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Hong Kong's finest toys set to take centre stage in museum

From cap guns, to dolls, to matchbox cars - old Hong Kong-made toys are set to be dusted down and put on display in an exhibition that will rekindle fond childhood memories for many and pave the way for the creation of a toy museum in the city.

A group of veteran toy manufacturers, a toy collector and the government-funded Hong Kong Vocational Training Council are in talks to organise a three-month toy exhibition at the council's recently built 7,000 square foot Hong Kong Design Institute Gallery in Tseung Kwan O at the end of the year.

The planned exhibition may mark a significant step forward for the creation of the museum, which the Hong Kong Toy Council and the Toys Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong have lobbied for in the past year as a way to celebrate an industry that took off from scratch in the 1940s and became world-renowned.

Proponents said a toy museum would also serve as a destination for tourists and families, while critics said it was a disgrace that Hong Kong had yet to have a museum dedicated to toys despite its reputation as the world's toy capital.

'Before 1978, all toys were made in Hong Kong,' said Yeung Chi-kong, a Hong Kong Toy Council committee member and a toy maker for about 48 years.

'The toys combined successful design, creativity, imagination and culture, and I hope the planned museum will convey this message.'

Starting from nothing 60 years ago, Hong Kong's toy industry dislodged Japan in 1971 to become the world's No 1 producer as a post-war influx of migrants across the border into the city created a large pool of low-cost labour.

Today Hong Kong-owned toymakers supply nine out of 10 toys sold in the United States. This is despite the fact that rising costs in the city forced toymakers to migrate to the Pearl River Delta starting from 1978 for lower wages and abundant labour supply.

Toys, which brought joy to children in the west, prompted a number of 'toycoons'.

One of the most prominent examples is Cheung Kong (Holdings)' chairman Li Ka-shing, who made his first fortune out of plastic flowers.

Others are the Ting clan of Kader Holdings, and Qualidux Industrial, which manufactured the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls; Shanghainese David Yeh Chung-woo, who led the takeover of British-based die-cast car maker Matchbox in 1982 and listed the company on the New York stock exchange; and the Chan family of Playmates Toys, which designed and produced another global best-seller - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Qualidux Industrial chairman Bernie Ting Wai-cheung, the second-generation representative of a family business established by his father Dennis Ting Hok-shou in 1964, said many of the company's products were lost throughout the years.

Among those to migrate its toy manufacturing activities from the city across the border in the 1980s, Qualidux has churned out toys varying from the Cabbage Patch Kids to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Star Wars figurines, but kept few of the products of its early days.

Ting was pleasantly surprised, however, to learn that some of the company's prototypes and early toys were included in the collection of toy collector Joel Chung Yin-chai.

Chung, a teacher at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Swire School of Design and the largest collector of art work left by late graffiti artist Tsang Tsou-choi - known as the 'King of Kowloon' - has amassed about 30,000 toys, industry journals, receipts, advertisements, catalogues and other items related to the history of the toy industry in the city.

He is enthusiastic about showcasing part of the collection at the planned toy exhibition at the Hong Kong Design Institute Gallery.

'The main purpose of the exhibition of course is not just displaying toys in a showcase,' Chung said. 'It should aim at passing the message of preservation onto the next generation and inspiring their creativity and innovation.'

A keen supporter of the proposed toy museum, Chung says he was inspired by Japanese collector Teruhisa Kitahara's passion for toys that led to the establishment of 19 toy museums in Japan. He believes that the establishment of a toy museum in Hong Kong is long overdue and will serve both educational and cultural conservation purposes.

Chung recalled a meeting with the Japanese collector, who pointed out that every item in his own collection was made in Japan.

Hong Kong Design Institute principal Victor Tsang said workshops, design competitions and conferences could follow the planned toy exhibition, which would engaged students, toy manufacturers and designers and other stakeholders.

The Toy Council's Yeung hoped the toy exhibition would arouse the interest of the Hong Kong government as the project would require a grant of land by the government, funding support, and operational and management skills.

He believed a standalone toy museum could be located in the West Kowloon Cultural District.

A Home Affairs Bureau spokesman said an existing exhibition of toys at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum was playing its role 'in preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of toys in Hong Kong'.

The spokesman would not be drawn into saying whether or not the government would support the idea of a dedicated toy museum, but said the Heritage Museum displayed some 1,600 toys and the history of the industry on a permanent basis.

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