Journey to Nowhere

In Central, Hong Kong, there survives a sunset industry – shoe polishing. Understandably, the shoeblacks are all old men in their 60s and 70s. As their customers are mainly businessmen, they all work in Central, Hong Kong’s financial district.

They don’t have a stall or a shop. They work in the broad light and in the open air, and in the heat or in the cold, depending on the season.  Just use a block of wood/cement as the stand for the customers to put their shoes on, and they can ply their trade.

Most of them work in the Theatre Lane, Central. Take exit D2 of MTT Central Station. Turn right and you will come to the Threatre Lane.

They have been working without a license over the years. Lately, the government is under pressure to legalize the trade, as, according to their advocates, they have become an integral part of the Central landscape.

I salute to these people, not because they are part of the Central landscape, helping to promot Hong Kong’s tourism, but because they are hard working ordinary people, working to the very old age, in a job that the young don’t want to do, just to earn a meagre sum of money to make a living.  They show their dignity for life.

Do you know that Hong Kong has its own city flower? It is bauhinia. It became Hong Kong’s city flower in 1965, and the flag representing Hong Kong as the Special Administrative Region of China has bauhinia flower on it.

There is reason for the flower to be the city flower of Hong Kong. It was here in Hong Kong the flower was first planted by a French missionary, which was later spread to all over the world.

The flower blooms from November/December to April each year in Hong Kong. So it is now time to see its beauty.

Here are some good spots to see the city flower:

Kowloon Tsai Park: The park is in the kowloon walled city area. It has a bauhinia garden where a a very big lawn is accompanied by trees of bauhinia. The park was recently permitted to hold civil wedding ceremony.

How to get there: Take bus (Kowloon Bus) No.1 from the star ferry pier in Tsim Sha Tsui and get off at DUMBARTON ROAD station. It takes 35 minutes and costs about HK$5.

Kowloon Walled City Park: this park is near Kowloon Tsai Park. It has a path flanked by beautiful bauhinia trees.

How to get there: Just take bus No.1. as mentioned above, and get off one stop later, at Walled City Park. Or you take minibus No.39 from Lok Fu MTR station. It is just a 15-minute bus ride and costs HK$2.8.

These two parks are in the so called Kowloon walled city area, where the old Hong Kong airport Kai Tak was located. It is an area crowded with restaurants, particularly thai restaurants. So aftering touring the parks, you can have some delicious thai food in one of the restaurants.

This rare footage featuring Hong Kong in 1938 with rickshaws, cheongsams, colonial buildings, the ordinary folk, pristine nature, is a strong reminder of Hong Kong’s past and the long way it has come. Hong Kong is still a wonderful place, but looking at the footage, I cannot help but think how much of the beautiful landscape the city once had, has been lost for the sake of economic development. 

The harbor was once so wide, teeming with fishing boats with sails – Hong Kong today has a narrow harbor with a re-made sailing fishing boat for tourist attraction only.  Many of the colonial and traditional arcade buildings have obviously been torn down. 

Some heritage remains though, like the Peak Tram. It stands the test of times – the track and the tram look just like today. So does the current Legislative Council building and the adjacent square in Central.

Take a look at this extraordinary clip about Hong Kong in the late 40s. You will be entertained and delightfully surprised.

If you have ever been to Hong Kong, you may still recall the city’s harbor skyline, especially after dark. Hong Kong’s harbor night view is breathtaking.

But when you see these photos, you will have to sigh.

These are the photos I took when I visited the Central harbor yesterday - only to find the harbor slipping away with a large swathe of land being reclaimed, extending all the way from the Post Office and old star ferry pier in Central. On this reclaimed land will stand the major government offices – the nexus of power. And on this reclaimed land, will stand also the military base of PLA, China’s military.

Until now, I cannot understand why the government offices and PLA base need to stand on this premium land, reclaimed from one of the most treasured assets of this city – the harbor, which has been giving breath and life to the city for over a century.

Seeing these pictures, you cannot help but wonder how much the city has lost for good. The saddening fact is that our government and many people here do not seem to care.

The flame trees are a beautiful sight in Hong Kong, in May and June. The city is a far cry from a green city, but there are beautiful trees around if you look out. 

A characteristic street named Lee Tung Street, which traditionally was filled with wedding card shops, has faded out of Hong Kong’s landscape, due to the “vision” of the Hong Kong government. This government has the “vision” to demolish Star Ferry Pier and Street Market in Central already.

once a busy street, now abandoned

This is what Lee Tung Street, in Wan Chai, also called Wedding Card Street, is like, with all the shops closed down and sealed with labels from the Urban Renewal Authority, waiting to be redeveloped.

In their place will stand four high-rise buildings and one underground carpark, and new shops that together promote the image of the street as a “Wedding City”. That means the old shops here, which are mostly small businesses and family run, have to move to somewhere else to make business, facing high rent and losing old customers.

The Government said it was considering to give priority to these shops to move back to the “Wedding City” and also waive their rent for a short period of time, given that the rent in the “Wedding City” would not be cheap. But giving a short period of rent-exemption to the shops will not be a sustainable way to keep them afloat in the redeveloped area. I wonder how many old shops will choose to move back, and how many are dying already.

No wonder a shop owner in the area is staging a hunger strike to protest the redevelopment plan. Because for people like her, that basically means the loss of her and her family’s livelihood.

One reason the Government cited for demolition of the area is that the restoration fee will be too high. I wonder if the government ever calculated the social cost of demolishment and redevelopment.

Btw, what is this “Wedding City”? Do people prefer an artificially made Wedding City or a wedding card street that has been part of the city landscape for so many years? I would think few people will prefer the fake over the real. But the government seems to think otherwise.