Ho Woon

Ho Woon was born in 1930 in his native place of Enping. He had three brothers and one younger sister. Ho Woon had received two years of primary education in his native place. Ho Woon’s family was poor when he was young. His father went to work in Southeast Asia and did not send a letter home in 8 years. Ho Woon’s grandmother was also paralyzed at the same time. He and his siblings were brought up by their mother who supported the family by collecting sweet potato shoots, smilacis glabrae rhizomes and ‘puppy heads’ (a Chinese herb). When Ho Woon was 9, Japan invaded China. To ease the family’s burden, his younger sister was sold and he tended cattles for his grandmother’s male cousin in his home town. He was given meals and accommodation in return but no wages. He had tended the cattles for 6 years and quitted at 17 because of sickness.

At 19, he came to Hong Kong as bade by his elder brother. With little education, Ho Woon had no alternatives but earned his living by doing manual work in Hong Kong. He worked in the Kwong Sang Cheong Sauce Manufacturer in Yau Ma Tei. He had to ply between Waterloo Road and Canton Restaurant at Shek Tong Tsui delivering soy sauce  3 to 4 times every day. The work was so hard that he suffered from swollen tendons of both legs after 3 years. In order to support the family, Ho Woon worked hard and earnestly. His boss appreciated his performance and gave him the concurrent post as the Kwong Sang Cheong’s chef. As a result, he earned a monthly wage of $33. Together with the money obtained by ‘fabricating accounts for reimbursement’, he managed to support his own living and saved up $1,600. In his native place, he had run small businesses such as selling peanuts. With such experiences, he tried to start his own business again in Hong Kong when he had saved up some money. He opened a grocery in Tsuen Wan with a partner, but lost the capital eventually. Then, a well-acquainted customer arranged him to meet the proprietor of Tat Fung Textile Mill. He wanted to get a job in the mill, but the proprietor did not employ him saying that at 23, he was too old for the job. Ho Woon eventually got a job as an apprentice in Tat Fung by bribing the proprietor. Six months later, he left Tat Fung for the Central Textiles in To Kwa Wan. He left the Central Textiles about 5 years later when the mill was moved to 9½ Miles, Tsuen Wan. He re-joined Tat Fung and left 2 years later when the proprietor sold his business.

At 27, Ho Woon again tried to start his own business as a fruit hawker. He stocked at the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market and sold them at his own street stall. Later on, he moved his stall to Nga Tsin Wai. It happened at the time when the riots took place. (Editor’s note: Ho Woon refers to the rightist riots which took place in 1956.) The Nga Tsin Wai Village Office charged him a daily fee of about $1. The fee was first increased to $20 in 1975 by the village headman, and then progressively increased to $80 and $200. After the village headman who first charged him a fee died, his successor increased the rent to $700 and charged him an additional $300 as incense fee. The village headman signed no tenancy with him, but gave him rental receipts, and the clan manager was responsible for rent collection. At the beginning, Ho Woon set up a stall in the vicinity of Nga Tsin Wai. He started with a wood plank stall and replaced it with an iron sheet stall later. ‘Ng Fat Tsai’ the village headman was nice to him. Ng understood that living was hard in those days and told him that he could build a larger stall. The water and electricity bills of the fruit stall were charged to the account of the Village Office, and Ho Woon was responsible to make the payment. Later on, Ho Woon successfully applied for an independent electricity meter and had his own telephone line.
  

One year, fire broke out in Kowloon City and spread to Hakka Village. Ho Woon bravely put out the fire with a laundry pole to prevent it from further spreading. Afterwards, Hakka Village was demolished and the Tung Tau Estate Market was built in its site. Through referral of a friend, Ho Woon’s family of four moved to a flat above a dyer in a stone house on Blacksmith Street for a monthly rent of $30 to $40. They lived there for more than one year. He could not sleep well because of the heat from the dyer. When the dyer was demolished, they moved to another stone house. One day, the government staff came to the village for resident registration, but Ho Woon missed it because he was doing business at his stall. Fortunately, with the assistance of a relative who was a policeman, he moved into a 7-storey building in today’s Wang Tau Hom. Twenty years later, he moved into today’s Wang Tau Hom Estate.

Ho Woon’s stall was opposite to a small wholesale market. Vegetables form Ngau Tau Kok and Tsz Wan Shan were all sent there for wholesale and the market operator earned a commission from it. The wholesale market, which opened every morning, had a history of more than 10 years. The market was originally situated in Kowloon City, but it was moved to Nga Tsin Wai later. In those days, Ho Woon had to travel to the Western District for stocking - the journey took one whole day. The wholesale business was good, and the Western District Wholesale Fruit Market was moved to Cheung Sha Wan 7 or 8 years later. Besides, with the improved transportation network, people could travel to Cheung Sha Wan for stocking themselves. As a result, the small wholesale market in Nga Tsin Wai was weeded out. After it was gone, many people came to occupy a plot near Nga Tsin Wai and open a stall there. Some people even built a two-storey stall for lease. Some Thais sold fruits, pork and wanton noodles at the site of today’s rest garden. These stalls were later demolished by the Urban Council, but some continue to operate up to now, including the vegetable stalls and barber stalls. In recent years, the Urban Renewal Authority plans to demolish Nga Tsin Wai, compensation negotiations are under way between the URA and stall operators.  

Ho Woon donated money when large-scale activities were held in Nga Tsin Wai, such as activities organized in celebration of Birthday of Tin Hau, the Jiao Festival or refurbishment of the Tin Hau Temple. He was well-acquainted with Ng Kau the village headman. One year, Ng Kau donated $5,000 to the celebration of the Jiao Festival, Ho Woon donated $3,000 in response. When the village headman died, he donated money to his family and personally handed it to them at their home. Ho Woon was well-acquainted with members of the indigenous people of Ng, Chan and Lee surnames. Today, most of them have moved out.

Generally speaking, Ho Woon had no disputes with anyone during the years he operated a stall in Nga Tsin Wai. However, burglaries had occurred in recent years. At first, he would report the case to the police, but no clue was found. Thereafter, he did not report again. A stall operator in the nearby market had complained to the Housing Department that Ho Woon’s stall pitch was not allowed to sellfruits. Fortunately, this was solved by the village headman. The headman explained that the stall was set on private land in Nga Tsin Wai, so it should not be subject to the restrictions. For many years, Ho Woon got up around 3am and took a minibus to the Wholesale Fruit Market for stocking. Most passengers of the minibus were operators of poultry or vegetable stalls who went to the market for stocking too. The operating hours of Ho Woon’s stall were from 7am to 7pm. In the afternoon, he would take a nap on a chair. The stall opened and closed at the same hours every day except when there was a typhoon. In the Chinese New Year period, he only rested for several days and returned his home town to visit his relatives and friends.

In the days when the resettlement blocks still existed, the areas near Nga Tsin Wai were frequented by bad elements. It was also the hangout of drug addicts. Occasionally, the drug addicts would approach Ho Woon at his stall and ask for a few dollars. The place was also visited by members of the Chaozhou, Xinhui and Enping factions of the triad society. They seldom gave troubles to Ho Woon except a case of protection fee extortion experienced by his son. His son refused to yield and sought help from 8 old classmates who were all Chaozhou natives and prison guards by occupation. The extorter quailed and the matter was eventually settled in peace. It was made a deal that the extorters shall never give him troubles again. On another occasion, Ho Woon was extorted $100 as tea money. The village headman negotiated with the extorter on his behalf. He demanded for return of the money and ordered the extorter never to give Ho Woon troubles again.

In the 1980s when the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (Editor’s Note: should be Urban Council) intended to demolish Ho Woon’s stall, Ho Woon sought assistance from the village headman. The headman argued that it was unreasonable to demolish his stall because it was set on private land, and Ho Woon held a business licence besides paying a monthly rent which could be proved by the rental receipt issued monthly. Since then, nothing was heard about the demolition. Although Nga Tsin Wai has been acquired in recent years, Ho Woon’s business remains unaffected. It is because his stall is not only frequented by the Nga Tsin Wai villagers, as a matter of fact, most of customers are the tenants of nearby residential buildings. Besides, most nearby residents know him and have been his regular customers for years.