Li Ping Sum

He attended schools in Kowloon Tong (from primary 5 to Form 3) with classmates from different social strata. There were wealthy classmates who live in a detached house with garden in Kowloon Tong. They were taken to schools by a housemaid. There were also classmates from an average family who lived in a squatter. Some came from families poorer than Li Ping Sum. He related well with the wealthy classmates. Sometimes, they would invite him to their homes for tutions. Although he lived in Yau Ma Tei, the classmates who lived in Kowloon Tong did not mind that. They even considered old districts like Yau Ma Tei and Sham Shui Po a novelty. They thought that he was knowledgeable growing up in the old district.

In the junior secondary school days, Li Ping Sum used to visit the night markets near Yung Shue Tau and Temple Street with his classmates. They enjoyed cheap snacks, watched martial art performance, drug promotion, storytelling and snake dance. They also frequented the physiognomists and bird fortune tellers. His classmates highly admired the physiognomist capacity of revelation. Li Ping Sum liked browsing the night market, he particularly enjoyed the storytelling. He was familiar with stories such as The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants and The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple. His parents were not interested in the night markets. They loved movies. According to Li’s observation, most of the night market visitors lived in Yau Ma Tei. And, most of them were middle-aged people who had nothing to do after work. Some tourists who knew about Temple Street from advertisements also came to buy cheap goods and take photos. As to the district residents, most of them came for food.

There were a lot of theatres in Yau Ma Tei, such as the Kwong Ming Theatre, Yau Ma Tei Theatre, Astor Theatre, Kwong Chee Theatre and Majestic Cinema which showed Cantonese movies. A ticket cost several dozen cents to $1.5. The Kwong Chee Theatre was situated at the junction of Temple Street and Kansu Street. It was a two-storey theatre which mainly showed silent films such as The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple and kung fu movies like Wong Fei Hung. It was a cheap entertainment which cost only several dozen cents. Kwong Chee Theatre had poor acoustic facilities and showed older movies. One thing special about it was the provision of storytelling service. The story tellers sat in both wings of the 2nd floor and interpreted the shots over a microphone. Yau Ma Tei Theatre was opposite the wholesale fruit market. It showed musical films acted by Bai Lu Ming or other mandarin movie stars. Sometimes, it showed the Chinese opera films A ticket cost $1.20 to $1.50. Kwong Ming Theatre showed the movies acted by Pak Yin and other stars. Stood next to Kwong Ming Theatre was the First New Theatre. It showed mandarin movies and second-run western films. Alhambra Theatre was situated at the junction of Nathan Road and Kansu Street. This high-end theatre had a European-style design and showed first-run western films. Several types of tickets were sold: $1.20 for back row, $1.7 for the lower loge and $2.4 for the upper loge. The lower and upper loges were on the 2nd floor. Astor Theatre was at the site where Eaton Hotel now stands. It showed musical movies or leftist films those from Yindoo. Because Astor Theatre also served as a venue for Chinese opera, it had a layout different from ordinary theatres. Majestic Theatre was situated at the current site of Choi Fook Restaurant  at the junction of Nathan Road and Saigon Street. It showed first-run films but was smaller than Alhambra Theatre in area.

Li Ping Sum’s parents loved Cantonese movies. They usually brought him to the nearby Astor Theatre, Kwong Ming Theatre and First New Theatre. In those days, a child could follow an adult into the theatre (free admission). The ticket seller would turn a blind eye to it. But, this was not allowed in the theatres which showed western movies because they were stricter with the rules. The children loved going to the theatres because a great variety of food was available at a low price, such as roasted squid, fried chestnuts, ginkgo, quail eggs, fish ball, pig ears and pig intestine in brine. Li Ping Sum mainly watched Cantonese movies when he was a child. Because he was not good in English then and knew little vocabularies, so he could not follow the subtitles. Because of language problem, the mandarin films were not popular -they were shown with Chinese subtitles. When he was a child, he went to the theatres with his younger sister. When he grew older, he watched movies with his classmates or friends.