Hongkew

H4O1N1G2K5E1W4

proper noun

Synonym of Hongkou.

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Scrabble 18

Meanings

proper noun
  1. Synonym of Hongkou.

    Later this strip between the canal and the walls became the site of the French concession, while the American settlement (Hongkew) grew up on the northern side of the Soochow Creek.

    1968, “SHANGHAI (SHANG-HAI)”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 20, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 345, column 2
    3 more examples

    Almost invariably, the least affluent lived in an area of the International Settlement called Hongkew, a riverside section also heavily populated by Japanese. This was primarily a commercial area, not grand international commerce as on the Bund, but local trading: farmers' markets, hat shops, pickle shops, and Chinese and Japanese department stores. The cost of living in Hongkew was a third less than in other parts of the Settlement.

    1979, Marvin Tokayer, Mary Swartz, The Fugu Plan: the Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews during World War Two, published 1996, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 64

    Shanghai, and about half of the International Settlement, was now firmly controlled by the Japanese. The other half of the settlement, crowded with four million Chinese refugees,¹⁴ maintained a tenuous and uneasy independence. British, American, and other foreign troops patrolled opposite Japanese soldiers. Much of the city was in ruins; entire streets in Hongkew, one of the poorest sections of the city, had been turned into rubble and the lanes were filled with corpses.¹⁵ In the years that followed, as nations throughout the world continued to turn away Europe’s Jewish refugees, the city the Western powers had forced open a century earlier became the Jews’ only refuge. It had little else to offer them; most of the refugees were directed to Hongkew.

    1994, James Rodman Ross, Escape to Shanghai, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page xvi

    Alone and friendless, Jack Riley is holed up in the Young Allen apartments on the Chapoo Road, Hongkew. He is not so Lucky Jack now. Only the vast stretches of Shanghai’s Eastern District— Hongkew, Yangtzsepoo, the Northern External Roads—offer the possibility of sanctuary.

    2018, Paul French, City of Devils, Picador, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 11

    Synonyms: Hongkou

Synonyms & antonyms

proper nounSynonym of Hongkou.

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Origin

From Shanghainese 虹口 (3hhon kheu).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Hongkew. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hongkew

MLA

“Hongkew.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hongkew. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hongkew,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hongkew.

Source: Hongkew on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.