Nowadays, there is a common development model in Hong Kong: erecting a series of residential towers atop a multi-storey shopping mall, and a transport interchange underneath for buses, minibuses, and the MTR metro. Everything from supermarkets, retail chains, food and beverage franchises, healthcare services, beauty and personal care, entertainment venues, community services, etc. would all be housed within the mall. Without much site specific character and community connections, a typical mall environment with the same group of shops that can be found everywhere in the city, essentially replaces the high street in a neighbourhood. Knocking down low rise buildings, erasing small alleys, and replacing with huge malls and high rise residential estates is luring business for developers, and is happening in many neighbourhoods across the city. So far, the majority of Sai Ying Pun has been spared from this large scale redevelopment force. Its century old urban fabric remains largely intact despite rapid gentrification in recent years. Within its grid street system, quite a number of shops have been serving the community for more than a generation. According to a university study, about 50% of Sai Ying Pun’s 35,960 population actually works in the same district. Residents have a high chance to interact with their neighbours while visiting the 700+ shops on street level. The recent arrival of foreign expats, along with new lifestyle shops, fine dining restaurants, pubs and cafes seem to harmoniously coexist with the traditional businesses of the community, reshaping the soul of a century-old neighbourhood in an interesting way.
Living in close proximity since 2019, we have become regular visitors to Sai Ying Pun. Every week we would walk over to drop off our household recyclables there, pick up grocery from our favourite tofu shop, vegetable stall, local sauce store and fishmonger, get restaurant takeouts, enjoy a traditional dim-sum breakfast or a Chinese dessert, and occasionally get haircut at an one-man salon. Sai Ying Pun has essentially become a part of our lives. Seeing the recent changes of Sai Ying Pun and the aging shopkeepers make us wonder how many of its unique old shops would remain in a decade’s time. Before all is lost, we felt it would be nice to document the urban scenery of this traditional neighbourhood as of today. With the humanistic scale and close knitted relationship within the community, this is essentially the soul of Sai Ying Pun that no shopping mall can ever replace.
Established in 1855, Yuen Kee Dessert (源記甜品專家) on Centre Street is the City’s oldest dessert restaurant. Traditional Chinese dessert is usually served hot. We sometimes drop by Yuen Kee after grocery shopping, especially during winter when we crave for something warm and sweet. [2022]Nothing inside Yuen Kee seems to be over a hundred years old, as the dessert shop has moved three times during the course of history. [2022]Yuen Kee is well known for a number of traditional Chinese dessert, especially the sweet herbal tea with lotus seeds and egg (in photo right to the bowl), and the steamed egg cake. We usually ordered one of the more common ones such as almond soup, black sesame soup or walnut soup. [2022]On Western Street, Tuck Chong Sum Kee Bamboo Steamer (德昌森記蒸籠) has become a tourist attraction in recent years, thanks to handicraft fairs, blogs, magazines, and social media, and the fact that it is one of the last handmade bamboo workshops in Hong Kong. [2022]Not every product is handmade by the shop. For the ones that are, they will be reflected in the price tag. [2022]The shop sells all kinds of bamboo steamers from large to mini. Some foreign tourists would get the small ones as souvenirs. We got a medium size handmade one for steaming dishes at home. [2022]Snake King Hoi or She Wong Hoi (蛇王海) has been serving the Sai Ying Pun community for over thirty years. In the evening during winter months, there are usually two lines queuing in front of the shop, one for sit in dining and the other for takeout. [2022]Snake soup, mutton stew, smoked chicken and glutinous rice are the signature dishes. [2021]Cha chaan teng (茶餐廳) or Hong Kong style cafe is a type of local restaurants emerged after WWII, providing fusion dishes in economical prices for locals who couldn’t afford Western fine dining. Signature dishes of cha chaan teng include Hong Kong style milk tea, yuenyeung or coffee with tea, egg tart and pineapple bun. Every neighbourhood in the city has its collection of cha chaan teng. 60-year Luen Wah Cafe (聯華茶餐廳) on Centre Street is probably most well known one for Sai Ying Pun. [2022]With a row of banquette seating and a mezzanine over the main dining area, Luen Wah Cafe maintains a typical cha chaan teng layout from mid 20th century. [2020]Out of all the shops in Sai Ying Pun, Kwan Hing Kee (關興記) on Third Street is probably the one that we have visited the most. Opened in 1928, Kwan Hing Kee is specialized in tofu, soy products and a range of local ingredients. We often come for tofu, tofu dessert, tofu skin, beansprouts, fish balls, beef balls, etc. [2020]Being one of the 20 old shops participating in Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation‘s Hong Kong Urban Canvas project, the shutter of Kwan Hing Kee has been painted with the image of the owner and her cat. The NGO aims to promote traditional shops in Sai Wan, Central and Wanchai with art and tours. [2020]Forgot since when, there would always be a bottle of Yu Kwen Yik (余均益) chilly sauce in our fridge. Recently we just found out that Yu Kwen Yik is going to celebrate their 100th anniversary this year in 2022. Starting from a market hawker, this famous shop on Third Street has become a Hong Kong classic, serving the community of Sai Ying Pun and beyond for generations. [2022]Recommended by Michelin Guide, Ying Kee (英記) on High Street is a well known noodle in Sai Ying Pun famous for beef flank noodles, BBQ pork noodles and deep fried wanton. We sometimes come here for late lunch or afternoon light meals. [2022]As a “southern goods” store (南貨店), Ming Kee (銘記) on Third Street sells all sort of traditional condiments and food products that are originated from south of Yangtze River. We used to get our sauces and cooking wine here. Sadly, like many small shops in Hong Kong, Ming Kee Sai Ying Pun is closed down for good during the pandemic. [2021]It is sad to know that we won’t be able to see the big cat of Ming Kee again. [2021] As a traditional rice shop, Sing Tak Lung (成德隆) on First Street has become a rarity in Hong Kong, as most people would get package rice from supermarkets nowadays. Nonetheless, this old shop is still serving restaurant clients and elderly residents in Sai Ying Pun, who come for their “house blend” mix of rice. [2020]Hing Kee Wine Shop (興記酒莊) on High Street is a traditional convenient syore selling everything from Chinese and Western alcohol to snacks and soft drinks. [2020]Between 1973-85, Hong Kong was the biggest garment manufacturer in the world. At its peak, the industry employed between 250,000 and 300,000 skilled workers. As factories began to move elsewhere where wages were lower, some former garment workers have switched to become garment alteration specialist. Occupying the space below the stair of an old tenement apartment, Gum Sha Garment Alteration (金莎) on Queen’s Road West has been around for quite some time. [2020]Compare to the adjacent cafes and restaurant on High Street, the shopfront of Lei Kuen Plumbing and Construction (利權) presents another kind of chaotic beauty that is down to earth and causal. [2020]Established in 1960’s as a street vendor, Tropical Fish Aquarium (熱帶魚水族) on Second Street is the last remaining aquarium shop in Sai Ying Pun. Aquarium shops have seen better days when keeping fish and turtles at home was a popular hobby, and there were more than ten aquarium shops in Sai Wan alone. [2022]At night, the violet lights of Tropical Fish Aquarium adds a dreamy feeling to the tranquil street. [2022]Access from a side alley off Queen’s Road West, Wong’s Hair Salon (亞黃理髮), a traditional hair salon attracts pedestrian’s attention with delightful colours and friendly prices. [2022]At the corner of Western Street and Second Street, the no-frills barber shop Wing Kee (榮記) offers affordable haircuts to the community, HK$40 (about US$5) for haircut only. [2022]Apart from Wing Kee, there are quite a number of small hair salons in the area, including MW Hair Design on Second Street, an one-man salon richly decorated with objects that the owner gathered from flea markets in different countries. [2022]Traditional Chinese medicine is quite popular among the elderly. Opened since 1977, Fung Wun Gam (馮煥錦) Chinese bonesetter and traditional Chinese medicine practitioner on Second Street has been serving the community for over forty years. [2022]Lau Ying Leung (劉英亮) bonesetter on Queen’s Road West is another traditional medical consultant in Sai Ying Pun. [2021]But perhaps the most well known traditional bonesetter should be Chiu Sing Nam (趙醒楠) on Queen’s Road West. [2022]Established for half a century, Chiu Sing Nam is famous for its massage oil to treat minor bone injuries. [2022]Other traditional shops in an old neighbourhood includes zhizha (紙紮鋪) or Taoist ritual paper shop. These shops sell everything related to traditional Chinese religious rituals (combination of Taoist and Buddhist). First established in 1933, Wing Sing Ho (永盛號) has been at its Pokfulam Road location since 1973. [2022]Jun Sing Hong (俊城行) on Queen’s Road West is probably one of the biggest zhizha (紙紮鋪) in Hong Kong. Traditionally, people would burn paper products (usually paper miniature of objects from the real world) in funerals as gifts for the deceased, believing that the products burnt would be received in the afterworld. [2021]While there is still demand for this tradition, over 90% of paper products are now imported from China. Zhizha craftsmen in Hong Kong have almost disappeared in recent years. Even as big as Jun Sing Hong, only one craftsman remains in the shop. Imported paper products for the deceased have been evolving over the years. Today, for a few hundred HK Dollars, customers can get paper miniature of a Lamborghini, or a house with a pretty housekeeper, or a 5G Iphone. [2021]Adjacent to Jun Sing Hong, Bo Tai Hong (寶泰行) also sells zhizag paper products. Their craftsman master Mak has been making custom paper products from Toy Story figures, grand buildings to even football stadium. These zhizha stores also sell traditional decorations for Chinese New Year and Mid Autumn Festival. [2021]
2014: A stall owner was about to wrapped up his day after a long day of work. 2014 and 2015 marked the final moments of Graham Street Market before half the market was knocked down for redevelopment. In this ever-changing city, documenting a moment in time is a way to battle against the power of forgetting. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014: Unlike shopping in a supermarket, causal interactions with vendors of Graham Street Market is one of the most interesting experiences of living in Central. It will certainly be missed when the old market is gone. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]
In Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express (重慶森林), actors Faye Wong and Tony Leung often show up in an outdoor wet market in Central (中環) where fresh meat, vegetables, flowers, housewares, and even goldfish can be found, and so as outdoor street eateries known as dai pai dong (大牌檔). Defined by Graham Street (嘉咸街), Gage Street (結志街), and Peel Street (卑利街) between Hollywood Road (荷李活道) and Queen’s Road Central (皇后大道中), Graham Street Market (嘉咸市集) is the city’s oldest wet market with about 160 years of history. Flanked both sides by small metal stalls, the sloped market streets present an iconic urban scenery where elderly, housewives, maids, and children rub shoulders with white-collar workers and foreign expatriates. Before the pandemic, tourists flocked to the market just to get a feel of the vibrant atmosphere and check out its decades-old shops. Artists and photographers also come to train their eyes by framing whatever that might catch their attention in a chance encounter. But it is the people from the surrounding neighbourhoods like us who regularly come for our daily needs, that have contributed in sustaining a street market culture in Central, just a block or two away from the central business district. In this ever-changing metropolis, every building, street, or neighborhood has a price tag. When the price is right, redevelopment seems to be inevitable. In 2007, a controversial announcement was made by the profit making Urban Renewal Authority to replace the Graham Street Market with HK$3.8 billion (about US$ 500 million) worth of housing, retail, office and hotel.
Months after we relocated to Hong Kong in 2014, we wrote a post on the Graham Street Market for the first time. Back then, demolition had already begun, but the majority of the market was still largely intact. 7 years have passed. While construction is still ongoing, 11 new market stores and a high rise apartment known as “My Central” have already been completed. Against the annoyance of dust, noise and construction truck traffic, Graham Street Market continues to serve the neighborhood today. In a relatively low dense neighbourhood, four new residential, hotel and commercial towers of about 30 storeys have been planned, along with their respective retail podiums. Being the heart of colonial Victoria City (維多利亞城), Central (中環) and Sheung Wan (上環) is officially the one and only old city of Hong Kong. While Hong Kong is no Rome or Paris, that doesn’t mean its old city is worthless. Instead, being an international metropolis frequented by tourists, many would expect the old city should be protected by stringent restrictions such as building height limits. Rather than keeping one or two historical facades as gimmick, the overall density, neighbourhood ambience, urban scale and fabric should be respected as a whole entity. Knocking down old neighbourhoods and replacing them with new towers is not a sensible way to rejuvenate a city, as Jane Jacobs pointed out decades ago. Not only would this kills the identity, diversity and character of the area, it would also destroy the neighbourhood’s self evolving power. In the words of Aldo Rossi, this is in fact destroying the genius loci (spirit of the place) of Old Central, like pinning four 30-storey towers right at the Campo de Fiori in Rome.
When I was a child, I used to visit Graham Street Market and the nearby Central Market (中環街市) with my aunt. Back then, I didn’t know that having such a destination of living heritage a block away from home was a privilege. Nor did I know that the market was actually an iconic filming location for photographs and movies. As a tourist attraction, the market is well received by foreigners to the point that even Queen Elizabeth II has come for a visit in 1975. For me as a child, the market was just a busy, noisy and sometimes slippery and bloody place where I could witness how chickens were slaughtered, cow’s and pig’s heads were hung for display, and live fish were de-scaled on a thick wood block. It was the 1980’s when purchased meat was still wrapped in butcher paper and tied with local salt water grass instead of using a plastic bag. Graham Street Market was where I first grasped a sense of what daily living is all about: gossiping with neighbours, picking the freshest food, bargaining with the hard working vendors, day in, day out. Three decades on, these scenes of street market culture are unfortunately fading. The “renewed” Graham Market shall be cleaner, less noisy, and perhaps have a few more planters and trees, but it may turn out that only gourmet stores selling Japanese wagyu, French cheese and Tasmanian cherries could survive the rent. The street market culture of Central might continue to fade until one day it only exists in historical photos.
2014: The market entrance at Gage Street is always packed with grocery shoppers and tourists. Today, the entire block beyond 7 Eleven has been demolished. [Junction of Gage Street and Cochrane Street right below Central – Mid-Levels Escalator, Central, 2014]2014: One of the casualties in the area’s redevelopment, the 70-year-old Sun King Kee Noodles (新景記粉麵) shut its doors for good in March 2015. The entire block has since been demolished. [Gage Street, Central, 2014]2021: Now wrapped in scaffolding, almost the entire northeastern half of Gage Street has been knocked down in the last few years. [Gage Street, Central, 2021]2014: With wooden shutters and decorative roof parapet walls, a group of three pre-war shophouses at the intersection of Graham and Gage Street was a focus of discussion at the early stage of the redevelopment. Instead of fully preserving the historically listed buildings, the Urban Renewal Authority and developer had decided to demolish most of the structures and keep the outer facades only. [Gage Street, Central, 2014]2014: Formerly occupying the corner of Gage and Graham Street near the three pre-war shophouses, Yiu Fat seafood (耀發海鮮) has been relocated to a new shop below “My Central”, the first completed residential tower in the redevelopment. [Junction of Gage Street and Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014: Other old shops who chose to be relocated to the 11 new shops below “My Central” includes Lee Hung Seafood (利鴻海鮮). Some owners complain that the new shop is much smaller than their old ones. [Gage Street, Central, 2014]2021: Six new shops on Gage Street, including Lee Hung Seafood (利鴻海鮮), are some of the earliest to reopen for business after the first phase of redevelopment. Most of these shops are former market stalls in the area. What many concern is how the three pre-war shophouses at the intersection of Graham and Gage Street would become after the green scaffolding is removed in a few years’ time. [Gage Street, Central, 2021]2014:Before redevelopment, most buildings in Graham Street Market were less than 10 storey high. Buying the old tenement buildings and replacing them with high rise luxurious apartment is one of the quickest way to make money in Hong Kong. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2021: At 37-storey high, “My Central” is the first residential tower completed in the market redevelopment. A 2020 property listing shows that a high level unit was selling for HK$48,960 per square feet (US$ 6,100). The asking price for the 674 sq.ft unit was HK$33,000,000 (US$ 4,255,500). To put it in context, if a tofu vendor at Graham Street Market sells a block of tofu for HK$4.00 each, she would need to sell over 12,000 blocks just to buy a square feet of residential space above her head. The HK$4.00 price has yet factored in any expense or production cost. Being the world’s most expensive property market for years, Hong Kong real estate is way out of reach for many ordinary Hong Kongers. [My Central at Gage Street, Central, 2021]2014: Descending from Gage Street brings us into the crowded Graham Street Market. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014:Back in 2014, both sides of Graham Street were occupied by vendors and shops. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014: Graham Street Market has been enclosed by scaffolding and affected by construction noises in the past few years.. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014: Late 2014 was the last few months when Graham Street was still flanked by its old shops and market stalls. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014: The redevelopment has forced a number of shop owners to consider retirement. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014:Some shops preferred to relocate to another retail space in the same area. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014: Situated near the junction of Graham and Wellington Street, this stall sells all kinds of local dried ingredients, such as nuts, dried tofu, dried mushrooms and Chinese preserved sausages. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014: This kind of dried good grocery was quite common at street markets in the old days, but are now disappearing fast in Hong Kong. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2014: Shopping in traditional market stalls offer us opportunities to chat with the vendors and asked for their recommendations on cooking techniques. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]2020: For several years already, the market stalls on Graham Street have to cope with construction noises and dusts behind and above their heads. [Graham Street, Central, 2020]2020:Today, between Wellington Street and Gage Street, one side of Graham Street is occupied by “My Central”, while market stalls on the opposite side are backed by a wall of construction barriers. [Graham Street, Central, 2020]2021: New shops such as Smoke and Barrels, a New Orleans-style BBQ restaurant, has already moved into the podium of “My Central”. [Graham Street, Central, 2020]2021: Behind the scaffolding structure and green coverings, the 140-year-old Wing Woo Grocery (永和號) awaits for its turn of makeover. [Junction of Wellington and Graham Street, Central, 2021]2017: As the sole survivor of its architectural type in Hong Kong, the Wing Woo Grocery (永和號) building is a Grade 1 listed historical building meant to be preserved and renewed for retail use. Last year, people found that the roof of the building has been removed. [Junction of Graham Street and Wellington Street, Central, 2017]2016: Thanks to netizen who shares a drone photograph online, we can still have a peek of what the original structure and roof were like. [Photo credit: Jack Chui at Chinese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons]2009: Also thanks to netizens who share their old photos online, we can have a glimpse of what the interior of Wing Woo Grocery (永和號) was like before it closed its doors in 2009 after 80 years in business. [Photo credit: Wikipedia user -Wpcpey, WiNG, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons]2020: Established at Kowloon City in 1917, Kowloon Soy Co. Limited (九龍醬園) is one of the last company still using traditional method to make soy sauce. Many of their products are exported to the overseas, while their Graham Street store is their last remaining specialty shop in Hong Kong. [Graham Street near Queen’s Road Central, Central, 2020]2020: Apart from Graham Street, Peel Street the other sloped market street lined with small shops. [Peel Street near Hollywood Road, Central, 2020]2014:Compared to Graham Street, Peel Street has a larger concentration of shops selling non-food merchandise. [Peel Street, Central, 2014]2014: The corrugated metal cover atop the market stall provides decent protection against dusts and debris from adjacent construction site of “My Central”. [Peel Street, Central, 2014]2014:Before popularization of supermarkets, citizens in Hong Kong relied on these small variety shop to get all sorts of household merchandise. [Peel Street, Central, 2014]2014: Not too long ago, even goldfish could be purchased from the street market stalls at Graham Street Market. [Junction of Peel Street and Wellington Street, Central, 2014]2014: These goldfish vendors are disappearing fast across the city, especially on Hong Kong Island. [Junction of Peel Street and Wellington Street, Central, 2014]2014: The story of the changing Graham Street Market exemplifies the fate of many old neighbourhoods in Hong Kong. [Graham Street, Central, 2014]
Blue Lapis Road 