Hongkongers keep community spirit alive as bulldozers move in

Retired primary school teacher Sara Yau Wan-sin, better known to customers as Mrs Kwok, runs a cha chaan teng in To Kwa Wan with her husband. Chee Mei Ho Sik Centre, on Chun Tin Street, may be small, but it’s a much-loved haven among local residents.

Most of Yau’s customers in the ageing Kowloon East neighbourhood are regulars, and she knows them by name, engaging in small talk as they come and go. Five Pakistanis who live nearby visit every day for the Hong Kong tea shop’s signature milk tea, because it reminds them of a popular drink back in Pakistan. A customer who has no small change is told to pay the next time he drops by.

For workers in the area, many of them labourers, Yau bulks up on the rice or toppings at no extra cost.

She hands over takeaway boxes of fried rice and noodles to elderly and poor neighbours for a token HK$5. Such is the community spirit in working-class To Kwa Wan.

Part of the area’s charm is its scarcity of cookie-cutter shopping malls, chain stores and restaurants. Most shops in To Kwa Wan are small, family-run businesses.

Some of its old industrial buildings are occupied by traditional craft workshops, hardware stores, car mechanics and small manufacturing businesses that have been tenants since the 1950s. A small number have been renovated by operators of gold and jewellery businesses, all providing employment for the local community.

Yau’s cha chaan teng has been a mainstay on Chun Tin Street for more than 30 years, thanks in part to the landlord who has not raised Yau’s rent for the past two decades. But she cannot survive the march of progress. Yau is being forced to shut up shop to make way for redevelopment spearheaded by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), which plans to replace the run-down, mid-rise residential buildings – mostly no higher than 10 storeys – with modern high-rises. Residents will be offered financial compensation or public housing.