My Hong KongForget ‘Hello Hong Kong’, are we ‘Heartless Hong Kong’ after elderly woman hawker debacle?

The case of a 90-year-old licensed street hawker devastated at having her cart confiscated by food and hygiene officers risks putting the city in a bad light

That’s not fair to our mostly hospitable and welcoming people, and the city certainly has its heart in the right place. We just need to open it up more often

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Ninety-year-old licensed street hawker Chan Tak-ching cries after having her roast chestnut trolley confiscated. Photo: Natalie Wong

Published: 8:15am, 18 Mar 2023Updated: 5:41pm, 20 Mar 2023

Corrected [5:40pm, 20 Mar, 2023]

[5:40pm, 20 Mar, 2023]
A previous version of this column incorrectly stated that the police confiscated Chan Tak-ching’s cart, but it was in fact taken away by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, which takes enforcement action against hawking activities in Hong Kong.

Media attention in Hong Kong last week was riveted not by the government’s ambitious new tourism campaign, but images of a distraught elderly woman writhing on the ground, begging for mercy from some food and hygiene officers.

Ninety-year-old licensed street hawker Chan Tak-ching is no hardened criminal. She sells roasted chestnuts outside a subway station. Her “crime” was to allow an unauthorised person tend to her cart while she popped to the toilet.

“I beg you to give me a chance,” the old lady pleaded.

Her heart-wrenching cry was soon being aired on numerous news platforms, and discussed on radio talk shows, across the city.

At one point a dozen law enforcement representatives were called to the scene as Chan, imploring hygiene officers to give her a penalty ticket, collapsed to the ground when told, instead, her cart would be confiscated.