The playground was originally called Wan Chai Children’s Playground and opened in 1934. It was later renamed after Sir Wilfred Thomas Southern, Hong Kong’s Colonial Secretary from 1925 to 1936.
A photo taken circa 1950 shows Southern Playground amid the row of tenements in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district. Photo courtesy Hong Kong Public LibraryFor history buffs, there’s an intriguing connection between this urban spot and Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). Southern and his future wife, Bella Woolf (sister-in-law of author Virginia Woolf), met there in the early 1900s. After moving to Hong Kong, they were inspired by the island nation’s vibrant rural expanses to open a children’s playground in Wan Chai. Southern Playground sees many daily foot traffic, some on their way to work. Photo courtesy Hsiao-Mei ChenIn the decades since it opened, the playground has played many different roles as Hong Kong has endured wars, periods of civil unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 1940, during the Second World War, the British colonial government built an air raid shelter in the school grounds to protect against Japanese air raids. The school grounds were damaged in air raids in the 1940s and had to be rebuilt.
Since then, the building has served as a gathering place where people can celebrate or protest.
A party was held in the playground to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s coronation on June 2, 1953. The auditorium was packed and the children were given free food and bottled drinks.
In 2018, protesters gathered at the playground to protest against then-Justice Minister Theresa Cheng Yuk-wah, who was implicated in a scandal involving illegal construction on some of her own land. After being used as a COVID-19 testing centre during the pandemic, Southern Playground now functions again as a leisure space for children and adults. Photo: Xiaomei Cheng
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, during which stadiums were transformed into COVID-19 testing centres and long queues were seen, during which the stands were closed to prevent people from congregating.
Today, the 96,000-square-foot (8,900-square-meter) playground, which includes four basketball courts and a soccer field, once again serves as a leisure venue for children and adults alike.
It’s open every day from 6am to 11.30pm and is frequented not only by athletes but also by office workers eating takeaway meals from nearby food vendors, sipping coffee, and retirees taking a walk, stretching or simply relaxing.
The bleachers near the playground’s soccer field offer unobstructed views of the sky — a rare sight in urban Hong Kong — and are a great place to people-watch. The park’s demographics change throughout the day.
A man sits in the shade at Southern Playground. Photo by Xiaomei Chen
When the park opens in the morning, most people are simply passing through, presumably on their way to work. There are joggers, older women strolling, people exercising and chatting, and small groups kicking and shooting footballs on the basketball court.
As the morning progresses, the space begins to bustle and continues to change energy and pace throughout the day.
The sports grounds are a convenient place to take a break for people who work nearby, and during weekday lunchtimes, office workers flock to the stadium, especially to the comfortable seating area where they can eat.
After the crowds cleared, the playground was filled mainly with people with nothing better to do, including elementary school children, some of whom split into small groups to play soccer or basketball.
Hong Kong locals playing basketball games are a common sight at Southern Playground. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Young children accompanied by adults run around chasing a ball, while the area around the soccer field is mainly occupied by elderly people.
Throughout the afternoon and early evening, football becomes the main activity on the playing field, as regular football players, usually older local men, congregate and greet each other loudly like old friends, often exchanging insults in Cantonese, but in a friendly manner of course.
At weekends, the playground’s clientele changes again. On Sundays, the park is filled with foreign domestic helpers who enjoy their week off in the shade of the bleachers. They meet up with friends and share food, ranging from Filipino dishes to Indonesian snacks such as shrimp chips.
No matter what day or time you come to people-watch at Southern Playground, one thing remains constant: Most of the people there are just having fun.
Easily accessible open spaces provide an escape for city dwellers where they can forget the stresses of city life, even if only for a short time.
