Historic Journeys
On November 11, the Star Ferry will no longer run to the Central Star Ferry pier, putting the historical landmark one step closer to demolition. Rola Chan visits a new exhibition about the history of transportation in Hong Kong.
The history of Hong Kong transport has been a long and fascinating journey. To mark the closure of the Central Star Ferry pier and to remember other milestones in Hong Kong’s transportation history, the Conservancy Association Center for Heritage is holding a landmark exhibition on the history of Hong Kong travel.
The show's rare photographs and memorabilia has been gathered by painstaking effort. Collector Alan Cheung, who built his collection rummaging through antique shops and attending British auctions, has contributed pictures of the ferry and tramways. The photos of the Kai Tak airport came from James Ng, who works as an assistant duty manager for technical services at the current airport. The special design of the old airport’s runway was part of what drew him to the images he’s collected. And the location he’s chosen to exhibit the photos suits their historical import; they’re being shown in the old Tsan Yuk Maternity Hospital that the Association rents from the government.
The driving force behind the exhibit is Roger Ho, project manager for the Conservancy Association. He’s mounted the pictures on metal boards, and there is no glass panel separating the viewer from the image, intending to drive home Ho’s point that as distant as the history in these images seems today, these modes of transportation are an important part of our history. Ho says, “Everyday, people tell me stories about how they lived in the places shown in the pictures, or worked construction on that building, or how the tram or ferry changed their lives in some way. Children tell me they can’t believe anything was there before the mall or MTR station or bank. Everyone who’s been to Hong Kong can identify with these photos in some way.” See them before they’re gone, like the eras they portray.
The Tram
The tram first started rattling through Hong Kong in 1904, owned by a British company called the Hong Kong Tramway Electric Company Limited. After changing hands and going through a few name changes, Hong Kong Tramway Limited was formed to take over operations in 1922. There have been five generations of tramcars since the system was first formed; this picture shows a fourth generation tram. At the end of the road, you can see the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and to the left of the soldiers is the site of today’s Pacific Place in Admiralty.
Wan Chai in the 1950s was even more crowded with colorful signs than it is now. In the picture directly to your right, you'll see on the left of the tram is the site of the current Wan Chai MTR station, and on the right is the Lung Fung Tea House, which is now known as the Lung Moon Restaurant. The tram pictured is very similar to the ones in use today, although in 2000, Hong Kong Tramway Limited designed the new “Millennium” tram to be gradually put into operation. Ho says, “There are currently three Millennium trams in circulation, but I don’t think the public accepts them as easily as the old trams because they’re too similar-looking to buses.”
Before Hong Kong’s MTR system was built, trams were so crowded that the only way to fix it was to add a car onto the back of each tram, allowing each tram to carry more people without adding to the number of individual cars on the track. “In the 1970s and the early 80s, these cars were quite a novelty,” explained Ho. “The original cars had wooden seats, and the new add-ons had plastic ones. Everyone wanted to sit in the back, because back then plastic was so new and modern. Actually, though, the main tram rides are always quite bumpy, and the add-on cars were even less comfortable! People didn’t care though; they wanted to sit in the back anyway.”
The Star Ferry
According to the Star Ferry website, the first reports of a ferry service were printed in a local newspaper in 1888, and the trip took anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour. Originally called the Kowloon Ferry Company, it was renamed the Star Ferry Company about 10 years later. It’s run steadily ever since, with only a few hiccups in service. Just before the Japanese occupation in 1941, the Star Ferry halted regular service in order to evacuate refugees and troops from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. After being bombed, service was suspended by the Japanese for the rest of the three year and eight month occupation.