HF: While walking along the section of the Wong Nai Chung Tree Walk (part of the Wong Nai Chung Gap Trail) where it passes above the Hong Kong Cricket Club, on Saturday 6th January 2018, I came across the following Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department sign in front of a rather anonymous tree, a Reevesia (Reevesia thyrsoidea). Somewhat of a […]
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“Born and raised in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, at the heart of eastern China’s silk-producing Yangtze River Delta region, Zhao began his more than 40-year career as a ronghua creator as a 19 year old at a state-owned factory. The art of making ronghua – literally “velvet flower” – dates back to the Tang dynasty (618-907) and refers to the creation of not […]
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Thomas Ngan: Before Shek Pik Reservoir and the South Lantau Road were built, villagers travelled either by boat, or by ancient footpaths between major villages on Lantau. You might have heard a few months ago that some villagers of a few villages in the Tung Chung area blocked the footpath going through their villages. It was around the same month of […]
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‘Goldsmiths and jewellery makers flourished on Shanghai Street in the 1970s and ’80s, given their proximity to the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter and their target customers – the boat-dwelling Tanka people, who put on performances and sold food to locals and tourists. Wo Shing Goldsmith has been located on the street since 1892 and celebrates its 125th anniversary this […]
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Dan Waters writes: My first recollection of the name, ‘Hong Kong’, was as a teenager in the early 1930s. My uncle was a warrant officer in the British army and, for a time, he was stationed in India. Every Christmas a large, colourful blue-and-white porcelain jar of preserved ginger would arrive at our home in Norfolk, England. This had been […]
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In our Queries and Answers 5 Eric Spain had an enquiry about salt production in Mui Wo. He remembers seeing some RAF aerial photographs which showed salt pans there. [presumably immediately before, during or shortly after WW2?]. Frank Watson and Namussi added information to Q+A 5 which is linked below. HF: Further information can be found in a post I made on gwulo.com […]
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HF: The SCMP of 6th April 2016 contained an article about the preservation of Ho Hung Yee’s umbrella stall. It will be dismantled and “may” be permanently exhibited at the Hong Kong Museum of History. The article begins: “Atop the slopes of Central’s Peel Street, a modest crowd stood admiring a historic umbrella street stall for the last time on […]
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Lawrence Tsui: My father, Paul Tsui moved from Hong Kong Island to live in Fanling in 1925 when he was around ten. He spent his teenage years before the War growing up in Fanling, travelling daily on the KCR to go to Wah Yan College at Nelson Street in Mongkok. Incidentally, decades before the KCR was built [the “British Section” […]
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HF: Producing salt from the sea is one of the oldest industries in Hong Kong. I have information, however slight, that it was produced in at least these locations. Kwun Tong Mui Wo (Lantau) San Hui (Tuen Mun) Tai O ( Lantau) Yim Lin Ha (Sha Tau Kok – NE NT) Yim Tin Tsai (Sai Kung) Wong Ka Wai (Tuen […]
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IDJ wrote in reponse to our article, “Worst industrial jobs in UK’s history”, linked below – Hong Kong’s own list? “naturally Night Soil Collector. This task went on certainly during my time in HK primarily servicing Western District’s old properties with no drains or sewage pipe-work. I recall it was all dumped into barges at Kennedy Town and taken out to sea for dumping. […]
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