Cheng Po Lin

Biography

In 1935, Cheng Po Lin was born in her hometown in Shiqi, Zhongshan. She went to Hong Kong in 1948. Since she got married in 1961, she moved to Yau Ma Tei and lived with her husband’s family in tenement apartments. Most of the time she lived on Tak Cheong Lane, a short lane near to the seaside of Yau Ma Tei and became very familiar with the community of typhoon shelter. She and her husband ran a small store downstairs retailing kerosene, diesel and motor oil. Their customers included Dai Pai Tongs, truck drivers in poultry wholesale market, boat people who parked their cargo boats in the typhoon shelter, and nearby residents. The couple worked hard to earn for a living. The business was transferred to the son after the father passed away in 1990. When she retired, she bought a tenement flat in Reclamation Street and lived there since then. She had developed a strong sense of belonging to Yau Ma Tei and chose to spend the rest of her life there.