Central-Mid-Levels Escalators

This guide to the Central-Mid-Levels Escalators follows filmmaker Wong Kar-wai, who came here a year after the system opened and declared it the most cinematic place in Hong Kong, shooting Chungking Express on these stairs and in the apartment beside them. It traces the escalators back to their 1993 opening as the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system, the budget overruns that drew criticism, and the daily schedule that has the whole network run downhill each morning before reversing at ten twenty. Listen for the quality of light Wong Kar-wai singled out as you ride.