FLASHBACK

The first wet market to operate in Hong Kong was the Canton Bazaar, which developed in the 1840s on Queen’s Road Central. It was moved to Des Voeux Road in the 1850s and renamed Central Market. In 1895, a Victorian-style building ( pictured) replaced the existing structure; it was then replaced in the 1930s by the simple Bauhaus-style building of reinforced concrete that exists today. The Central Market Revitalisation Project (centralmarket.hk) is currently underway, with the aim of transforming the three-storey site into a “vibrant, bustling place” for meeting, eating and socialising.