Cheung Chi Ying

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Background of Family, Education and Housing

Cheung Chi Ying was born in 1952. During his childhood he lived in a tenement house in Upper Lascar Row in Sheung Wan. Being the eldest son of his family, he had one younger brother and two younger sisters. His father was a tallyman at Far East Enterprising Company (Hong Kong) Limited and he worked on board most of the time. Cheung received primary education at Salesian School, Caine Road. Since his home was overcrowded, Cheung Chi Ying boarded with the school. In 1965, the Cheungs moved into the 15th floor of Yue Tak Building, which was located at the junction of Jordan Road and Wai Ching Street. The supervisor of Cheung’s father had been living there but he transferred it to the Cheungs then. It was an up-to-date building equipped with a lift. Cheung’s flat faced the setting sun and the sea. Through the windows he could watch the ships enter Jordan Road Ferry Pier. It was an ideal spot to watch firework and sunset. The gross floor area of the flat on the 15th floor was 800 sq ft. It came with a flush toilet, a kitchen and three rooms. Several months after his family moved into the new home, Cheung was still studying at Salesian School. Every morning he took his brother and sisters on board the ferry anchored at Jordan Road Ferry Pier. They went to school on foot after the ferry had crossed the harbor and arrived at the United Pier in Central.

Having graduated from primary school, he enrolled in Heung To Middle School in Tai Hang Tung. Every day he went to school on Bus No. 4A, which charged a sectional fare after passing Ritz Cinema. He graduated from Form Five at Heung To. Since then he had worked in a factory for a year. Then he followed his father’s footstep to work as a tallyman at Far East Enterprising Company, which his father worked for. From 1965 to 1989, he had lived and worked in Yau Ma Tei. During his relief, he still went on duty at an office (customarily called ‘Kwun Hau’) opposite to Man Wah Sun Chuen at Ferry Point. Man Wah Sun Chuen was built on a piece of reclamation land where warehouses storing floating wood (also called ‘wood factory’) were previously found. The seaward outside Yue Tak Building was previously occupied by wood factories supplying wooden planks and wooden strips. In 1969, high-rising buildings were erected there. Cheung Chi Ying got married in 1989. He then moved his home from Yau Ma Tei to an HOS flat in Tai Po. The rest of the family also moved out of Yuk Tak Building. In 1998, Jordan Road Ferry Pier was abandoned together with its neighbouring bus terminus. 




Title Background of Family, Education and Housing
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 13m48s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-001
Family members enjoyed different kinds of leisure entertainment of in Yau Ma Tei

Cheung Chi Ying’s family were native to Zhongshan, Guangdong. The whole family, including his parents, younger brothers, younger sisters and grandma-in-law, moved to Yau Ma Tei in 1965. His mother was a mahjong lover. After a game had been arranged, she would prepare lunch quickly so that she could rush to the mahjong table afterwards. Sometimes his mother watched Chinese films. But she only visited Universal Theatre, the closest cinema to her home. She was very sociable in a sense that she would mix up with her neighbours soon after moving to a new place. She invited them to play mahjong in her house and charged a venue fee. His grandma-in-law did not have any hobbies in particular. In her spare time she would go worshipping on Hong Kong Islands. Most often she went back to the Guan Yin Temple next to her old home in Sheung Wan.

His father was fond of playing mahjong and horse betting. As he believed in the Chinese dogma ‘don’t approach the government in life and don’t enter the hell in afterlife’, he never turned to the casinos for illegal horse betting. Instead, he would gamble at the racecourses. Cheung’s young brothers and younger sisters had their own companions. He seldom hung out with them. Cheung Chi Ying thought that Yau Ma Tei lacked dating spots. He and his first girlfriend usually dated in Victoria Park. Soon they separated because he was too absorbed in his shipping career. Partying was popular among Hong Kong youths in the 1970s and 80s. In the past parties were held in residences, yachts and ballrooms. In 1983, Cheung Chi Ying met his present wife in a ball. They enjoyed going to nearby cinemas when going out. On holidays they would travel in Mainland for several days. Since the couple’s families were fond of playing mahjong, they often visited each other for some mahjong fun.




Title Family members enjoyed different kinds of leisure entertainment of in Yau Ma Tei
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 7m32s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-002
The leisure activities of classmates in Heung To School

Cheung Chi Ying studied at Heung To Middle School. His classmates and teachers did not regard Yau Ma Tei as a run-down place. They thought public housing estates were true ghettoes instead. Knowing his family had a telephone and television, teachers labeled him as a petite bourgeois. After school he always stayed behind and played soccer with his schoolmates. They moved to Fa Hui once the campus was closed. He met three schoolmates from Yau Ma Tei. They lived in Battery Street, Austin Toad, and the dormitory of The Hongkong Electric Company at Chi Wo Street. The four lads always hung out on holidays. They visited each other and played chess, Monopoly, table tennis, etc. At weekends they swam in Repulse Bay and Middle Bay. The latter was nicknamed Leftists’ Bay since some Chinese-owned enterprises ran bathing sheds there.  They also frequently visited Fourseas Bowling Centre Ltd (on the present site of Metropark Hotel Kowloon) at Waterloo Road.

Cheung Lok Street was famous for its car rental services. Sometimes they clubbed together to rent a car for a ride. In the past a tag line spoken among Yau Ma Tei residents went, to rent a car in Cheung Lok Street – your own fuel (friend)’. (Editor’s Note: ‘fuel’ and ‘friend’ are Cantonese homophones). They maintained contact after they had graduated. They gradually drifted apart when they had their own families in the 1990s. At that time most Heung To graduates went into Chinese-owned enterprises. Cheung Chi Ying was not keen to work after graduating from Form 5. Later his schoolmate’s mother referred him to a packer’s post in a factory in To Kwa Wan. He didn’t work seriously because he was keen in meeting factory girls. One year later, recognizing his lack of interest in factory jobs, he initiated to follow his father to work in the logistics industry. His father was delighted at his son’s decision.




Title The leisure activities of classmates in Heung To School
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 8m39s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-003
Review of cargo transportation industry in Yau Ma Tei.

Cheung Chi Ying reviewed his career as a tallyman. He started his career with simple tasks such as stock taking and recording. Next he learned to understand the overall workflow of the logistics industry, i.e. the various steps involved in delivering a product from a factory to the end customers, including ordering, shipping, redeeming, collecting, warehousing and others. His father was a veteran in the industry. Because of his father, he had acquainted himself with workers from various warehouses. It helped him to get familiarized with the nature of the industry quickly.

Throughout his lifelong career, Cheung Chi Ying guided several porters every day to different wharfs and warehouses in Hong Kong. He had handled various items such as the government’s dangerous goods on Stonecutters Island and the oil tanks on Tsing Yi Island. He believed that stevedores were the main force of Yau Ma Tei’s logistics industry. They went aboard at Yau Ma Tei and worked on cargo ships moored at Victoria Harbour. He explained that warehouse labourers and stevedores were under different employers. Warehouse labourers were hired by logistic firms. They were eligible to apply for membership of Lighter and Cargoboat Transportation Workers Union, which was chaired by Cheung Chi Ying. Stevedores working in Yau Ma Tei were hired by stevedore companies. They mainly joined Hong Kong Stevedores Union.




Title Review of cargo transportation industry in Yau Ma Tei.
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 7m55s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-004
The Cheungs' Residence as a Tallaymen's Office. Workflow of a tallyman

Cheung Chi Ying seldom spent his leisure with his colleagues at Far East Enterprising Company on holidays. Shipping companies’ staff had different hobbies from those of his high school classmates. They usually met and played mahjong in Man Wah Sun Chuen’s Kwun Hau (popular name for tallymen’s office). As Cheung Chi Ying and his father had served in the industry for years, they got used to gambling gradually. His father’s senior was criticized during the 1967 May Days, and was took over by his father. Promoted to the management level, his father adapted his residence in Yue Tak Building into a Kwun Hau. One of the bedrooms was turned into an office. The company provided the Kwun Hau with recreational facilities. It became a meeting place for the staff.

Every day at 3:30 pm six or seven tallymen came to the Kwun Hau to collect their daily wages from Cheung Chi Ying’s father, who would also assign them with orders of the next day. When those tallymen waited for their orders, they played Health and Happiness Chess, table tennis or mahjong. They usually left at 5 pm. The next morning, they had to convene at the ferry pier located at today’s Man Cheong Building by 7:30 am. They got ready to go aboard for stock taking and recording with the Coolies. Cheung Chi Ying’s father visited the shipping companies in order to grasp their shipping schedules beforehand. Then he would discuss manpower arrangements with the Coolie clubs. At that time the number of Coolies was measured in ‘gang’, which comprised of 11 Coolies. Tallyman fell in the category of white-collar workers. They need not be hired on the streets like the Coolies.

Since Cheung’s residence was adapted into a Kwun Hau, the company paid rents for them until Cheung’s father’s retirement in 1990. Their flat had 3 rooms, two of which sublet temporarily in the late 1960s. One of the tenants was a colleague at Far East Enterprising Company. The other one was a buyer from Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market and referred by an agency. During his childhood Cheung Chi Ying lived in an overcrowded flat in an old-style building in Sheung Wan. He had got used to the sub-lease phenomenon. Originally Cheung’s flat belonged to his father’s senior, who moved out later. A television set was left behind when he moved out. It became a main source of Cheung Chi Ying’s daily leisure.




Title The Cheungs' Residence as a Tallaymen's Office. Workflow of a tallyman
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 11m41s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-005
Concentration of wharf labourers along Canton Road's waterfront, their working schedule and livel...

In the past Canton Road adjoined the sea on her west. Coolie clubs agglomerated at today’s Prosperous Garden. ‘Coolie’ was a popular name for wharf labourers. They did haul and repairs on freighters. At that time the coolie industry was vibrant. Cheung Chi Ying reminisced that his friend, Fat Lady, once lived in an old-style building located at what was called Prosperous Garden today. She ran a side shop on a narrow alley. It offered meals to the coolies in particular. Businesses kept her busy all day. Later she was allotted a flat in Prosperous Garden. Afterwards she rose to affluence by selling the flat and migrated overseas. A ‘Coolie club’ was neither a dormitory nor a meeting place. It was indeed a tool house storing hauling equipment such as wires, ropes, and baskets. It was called ‘store’ within the industry. Coolie clubs belonged to stevedoring companies, among which Wang Kee & Co. was the most famous. The majority of coolies lived in old-style buildings on seaside streets. Coolies’ headmen communicated with and mobilized the Coolies. In the early days telephone and pager were not popular. For the convenience of the headmen, the Coolies must live near their working place. The Coolies used to live together. They shared news of their industry and invited their relatives to job vacancies. Some of the Coolies were married. It was not until 1975 the Coolies’ residences had started to disperse due to the popularization of home phones.

Coolies rose between 5 am and 6 am. Many of them settled at teahouses, waiting to be called. Before they were called on to work, they enjoyed a tea and gambled. Yen Yen Teahouse at Ning Po Street and Kam Shan Lau Restaurant at Reclamation Street were hot spots for gathering. They would wait until 7 am. If no jobs were offered, they would go back home to sleep. Although some Coolies belonged to a certain stevedoring company, they moved frequently from one company to another subject to job opportunities. Quite a number of Coolies were temporary or casual labourers. They strolled on Canton Road or enquired the coolie clubs in person to seek jobs. At the start of a workday, coolies’ headmen patrolled on the streets and in teahouses to call on his fellows. With enough manpower, the crew took a wala-wala (small electric boat) out to the sea. Each stevedoring company had their own boarding area. The Coolies had to spot it carefully. Cargo ships moored at the heart of the sea. Labourers had to travel half an hour by wala-walas to get on board. They moved goods from the cargo ships to designated barges or onto Fruit Market’s ‘big-tail vessels’. Coolies ate and slept on board. Meals were served on board by specialized cooking boats. The majority of goods handled by the Coolies were re-exports which would not be stored in the warehouses onshore. Any unclaimed warehouse goods on the cargo ships would be collected by small vessels sent by the shipping companies, who stored the goods and informed their clients to claim back the goods. 

The majority of stevedoring companies in Hong Kong agglomerated in Yau Ma Tei because it was convenient to carry tools offshore from the ‘stores’. In order to go to work conveniently, Cheung Chi Ying’s father moved his family from Sheung Wan to Yau Ma Tei in 1965. Man Wah Sun Chuen, which was situated at Jordan Road by the sea, was completed in 1965. Since it adjoined the sea, coolie clubs such as Wang Kee, Cheong Tai and Mei Lee moved into Man Wah Sun Chuen from where what was called Prosperous Garden today. Hong Kong Cargo Vessel Traders’ Association, whose members were shipping companies, also established its clubhouse there. In the past Coolies were hard-working. They could work without break. Even fragile items such as drinking glasses and porcelains were hauled by them. Nowadays the coolie industry was declining as containers were used on cargo ships. Coolies were only needed in the handling of bulk cargos.




Title Concentration of wharf labourers along Canton Road's waterfront, their working schedule and livelihood
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 23m46s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-006
Types and features of entertainment boats in Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter

Before the reclamation of Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, there were numerous dwelling vessels on the sea. They accommodated many coolies who worked in the vicinity. When they finished their jobs, they returned to their home on board. The boat dwellers formed an independent community where schools and food stalls selling wonton noodles were also set up on board. On the sea near today’s Prosperous Garden there were some peculiar flowered boats. Two services, singing and catering, were offered. Flowered boats served on summer nights. Visitors enjoyed the sea breeze in the typhoon shelter. Once they arrived at the waterfront of the typhoon shelter, teenage boat girls escorted them on board the flowered boats. The girls wore a bamboo hat, a typical costume of the Tankas. Those who entertained themselves on a flower boat tended to book the whole boat. Customers seldom shared a boat with strangers.

Based on the number of customers, boat girls allocated vessels of the right size that came with round rattan chairs. One to three male or female singers, regardless of their marine or territorial origin, served on the singing vessels. Customers were given a song menu to choose from. The list included mainly Cantonese operatic songs, pop songs supplemented with fewer European and Mandarin songs. Depending on the capability of the singer, customers could order a song not included on the menu. Singing boats employed traditional Chinese musical instruments, or Eight Sounds, such as er hu, xiao, bamboo flute and drum. Electronic musical instruments like guitar were absent. Catering vessels offered a variety of seafood. Among them Babylon shell and fish congee with slimy spinefoot were most famous whereas steamed fish was a high-class dish. Small Boat Congee was an import from Canton. It was not a specialty of Typhoon Shelter. Sometimes Cheung Chi Ying visited the flower boats with his relatives. He smelt an intense odour from the seawater as soon as he boarded. However he did not believe that odour could be classified as fragrant or foul. ‘Foul’ was just a feeling of being unaccustomed to a certain flavor.




Title Types and features of entertainment boats in Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 10m1s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-007
Dragon boat contest in Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter
Every year Yau Ma Tei Kaifong Welfare Advancement Association organized a dragon boat race in Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter. The starting point was the area next to Man Wah Sun Chuen (also called ‘the East Opening’). The finish line was as far as the end of Tai Kok Tsui (also called ‘the West Opening’). During the race the Typhoon Shelter needed clearing up. Vessels moored in the shelter had to find other shelters. In the heyday, more than 10 teams took part in the race, including Hong Kong Cargo Vessels Traders’ Association, Lighter and Cargoboat Transportation Workers Union, a team formed by boat dwellers in the Typhoon Shelter, and squads formed by other kaifongs. Now only two or three teams remained. Normally those wooden dragon boats were stored on the sea floor of the Typhoon Shelter. Before they were sunk into water, anti-termite asphalt was painted all over the boats. They would be salvaged and painted with a new layer of oil for coming competitions. Cheung Chi Ying believed that sea water could preserve the boats better than exposing them under sunlight and rain.


Title Dragon boat contest in Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 3m20s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-008
Cooked stalls and the vehicle and passengers ferries of Jordan Road Ferry Pier. Interesting exper...

There were two breakfast stalls next to the bus terminus at Jordan Road Ferry Pier. The hawkers pushed their wooden carts to the waterfront to start their businesses. One of them was a congee stall serving Chinese oil stick and fish congee with slimy spinefoot from 6:00 am to 8:30 am. It attracted a lot of ferry passengers on their way to work. Cheung Chi Ying gave high praise to the tasty fish congee. Customers leaning against the banisters enjoyed their food in the sea breeze. They returned the utensils to the stall after eating. Another stall was a beverage stall run by Kowloon Motor Bus Workers General Union. Cheung Chi Ying never forgot the taste of its milk tea. The beverage stall carried on with their business after the pier had been abandoned. Cheung Chi Ying kept visiting it. In the past numerous cross-harbour vehicles used to wait to board at the Jordan Road Ferry Pier. On a section of Jordan Road next to the pier, only one-way traffic was allowed. Cheung Chi Ying often saw a vehicle queue when looking down from his home on the 15th floor. The lane in front of Man Wah Sun Chuen was private and opened to the residents only. Vehicles queuing up for the ferry could not enter. The surroundings of the ferry pier had changed radically since reclamation. Canton Road was also detoured. In the past King George V Memorial Park was a piece of barren land for burning trash and performing Teochew opera.   

Cheung Chi Ying lived on the upper floor. He could overlook ships enter and leave the pier. He liked to count the vehicles carried by a ferry. Each decker could carry more than 20 vehicles roughly. There were two types of ferries, namely, double-decker ferry and double-decker vehicle ferry. The former carried passengers on its upper decker and vehicles on its lower decker. The latter carried private cars on its upper decker and both private cars and trucks on its lower decker. Both ferries had their own exclusive anchorage. Jordan Road Ferry Pier was a traffic hub between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Various kinds of vehicles crossed the harbor from there. On the lower decker of a double-decker vehicle ferry, there were four parking lanes. Private cars occupied the side lanes. The middle lanes were reserved for trucks. Different types of vehicles had to be parked according to the regulations in order to keep the ferry balanced. To avoid vehicles from crashing onto pier buildings, the pier imposed a limit on the height of boarding vehicles. Surveyors measured the height of the loads with a bamboo stick. Those going beyond the red line could not board. Drivers could resolve the problem either by removing part of the loads or by waiting for the tidal changes until the water level facilitated boarding. During high tides boarding vehicles were prone to collision with the drawbridge. The pier had to deal with it carefully. 

When matches were played in Hong Kong Stadium, the pier was crowded with spectators who were going to Wan Chai Pier by ferry between 5 pm and 6 pm. The pier imposed crowd control measures which regulated the number of passengers entering the pier to buy tickets each time by lowering the main gate. The crowd landed at Wan Chai and walked to the stadium. They returned home on the same route. The soccer business in Hong Kong was still prosperous in the 1980s. Match attendance gradually declined after Hong Kong’s defeat to South Korea. Hong Kong soccer started to ebb away. Cheung Chi Ying was a soccer fan. He watched matches in his spare time. He went back home by ferry when the match was over. He always enthusiastically discussed the match with his friends during the ferry trip.




Title Cooked stalls and the vehicle and passengers ferries of Jordan Road Ferry Pier. Interesting experience of taking the ferry
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 16m36s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memroy Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-009
Landmarks at the Yau Ma Tei's seaside: two simple piers and one drainage canal

The pier at Public Square Street was called ‘Royal Bridge’. The name ‘Royal’ was given because it provided anchorage to ships transporting government resources. Yau Ma Tei Police Station was what immediately met the eyes when one went ashore at Royal Bridge. Next to the police station was a government warehouse storing numerous arms and ammunitions. The pier at Waterloo Road next to Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market was called ‘Foreign Clothes Bridge’. The name ‘Foreign Clothes’ was given because the pier was reserved for ships carrying uniforms of the British Navy. Clothes were washed onshore. There were one or two laundries next to the Foreign Clothes Bridge. No seamen but their clothes were seen onshore. Moreover, on one side of Foreign Clothes Bridge was the outlet of Waterloo Road Nullah. Many clothes were washed with water flowing down from hill streams to the Nullah.

‘Nullah’ denoted an outdoor drainage ditch. Waterloo Road Nullah originated from the Waterloo Road Hill. The section spanning from the hill to Mong Kok Stadium at Boundary Street was indeed a culvert. It rose above ground at Mong Kok Stadium and became a nullah. Then it stretched westward along Waterloo Road, took a turn into Mong Kok at where today’s CLP Power Hong Kong Limited was situated, and finally led to the sea at Foreign Clothes Bridge. When Cheung Chi Ying was studying at Heung To Middle School, he often played football in the football pitch near the Nullah, and saw the spot where the Nullah rose above road surface. 




Title Landmarks at the Yau Ma Tei's seaside: two simple piers and one drainage canal
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 7m20s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-010
The boundary of Yau Ma Tei, The centre of Yau Ma Tei, Social Segregtations

Yau Ma Tei was bounded by Waterloo Road at the north, Austion Road at the south and Gascoigne Road at the east. Areas north of Waterloo Road belonged to Mong Kok. King’s Park and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which were located in the west of Gascoigne Road, did not belong to Yau Ma Tei. Wing On Department Store was the heart of Yau Ma Tei. Many big department stores and goldsmith shops were located in its vicinity. Wing On was spacious with an eye-catching shop sign. As it was also close to the MTR station, it became a hot meeting spot. Social segregation was obvious in Yau Ma Tei district. Waterloo Road and Wylie Road housed many middle-to-high class residents. Areas west of Nathan Road had people of all kinds. Many of them were poor people. The old Shanghai Street was the best example among these areas. More slums were found at Reclamation Street, Canton Road, and Battery Street. These areas had shelters for the lowest class in Yau Ma Tei. 

Man Wah Sun Chuen once used to be the heart of Yau Ma Tei. It was commonly known as ‘high-class resettlement estate’ by local residents. There were only 8 blocks in Man Wah Sun Chuen, which had a building density lower than that of other resettlement estates. Its overall living environment was better than that in neighbouring buildings. Its status in Yau Me Tei was comparable with Mei Foo Sun Cheun. Before traffic control was imposed on the section of Jordan Road next to Mei Foo Sun Cheun, many of the residents were well-off. They travelled by private car. Parking services were also provided by parking companies. Nearby there were many expensive shops such as Sun Den Restaurant located in todays’ Man Ying Building. Ordinary residents could not afford to dine in the restaurant. After reclamation kicked off in Jordan Road in 1975, Man Wah Sun Chuen was crowded with all sorts of people thus lost its noble glamour.

Cheung Chi Ying’s father always avoided places with all sorts of people. He usually visited Hung Wan Restaurant at Nanking Street for a tea. He never went to teahouses packed with Coolies, such as Yen Yen Teahouse, Kam Shan Lau Restaurant and Lung Yue Teahouse. They were noisy and filthy for him. When he went to Universal Theatre for a film, he usually took a devious route by bypassing the King George V Memorial Park, which was an easier route, because its football pitch was crowded with all sorts of people. Cheung Chi Ying sometimes played basketball on the playground. He dare not try soccer there as the park was full of football genius who later became superstars in Hong Kong. These included ‘Big Nuts’ and ‘Little Nuts’ of Happy Valley FC. (Editor’s Note: Big Nuts and Little Nuts were nicknames of Chow Shiu Hung and Chow Chi Hung respectively)




Title The boundary of Yau Ma Tei, The centre of Yau Ma Tei, Social Segregtations
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 12m18s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-011
Cinemas in Yau Ma Tei in the 1960s and 1970s

When Cheung Chi Ying was a schoolboy, watching movie was his major entertainment. He often went to cinemas like Universal Theatre, London Theatre, Liberty Theatre, Golden Harvest Theatre, Majestic Theatre, and Astor Theatre (Po Hing Theatre). Targeting audience of different classes, the cinemas offered different kinds of films and venues. Universal Theatre at Kwun Chung Street was the closest cinema to Cheung Chi Ying’s home in Yue Tak Building. It mainly showed Hong Kong-made film starred by Lydia Shum, Josephine Siao, etc. Most of the viewers were laymen. In contrast, London Theatre on Nathan Road was of a higher class. It showed western and Shaw’s movies. The Warlord, starred by Michael Hui, was tremendously well received when it made its debut in 1972. The box office recorded over a million viewers. Cheung Chi Ying spent 7 days lining up to buy a ticket. That was the heyday of cinemas. Liberty Theatre was situated at the junction of Jordan Road and Temple Street. It showed economical western films and second round films. In that age new films were first shown in major cinemas, and were thus known as ‘first round films’. They were then shown again in smaller cinemas and given the name ‘second round films’. Golden Harvest Theatre, an affiliated cinema of the Golden Harvest Group, was located at the junction of Jordan Road and Parkes Street. It showed only films produced by Golden Harvest. Majestic Theatre was located at a building known as the Majestic Hotel today. It showed second-tier western films without a Hollywood label.

Next to Majestic Theatre was Astor Theatre, which also played Cantonese operas and other operas besides Mainland movies. Kwong Chee Theatre, an old cinema in Yau Ma Tei, was located at the junction of Kansu Street and Shanghai Street. As people used to tug at another fellow’s shirt to get into the theatre, several viewers could be admitted with one single ticket. One could take a stool into the theatre, or he could spread out a newspaper on the floor and sit on it. As the film reached climax, adults were too reluctant to escort their urgent children to the toilet. The children had to urinate on the spot, stinking out the theater with urine.

Kwong Chee Theatre showed mainly second round films. It was demolished in the late 1960s. Yau Ma Tei Theatre at Waterloo Road once showed Charlie Chaplin’s silent films narrated to the viewers by a commentator on the attic in the theater. This was commonly seen in old-style cinemas.  Cinemas in Mong Kok showed a strong flavour of class. For example, Gala Theatre (Sun Wah Theatre) rejected anyone wearing slippers. Only first-class western films such as the 007 Series were shown. Kam Wah Theatre was situated at the back of Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market, i.e. nowadays’ Kam Wah Building. The Theatre was demolished before 1970. Kung Wo Tong, which was opened in Hon Hing Commercial Building, was the first tortoise jelly retail shop in Yau Ma Tei. Cheung Chi Ying used to treat himself with tortoise jelly after the movie. Kung Wo Tong offered more expensive products made of richer substances every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and sold cheaper products every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.




Title Cinemas in Yau Ma Tei in the 1960s and 1970s
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 13m20s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-012
Childhood in Yau Ma Tei. The night market in Public Square and Temple Street

After Cheung Chi Ying moved to Yau Ma Tei with his family, he found it inconvenient play on the streets since they lived in an upper-floor flat. After school he usually went back home to study and watch T.V. His father was not at home but on board most of the time. He exerted little control over his children and allowed Cheung Chi Ying and his siblings to play in the vicinity of their home. Cheung was active and naughty. He used to stroll on the streets in his spare time, and always got back home by 10 pm. Sometimes he went out with his younger brother when his younger sisters got along with their schoolmates. Since traffic flow was heavy on Jordan Road, which adjoined the Ferry Pier, it limited the space for the kids. Cheung Chi Ying always amused himself on Temple Street.

In the 1960s, Temple Street spanned from Yung Shu Tau to Jordan Road straight. Old-style buildings stood on both sides of the street. Afterwards a building was built on the corner between Kansu Street and Temple Street. The section of Temple Street near Kansu Street was buckled, and thus a straight Temple Street no longer existed. Around Yung Shu Tau there were some wooden houses and iron zinc houses. They were residences as well as Dai Pai Tongs. The group of houses surrounded some banyan trees. Some houses had trees growing among them. Yung Shu Tau was a gathering place for all sorts of people. Gambling stands such as Fan Tan, Pai Gow Dominoes, and Ling Che Me were all around. ‘Ling Che Me’ was a colloquial term of the boat people. How was it played? A disk was divided into three parts of red, green and blue. Players bet on the colour to be shown. The odds was 1:2. In daytime the whole Temple Street was opened to traffic. No hawking stands were found in the middle of the street. At night the street was full of hawing stands offering various wet and dried goods as well as performance and entertainment.

Temple Street North was crowded with hawking stands selling wet goods along the street. They offered snacks such as Babylon shell, dessert soup, fried glutinous rice with Chinese Sausages, ox offal and squid. Temple Street South was a dried goods area stretching from Kansu Street to Saigon Street. Most of the dried goods were targeted at male. They included jeans, trousers, shirts, lighters, cheap toys and daily necessities. Sometimes Cheung Chi Ying bought trousers and drill trousers, and he once ordered tailored shirts at a stall. Dai Soh was a famous hair cream seller in Temple Street South. He was the father of Cheung Chi Ying’s schoolmate at Heung To Middle School. Dai Soh spread his hair over his shoulder, leaving a deep impression to the locals. The storyteller at the road junction attracted numerous passers-by. His topics ranged from tale of the Three Kingdom to adults’ jokes. In the midst of the story Chinese Wampi sellers took his turn to sell. In Temple Street South peddlers sold medicines such as teeth-washing medicine and medicinal oils. It was hard to tell if they were genuine. Some hawkers had somebody ‘sleep on broken glasses’ to prove the power of their products. Cheung Chi Ying often enjoyed such martial arts performance. He was eager to dig the secrets of the performances out. . .




Title Childhood in Yau Ma Tei. The night market in Public Square and Temple Street
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 18m6s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-013
Prostitution, gambling and drug addicts in Temple Street

The section of Temple Street between Saigon Street and Jordan Road was a centre of prostitution and gambling. Brothels and casinos operated on the 2nd floor. Pimp ladies were stationed on the ground floor of buildings where brothels were opened. They escorted customers upstairs. Battery Street, which was adjacent to Temple Street, also housed many brothels. But whores were rare in Temple Street North. The casinos in Temple Street South offered illegal horse betting and dog betting. Players could either lay their stake through a bookmaker in a casino or bet directly in cash in a teahouse. To engage in horse betting or dog betting in casinos was a popular entertainment. Even the middle-class took part. Gambling stands in Yung Shu Tau mainly offered Tien Gow and Mahjong. The stake of the gamblers was smaller than that in Temple Street South. Triad members maintained order at the casinos of Temple Street South. They prevented gamblers from stirring up trouble and thus prevented police raids. Most of the brothels and casinos were managed by Triads. Triad members rarely revealed their real names. Instead, they called one another nicknames usually.

The locals knew the locations of the casinos very well. When Cheung Chi Ying worked on board, he got acquainted with news about the Triad from his father and colleagues. He was familiar with the territories and leaders of various gangs. His father deliberately kept the young informed of the Triad so that they could know who to turn to when in trouble. Yung Shu Tau was a hot spot for drug junkies. Those holding a beer in a hopelessly drunken state were easily identifiable as junkies. Churches donated free meal to the junkies there. In the past heroin trade was rampant in Yau Ma Tei. Transactions were made in public. In his childhood, Cheung Chi Ying thought that it was interesting to see the junkies napping and drooling when they were craving for drugs. When he and his colleagues worked on board overnight, many of them had to take drugs for refreshment. They faced tremendous pressure because they had to count and mark the goods without making a single mistake. He had got used to seeing drug addicts. He was never afraid of strolling around Yung Shu Tau and Temple Street. There were mainly big shops on the section of Temple Street lying south of Jordan Road. They kept themselves away from prostitution and gambling.  




Title Prostitution, gambling and drug addicts in Temple Street
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 10m18s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-014
Sound and smell in Yau Ma Tei

Cheung Chi Ying believed that the odour of the sea water at the typhoon shelter was an odour of Yau Ma Tei. Although he lived on the 15th floor, the wind always brought him the intense smell of sea water. Jordan Road had three sewage outlets in the past. Faeces and toilet papers were found in the sewer for excrements. Despite of the offensive stink, people still bought a fish congee with slimy spinefoot in the food stalls and enjoyed it there. Cheung Chi Ying sighed that the water at the typhoon shelter used to be clean and clear, but gradually got filthy as the reclamation started. He thought that the coastal residents and boat dwellers were not to be blamed. The sewage mainly originated from the inland households in Yau Ma Tei. It was carried by the sewers and discharged into the typhoon shelter.

Cheung Chi Ying reckoned that three different voices represented Yau Ma Tei: 1) Steam whistles. 2.) Fire engine’s sirens at the fire station (Canton Road). 3.) Bus noises from the bus terminus (Jordan Road Ferry Pier). The fire engines came from the fire station at Canton Road. When they set off for duties, residents could hardly fall asleep. The first bus left the bus terminus at 5 am in those days. Residents were used to sleeping in noisy surroundings. Cheung’s house had no air-conditioning in the early days. He got used to tolerating various noises. Now he had moved away from Yau Ma Tei for many years. If he moved back, probably he couldn’t adapt to the old place again.




Title Sound and smell in Yau Ma Tei
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 5m17s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-015
Living a life in Yau Ma Tei: a place to earn for a living until retired

Cheung Chi Ying had lived and worked in Yau Ma Tei for decades. He could not disconnect himself from it throughout his life. He regarded it as a money making place. He was familiar with many locals. But since he worked for Lighter and Cargoboat Transportation Workers Union in the early 1990s, some of his old friends had become courteous to him. They no longer called his nickname as they used to be. The sense of intimacy was gone. Some barriers in communication were present. After Cheung Chi Ying got married in 1989, his original house became overcrowded. His mother helped him to apply for an HOS flat. They bought a flat in Tai Po on $260,000. In 1991, they moved away from Yau Ma Tei.

Cheung Chi Ying expected that he could not afford to buy a flat in Yau Ma Tei. Private flat buyers did not have the advantage of nil premiums enjoyed by HOS flat buyers. Mortgages were difficult to arrange as well. To prepare for the coming of 1997, he paid $200,000 for a flat in Mainland in 1995. He expected the living environment to worsen after Hong Kong’s handover to China.  Property prices would surge and it would be difficult to buy a flat. So he bought a flat in Mainland to prepare for his retirement. He planned to retire in 2012 at an age of 60.




Title Living a life in Yau Ma Tei: a place to earn for a living until retired
Date 21/03/2011
Subject Community
Duration 6m31s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. YMT-CTY-SEG-016