Chung Ying Street

Chung Ying Street [Photo/VCG]

Chung Ying Street can be seen as a border line between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland on the map, because one side of the street is a part of Hong Kong and the other is of the Chinese mainland. 

In Cantonese, Chung means China and Ying means the United Kingdom. The name reflects the history of the Second Convention of Peking, a treaty in which  China under the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was forced to lease New Territories to Britain in 1899.

At the time, the street was a river and the British used the high water mark as the border. However, the river was too shallow at the section of Sha Tau Kok and dried up before the onset of World War II. The residents on both dried river sides then erected their shops for trade purposes. The dried river was then renamed to Chung Hing Street, and later renamed to Chung Ying Street. 

Boundary monument of Chung Ying Street [Photo/VCG]

Chung Ying Street was once a famous place for shopping. In the 1990s, when China was still closed to the world, Chinese tourists visited to buy foreign goods, mainly watches, clothes and jewelry. However, its prosperity declined in recent years due to the policy that most people from the Chinese mainland can apply to visit Hong Kong directly. 

Nowadays, Chung Ying Street has been transformed into a sight-seeing place. Tourists can fully appreciate its rich cultural relics and deposits. For visitors, Boundary Monuments, Historical Museum, Warning Bell, Ancient Well and Banyan Tree are must-sees on this street.

Visitors go shop at the Chung Ying Street. [Photo/VCG]

Address: Shatoujiao Town, Yantian District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. 

Open time: 9am - 9pm

Ticket: 25 yuan ($3.67)/person for non-residents (with the permission of Chinese authority)

Tips:

1. Cosmetics, daily necessities, foods and digital products here are cheaper and good for shopping.

2. Tourists cannot easily enter the street from Hong Kong, thus it is recommended to enter from the Shenzhen side.

3. Tourists need identity cards or passports to apply for a frontier pass on the spot before exiting.