AKA: Daps, sandshoes, trainers, baak fan yu (literally white fish).
AGE: Pre-World War II origins; another example of timeless Hong Kong couture.
CHARACTERISTICS: Gleaming white when new, these flimsy pumps soon acquire a grimy dullness after a few games of soccer, or a morning on a construction site. Although they resemble the sort of upmarket yachting shoe you would buy from a Ralph Lauren shop for the same price you would pay for a decent meal for two in Lan Kwai Fong, these are, above all, designed for the mass market.
Construction workers swear by them too, since they afford almost no protection to any on-site hazard. This is entirely in keeping with the industry's philosophy of exposing its members to maximum physical danger by providing minimal physical protection, as jackhammer operators, using sign language, will tell you.
COST: Pretty low, no more than the price of a couple of packets of Double Happiness cigarettes, a brand much favoured by baak fan yu-clad construction workers.
NATURAL HABITAT: They appear in great profusion on every tarmac-paved soccer pitch in Hong Kong, on the feet of nimble players. Also found next to unfinished buildings and on torn-up lengths of sidewalks and roads in a stationary position as the owner putshis feet up to enjoy his fifth char siu pow of the day.