Top 10 Hong Kong skyscraper nicknames, from the Big Syringe to the Hong Kong Finger
Hongkongers love nicknames, and Cantonese is a great descriptive language for their tongue-in-cheek humour. Here are our favourite names for the city’s most distinctive buildings
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is CY 2.0, and now also 777. John Tsang Chun-wah is Mr Pringles. Hongkongers – blessed with a sardonic sense of humour – love nicknames.
That’s why, every day, thousands go to work in the Big Syringe, the Amah’s Tooth and the Mousetrap. These are just a few of the city’s architectural landmarks that locals have affectionately nicknamed.
The pet names range from simply descriptive (the Chopsticks) to the more impolite (Hong Kong Finger), and often shed light on local culture, language and the use of feng shui.
Hongkongers have a particular affinity for their urban landscape, made clear by their concern with whether modern buildings are “blessed or cursed by the defensive or offensive powers of feng shui”, says Lee Ho-yin, head of architectural conservation programmes at University of Hong Kong.
A cluster of skyscrapers in Central are armed with “defensive” feng shui designs, he adds, from the Bank of China Building’s towering form as a long, sharp sword, to the two “cannons” atop HSBC’s headquarters.
The Bank of China building is known as “Chinese Silver Sword”, which is “something out of a Chinese martial arts novel”, Lee says.
