Avenue of Stars

History & Context

The Avenue of Stars first opened to the public on 28 April 2004 along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, modeled loosely on the Hollywood Walk of Fame but built around Hong Kong’s own film industry — the plaques and handprints along the original walkway honored more than 100 actors, directors, and composers who shaped Cantonese and Mandarin cinema from the studio era onward. The promenade closed for a major redesign in 2015 and reopened on 31 January 2019, led by landscape architect James Corner — whose firm, Field Operations, designed New York’s High Line — working alongside Hong Kong-based Urbis Limited, LAAB, One Bite Design Studio, and Ronald Lu & Partners, within the wider Kohn Pedersen Fox masterplan for the adjoining Victoria Dockside development. The reopened 440-meter walkway added roughly 50 percent more public seating and an eightfold increase in greenery over the original design. Its best-known fixture is the bronze statue of Bruce Lee, sculpted by Cao Chong-en and unveiled in November 2005 rather than at the 2004 opening — a statue rather than a handprint, since Lee died in 1973, three decades before the promenade existed to honor him.

Architecture & Design

The redesign replaced much of the original concrete with a high-performance composite timber decking intended to reduce surface heat absorption along the exposed harbourfront. Shaded seating areas are integrated with native plant species, including Chinese banyan trees, reflecting a broader biophilic design brief for the Victoria Dockside precinct. The undulating, wave-form guardrails were shaped to improve pedestrian flow along the promenade’s length while keeping sightlines open across Victoria Harbour toward the commercial towers of Central and Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island — the same view that made the site attractive for waterfront redevelopment in the first place, since land reclaimed from the harbour here carries some of the highest commercial value per square meter in the territory.

Local Taste & Economic Context

The Avenue sits at the base of K11 MUSEA, part of the multi-billion-dollar Victoria Dockside redevelopment that reshaped this stretch of Tsim Sha Tsui from a transport-and-warehouse zone into a retail and cultural district — a deliberate economic bet by developer New World Development that culture and public space could anchor luxury retail rents rather than compete with them. Street-level food options skew toward that same positioning: K11 MUSEA’s basement food hall sells everything from Cantonese dim sum to imported pastry, while a short walk inland along Chatham Road South and Peking Road turns up cha chaan teng counters serving Hong Kong-style milk tea and egg tarts at prices closer to what Kowloon residents, rather than harbourfront tourists, actually pay.

Practical Information

Access to the promenade is direct via the MTR system. Commuters can exit at Tsim Sha Tsui Station (Tsuen Wan Line) or East Tsim Sha Tsui Station (Tuen Ma Line), following signage toward Salisbury Road and Victoria Dockside. The site operates daily from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM with no admission fee. The location also serves as one of the more reliable public viewing platforms for the nightly Symphony of Lights show over Victoria Harbour, staged at 8:00 PM, though the show’s format and sponsorship have changed more than once since its 2004 debut.