[2] The settlement of Wan Chai began in pre-British times as a small Chinese community around the present Hung Shing Temple on Queen's Road East.
[4] Originally built next to the shoreline, facing the sea,[4] it is now surrounded by clusters of residential and commercial buildings, as the consequence of successive land reclamation.
[5] Queen's Road East was first developed into a European commercial and residential centre after the arrival of the British in 1841.
[1] The eastern part of the road was cut through Morrison Hill, which formerly separated Wanchai from Happy Valley.
Since Queen's Road East runs mostly along the original shoreline of Hong Kong Island, these streets have been built on early land reclamation.