Shopping in Hong Kong

Nathan Road

Nathan Road runs from the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront to Boundary Street — about 3.6 km — through Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and Prince Edward. It was first built in 1860 and called Robinson Road, then rebuilt and renamed in 1909 after Sir Matthew Nathan, Hong Kong's thirteenth governor. Government describes it as the oldest road on the Kowloon Peninsula.

Older accounts call it a "hundred fifty year-old section", which dates them rather than the road: on the official 1860 construction date it is about 166 years old. No official source consulted gives Sir Matthew Nathan's precise dates as governor.

The "Golden Mile" appears on no official page — not the tourist board's own Nathan Road page, not the government's listing. It is an informal name, and whether it is still in use could not be established.

Boundary Street, and the lease that was 99 years

Boundary Street marked the northern limit of the Kowloon Peninsula lease secured during the hostilities of 1859 and 1860; the Convention of Peking of 1860 then provided for Kowloon's outright cession rather than its lease.

The New Territories lease ran for 99 years, not 100, under a convention signed at Peking on 9 June 1898, with Britain taking over the New Territories in April 1899. The difference is small arithmetically and large historically, since the 99 years is what set 1997.

The Jade Market has moved

It is now at 251 Shanghai Street, Yau Ma Tei, having moved there in November 2020; it was first set up in 1984. Any account placing it at Kansu Street is describing where it used to be.

Jade Street is a separate thing and still where it was: the stretch of Canton Road between Kansu Street and Jordan Road, with jade products, ornaments, and jade and gemstone identification services.

The market is a hawker bazaar, listed by the hygiene department as the Yau Ma Tei Temporary Jade Hawker Bazaar. Its opening hours and stall count are not published in any official source that could be read, and the government's own page advises checking with the relevant departments. It also houses letter-writers, who offer Chinese calligraphy and help with forms and tax returns — a service worth knowing exists even if it is not what most visitors come for.

The night markets, and a claim that cannot be checked

Temple Street is operating, and what the official record shows is promotion rather than decline. A city-wide evening campaign launched on 14 September 2023, and a six-month Temple Street promotion followed from 15 December 2023: 22 food stalls plus about ten nostalgic-snack stalls near the archway at the Jordan Road entrance, food stalls open from 14:00 to 23:00, illuminated art installations, art projections, and extended Saturday opening at the Tin Hau Temple Complex. A second phase followed in 2024.

Whether the night markets have contracted is a different question, and the honest answer is that no official source says so either way. The claim is widely made; the tourist board's own material frames its work as adding momentum to an existing attraction and says nothing about decline. The Ladies' Market on Tung Choi Street appears in no official source consulted at all, so its current status, stall count and hours are simply unestablished.

Buying with some protection

Three layers exist, and together they are more use than any advice about haggling.

The Quality Tourism Services scheme has run since 1999, administered by the tourist board, covering retail, dining, visitor accommodation and hairdressing, with a stated accreditation, assessment and monitoring mechanism that includes surprise visits. Over 7,300 accredited outlets were reported at the time of a 2011 government statement; a current count could not be established, so that figure should be read with its date. Merchant categories include telecommunications and electronics — but jewellery is not a named category, which is worth knowing in a district that sells a great deal of it.

Since February 2011 the Consumer Council has handled visitors' complaints about their consumption in Hong Kong, including complaints involving accredited merchants. Complaints go through an online platform, by telephone, in person at its services centre, or through a messaging mini-programme. The Council conciliates rather than enforces — it has no investigation or adjudication powers — and an outcome may be an exchange, a free repair, a further discount or an extended warranty as readily as a refund. It asks for the transaction date, time and place, the trader's details, and supporting documents such as contracts, receipts, card slips or correspondence. Where conciliation fails, a claim can go to the Small Claims Tribunal, the District Court or the Court of First Instance, and a Consumer Legal Action Fund may assist.

Behind both sits the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, which prohibits false trade descriptions, misleading omissions, aggressive commercial practices, bait-and-switch, bait advertising and wrongly accepting payment, for services as well as goods. It is enforced by the Customs and Excise Department, and the amended provisions came into full operation on 19 July 2013.

The tax position

Hong Kong is a free port and levies no customs tariff on imports or exports, and excise duty applies to only four dutiable commodities — liquor, tobacco, hydrocarbon oil and methyl alcohol. There is no value-added or sales tax.

That is a statement about the tax system rather than about what anything costs, and it is the structural reason the city acquired its shopping reputation in the first place — not bargaining, and not any particular street.