Explainer | Hong Kong lockdown: vendors at city’s main fruit market fear they could be next after Covid-19 cases rise in area
- Government considering move at Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market on cusp of Lunar New Year
- Neighbourhood around market, which has operated on the corner of Waterloo Road and Reclamation Street since 1913, has had 60 infections recently
Located just one MTR stop from Jordan, where authorities imposed an unprecedented Covid-19 lockdown in the heart of the busy Yau Tsim Mong district last weekend, the area around the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market has seen more than 60 infections recently.
The rise in cases prompted a government adviser to call for another lockdown, one that would encompass the market, on Sunday.
Here, the Post looks at how the coronavirus has affected the market and its colourful history.
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1. Why the fuss about a lockdown?
Yau Ma Tei district has recorded 68 infections so far, with more than 20 buildings affected. On Sunday, Chinese University respiratory expert Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, who also advises the government on the pandemic, called on authorities to monitor the situation there.
“I know the government prefers to run a compulsory testing programme at this point, and if the participation rate is high enough, they may not implement the stay-at-home order, as they want to lessen the impact on the community,” he said. “But if cases continue to rise even with the testing programme, then they will not rule out a lockdown.”
The government has yet to comment on the matter.
However, fruit vendors at the market are worried a lockdown could affect plans for the coming Lunar New Year festival in February.
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Cheung Chi-cheong, vice-chairman of the Kowloon Fruit and Vegetable Merchants Association, said authorities should ideally notify vendors three to four days in advance so they could make arrangements.
“[Vendors] have already arranged most of the arrivals of fruit [for Lunar New Year], but the storage life for the fruit is limited, maybe two to three days,” he said. “If we knew a lockdown was coming, we might try to cut the supply.”
Kayson Li, owner of Wo Hing Laan Fruit Store, said the threat of a lockdown had made him rethink his business model.
“Previously, we would get our fruit from either the Kwai Fong Container Terminal or the airport and ship them here to sell to customers, but now we just deliver them straight to clients. It’s a minor annoyance, but we’ll get through even if there is a lockdown.”
2. What is the history of the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market?
The wholesale fruit market has operated at the corner of Waterloo Road and Reclamation Street since 1913, and the waters of Victoria Harbour once came right up to its edge. In the early 20th century, the market was known as the Government Vegetables Market, and it handled all kinds of produce, as well as fish.
Although some fruits and vegetables were imported from China, at that time, most came from the New Territories, which produced enough food to supply its urban areas. Yau Ma Tei was then still a small community, and the fruit market helped it become an early commercial hub of Kowloon.
While the vegetable and fish merchants were later moved in 1965, when the government built new facilities in Cheung Sha Wan, West Kowloon, the fruit business stayed on, earning the market the nickname Gwo Laan, which means fruit wholesale market in Cantonese.
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3. How does the market function?
Apart from the city’s big supermarket chains, all fruit sold by local vendors goes through the Yau Ma Tei market, which covers several blocks in the area.
Vendors and staff start work as the city goes to sleep, pushing and pulling crates of fruit between warehouses and trucks.
Buyers arrive after midnight, ready to pay the highest prices for the best quality produce, but as day approaches, prices also tend to drop.
Since 2012, the market has also opened on weekends for retail, with customers packing the place to pick Malaysian durians or Korean strawberries.
4. Besides fruit, what else has made headlines in the area?
Back in 1977, two robberies took place in the span of a few weeks. The first incident happened when five armed men wearing surgical masks ambushed an armoured car that was collecting money from fruit vendors. After exchanging fire with a security guard, the criminals grabbed the cash and fled in a waiting vehicle.
A few weeks after that incident, a second group of thieves walked into the market and seized vendors’ earnings, which were sitting in a pair of canvas bags. All told, the robberies cost the market HK$1.09 million – a huge sum of money at the time.
The market has also been a haven for drug activity, with 86 officers from Yau Ma Tei Police Station arrested in 1977 for helping a heroin syndicate that operated out of the market.
In 1986, police also smashed a triad racket that was harassing truck drivers. Triad-related murders and assaults still periodically occur, most recently in 2016, when the heir to one of the market’s oldest businesses was slashed in the neck by masked men.
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5. Why is the market still popular?
Apart from the availability of fruit from around the world, the market has also drawn a new group of people – Instagrammers. Hongkongers dressed to the nines, some even in cosplay, have found photographic appeal in the dark alleys of the market during its inactive hours in the day.
The cats that roam the market are also popular subjects and a quick scroll through the gwo laan tag on the photo-sharing app will show many feline friends among the empty fruit stalls.
Additional reporting by Thomas Shum
