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Entrace of World Trade Center, Hong Kong

The World Trade Centre (Chinese: 世貿中心) was the name of one of the portfolio of buildings owned in Hong Kong by Jardines through its property development arm, Hongkong Land, and is also connected via passageway to its neighbor, The Excelsior It has since been sold to Sun Hung Kai Properties. It is situated on land owned by Jardines since the early days of Hong Kong as a British Crown Colony at East Point in the area now known as Causeway Bay, where Jardines had their original godowns and offices.

Located at 280 Glouster Road, World Trade Centre was built in the 1970s. Although it originally housed the nightclub Palace Theatre (Chinese: 碧麗宮), it was later remodeled to be Hong Kong's most luxurious cinema of the same name. The food and beverage corporation Maxim also established a restaurant branch in the building, and garnered relative fame at the time.

In the 1990s, the World Trade Centre was sold to Sun Hung Kai Properties and was remodeled again to its present form, with the lower floors as a mall and the upper floors remaining as office space.

After being converted from a nightclub, Palace Theatre Cinema was opened on November 14, 1979 by Shaw Brothers Studio. The cinema was regarded as one of the most extravagant in Hong Kong; where as normal prime seats would cost 10 Hong Kong Dollars (HKD), the cheapest seat in Palace Theatre costs 12 HKD. The 1060 larger and wider seats, the luxurious lobby, and the middle to upper class clientele signaled the birth of high-end theatres for Hong Kong movie-goers.

The films shown were primarily from the West; the first film was Aliens. In 1981, Palace Theatre showed Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve, which remained in theatres for 223 days, a record length for Hong Kong at the time. Between the period of September 12, 1981 and April 22, 1982, the box office at Palace Jade made 9.38 million HKD, also establishing a new record for foreign movies ^[1]. Among other films, Palace Jade showed American Gigolo and A Clockwork Orange exclusively.

The World Trade Centre can be reached through exit D1 in MTR's Causeway Bay station.

• ^ Apple Daily, 2004-10-12

• Information of WTC on SHKP website

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