Today, Tai Ping Shan Street is well known for its contemporary art, with plenty of pop-up galleries and other specialty retailers offering their wares to shoppers passing by.

[1] Tai Ping Shan (太平山) is an alternative name to Victoria Peak, and literally means "Peace Hill".

After the cession of Hong Kong Island from Qing China to the British in the 1840s, British forces made garrison here and later the government relocated all Chinese residents in Choong Wan to the area surrounding Tai Ping Shan Street.

The Chinese writer Wang Tao wrote in 1860 that the street was full of brothels: "gaudy houses, sporting brightly painted doors and windows with fancy curtains".

The Hong Kong Government soon implemented a series of measures including cleaning of street, demolishing residences to build Blake Garden, and establishing the Bacteriological Institute.