Lee Lai

Lee Lai was born in 1928 and his hometown was in Panyu of Guangdong Province. In childhood he studied for 7 to 8 years of traditional tutorial school at his hometown, and became involved in the catering trade as an adult. Later, through referral by a relative, he joined the letter writing trade and kept his license by an annual fee of HK$100. From 1964 he began opening a letter writing stall at Yunnan Lane of Yau Ma Tei and has now been in business of 47 years. Yunnan Lane was at the side of the Yau Ma Tei Post Office, and in the 1950s to 1960s it gathered most of the letter writing stalls in Hong Kong. At its peak there were over 30 stalls. With many letter-writers retired, there were only about a dozen such stalls left. To have a letter written the customer had to tell the letter writer about the content. Because Lee wasn’t familiar with dialects of the north, of Chiuchow and Hakka, his customers were limited to Cantonese speakers. Some of customers were from outside Yau Ma Tei and had came from all parts of Hong Kong. His stall provided three services: writing letters, filling out forms, and filing tax return.

1.) Writing letters. During the 1950s and 60s many from the mainland had migrated to Hong Kong. They were separated from their family and could only communicate through letters. Most family letters were sent by children to parents, wife to husband or children, or husband to wife and children. Most of Lee’s customers were women. Lee also wrote letters sending to mainland enterprises, mostly about applying to migrate to Hong Kong. There was no need to write using classical Chinese, so he was able to handle these requests.

2.) Filling out forms. Lee had filled out forms for many boat families at the Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter and residents of the squatters, to apply for units in the government’s 7-storey resettlement buildings. The customers came from as far as the New Territories and Tiu Keng Leng. He also filled out forms for small business proprietors to apply for business registration from the Business Registration Office. The application fee was $160 per year.

3.) Filing tax return. The customers were mostly small proprietors with business registration, for example lorry drivers, taxi drivers, jade traders, and fruit sellers. They operated in the form of unlimited corporation. Limited corporations for example large enterprises or factories needed to file their tax returns through designated accountants. They do not require the services of letter writing stalls.

In the early days of Lee’s business he charged 30 cents for each letter; later the fee was increased gradually to 50 cents, 80 cents and 1 dollar. Filling out forms cost 80 cents or 1 dollar; more complicated forms were charged 2 dollars. Visa applications to foreign countries would be charged 4 to 5 dollars. As such forms required the provision of detailed information of relatives in Hong Kong and on the mainland, filling them was highly time-consuming. Most applicants applied for emigration to the US, UK and Australia. The charges for filling tax returns were based on the volume of business of the propriety and the difficulty of filling. Taxi and minibus drivers would usually be charged 20 to 30 dollars, and the charges would be higher for stores and metal workshops. For highly complicated cases of tax return filling the store proprietor would commission an accounting firm.

In those days many local residents mailed materials such as sugar, oil, beans and clothing back to their hometown, and Lee would help them to write the addresses and details on top of the parcels. Mostly he wrote family letters for customers. Base on the intention of the customers, he would choose suitable expressions to enhance the emotional effect. In those days the letter writing business was highly competitive and Lee earned a mediocre income in the beginning. Mostly he relied on regular customers to refer new ones. Every time a business was done he would offer his name card to customers who would give it to their relatives or friends who could use the service. They would then come to the stall according to the address on the card. After the tax return or the form was submitted, customers usually do not come to thank the letter writer.