Poon Kwai Hoi

Poon Kwai Hoi lived in Hung Hom since he came to Hong Kong. At the beginning he was an apprentice working in Whampoa Shipyard. When the shipyard relocated to Tsing Yi in 1973, Poon Kwai Hoi did not follow. Instead, he moved to the Bryanko Textiles Industries Limited (‘Bryanko Textiles’) in Chi Kiang Street following the referral of a friend. After working as a member of permanent staff for two years, he and a colleague called Master Chan resigned because the boss refused to increase their wages. After this, Poon Kwai Hoi took a job with the Standard Knitting Factory (‘Standard’) on Castle Peak Road in Cheung Sha Wan. The company made and sold wool sweaters for local retailers. After two years, he moved jobs again, accepting a post at Comitex Knitters (‘Comitex’) which was run by Jimmy Lai Chee Ying.

The shipyard’s semi-permanent workers were known as ‘attendance card holders’ as they had to wear a staff card around their necks at all times to identify them while on duty, as like today’s restaurant workers. Failure to do so meant no payment for the day. As such workers were employed by the British government and paid HK$4.50 every day except Sundays, they were considered very secure in their jobs. Poon Kwai Hoi’s elder uncle was a ‘labour contractor’ whose salary was paid by the British in installments on around the 15th and 30th days of each month. He in turn was then responsible for paying apprentices like Poon Kwai Hoi. Labour contractors and apprentices were not attendance card holders. 

While working at Whampoa Shipyard, Poon Kwai Hoi lived in Hung Hom. As Sundays were his rest day, he often joined his fellow apprentices when they went out to buy firewood and sawdust to heat their home. On days when they did not need to buy fuel, Poon Kwai Hoi and his mates would go strolling around Shanghai Street, visiting the fortune telling stalls there. There were many things on sale in Shanghai Street back then and the area was then far more prosperous than Nathan Road. On weekday evenings after work, Poon Kwai Hoi occasionally went to Yau Ma Tei with friends in search of fun. Sometimes they went to see the Chinese opera at the Astor Theatre or listened raptly to people telling stories like the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin from the side of the Alhambra Theater. Back then, Nathan Road had no street lights and both sides of the road were lined with trees. Often shows at the Astor Theatre didn’t finish until well after midnight, so everyone faced a frightening walk back in almost total darkness. When he finally arrived home, Poon Kwai Hoi’s uncle would scold him for returning so late!  

Poon Kwai Hoi rarely ventured to To Kwa Wan in those days, generally only going as far as the area around Wearbest Garment Factory, Bailey’s Shipyard and what is now I-Feng Mansions. At that time, this area was nearly all wasteland with only a few sparsely distributed houses and allotments where people grew vegetables. When Poon Kwai Hoi first arrived in Hong Kong, the area was home to many Japanese warehouses storing barrels of gasoline and miscellaneous items. Bailey’s Shipyard was later demolished and the site was then used to construct many buildings. Back then, To Kwa Wan Sports Centre was still a hill, and there was also a small hill next door to Kai Tak Airport. The present site of the HKFTU Workers’ Club was a wasteland while the road at the side of Wearbest Garment Factory offered direct access to the airport. Looking back, Poon Kwai Hoi feels that the sea at To Kwa Wan in those days looked huge, with both the Wearbest Garment Factory and Ma Tau Wai Road located along the coastline. This area of sea eventually became smaller and smaller as a result of reclamation.

When Poon Kwai Hoi worked for his uncle in Hung Hom, the man provided him with lunch every day except Sunday when he would give his young charge a few dollars to eat out. Poon Kwai Hoi usually spent the cash at tea houses in Cooke Street, where a dish of stewed pork rice cost just 40 cents and pork knuckle rice and spare rib rice could both be had for only 50 cents. When the workers finished their day, the tea houses were full of people. Cooke Street was a particularly prosperous thoroughfare with many tea houses and dai pai dongs where shipyard workers took their meals. With rice congee and fried bread sticks available for just 10 cents, business was brisk at the congee stalls on the pavements outside. There were also many dai pai dongs in Lo Lung Hang Road and Winslow Street, where just 20 or 30 cents was sufficient to buy a meal of roast goose or chicken. At that time, all dai pai dongs in Hung Hom were fixed stalls, and the Government left the hawkers there to their own devices. Female workers mostly ate on the roadsides, often buying big pot meals from the row of food stalls in Wuhu Street. Costing around 10 or 20 cents, lunches of vegetables and pork on rice were also very popular.

After working at the shipyard, Poon Kwai Hoi lived in his uncle’s single resident lodgings at the junction of Wuhu Street and Chatham Road. The dwelling was located in a four-storey old-style building, built of sturdy red bricks that even bombing raids could not destroy! The second, third and fourth floors were inhabited with shipyard sub-contractors involved in caulking, carpentry, machinery and painting. Poon Kwai Hoi’s uncle’s family members, including his wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandson, all lived in the loft. His uncle loved to smoke opium whilst at home.