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Ng Kin Sun
Ng Kin Sun
Social Worker, Executive Secretary, Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong
Sex: Male Birthyear: 1948 Age at Interview: 63 Education: College/University Occupation: Social Worker Theme: Community All buildings in Lee Tat Street were 7-storey concrete Chinese tenements without an elevator. The shops were mainly warehouses and ironware shops. It was a quiet street. The surroundings of the Six Streets were busy. The coastal Ching Ping Street had relatively heavier traffic flow. The typhoon shelter off the street was dwelled with many boat people. On the Birthdays of Tam Kung, Guan Yin and Tin Hau, the boats were colorfully decorated. They celebrated the festivals with dragon dance, lion dance and god-worshipping Chinese opera. A classmate from a boat people family has invited Teacher Ng to his boat where they played the games they have played on the shore.
Title Landscape of Yau Ma Tei Six Streets Date 21/02/2011 Subject Community Duration 1m32s 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-NKS-HLT-001 Ng Kin Sun lived with his family in an 800-sq-ft rented flat on the ground floor of a building on Lee Tat Street. They sub-leased the flat to 3 small workshops: pastry bakery, goldsmith shop and signboard producer. The Ng family lived in an attic above the workshops. It had an area of 400 sq. ft. and a ceiling less than 6.5 ft. The only furniture was a bed and a cabinet. The young Ng and his siblings slept on the floor. Because of the small living space, the children spent most of their time on the streets. They liked playing marbles on the drainage cover of Lee Tat Street and Cheung Shui Street because the traffic was light.
Title Children played on the streets due to small living space Date 21/02/2011 Subject Community Duration 2m11s 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-NKS-HLT-002 Street children who lived in the same street usually formed a group. They appeared in the seafront, Lee Tat Street, Canton Road and Cheung Shui Street. Sometimes, different groups played together such as boiling wax with pomelo skin on Mid-Autumn Festivals. Most of the group members were boys, but they were occasionally joined by a 3- or 4-year-old girl who was the younger sister of one of the boys. Street children entrusted by parents to take care of the infant sister or brother would appear with a child on his back. Ng Kin Sun was the eldest child of the family. He has 6 younger sisters and brothers. In those days, he always led his younger brothers to ‘wander the streets’.
Title Street children played on the streets in groups Date 21/02/2011 Subject Community Duration 1m39s 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-NKS-HLT-003 Ng King Sun grew up in Yau Ma Tei. His friends are always curious about why he lives in Yau Ma Tei all his life even though he is financially sound now. Ng frankly says he stays for one reason: his old mother. His mother has a strong sense of belonging to Yau Ma Tei. She especially enjoyed buying foodstuff in the Yau Ma Tei Market. As the eldest son of the family, Ng Kin Sun has decided to stay in Yau Ma Tei for filial piety. He purchased a flat in the new Prosperous Garden. It was built on the site of the Six Street where he grew up.
Title Why don’t I move elsewhere? Date 21/02/2011 Subject Community Duration 2m11s 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-NKS-HLT-004 Ng Kin Sun attended the Lai Chak Primary School which adopted a whole-day system. He set off from Lee Tat Street some time after 7am every morning and walked his way to school via Canton Road, Jordan Road and King George V Memorial Park. Ng Kin Sun received his primary and secondary education in Lai Chak. Having walked the same route for more than a decade, he is deeply impressed by what he saw along the way. The Yau Ma Tei Police Station was situated near Canton Road. He had a classmate whose father was a policeman, sometimes he would take him to the police station’s welfare club for ping pong. Another classmate was the daughter of the proprietor of Tai Kee Bakery on Battery Street, so he came to know that swallows’ nests were built beneath the balconies of Chinese tenements on Battery Street. The site of the Ocean Terminal opposite to Lai Chak used to be a cotton warehouse which always had a fire. The Ocean Terminal was visible from the Lai Chak campus.
Title A lot of fun on the way to school Date 21/02/2011 Subject Community Duration 1m31s 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-NKS-HLT-005 King George V Memorial Park is the shortcut from Jordan Road to Lai Chak Primary School, but the discipline teacher would not let students enter the Park because its soccer pitch was frequented by bad elements. Students were advised not to stay in the Park. Students who lived nearby would visit the Park with classmates. Ng Kin Sun has played hide-and-seek in the Park. As students were not allowed to enter the Park, they took Canton Road instead when they went to school. There were many street hawkers selling cooked food with a cart along Kwun Chung Street. They sold à la carte noodles, fish ball, pig skin and Chinese radish. But it was a school rule that students should not buy from them. The discipline teacher would go to these spots for inspection in the period before and after school.
Title King George V Memorial Park the hangout of bad elements Date 21/02/2011 Subject Community Duration 1m48s 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-NKS-HLT-006 All Lai Chak students knew the Yau Kee Store at the junction of Austin Road and Kwun Chung Street. Here, students could buy an oyster sauce cuttlefish bun or curry cuttlefish bun for 20 cents; a bun with no cuttlefish filling cost only 10 cents. The So Kin Hong Bone Setting Clinic was the popular spot where students met and walk to school together. The warehouse opposite the Lai Chak Primary School had a fire every year. In those days, the Ocean Terminal was visible from the Lai Chak campus.
Title Students from Lai Chak always frequented Yau Kee Store Date 21/02/2011 Subject Community Duration 44s 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-NKS-HLT-007