When Hong Kong first opened up its port, Dent & Co. was the second biggest company in the colony, and its headquarter and the Taipan’s mansion were located at Spring Garden in Wan Chai. Following the bankruptcy of Dent & Co., the area around Spring Garden Lane and Sam Pan Street was re-built into rows of two- to three- storeys tenement buildings and western-style buildings. It had eventually developed into a habitat for the lower to middle class foreigners and Chinese, and gradually the hub of second-grade foreign prostitutes, who focused on the foreigners with lower buying power. For the convenience of sensuous pleasure seeking clients, the entrance of all brothels was marked with the street number in big English characters “No.” (number) . Hongkongers therefore referred to the brothels as “Big Number”, translating the phrase “Big Number” phonetically into Cantonese.

In Wan Chai, besides the “Big Numbers”, the waterfront along Lockhart Road was subsequently turned into a red-light district. Japanese prostitutes were most famous there. Later, during the Japanese Occupation, the district became the Japanese military officers’ land of wild fun and promiscuity every night. Today, Lockhart Road remains the red-light district of the city and is widely known as“the century-old traditions” of Wan Chai.