Avenue of Stars

The Avenue of Stars is Hong Kong's answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame: a waterfront promenade along the Tsim Sha Tsui shoreline where the handprints and signatures of Hong Kong film stars are set in bronze plaques in the paving, running for 440 metres along Victoria Harbour.

The promenade was relaunched in 2019 after a major revamp that added new digital installations, interactive features and improved public spaces, while retaining the iconic handprint plaques and the 2.2-metre bronze Bruce Lee statue that has been the most photographed piece of public art on the harbourfront since it was erected in 2005.

The view across the harbour from the Avenue of Stars is one of the most photographed urban panoramas in Asia: the sweep of Hong Kong Island's central business district rising from the water, the green ridge of the Peak above, the harbour itself crowded with vessels. At night the skyline becomes a wall of illuminated glass towers.

The nightly Symphony of Lights show — a Guinness World Record holder as the world's largest permanent light and sound show, running since 2003 — uses 44 buildings on both sides of the harbour as screens for sweeping lasers, LED beams and searchlights choreographed to music broadcast from speakers along the waterfront. The 8 pm show on the Avenue of Stars draws large crowds every night.

The Avenue of Stars is not primarily a museum experience — it is a public park integrated into the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, used by joggers, couples, tourists and film fans alike, with the Bruce Lee statue and the handprint plaques serving as anchors of local identity within a living public space.

The section near the Museum of Art and the Museum of History is the most historically rich: the handprint plaques here belong to the foundational figures of Hong Kong cinema — Chow Yun-fat, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung — creating a physical record of the industry's stars.

The 2019 revamp addressed earlier criticisms that the original promenade was disconnected from the city behind it; new lifts, escalators and walkway connections now link the harbourfront directly to the MTR station and the K11 Musea shopping complex above, making it far more accessible.

The Bruce Lee statue deserves its own attention: the 2.2-metre bronze figure in the Bruce Lee action pose has been on the promenade since 2005 and has become the primary photographic subject for visitors, who pose alongside it in a constant rotation. The statue was created by the Hong Kong Film Awards association and has become a de facto monument to both the actor and to Hong Kong cinema's global reach in the 1970s.

The 2019 redesign made significant improvements beyond cosmetics: the new walkway connections to the MTR station eliminated the previous awkward underpass approach, new seating areas were added along the waterfront, and the digital installations include interactive screens that allow visitors to learn about the film stars whose handprints are embedded in the promenade. The redesign won a landscape architecture award for integrating the public space more coherently with the surrounding Tsim Sha Tsui district.

The Avenue of Stars is the premier public waterfront space in Kowloon, offering the most expansive and unobstructed view of the Hong Kong Island skyline and Victoria Harbour from the Kowloon side.

The Bruce Lee statue and handprint plaques of Hong Kong film stars are unique cultural markers — there is no equivalent public monument to Hong Kong cinema anywhere else in the world.

The nightly Symphony of Lights multimedia show, recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's largest permanent light show, is a free daily spectacle that can be watched from the Avenue of Stars promenade.