Out and about
North Point is the only one of Hong Kong Island's geographical 'points' to have retained its name. West Point, below Hong Kong University, and East Point, out on the Causeway Bay waterfront, have been mostly forgotten. And all have been significantly altered by successive waves of reclamation.
In the 1920s, the North Point waterfront had a couple of popular beaches, alongside King's Road. A popular, cheap excursion was a tram ride out past the North Point Power Station for a swim in reasonably clean harbour waters. Development gathered pace in the 30s and by the time war broke out, a bustling light-industrial district had evolved. The trend continued after the war and by the late 40s, North Point was thriving.
Civil war in the mainland saw thousands of Shanghainese refugees move to Hong Kong. Many were wealthy but far more arrived with little more than the clothes they stood up in. They all had one thing in common - a yearning for the glittering, sophisticated northern metropolis they had unwillingly left behind.
Most ungratefully derided Hong Kong - despite the safe haven it provided them at a time of desperate need - as a hopelessly provincial, foreign-run backwater port, populated by semi-barbarian southerners who ate everything but the leg off the table, spoke at the top of their voices in an incom- prehensible tongue and - in defiant Cantonese ignorance - refused to defer to superior Shanghainese habits.
Like migrant groups elsewhere, these homesick newcomers sought out their own kind and over the next few years created a 'little Shanghai' in North Point. Nightclubs and restaurants thrived and in the early 50s, North Point was the place to go for a happening night out.
By the 70s, most Shanghainese had moved away from North Point but some long-established barber shops and beauty parlours, with mostly elderly patrons chattering away in the distinctive Shanghai dialect, remained. Popular restaurants such as Kiu Gar Shan and Mui Fah Chuen have now, sadly, closed. Anyone for another tasty plateful of Hong Kong's steadily vanishing 'collective memory'?
The next immigrant group to settle in North Point were Fujianese. Many were originally Indonesian-Chinese of Fujianese descent who fled discrimination in Indonesia in the 50s, moved to the mainland and relocated to Hong Kong in the late 70s.
Times change - and so do local names. Once referred to as Little Shanghai, North Point has gradually morphed into Fukien Jai (Little Fujian), and toko Indonesia (Indonesian shops) now greatly outnumber older Shanghainese establishments.
