vintage | Blue Lapis Road

CHU WING KEE: HOMEWARES FROM THE MOUNTAINS (朱榮記山貨), Sheung Wan (上環), Hong Kong

In the Cat Street neighbourhood, the story of Uncle Tim might have come to an end, but another piece of collective memory from the 1960’s continues to live on. Not a cool vintage store, nor a hip design shop, the down to earth Chu Wing Kee (朱榮記) just happens to make its name as an honest and ordinary homeware shop. Local homewares shops like Chu Wing Kee were pretty common in Hong Kong before 1970’s. As the city entered the decades of economic boom, most of these shops have faded out from the urban scenery. Supermarkets, department stores, dollar shops, convenient store chain, and even online shopping have virtually wiped out these shops. As property prices skyrocketed in recent decades, a 1000 sq.ft ground floor retail space in central Hong Kong could worth about USD 4 million. For a shop owner selling housewares at a few USD a piece, selling the shop makes much more sense than continuing the business. Paying a high rent to sell everyday merchandises also doesn’t make it profitable either. The gradual death of traditional homeware shops in Hong Kong seems inevitable. But there are exceptions. Chu Wing Kee is one of these rarities.

Chu Wing Kee started in 1959 by the father of Mr. Chu, the current owner of the shop, with a street stall selling “shan for” (山貨), or “goods from the mountains”. “Shan for” literally refers to housewares and furniture made of natural materials, notably handicrafts made of rattan, bamboo, reed, wood or grass. In mid 20th century, wickenworks made with rattan were very popular. In Hong Kong, these products were handmade and sold during the dry season. In the 1970’s, Hong Kong had became a major manufacturing city of plastic products. Traditional handmade “shan for” proved to be no match against the cheaper and mass produced plastic products. “Shan for” has quietly faded out from most homes. Rattan was perceived as dated and dull, not as exciting as the colourful plastic products. Two generations have since passed. Rattan decor is making a comeback in recent years. So what actually is rattan? Rattan is a climbing plant belongs to the palm family. It can be found in rainforests in Asia, Africa and Australia. It is light, durable and relatively flexible. It serves as a good alternative to timber. Rattan usually grows under shade in rainforests, and can even be cultivated under fruit or rubber trees. However, as deforestation intensifies in recent decades, so as the population of rattan.

As a traditional shop selling “shan for” (山貨), Chu Wing Kee still offers a wide range of rattan goods and other products made locally with natural materials. Since most local craftsmen are getting quite advance in age, Mr. Chu might eventually have to rely on imported products from Southeast Asia. For now, Mr. Chu still manages to offer some local “shan for”, and other vintage housewares dated back to the 1960’s. For many, checking out Chu Wing Kee might be a nostalgic journey to hunt for childhood memories from a treasure trove. Apart from rattan items, ceramic and plastic piggy banks are two of the most popular merchandises Mr. Chu is offering Hongkongers. Other notable vintage products include plastic toys, traditional thermal bottles, metal mailboxes, ceramic chicken bowls, ceramic cooking pots and rice storage, wood laundry washboard, etc. For us living in the area, Mr. Chu’s shop offers some handy products that even supermarkets or department stores no longer carry. In early spring this year, we couldn’t resist but picked up a handmade rattan/bamboo chair. Touching the pencil marks on the bamboo chair arms reminded us how the chair was made by the chair maker, who had soaked, bend and tied the pieces together with his dexterous hands.

Chu Wing Kee is located at Possession Street, the spot where the British first landed on Hong Kong Island in 1841.

Like many traditional homeware and “shan for” stores, many merchandises at Chu Wing Kee are hung above the shopfront.

The chaotic shopfront of a traditional homeware store has become a rarity nowadays. The rattan drying plates remind visitors an old style of living, when people would sundry vegetables, spices or seafood at home.

Made in Hong Kong, the eye-catching plastic piggy banks were extremely popular in the 1980’s when banks and some big companies would give out these red piggies as gifts to customers. In fact, these piggies were byproducts from the era of blooming plastic and toy manufacturing industry in Hong Kong.

Today, the red piggies greet customers from the pedestrian curb.

We ended up buying a rattan / bamboo chair from Mr. Chu, perhaps out of admiration of a fading handicraft tradition and a nostalgic considerations.

Simple plastic balls have brightened up the childhood for kids growing up in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Peeking into the shop, we could see a wide range of rattan containers or baskets hung from the ceiling.

Given the popularity of laundry machines and coin laundry shops, traditional wood washboard is quite hard to find these days.

Ceramic rice storage container is another rarity these days.

Ceramic pots were common for making Chinese soup and braised meat.

Vintage enamel basin can be a colourful addition to the minimalist decor of contemporary interiors.

Before the emergence of plastic piggy banks, ceramic piggy banks were popular gifts for kids.

Vintage thermal flasks and thermal containers were widely used at homes or for getting takeouts in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Handmade metal mailboxes are mostly associated with tenement apartments (唐樓). Now the old apartments are being torn down across the city rapidly, and many mailbox makers are in their twilight age, the mailboxes have become been revived as a local handicraft popular among designers and the young generation.

Referring to the red plastic piggy banks, the sign “not for sale, legendary merchandise” reveals its significance to the history of Hong Kong manufacturing industry and collective memories of a generation.

Before the emergence of fancy Japanese ceramics and the affordable ones made in China swamped the market, there were once locally made ceramic housewares in Hong Kong. The most iconic one was the “chicken bowl”, a bowl decorated with brush drawn chickens.

Rattan baskets and containers come in all sides and shapes.

Products made of natural materials are making a strong comeback in recent years.

Apart from practical homewares, we can also find vintage toys in Chu Wing Kee.

July 23, 2021 | Categories: Central, Sheung Wan & Sai Wan, HK Island, Hong Kong | Tags: bamboo, Chu Wing Kee, Hong Kong, houseware, neighborhood, piggy bank, rattan, Sheung Wan, shop, vintage, wood, 山貨, 朱榮記, 上環 | 1 Comment

LADDER STREETS PART 2: TREASURE HUNT, Tai Ping Shan (太平山), Hong Kong

Surprise Encounters

For a whole year we walked by the junction of Ladder Street (樓梯街) and Circular Pathway (弓弦巷) every morning and never did we notice Nhau, a new contemporary Vietnamese restaurant just 30m down Circular Pathway, until one Saturday morning when we decided to give it a try after reading about it on the Internet. We ended up enjoying the lovely food by Chef Que Vinh Dang and the relaxing ambience of the restaurant. But what truly amazed us was the fact that we have never noticed the restaurant’s existence despite it is just 3 minute walk away from our apartment and we passed by the junction almost everyday. In fact, Nhau was not the only pleasant surprise we have encountered during our strolls in Tai Ping Shan. Be it a hidden restaurant, or a tiny vintage shop, or a new hand-drip coffee house, or an alleyway full of street art, the labyrinth network of ladder streets in our neighborhood are full of hidden treasures. Every spontaneous detour we make may end up a journey of discoveries. Being a flaneur in our own neighborhood has become our weekend pastimes, as if a recurring treasure hunt that brings us delightful surprises from time to time.

Treasure Troves

Tai Ping Shan in Sheung Wan has been a treasure trove for several generations. The area around Hollywood Road (荷李活道) and Upper Lascar Row (嚤囉上街) have long been the largest antique market in Hong Kong. Today, the area still host a large concentration of antique stores. Apart from traditional antique shops, new vintage shops have emerged in recent years, attracting nostalgic vintage lovers across the city coming over to test their luck. Film directors and designers in particular love to linger in the area to search for inspirations and film production props. Select 18 at Tung Street has an impressive collection of vintage objects from jewellery, posters, photos, vinyls, toys, housewares to furniture. We can easily spend hours just to go through every single items that might have appeared somewhere in our childhood memories. Recently, it is Chenmiji (陳米記): A Department Store For Only One Person at Water Lane that has captured our attention. Housed in a metal shed measured no more than 1.5 x 2.5m in a 3m wide alleyway, Chenmiji truly epitomizes the tiny living conditions in Hong Kong, where the average living space per capita is 160 sq.ft (compared to 220 in Japan, 323 in Singapore, and 800 in the United States. Space is intimate at Chenmiji, and the atmosphere is cozy and the collection personal but charming, especially attractive for people who adores the 1960s and 1970s Hong Kong. Checking out these vintage shops have become another hobby of ours recently. Just a gentle touch of an old toy or movie ticket would trigger distant memories that we haven’t recalled for years, reminding us how we used to live in an era without smartphones, computers, and the internet.

Treasures for All

Checking out the vintage store You Wu Studio (遊誤工房) would bring us to a popular community gathering spot at Shing Wong Street (城皇街), another famous ladder street between Hollywood Road and Caine Road. In the midst of “30 House” (卅間), an old community of tenement buildings, or tong lau (唐樓) in Chinese, a series of pedestrian landings and steps have become a causal meeting place for the community, as if a small piazza in Europe. Surrounded by two coffee shops and the vintage store You Wu Studio, these landings can be considered as the community’s “third place”, which sociologist Ray Oldenburg describes as a relaxing mingling place away from our home and office. Every weekend, You Yu Studio would set up chairs and tables outside their store, encourage members of the community to sit down for a causal chat, or a cup of locally made ice cream, or a handicraft workshop. Such breathing space just a stone throw away from the business district is truly a treasure for Tai Ping Shan community, and a valuable open space for all pedestrians to enjoy. As a dense and vertical city, Hong Kongers are unfortunately enjoying far less open spaces than residents in many other Asian cities. A study in 2017 reveals the average open space per capita in Hong Kong is about 2.8 sq.m, way behind Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore (ranging from 5.8 to 7.6 sq.m). Without adequate outdoor spaces for social activities, Hong Kongers have long been using the streets creatively for both commercial and social purposes. This is the case for You Yu Studio at Shing Wong Street, and so as the tiny Chenmiji at Water Lane.

Circular Path (弓絃巷) was once a lively street with shops and vendors lined along both sides of the street. Decades of urban redevelopment, street alterations and relocation of most street vendors, vibrant scenes of Circular Path have long gone. Today, only two street stalls remain, and one of the vendors is already 96 years old. The opening of Nhau Vietnamese restaurant has injected a new stream of energy into the stepped alleyway.

Occupying a quiet location at Circular Path, Nhau Vietnamese restaurant was a pleasant surprise for us in a lovely June morning.

Ping On Lane (平安里), a narrow ladder street a little more than 1m wide between Hollywood Road and Bridges Street, is another hidden alleyways in Sheung Wan.

Just 10m in from the entrance of Hollywood Road stands a stone gateway inscribed with two Chinese characters 蹈和, pronounces “dou woo”, referring to an old Chinese idiom meaning one should walk straight peacefully in life. The old stone doorway is a remnant from the former Chung Wah College (中華書院), a charity school established by Tung Wah Hospital Group in 1880 to provide free education to low income citizens operated with public donations from the adjacent Man Mo Temple（文武廟).

Just a landing up from the stone doorway leads a rustic entrance with a cool bulldog graphic. Hidden from daily vehicular and pedestrian traffic, SHBJJ is a martial art school training students on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). A popular martial arts with a solid base of practitioners around the world, including Hollywood actors Keanu Reeves and Naomi Watts, BJJ itself is another story of East meets West, where the Carlos brothers of Brazil were taught by Mitsuyo Maeda (前田光世), a master of Japanese Judo at the turning of the 20th century.

About 100m from Ping On Lane, another hidden ladder street between Queen’s Road Central and Gough Street is home to Sleeep, an award wining capsule hotel that promotes what many Hong Kongers are lacking in their busy life, the culture of sleep.

In the antique market area of Upper Lascar Row (嚤囉上街) and Hollywood Road (荷李活道), a series of narrow ladder streets have become treasure troves for vintage collectors.

Select 18 is one of the most well known vintage store in Sheung Wan. Many filmmakers and art directors would come to search for furniture or household objects for filming.

No matter the age, visitors would likely find objects that belong to their childhood years.

All objects in the shop come from the colonial years of Hong Kong.

From the objects on display, it’s not difficult to see the British influences to the city.

Everything has a price tag, and so as one’s memories.

Just 20m from Select 18, hidden in the narrow Water Lane (水巷) between Hollywood Road (荷李活道) and Upper Lascar Row (嚤囉上街) is the super cool Chenmiji (陳米記): A Department Store For Only One Person. Chenmiji is managed by two interesting owners: a designer/ vintage furniture collector and a vintage book collector.

A signed photograph of famous Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin from the 1970s guards the entrance of Chenmiji.

Probably due to spatial restrictions, most items at Chenmiji are small.

Displayed on the ledge against the shop window include vintage board games and pencil sharpeners from the 1960s and 1970s.

Apart from vintage stationery, games, and household items, Chenmiji also offers a selection of vintage books.

It is amazing to see such a cozy and personal space emerges in the middle of a hidden alleyway.

Tuck in a side alleyway off Shing Wong Street stands a traditional barber shop. With only two seats, the old-school barber shop has become an one of the kind in the neighborhood.

East of Shing Wong Street between Staunton Street and Hollywood Road stands the former Police Married Quarters (PMQ), a listed historical building converted into a mixed-use art and design centre. It stands on the former site of Queen’s College, the city’s largest building complex during late 19th century. Before erection of the Queen’s College, Shing Wong Temple, the earliest temple in the Victoria city, occupied the very same site in mid 19th century.

Shing Wong Street (城皇街) is the central axis of an old neighborhood known as Thirty Houses (卅間), a battleground between the profit making Urban Renewal Authority and the local community who is fighting for the conservation of historical buildings in the area.

In recent years, the vintage shop You Wu Studio (遊誤工房) has become a focal point in the neighborhood.

According to their website, “You Wu Studio provides a place for fun. People are able to re-create their own space here: organize exhibitions, workshops, or just come and taste our tea, read books and enjoy life.” Shing Wong Street has become a stepped piazza where the community would gather and interact outside the shopfront of You Yu Studio.

A few steps further up from You Wu Studio, another landing is often used as an outdoor patio for the two adjacent cafes.

January 26, 2021 | Categories: Central, Sheung Wan & Sai Wan, HK Island, Hong Kong | Tags: alleyway, antique, Central, Chenmiji, Circular Pathway, 遊誤工房, 荷李活道, 陳米記, 蹈和, Gough, Hong Kong, ladder, lane, memory, Nhau, PMQ, restaurant, Select 18, SHBJJ, Sheung Wan, Shing Wong, Sleeep, street, Tai Ping Shan, tenement, tong lau, Vietnamese, vintage, You Yu Studio, 卅間, 唐樓, 嚤囉上街, 城皇街, 弓絃巷, 水巷, 中華書院 | Leave a comment

DAY 86 (2 of 4) – TROLLEYBUSES, VALPARAISO, CHILE

Taking the trolleybus in Valparaiso is like traveling back in time. Many of these trolleybuses still running today belong to the original 1952 fleet, and have become the oldest servicing trolleybuses in the world. Today, the trolleybuses only run in a loop circuit at the lower part of the city.

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Read other posts on Santiago and Valparaiso in 2013 South America:

Day 83.1 – Mercado Central, Santiago
Day 83.2 – Museums & Cultural Centre, Santiago
Day 84.1 – Centro Cultural Palacio la Moneda, Santiago
Day 84.2 – Arrival, Cerro Artilleria, Valparaiso
Day 85.1 – Ascensores, Valparaiso
Day 85.2 – Paella Lunch, Valparaiso
Day 85.3 – Cerros Alegre and Concepcion, Valparaiso
Day 86.1 – Hill of Colours, Valparaiso
Day 86.2 – Trolleybuses, Valparaiso
Day 86.3 – Casa Museo la Sebastiana, Valparaiso
Day 86.4 – Seafood, Valparaiso
Day 87 – New Year’s Fireworks, Valparaiso

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South America 2013 – Our Destinations
Buenos Aires (Argentina), Iguazu Falls (Argentina/Brazil), Pantanal (Brazil), Brasilia (Brazil), Belo Horizonte & Inhotim (Brazil), Ouro Preto (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Paraty (Brazil), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Samaipata & Santa Cruz (Bolivia), Sucre (Bolivia), Potosi (Bolivia), Southwest Circuit (Bolivia), Tilcara, Purmamarca, Salta (Argentina), Cafayate (Argentina), San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), Antofagasta & Paranal Observatory (Chile), Chiloe (Chile), Puerto Varas (Chile), Torres del Paine (Chile), Ushuaia (Argentina), El Chalten (Argentina), El Calafate (Argentina), Isla Magdalena (Argentina), Santiago (Chile), Valparaiso (Chile), Afterthought

January 5, 2014 | Categories: Chile, Day 81 to 90, Valparaiso | Tags: antique, bus, Chile, transportation, trolley, trolleybus, UNESCO, Valparaiso, vintage | Leave a comment

DAY 85 (1 OF 3) – ASCENSORES, VALPARAISO, CHILE

Since 1883, ascensores (funiculars) have been a crucial transportation in Valparaiso to connect the hills with El Plan, the flat lower section of the city right by the sea. In its heyday, 26 ascensores ran up and down the steep hills of Valparaiso. Over the years, many ascensores retired from service. No matter in service or not, many ascensores have been declared Historical Monuments by the National Monuments Council. Today, less than a dozen are still in operation to provide convenience for its citizens and tourists. Taking ascensores to go up or down the hills of Valparaiso (which takes only a few minutes) has become an experience unique to this World Heritage city.