Made with pride in Hong Kong
Retro design has long been all the rage in Hong Kong and is accordingly expensive. As a much cheaper alternative, all over Hong Kong you can still find a whole range of these small, jam-packed old shops, stocking many familiar household goods that have long since disappeared from the shelves of the big chains of retailers.
One such store is Chu Wing Kee in Possession Street. Here you will find absolutely everything: the typical sheet metal boxes, old-fashioned thermoses, red wet market lamps, tea boxes, bamboo trays, enamel mugs, and the red plastic piggy bank that is the emporium’s most famous offering. Particularly popular among young people are mementos from their childhood, which, in an ever-changing city, can help those who are in search of an identity.
Info
Address G/F, 26 Possession Street, Sheung Wan | Public Transport MTR Island Line (blue), Sheung Wan Station, Exit A2 | Hours Mon–Sat 10am–7.30pm| Tip Venturing on a trip to Castle Peak Road in Cheung Sha Wan, with its drab factory buildings (between house numbers 400 to 700), can give you an idea of what these industrial areas looked like.
The disappearance of these products is mainly due to the transformation of Hong Kong from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. The 1960s were characterised by strong economic growth worldwide, and on top of that the UN trade embargo against China generated rising demand for “Made in Hong Kong” goods. The factories of Sham Shui Po or Hung Hom produced clothing, plastic, and porcelain goods that were exported all over the world. Some 1.5 million refugees from China provided a cheap but well-educated workforce, and within a decade the export share jumped from 30 to 80 percent. In the 1970s, competition from other Asian countries gained strength (the “Four Tigers” may still be household names to many), and companies also started to relocate production facilities to the north. With the opening of China in the 1990s, more and more labour-intensive companies migrated to mainland China – today “Made in Hong Kong” is little more than a distant memory.
Anyone who’s looking for an authentic souvenir would do much better to visit a shop like Chu Wing Kee than to buy from one of the many street markets.
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