ENG-1971 — Page 174

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ts survival since the early days of the Colony earns Cat Street the title of 'the street with nine lives'. Soon this quaint thoroughfare will embark on another of those lives when it figures in Hong Kong's first organised scheme of urban renewal. Cat Street's whereabouts are often as puzzling to local residents as to new arrivals, because the name does not exist on the official city map. Infact, it is a com- bination of Upper Lascar Row and Lower Lascar Row, linked by Ladder Street. This is the area that has been frequented by genera- tions of antique buyers and, in a roundabout way, it is these shops which gave the street its name-as a good place to 'catch' a bargain. There was also another alias at one time-'Thieves Market'. It was said of Cat Street in those days that you could lose your watch at one end and, still ignorant of the loss, discover it on sale at the other. Now as part of the Government's urban renewal scheme, many of the old shops and stall-lined alleyways are to disappear to make way for better living accommodation for the residents there. But there are plans to preserve, as much as possible, the charm and atmosphere of Cat Street so that it will continue to provide a link with the past. Opposite, the area contained in the white lines forms part of the urban renewal scheme.

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