Kwok Yung

Kwok Yung was born in 1932 in Hong Kong. When she was a child, she lived in Lai Chi Kok. Her father ran the Chinese medicine shop named “So Heng On” at Jervois Street. Later her whole family rented an apartment on the 2nd floor, 281 Queen’s Road Central (neighbouring the old Central Theatre). The principal tenant was a painter and a calligrapher. Kwok Yung and her brother studied at a primary school run by Sheng Kung Hui; later her father, displeased with the level of the curriculum, had the siblings transferred to a traditional tutorial school at Taiping Theatre in Sai Wan, where they studied classical Chinese texts. Later, the family found the trip to school too long and transferred the children to a nearby Chinese secondary school on Hollywood Road. In September 1941 Kwok Yung was studying primary 2 at the school and 3 months later school was suspended upon the Japanese Invasion. A few months after the fall of Hong Kong the entire family returned to their hometown on a junk boat. Before leaving, Kwok Yung’s father handed the management of the Chinese Medicine Shop to his staff.

After the war ended, Kwok’s father returned to Hong Kong. He passed away in his prime in 1951. In 1950 Kwok Yung returned to Hong Kong and lived with her elder sister at Kai Yuen Terrace at North Point. She helped take care of her aunt who was in her childhood (the young sister of her sister’s husband). Her sister was married to a relative of the Chan Shu Kui Family. Kwok’s sister originally planned for her to learn knitting towels, but was unable to afford the 300 dollar tuition fee. Kwok finally landed a job as a housemaid at a family in Cameron Road of Tsui Sha Tsui. Her employer was a man from Shanghai surnamed Li, who founded the company Starbo Limited, which was a sales agent for electric appliances. Later the employer moved to Tung Choi Street and had a younger son. Kwok was required to care for the child; she became severely ill because of the extra workload. After recovery she was referred by a friend to a job as a housemaid at a mansion at Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. The employer was generous toward his staff. There were two domestic employees in the entire mansion who were required to care for two masters; they were each allocated their own room. Kwok was satisfied with this job and worked there for 8 years until she got married in 1963. Her husband was an electrician-cum-plumber at Shek Kong barracks, and usually lived in the barracks. Kwok Yung came to know her husband through referral by a relative.

At that time, someone advised her against this marriage, saying that with her appearance she could find a better spouse. However, Kwok had no one to rely on in Hong Kong and most of her family remained in the hometown. She even had to give help to her relatives at times. Her pragmatic nature drove her to seek a stable marriage and not riches. The banquet was simple and took the form of on-site catering served at the rooftop of a building at Pilkem Street. After marriage she moved in with her husband to a cubicle unit on the 2nd floor of 223 Shanghai Street (facing Kansu Street). There was no toilet in the apartment and every night the tenants had to take their waste outside. The apartment had four units and the landlords were the aunt and the grandaunt of her husband. In the year of Kwok’s marriage there was a water shortage and at the end of the year when her elder son was born, water was supplied for 4 hours every other day.

After marriage in 1963 Kwok Yung and her husband rented a cubicle unit on the 2nd floor of 223 Shanghai Street at a monthly rent of HK$30. The principal tenant was the aunt and grandaunt of her husband. They only need to pay a lumpsum rent of HK$50 to the landlord, while they sub-leased each unit to their tenants at HK$30 per month. The profit earned from being the principal tenancy was considerable. As the monthly rent of such old buildings was cheap, once moving in the tenants would pay HK$200 as gratuity to the principal tenant. There was no flushable toilet in the old buildings at Shanghai Street, and every night residents were required to take the waste out of the building. When Kwok Yung was a housemaid she lived in a mansion in Mody Road with her own room and flushable toilet, and she was rather uncomfortable with the conditions at the cubicle unit when she first moved in.

In late 1963 her husband was determined to move out of 223 Shanghai Street, and he saw a room-to-let advertisement in the wet market. It was a cubicle unit at Man Yuen Building on Ferry Point; the monthly rent was HK$108. The principal tenant was a pair of Christian couple who lived in the larger room; another Christian couple with two daughters rented another room and built a cockloft in the room where the father slept on it. The 9-feet high ceiling made ample space for such construction. At the time Kwok’s husband was working at the Shek Kong Barracks, and had to travel between Yaumatei and Shek Kong every day. In 1965, paying HK$300 as introduction gratuity to the middle person, her husband was employed by the Kowloon Motor Bus as car mechanic and welder. After the 1967 riots he was transferred to work at the Kowloon City Ferry Pier Bus depot. At the time the couple applied for public housing and was allocated a unit in Lei Muk Shue Estate, which they gave up because of its remote location and the inconvenient transportation. In 1971 a friend of Kwok’s husband intended to sell his 565-sq-feet flat at Man Yue House at 60,000 dollars, and the couple ran around to borrow money from friends and relatives. By the time they managed to gather this sum of money, the landlord raised the price to 63,000, and the deal was just called off.

At the end of 1964 the Kwok couple rented a cubicle unit at Man Yuen Building at a monthly rent of HK$108. The principal tenant was a pair of Christian couple, and they set rules that favoured the landlord on living arrangements such as they had priority in washing up and drying clothes. Her husband was annoyed by these unfair arrangements and gave up the lease in less than one month. He withheld the apartment keys so as to force the landlord to return him the rental deposit. At the time, a friend of her husband’s was the landlord of Unit #15 of 6th floor of Man Yuen Building, and had all cubicle units decorated for renting out. Her husband paid his friend HK$2000 for the rights to principal tenancy and rented the apartment at HK$400 per month, and then sub-leased the remaining units to other tenants. He became the landlord and lived with his tenants. Being principal tenant allowed the couple to live in the apartment at a favorable position.

Kwok Yung had lived for 21 years at Unit #15; her 2nd to 4th sons were born there. In 1984 the couple bought a 560-ft apartment at Man Cheong Building and used the rent to pay the mortgage. In 1986 they sold the apartment and bought Unit #42 of Man Fai building as their residence, and gave up sub-tenanted apartment at Man Yuen Building. At the time the rents were soaring and they were required to pay over $1,000 per month upon the end of their tenancy. In 2005 Kwok Yung bought Unit #16 on the 4/F of Man Wah Building. The original landlord was the mother of a solicitor Mr Cheung Kit-ling. Kwok Yong was well-acquainted with Mrs. Cheung, and was able to purchase the apartment on a reasonable price. This apartment was 820 square feet in area, and Kwok Yung lived with the family of her 2nd son. Her old residence in Man Fai Building was occupied by her 3rd son. In January 2008 Kwok Yung sold the 4/F apartment at HK$270M, which brought her $1M of profit; she then bought Unit #18 on the 11/F at the same price. The landlord of Unit #18 was a Pakistani, who purchased the unit using $270M for investment. Upon bargaining by Kwok’s eldest daughter-in-law, the Pakistani landlord was willing to sell the apartment at the original $270M. The apartments with odd number of the eight Man buildings faced Central, Hong Kong Island and those with the even number faced the typhoon shelter. The existing park on Saigon Street used to be the wharf of the marine police. Three of Kwok Yung’s sons had studied at the Yaumatei Catholic Primary School. She lived several decades in Yaumatei and was familiar with the changes in the community.

From 1963 when her eldest born son was born, to 1973 when her youngest son was 6, Kwok was full-time housewife. In those days she got up at 6, prepared breakfast for her sons – mostly ready-made food like Ovaltine and sandwich bread – and took her sons out at 7. They walked along Ferry Street and Ching Ping Street until they reached Yaumatei Catholic Primary School, where 3 of her sons studied. Another son studied at Ng Wah College, and was taken to school by her husband by bus. After the sons went to school, Kwok returned home to wash and iron the clothes, then went to buy food in the market to prepare lunch and dinner. At noon she went to take her sons back home.

When waiting for her sons at school she would examine the notice board and memorize the schedules for assignments, tests and examinations, to monitor her son’s studies. After lunch she sent her sons to receive tuition by the daughter of a neighbor on the 7/F (Kwok’s family was living on 6/F at the time). The neighbor was a wealthier family and had 6 daughters and one son, who all did well in school. As her sons were in tuition, Kwok Yung would play Mahjong with her neighbors once in a while, at small stakes of $10. Around 6 when her sons completed their tuition Kwok would return home to prepare for dinner. Her sons would go home on their own. Because the apartment was shared with other tenants, Kwok did not have to fear not able to return home in time to care for her son. After dinner her sons would go watch the black and white programmes of Rediffusion TV at the grocery store downstairs. They would sometimes ride bicycles at the vacant lot under Man Yuen Building (now minibus terminal), accompanied by Kwok Yung who was worried they would get into a fight with other children. On weekends Kwok Yung would bring her sons to Tsim Sha Tsui and play at the sand parks at Mody Road and Chatham Road, where there were see-saws and swings; they sometimes went to the Cox’s Road Park. After the youngest son was born, mother and sons would often go to play and take photos at Kowloon Park. They would sometimes go with one of the tenants who was a tailor; each bringing two children along. When her sons were in primary school, Kwok only allowed them to take part in school activities, for example camping. She didn’t allow them to go off on their own fearing that they would become acquaintance with the delinquents on the street. This restriction was relaxed when they entered secondary school. Kwok Yung’s home had phones installed even in early days, and in those days the phone number was 6-digit. She demanded that her children report their whereabouts by phone and ask her permission before leaving the house.

Kwok Yung and her husband had 4 sons, 3 of which studied at Yaumatei Catholic Primary School (abbrev. YCPS). Kwok admitted of not knowledgeable in child upbringing. Her second son was particularly naughty and had made strange noises to disturb classmates. He had even stolen things from his classmates. The school principal asked to meet Kwok and told her what happened. Kwok agreed with the principal to use physical punishment – hitting his palm with a ruler as he saw fit. When her sons were admitted to YCPS which was a new school in the district and by no means a prestigious school. It was chosen because of its proximity and the recommendation by neighbour. The school was located near to the eight Man buildings and her sons could walk to school. Before they were admitted to primary school their sons studied at Gar Ming Kindergarten, where many graduates entered YCPS.

A neighbor on the 7/F also studied at KCPS. Together with 2 neighbours, Kwok brought her children to attend entrance examinations at La Salle College and Pui Ching College, but they failed in both exams. She had her sons admitted to KCPS afterwards. Her 3rd son studied A.M. school at Ng Wah College. Two sons of her cousin and a son of her neighbour also studied there. The textbook used in the Mathematics class at Ng Wah was written in English, which helped her son accommodate in secondary school. The mode of study at Ng Wah College was different in A.M. and P.M. sessions. In A.M. school students were required to pay tuition. Kwok also paid HK$28 monthly for school bus. The bus stop was at the corner of Ferry Street and Saigon Street (now Saigon Street Park), where the wharf of the marine police was located. Kwok and her husband would take turns seeing her 3rd son off on the school bus. Her husband was working at Kowloon City at the time.

Before marriage Kwok Yung had been housemaid at Tsim Sha Tsui for over a decade, and two of her employers were from Shanghai. She was thus able to speak Shanghaiese and cook Shanghai Cuisine. When she was working at the Mody Road mansion, there were two housemaids in the mansion. Kwok was responsible for buying food, cooking and washing clothes; the other maid was responsible for ironing and cleaning. The Shanghaiese were particularly fond of dishes like bamboo shot with pork, braised chicken, and ducks webbed feet; the dishes were particularly sumptuous at Chinese New Year banquets. When working at Mody Road, Kwok often went to buy food at markets in Yaumatei. There was a shop named “Tong Shun Hing” in the Kwun Chung Street Market which was at the corner of Shanghai Street and Bowring Street; the shop specialized in Shanghai food ingredients such as ham.

There were 3 exits at the Yaumatei Market, respectively facing Reclamation Street, Battery Street and Gansu Street. The exit near Battery Street was populated with fish hawkers; the exit near reclamation street with stalls selling bean curd, bean sprouts and pickles. She visited Yaumatei Market most often and had known many stall owners personally for decades. Counting from the entrance near reclamation Street, the 2nd stall was Chan Kin Kee; its owner was from Dongguan and the stall was now operated by the 2nd and 3rd generation. There was a stall selling chicken named Tin Hing; Kwok often bought chicken wings and duck’s palms there. Because they were well acquainted, the owner was willing to debone the wings and palms per her request. Kwok was also well acquainted with Mrs Tse, owner of a fish stall at the market. Mrs. Tse later opened to stalls at the Kansu Street entrance and sold sea fish. The Tse family owned apartments at Man Wai House and Man Cheong House; the youngest son of the family was member of the owner’s committee of Man Wai House. Kwok Yung had once gone on a trip with the Tse family. Kwok liked to buy from stalls who did business honestly; if she encountered stalls that were dishonest she wouldn’t argue but stopped buying from them.  Near the Reclamation Street entrance there was a stall selling bean curd sheets. Kwok was acquainted with the 1st generation owner and had been a patron for decades. She witnessed the price of the bean curd sheets rising from 0.2 per sheet to 3.5 per sheet. In recent years many stalls were taken over by the 2nd generation. Once Kwok bought moldy bean curd sheets and returned to the stall to demand an exchange; the young stall owner had a poor attitude and refused to do business with her thereafter. She stopped going to this stall ever since and went to Mongkok Market instead.

After marriage Kwok was busy with her housework and rarely go on leisure walks at Yaumatei. There was one time when a relative came from the Philippines for business, and Kwok took her on a tour of the Banyan Corner and Temple Street. The walkside stalls of Temple Street opened in the afternoon, and at the time many prostitutes littered the street corners; there were also old ladies soliciting patrons. Kwok harboured no ill feelings towards these prostitutes and understood their needs to make a living. The prostitutes also rarely disturbed the residents and the two parties lived in peace. When she and her sons were walking along the Temple Street, she never took detours upon encountering prostitutes. Her young sons had not yet known what prostitution was. She and her husband was not used to dating, they went to the theatres twice in their entire lives. Before marriage Kwok often went to the theatres for leisure, and from 1987 to 1992 she worked as a cleaning lady at a film company. Therefore after she moved into Yaumatei she was not interested in watching the movies.

Kwok Yung mostly shopped at the wet market and frequented the Yaumatei Market and Kwun Chung market. During her son’s school years she would occasionally go to tailor shops at Bowring Street to order school uniforms for her sons. At year end she would go to Crocodile and Wing On to buy new clothes for her sons. At reclamation Street near Jordan Road Government Public School were many cheap garment stalls. Kwok considered herself a traditional person and had little interest in shopping. Her cousin, who was 2 years younger, often disapproved of her outdated dress style.

Kwok was rather receptive of all kinds of religious beliefs; she did not find them repulsive and did not pursue them in earnest. Her eldest granddaughter was studying at Lau Wong Fat Secondary School at Sycamore Street at Tai Kok Tsui. On ordinary days when Kwok Yung took her granddaughter to school, they would pass by the Kowloon Funeral Parlour; she didn’t find it necessary to take a detour. Kwok believed she had acted by her conscience all her life, and that if she did nothing wrong there was nothing to fear from either spirits or deities. When she was the cleaning lady at the film company, there was a time when the crew was filming at a remote location. Her colleagues urged her to offer incense at Buddhist temple to pray for safety, which she complied. She attached most importance to worshipping the ancestors. During the 7th lunar month each year she would burn joss paper outside her building, not necessarily on the 14th day (Yulan festival), particularly around the period. Her sons and daughters-in-law would help out with this. During the Chinese New Year she would occasionally go to Che Kung Temple to pray for good fortune, but rarely go to Wong Tai Sin Temple. At times she would go to the Catholic Church to listen to sermons, for example at Rosary Church at Tsim Shat Tsui and St Francis of Assisi Church at Shek Kip Mei.

When she was living in Man Yuen Building, she was acquainted with a Christian family on the 7th floor. The family had 8 members with 6 daughters and 1 son. When each daughter was wed they would invite Kwok Yung to be the lady of ceremonies, responsible for presiding over the tea-serving ceremony. She had presided over ceremonies at Rosary Church and at the Church on Waterloo Road. The children of her neighbours did well at school and Kwok’s sons had tutorial lessons under their supervision. Kwok’s 2nd son attended Delia Memorial School, her 3rd son Ng Wah College, her youngest son Kowloon Technical School. Her 2nd son quit school at Form Four. Only her 3rd son had attended a tertiary institution - The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

When Kwok Yung and her family moved in to Man Yuen Building, Man Cheong Building was just completed and many drug addicts gathered in the vicinity. Even police couldn’t disperse them at all. There was a garbage depot behind Man Cheong Building which reeked all the time. In recent years many residents from South Asian countries moved into eight Man buildings. Kwok found eight Man buildings had changed into United Nations in miniature. Particularly after 1997 when many Nepalese which had joined the Gurkha moved in with their family, she could often smell the scent of curry, coconut oil and onions. Eight Man buildings were near Jordan Road Ferry Pier. Whenever the harbour was shrouded in fog, bullhorns were rung aloud as alarm for moving vehicles. The sound of the bullhorn lasted only a while and didn’t affect the residents.

In early years there were cross-harbour ferries at the Jordan Road Ferry Pier. Hawkers selling newspapers would do business inside and outside the pier. There was one physically disabled newspaper hawker named Cheung, who has done business for decades there and was well known in the community. He was now over 70 and lived in Man Wah Building. During the 1970s and the 1980s when she was a housewife, Kwok took the ferry with several female acquaintances every day to Central to a stock broker. Kwok’s investment strategy was conservative: she never borrowed money to buy stocks, never invested to earn marginal profit, and only bought stable stocks such as Hong Kong Bank, Hang Seng Bank, and Bank of East Asia, earning several thousand dollars at one time. However Kwok Yung didn’t go to Central often. She had a vivid recollection of a time when she was working for a Japanese family at Hillwood Road. At the time the male employer left Hong Kong on a business trip. The family had a daughter, and the Japanese mother invited Kwok Yung to come with her son on an excursion to Central. The two families took a ferry from the Jordan Road Pier, where Kwok was treated Japanese cuisine at the Japanese Club followed by taking photographs at the Statue Square. During the 1960s to 1970s Kwok would occasionally bring her son to Hong Kong Island to play at the Ping Tau Fa Yuen (now the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens).

Kwok Yung had a love for eight Man buildings. In 2005 when she bought in an apartment in Man Wah Building, Prosperous Garden was already completed. Kwok Yung never considered it despite it was newer and more modern. She preferred the apartments in eight Man buildings because the units had a saleable area and a 9-feet high ceiling. Kwok has lived for several decades in Yaumatei and she had many acquaintances in the area. She had a deep love for the community. She found shopping for food in Yaumatei very convenient and often went to shop at Kwun Chung Street Market and Yaumatei Market. She knew many of the shop owners in person. Kwok only bargained for lower prices when buying, and never asked for credits of payment. The shop owners were delighted to make her acquaintance, naming her “the housewife of many sons” (Kwok had four sons).

She witnessed the change in the community over the past decades; in the old days the Yaumatei Community Centre and its Rest Garden (Banyan corner) were only vacant lots, and Kwong Chee Theatre was located on the Saigon Street (remark: it should be on the Kansu Street), the section between Temple Street and Woosung Street. In the early days when she worked as a housemaid at Tsim Sha Tsui, Kwok would go to theatres at Yaumatei to watch the 9:30 Cantonese opera performances and movies. She visited such theatres including Kam Wah Theatre, Yaumatei Theatre, Kwong Ming Theatre and Victoria Theatre. The performers included famous opera artists Hung Sin-lui, Bak Suet-sin and Fong Yim-fun, and Ng Cho-fan, Bowie Wu and Cheung Ying. After the show ended she would return to her employer’s home. In 1973 when her youngest son was 6, Kwok was referred to work at Universal Mansion at Hillwood Road as housemaid of a Japanese family.