When poultry feathers and pig bristles were big business in Hong Kong
- A 1950 UN embargo on Chinese trade put Hong Kong at the peak of the avian and swine product markets
- Stringent requirements were placed on a product’s origins in an attempt to prove that China would not benefit from any sales
Two early Hong Kong industries, which had both local and international significance until the 1970s but have almost completely vanished, were poultry feathers and pig bristles.
From the late 19th century, Hong Kong’s trade directories all listed various companies and managing agencies that dealt with feathers, bristles and their manufactured products. By the early 50s these – like many such businesses – were also the public face (and a discreet source of funds) for Chinese Communist Party United Front political activities.
In the days when China’s external trade was stifled by a United Nations embargo, Hong Kong businesses provided a vital conduit through which China products – poultry feathers and pig bristles among them – could be channelled to the outside world. Rebadged as being of Hong Kong origin, these were an essential source of much-needed foreign exchange.
In the immediate post-war era, Hong Kong produced a great deal of poultry. Feathers had various uses, the most usual being stuffing material for pillows and quilts. Goose-down quilts are extremely warm and – with proper care and frequent airing – can last for decades. Duck down is the next best thing; bleached and chopped chicken feathers are the cheapest alternative, and were often mixed with other poultry downs for a more economical product.
While much of this output was destined for domestic consumption, a significant amount of chicken, duck and goose meat, and other animal by-products, was intended for export.
As ever in Hong Kong, broader political considerations had a local economic impact. After the UN embargo on direct trade with China came into force, in 1950, items intended for export to the United States had to satisfy stringent – and occasionally ludicrous – Certificate of Origin requirements. These were intended to prove that component parts of any specific export item did not benefit the Chinese communist regime, and it had to be demonstrated that only “Free World” labour had been expended on their manufacture.
Taken to its logical conclusion, poultry items produced in Hong Kong for export to American markets – whether salted eggs and dried ducks destined for shops in North American Chinatowns, or feather dusters and goose-down quilts – had to originate from animals that had not been even so much as conceived in communist China; even mainland-fertilised eggs, subsequently incubated and hatched in Hong Kong, were fatally tainted. Various creative ways around these restrictions were found.
Feather dusters were one local export; the long neck feathers of yellow-skinned Waichow cockerels being favoured. These were skilfully attached to a supple bamboo rod; a usual supplementary purpose for these items was to cane naughty children.
Many families retained a tung tiu, basically a feather duster without the feathers, for such a purpose. The handle end of a feather duster would, of course, do just as well. Still widely available, contrary to what local child welfare advocates may choose to believe, these items remain in widespread daily use across Hong Kong.
Hong Kong, by the 50s, also had numerous pig farms. Pig bristles became another important local export item; these also qualified for Certificate of Origin status, which allowed this material, and products made from it, unfettered access into North American markets.
Before nylon, plastics and other synthetic materials became widespread, various grades of natural pig bristles were used in the manufacture of brushes. For anything from a delicate watercolourist’s implement to a heavy-duty paintbrush used to distemper outside walls, pig bristles were the usual material. Most were sourced from China, which – then as now – had an extensive pig industry.
Pig bristles were also an essential component for high-quality shaving brushes. Millions of men, all over the world, used China- or Hong Kong-made shaving brushes on a daily basis; the best quality shaving brushes, however, use badger bristles. As in the past, Hong Kong’s remaining China Products Department Stores are excellent places to find feather dusters and old-fashioned shaving brushes.
