would hold an indefinite sit-in and hunger strike starting at 4:30 pm on the same day until the government promised to retain the Queen's Pier at its original site. At 8:53 that night, the Government Development Bureau issued a press release to the media stating that it did not agree with the hunger strike of the conservation pier people. Conservationists point out that there is no need for the government to spend NT$50 million in public funds to demolish the Queen's Pier and the huge cost. Instead, it can spend only NT$10-20 million to carry out supporting projects for the Queen's Pier. The supporting project will not hinder the Central reclamation project, retain the pier and save a large amount of public funds. The Development Bureau claimed that the delay in handing over the Queen's Pier site would stall the third phase of the Central Reclamation Project and may lead to daily claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the same time, it was pointed out that laser scanning of the pier has been carried out, and the three-dimensional images and plans of the pier have been stored. The non-structural parts of the pier will be dismantled one by one later. The dismantling and storage process will be completed within 4 months. But the restructuring plan is still pending.

On the afternoon of July 30, 2007, the Lands Department sent personnel to post a notice on the railings of Queen's Pier, stating that the demonstrators camping on the pier were illegally occupying government land, and required them to close the door at midnight on August 1. Leave before 12. LAND (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ORDINANCEChapter 28 of The Laws of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region)

NOTICE UNDER SECTION 6(1)

LOCATION Government Land at Queen's Pier, Central, Hong Kong.

TAKE NOTICE that the Authority designated pursuant to section 3 of above Ordinance HEREBY REQUIRES occupiers of the land upon which this notice is posted, begin unleased and occupied otherwise than under a licence, deed or memorandum of appropriation, to cease such ossupation before 1st August 2007.

Dated 30th July 2007

Time 3：00pm

(signed) (Franklin TANG) for Director of Lands

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Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance

(Chapter 28 of the Laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region)

Notices under Section 6(1)

This Department has discovered that the government land located at Queen's Pier in Central, Hong Kong, where this notice is posted, is unleased government land and is being illegally occupied by persons who do not hold a government land license, land allocation deed or land allocation memorandum. Therefore, the competent authority designated in accordance with section 3 of the above-mentioned Ordinance hereby orders the above-mentioned occupier to cease occupying the land before August 1, 2007.

Director of Lands

(acting for Tang Kin-man)

July 30, 2007 3:00 pm July 2007 On the 31st, the Hong Kong High Court accepted the judicial review application of local action members He Lai and Zhu Kaidi to prevent the government from demolishing Queen's Pier. Judge Lam Man-han pointed out that two of the grounds in the application were legally controversial and therefore accepted the judicial review application and scheduled it to 2007. The trial begins on August 7. At present, the government regards the Antiquities Advisory Committee as a decision-maker at one time and as an advisory body at another. Li Luyan, a member of the Antiquities Advisory Committee, said he hopes that this judicial review can clarify the role of the committee. However, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government immediately stated that it would launch a clearing operation as usual after midnight to recover the land from the contractor; however, the government and the police did not conduct a clearing operation at midnight. They would clear the site from 11 a.m. to the afternoon. The rooftop was cleared from 6:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.