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Alex Lam Kwok-keung, 89, got a licence for Kai Kee Mahjong's first parlour in the 1950s, when 144 were issued. Today, there are fewer than half that number of schools still operating. Photo: K.Y.Cheng

True old school of Kwun Tong

Gaming boss Alex Lam ends 35 years of history as he moves his famous Kai Kee mahjong parlour to make way for redevelopment

Johnny Tam

In 1976, Alex Lam Kwok-keung saw the possibility of development in Kwun Tong and decided to extend his Kai Kee Mahjong empire to East Kowloon.

"There was still muddy land everywhere outside our parlour when it first opened," said the 89-year-old mahjong veteran. "But I had a feeling that the area would develop vibrantly later on and bring a lot of customers to us."

Dozens of celebrities - including the late comedienne "Fei Fei" Lydia Sum Tin-ha and the late actor and filmmaker Alan Tang Kwong-wing - officiated with Lam at the opening ceremony of the mahjong parlour, making the news headlines.

At that time, Lam did not know his business in Yan Oi Wai would fall within the 570,000 sq ft Kwun Tong redevelopment, the biggest single project undertaken by the Urban Renewal Authority, or that he would have to move out today.

Views of the old mahjong parlour in Kwun Tong, which first opened in 1976 and closes tonight. Photo: K.Y.Cheng
But Kai Kee - despite being in what some call a sunset business - isn't ending its presence in Kwun Tong as it celebrates its 83rd anniversary.

It will reopen tomorrow at a new site five minutes' walk away.

Now in its third generation, the business was established by Lam's father, Lam Kwan, as a result of a piece of good luck that is still reflected in its name.

Lam senior came alone to Hong Kong from the mainland in 1911. He worked at different shops before he started his own grocery store in Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei, in 1930, using HK$105 he won from a lottery.

"To attract people in the neighbourhood to come, my father put some mahjong tables there for customers to play," Alex Lam said. "It worked well, as people in the past did not have too much entertainment."

When more and more people came just to play mahjong, the canny businessman switched to the game full time. And that, his son says, saw the birth of Hong Kong's first mahjong parlour.

Asked if the name Kai Kee - with meaning chicken and meaning brand in Cantonese - has any special meaning, Alex Lam said: "It's simple. The day my father went to buy the lottery was the day he dreamed of being woken up by a crowing cock. He won the lottery so he named his store for that cock."

The younger Lam, known in the trade as Uncle Chicken, did not involve himself much in his father's business until 1955, when the colonial government wanted to scrap the whole industry.

"The colonial government wanted to curb gambling," said Lam, founding chairman of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Mahjong Shops Association, set up in 1955 to negotiate with the government.

"I asked the officials at that time: 'Why can rich people go to the Jockey Club, but the grassroots are not allowed to play mahjong as entertainment?'."

After months of lobbying, the government decided to roll out a licensing scheme in 1956 for mahjong parlours, and 144 licences were issued to match the number of tiles in a mahjong set.

"However, since the government did not want to make it sound like it tolerated gambling, it created a grey area and gave the name 'mahjong schools' to us in English. The name is still the same on our licences today," Lam said.

"Because of the licensing, whenever people lose money at mahjong schools, they say they paid their tuition fee."

After the licensing battle, Lam registered his parlour in Yau Ma Tei, the headquarters and the oldest parlour of Kai Kee Mahjong, then opened one more in Kowloon City in late 1950s and another in San Po Kong in 1969, even though his main job until 1970 was as an amateur jockey.

Today, traditional mahjong schools are struggling to survive in the face of a decline in customers that began with the Sars epidemic in 2003.

According to the Office of the Licensing Authority, only 66 licensed schools remained on August 1, fewer than half the number when licensing began.

"Some mahjong schools were not able to make it through the challenges," said Wilson Lam, 55, son of Alex and a member of the business's third generation. "Some people even say our industry is a sunset industry."

When the city's economy was booming in the '70s, '80s and '90s, customers went to mahjong schools and were willing to bet big, but during the hard times of Sars and the financial recessions that followed, about 40 per cent of the customers left.

"Customers who still came tightened their purse strings and were not as extravagant when they bet," he said. "In a time of prosperity, nothing much needs to be changed. But when there's adversity, you have to seek change, and I think now it's time for the whole industry to do so."

The new location on Hong Ning Road will be like a modern casino, with HK$4 million spent on the interior. Photo: K.Y.Cheng
While the game of tiles has many different styles and rules, Kai Kee Mahjong in recent years adopted the Shenzhen style - where players win with four sets of three identical tiles or three suited tiles in sequence - which is becoming more popular in Hong Kong with the influx of mainland tourists.

"It was a way to recruit more new customers after the individual travellers' scheme commenced," he said, referring to the policy allowing mainlanders to visit Hong Kong without joining tour groups.

"After all, we're an industry providing service to customers. The better service we can give, the more customers we can keep."

Wilson Lam said he expected growing numbers of mainland tourists to visit mahjong schools in prime districts such as Mong Kok as more of them learnt about the schools.

"Unlike Macau, which has many casinos, all we have for legal gambling entertainment is mahjong schools. If mainlanders want to play when they're visiting the city, we're the choice."

He also said Kai Kee Mahjong now provided a long list of food and drink options ranging from traditional Cantonese soup to herbal jelly.

"Customers are not easily satisfied with a cup of tea and a mahjong table as they were in the past," he said.

Kai Kee Mahjong also provides other services, such as helping customers buy groceries and providing taxi transport to hotels or the border. It's all aimed at keeping them at the tables as long as possible, as the school takes five per cent of their winnings.

Kwun Tong Kai Kee Mahjong will close at 11pm tonight and shut the door on its traditional décor for the last time.

"The ceiling, the walls and the interior decoration in the parlour are the same as when it first opened in 1976," said Wilson's brother Winston, 50. "It's full of the authentic atmosphere of a traditional mahjong school."

Kai Kee Mahjong spent more than HK$4 million on the renovation of the new parlour on Hong Ning Road, making it like a modern casino, he said.

The new shop "is not as dark, smoky and unsafe as portrayed in the local movies, where triads come and mess up the place. We hope new customers will come in and feel comfortable".

Winston Lam expects that with the opening of the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, more mainland visitors from cruises will go to Kai Kee Mahjong in Kwun Tong.

"My dad's vision is still true today. Kwun Tong's development will be even more vibrant in the coming years," he said.

"That's why Kai Kee chose to stay here in this neighbourhood."

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: True old school of Kwun Tong
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