Statue Square

Statue Square is the large, open area linking the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank with the Cenotaph on Chater Road. This pretty area is today filled with fountains and seats and on Sundays, it is usually bursting with Filipino maids who gather here on their day off. These young women and girls are usually working in Hong Kong illegally and have families and children of their own to support at home. They meet up all over the city on Sundays and the numbers and noise are quite phenomenal. The base of the HKSB is another popular meeting spot.

The Square's statues were removed by the Japanese during WWII and only one, a bronze portrait of Sir Thomas Jackson, a former HKSB manager, has been returned to its original home.

The colonial domed building in the corner of the Square is the former Supreme Court and is now home to the Legislative Council (hence the name Legco Building). This is an attractive building which sits unobtrusively in an area otherwise dominated by modern designs. This 90 year old place is dwarfed but not overwhelmed, by the spectacular skyscrapers which look down on it.

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