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Cheng Po Lin
Cheng Po Lin
Shopkeeper in Tak Cheong Lane, Yau Ma Tei
Sex: Female Birthyear: 1935 Age at Interview: 76 Education: Unknown Occupation: Shopkeeper Theme: Community Tak Cheong Lane was completed in the 1950s. The majority of houses on both sides of the lane were similar concrete structures erected after WWII. The kerosene store was located on the ground floor of a five-story tenement building. Her husband lived there in as early as 1950s. He rented the front mezzanine as a shop house. Besides the couple’s shop house, the ground floor of the building had four other households. The couple lived in the front mezzanine, behind which were four rented rooms. The landlord occupied the third room. The residents had a middle-class background. They were respectively staff of Marine Department, poultry seller, photographer and driver (the landlord). There were one shed and two bed-spaces in the alley next to the tenement house. One of the bed dweller worked in a food stall serving fish ball noodles. A family of three lived in the shed. The husband was a seaman who had his wife and daughter stay home. Cheng Po Lin lived in the front mezzanine with her husband, mother, mother-in-law and eldest son. The couple slept on a single-decker bed whereas her mother and eldest son shared a bunker. Her mother-in-law slept on a mattress on the floor. Sundries were usually placed under the beds. There were also a closet and several small storage racks.In the summer quite a number of residents in Tak Cheong Lane slept outdoors. Cheng Po Lin’s mother-in-law and eldest son slept on a camp bed outside. Ground-floor households shared a kitchen and a toilet with bathroom. They either burned charcoal or kerosene for cooking. Neighbours accommodated with each other well. They shared the kitchen and toilet in harmony. Not long after Cheng Po Lin moved to Tak Cheong Lane, water rationing was imposed. The ground-floor households received their water supplies first. Then water was released bottom up floor by floor in a twenty-to-thirty minute’s interval and finally delivered to the rooftop. Besides storing their water in a big barrel, residents even employed plastic bags and canvas sacks to collect water. The female dweller in the alley’s shed fell sick and was hospitalized during the water rationing. Sometimes Cheng Po Lin visited her and brought along some rice and congee. She, being pregnant then, together with her mother-in-law, collected water from the standpipe outside Yau Ma Tei Cinema for the mother and daughter living in the shed. At that time the neighbours got on well with one another. Some of them successfully applied for a low-rent flat afterwards. They often came back to visit their old friends after moving away for a happy gathering.
Title Tenement apartments in Tak Cheong Lane and harmonious neighborhood Date 21/03/2011 Subject Community Duration 6m23s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. YMT-CPL-HLT-001 There were many shop houses on the ground floor of Tak Cheong Lane. They included warehouses, hardware workshops, a towrope store, lion’s head (ceremonial) workshops, a slaughter house and a roasting house and others. One of hardware workshops was engaged in blacksmithing whereas the other produced waistband, toy earrings and toy rings, etc. The towrope store received orders particularly form cargo ships. It supplied ropes and wires required aboard. The slaughter house mainly handled poultries supplied to Chinese restaurants. It was located at the end of a side lane where water supply was convenient. Water had to be bought during water rationing. The roasting house, which was originally opened in Wah Tak Building, was located at 19 Tak Cheong Lane. It only offered roasted pigs. Cheong Po Lin believed that Tak Cheong Lane was a peaceful alley. Shop house owners only dealt with their neighbours. Every upper floor was residential. Some residents took factory’s outsourcing orders which involved simple procedures such as making shoe upper.
Title Old shop houses in Tak Cheong Lane Date 21/03/2011 Subject Community Duration 2m34s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. YMT-CPL-HLT-002 Cheng Po Lin and her husband owned a kerosene store in Tak Cheong Lane. The kerosene store was located on the ground floor of a five-story tenement building. Her husband lived there in as early as 1950s. He rented the front mezzanine as a shop house. The shopfront had a low storing capacity for only ten to twenty kegs of diesel and a few kegs of kerosene. As stipulated by the law, a license was required for storing kerosene whereas it was legal to store not more than 300 gallons of diesel without a license. As kerosene kegs were bulky, the amount of supplies they bought depended on the amount of customers’ purchase order. Goods would be delivered as soon as possible in order to maintain storage capacity. The store’s delivery reached as far as Kowloon City and To Kwa Wan. The store obtained their supplies from kerosene warehouses in Tiu Keng Leng. At that time only Shell, Mobil and Caltex sold oil products like kerosene. Kerosene was classified as dangerous goods. Those sold kerosene at a large quantity should apply a license and prepare a dangerous goods warehouse. Cheng Po Lin’s store only got a small supply from their counterparts for resale. In the 1960s, one keg of kerosene sold for $3-$7. Sellers made a profit of $0.3-$0.5 per keg. Every keg of diesel along with a stove sold for $4, in which $0.7 to $0.8 was profit. The couple could sell altogether 30 kegs of kerosene and diesel every day. Her husband delivered goods by bicycle. He also installed and repaired stoves. Later he obtained a driving permit and also transported poultries on a part time basis. The store opened from 8am to 6pm, but the working hours were not fixed actually. Business was done whenever a customer knocked at its door. Delivery was not an easy job. It required physical labour. Matter varnish and motor oil were often delivered to Public Square Street and Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter by trucks emblazoned with ‘dangerous goods’.
Title Running a kerosene store in Tak Cheong Lane Date 21/03/2011 Subject Community Duration 3m29s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. YMT-CPL-HLT-003 His husband ran a kerosene store at Tak Cheong Lane selling kerosene and diesel. Buyers made orders in person in one day’s advance. The next day they brought along an empty keg and filled it with fuel. Some bought one to two kegs and some bought seven to eight. There were eight Dai Pai Tongs along Pitt Street. The section of Hamilton Street near Canton Street was also crowded with Dai Pai Tongs. The stall owners were regular customers of their kerosene store. Tak Cheong Lane was close to Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter. Many boat dwellers made their order in advance by sending an empty keg to the store. Afterwards they carried their goods onboard for domestic use or resale. Boat people in Yau Ma Tei went ashore regularly. They bought charcoal, kerosene, dried goods, etc and resold them to other boat dwellers. Boats in the typhoon shelter were arranged in proper order. Rows of boat formed several sea streets such as Shanghai Street and Reclamation Street. Some boat dwellers were regular customers of Cheng Po Lin’s store for several decades. Sometimes they chat and greeted each other. Most of the customers in the typhoon shelter were cargo boats. They were hired to move goods for cargo ships or to transport fruit. Fishermen often went on shore to sell their yields at the market.
Title Neighborhood business: Customers from Dai Pai Tongs and Wholesale Poultry Stalls Date 21/03/2011 Subject Community Duration 3m3s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. YMT-CPL-HLT-004 Half the stalls on the interior of Shek Lung Street were chicken stalls selling chickens from the New Territories. The other half were fruit stalls. The site where today’s Yau Ma Tei Catholic Primary School was located was full of vegetable stalls and fish stalls. Soon the vegetable and fish stalls were relocated elsewhere. Only fruit stalls still remained today. In the past numerous chicken trucks used to be parked along Waterloo Road, Canton Road and Portland Street. Since Cheng Po Lin and her husband refilled the trucks with diesel, they knew many of the drivers well. Today’s Kam Tong Building used to be old tenement houses. The ground floor was occupied by Tai Fong Teahouse. Cheng Po Lin usually had tea gatherings with the drivers in this spacious teahouse.
Title Changing landscape in the vicinity of Tak Cheong Lane Date 21/03/2011 Subject Community Duration 2m6s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. YMT-CPL-HLT-005 Cheng Po Lin’s kerosene store served a wide range of customers including cargo boats, households and shops. Thus she had made many friends. When she recalled that residents of Wak Tak Building were her good friends, she lamented that many friends had either passed away or moved out of Yau Ma Tei. When Cheng Po Lin was pregnant, her mother-in-law prepared ginger and vinegar for her. She shared it with many neighbours. She was deeply attached to dozens of neighbours and was used to her lifestyle in Yau Ma Tei. She never thought about living elsewhere. Her current home was cheap and spacious. She was satisfied with it. Her happiness laid in contentment.
Title Business owners and customers were also good friends and neighbors Date 21/03/2011 Subject Community Duration 2m46s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project Accession No. YMT-CPL-HLT-006