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Joyce Man

Long-time vendors and customers are bidding farewell to Wan Chai Market - and decades of memories - ahead of  tomorrow's deadline to vacate.
They are moving as Chinese Estate Holdings begins redeveloping the 1937 streamlined Moderne-style building into a luxury residential complex.
Alice Lau Mei-chun, 50, a fruit seller at the market for eight years, will be parting with her childhood.
'Even if I'm going to miss it, there's no other way,' she said.
Her parents began as Wan Chai vendors in the 1950s, when they moved from Haifeng county, Guangdong province. Her father sold eggs at a stall on Wan Chai Road. Ms Lau and her mother started to sell vegetables in the 1970s  for extra money.
She remembers playing hopscotch and watching television on the market's roof with neighbourhood children until her teens. She also met her husband, a driver, in 1977 near the market. 'He was delivering dried seafood to vendors at the market and always passed by, and we just got to know each other,' she said. They married in 1979.
But business has dropped dramatically since her teens.
'At the beginning, there were a lot of people,' she said. 'Now, we don't even make much of a profit.
'It's not so sad. It's business. We've been here so long. Even if it's hard, we still have to give it a try.'
She hopes that her new stall at a market with air-conditioning at the Zenith residential complex next door will attract shoppers and bring more income, even though it will cost HK$4,000 a month, compared to HK$1,000 at the old market.
Cheung Wun, 75, who sells vegetables at the market, fears he and his wife will not be able to afford the new rent. 'When we move, it'll be hard to make a living,' he said.
For them, the move threatens a business that has fed three generations and remained more or less stable. His grandparents sold vegetables on Wan Chai Road after moving from Dongguan .
Later, they handed the business to Mr Cheung's parents. Mr Cheung started helping in his 20s, helping his family make up to HK$1 per day. 'Back then, there were mice skittering all over the streets,' he said.
He met his wife, who also sold vegetables on Wan Chai Road, and took over from his parents. 'She sold vegetables. I sold vegetables. We started talking,' Mr Cheung said.
They fled to their hometown during the second world war, but returned and resumed their lives soon after.
They eventually moved to Wan Chai Market nine years ago, and have been renting three adjacent stalls since then.
'Nothing's changed,' he says of that period. Everything looked the same then as it does today, down to the fans and the lights. But the area has changed.
'All our closest clients have gone.'
People used to pick up groceries after picking their children up from school. 'Now, the children have grown up, and they don't need groceries anymore,' he said.
Still, some dedicated clients will follow them to the new market. Hui Ho, 70, prefers buying vegetables from a vendor whom he has known since he was 12.
'When you know each other, it's better, because you can also have a chat on the way,' he said. 'Since I was young, I've bought groceries here. I know all these people.'



Flood of memories for the old hands at Wan Chai Market