1966 – Now landed in Hong Kong and mesmerized by the highrise buildings, the wide roads, the neon lights, the crowd that never dissipated and the incessant diffusion of Cantonese Opera, it was time to wake up and face the world. I needed to look for a job. Talking about opera, my sister, so did most residents along the streets, always turned on their radio every afternoon to listen to Cantonese opera. After bombarded daily by the broadcast one either went cuckoo or started to appreciate it. Fortunately I fell into the later. Inexplicably the TV at home was never turned on in the afternoon. It was only switched on after dinner when the whole family sat in the living room watching the one and a half hour popular variety show “Enjoy Yourself Tonight” which had a 27 years run. I did not know if the home TV was banned for the afternoon, a directive of my brother-in-law to keep my young nephews and nieces in check, or simply because there were no suitable programs to watch during the day.
Cantonese Opera was broadcasted over the radio every day all over town. You could see live show performed regularly at local theatres
I was lucky to have accommodation at my brother-in-law’s home. It was a very large flat by local standard, 2000 square feet of living space, master-en-suite plus three bedrooms, a second bath, a dining room, a spacious living room plus kitchen with attached servant’s quarter. The floor plan was well designed and functional. The main door opened into a long corridor leading to the living room, on the right were two bedrooms with a shared bath followed by the master-en-suite in tandem, on the left was the kitchen, the dining room and the third bedroom. The servant quarter was out of sight hidden behind the kitchen.
The main door was solid wood with a peephole with double locks and further protected by a metal gate. On the left side wall of the entrance at eye level sat a plastic sign with the name of my brother-in-law and the flat address. Pretty cool I thought. Access to the flats was by way of two elevators installed side by side, one serving the even number floors and the other the odd number floors. The elevators were rather tiny, accommodating maximum 4 adults. We had to pull open a heavy metal door with a small elongated glass window to enter into the elevator, then drew close a wooden/metal retractable grill gate before we pressed the round black buttons to the desired floors. We lived on the ninth floor just below the top floor. Security was of paramount importance in that era due to the large influx of illegal immigrants from mainland China who were eyed as a threat to the safety of the neighbourhood. Many of these immigrants had swam across shark infested water to reach Hong Kong. For every one who made it who knew how many perished. Every residential tower then, if the owners were agreeable and willing to spend the money, had a 24 hour concierge who checked on any stranger trying to enter or leave the building.
Elevator in the 1960’s with collapsible gate that we drew to close and open, with clanking sounds
My other two travel companions were less lucky in finding accommodation. One I remember had to temporarily sleep on the bunker bed vacated by his uncle in a shared crowded flat in busy bustling Mongkok. The other had to share a room in a flat situated in a less desirable area of Yau Ma Tei
For several mornings after breakfast prepared by the maid I would walk from Waterloo Road to Mongkok , a nice fifteen minutes walk, where all the people of Kowloon seemed to flock to. Mongkok was the main business centre for Kowloon, just as Central District was for Hong Kong Island. Mongkok was acknowledged as the busiest district in the World by The Guinness World Records, with a population density of 340,000 per square mile (Wikipedia Quoted), a fact hard to comprehend, hard to digest, hard to believe. To put this in perspective, The Hong Kong Government from 1968 to 1978 built the Wah Fu Estate Public Housing consisting of 18 residential blocks on 9 hectares of land accommodating 50,000 people. One square mile has 259 hectares, you do the math. Another private housing estate, the largest in the world then, built around the same time, Mei Foo has 99 towers shoulder to shoulder and back to back on 16 hectares of land accommodating 80,000 people. Both Wah Fu and Mei Foo are still thriving communities today. Simply mind boggling.
Mongkok in the 1960’s
Mongkok at night 2010’s, the most densely populated district in the world per Guinness World Records.
Wah Fu Estate Public Housing built on 9 hectares of land, accommodating 50,000 residents
Mei Foo Estate Private Housing in 1970’s built on 16 hectares of land, accommodation 80,000
My brother-in-law ran an Import/Export Company on the third floor of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Building at the corner of Nathan Road and Argyle Street. The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank’s Mongkok office was the most important branch after the Head Office which was located in Central District on Hong Kong Island. This Bank had since grown by leap and bound, locally and internationally. Today it is known as HSBC around the world ranking in the top five.
The Bank building was built in 1954 in grand Colonial Style, eight stories high. Though it had elevators I always walked up the stairs, hating the wait, which for a young lad like me was no sweat. The Import/Export office was around 1,000 square feet, pretty much open plan, with a small room at the end separated from the rest by wooden and glass panels, my brother-in-law’s office. There were four or five working desks each with its own manual Remington typewriter. I was introduced to Mr. Chan the Manager. He was in his fifties and the only person in the Company with a good command of English, the rest could hardly read or write a single English word, including my brother-in-law.
The Head Office of Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Building in 1960’s, today known as HSBC
Mr. Chan was very polite as he should be by custom towards a relative of the boss. He directed me to an empty desk and handed me a copy of that day’s South China Morning Post, the most important and influential English newspaper in Hong Kong. The other English newspaper was The Hong Kong Standard which was quite a tad behind in term of prestige and popularity. Both newspapers are still selling in Hong Kong today. Mr. Chan said “Please check the Job postings and apply for the jobs that seem most suitable and promising to you”. After I had typed my job letters my brother-in-law would ask Mr. Chan if he could be kind enough to review them for me and to suggest any changes that should be made. Fortunately my letters were quite well written, so I believed, as I had some previous experience in writing job application letters when I was looking for my first job in Mauritius. Besides I suspected that Mr. Chan considered my knowledge of English superior to his and he would probably feel uneasy to correct me. The mailing of my job letters was taken care of by the “messenger”, that was the office boy whose duties were to take care of odds and ends in the office and running errands for the staff.
In the afternoon there was not much to do and I would go to see my other two Mauritian friends, to check on one another’s progress and walk the streets of Mongkok.