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Alexander Mak

Visiting the flower markets
This is a long-standing Lunar New Year custom in Hong Kong, with the largest crowds gathering at Victoria Park. Flowers carry symbolic meaning – orchids for abundance, oranges for wealth and luck – and each year, residents shop with hopes of an auspicious start.







Shopping for the Lunar New Year
Before the Lunar New Year, shoppers flock to department stores and grocers to stock up on gifts and festive foods for friends and family. Not everything would fly off the shelves though: shoe shops normally offer large discounts during the holiday season as buying footwear at this time of year is believed to bring bad luck.




Fai chun and lai see
Fai chun (lucky couplets) are a common sight across the city in the lead-up to Lunar New Year, and are often written by skilled calligraphers to convey blessings for the year ahead. Banks would also attract long queues of Hongkongers eager to get their hands on fresh banknotes, ensuring their lai see are handed out in mint condition.








In pictures: Hong Kong readies for Lunar New Year

In pictures: Hong Kong’s coldest days from the 1970s to 2010s

Drama in Hong Kong’s first international marathon in 1969 – from the SCMP archive

Hong Kong marathons throughout the years – SCMP archive

From our archives

Women with peach blossoms they bought at a flower market in January 1979. Photo: SCMP Archives

A woman selects a tangerine tree ahead of the Lunar New Year in 1979. Photo: SCMP Archives

Victoria Park is turned into a flower market for the Lunar New Year in February 1980. Photo: SCMP Archives

Solicitor Jeremy Mathews, who would become the attorney general of Hong Kong the following year, with a kumquat tree at the Victoria Park flower market in 1987. Photo: SCMP Archives

Workers unload peach blossoms at the Victoria Park flower market in 1986. Photo: SCMP Archives

Governor Sir Edward Youde and Lady Youde visit the Lunar New Year flower market at Victoria Park in 1984. Photo: SCMP Archives

The 1993 Victoria Park flower market takes up the space of six football pitches. Photo: SCMP Archives

A shopper haggles with a stall owner in Victoria Park in 1995. Photo: SCMP Archives

Lunar New Year shoppers in Mong Kok in 1977. Photo: SCMP Archives

A dried seafood and ginseng shop offers a 10 per cent discount ahead of the Lunar New Year in 1977. Photo: SCMP Archives

A woman buys festive food for the holiday in 1980. Photo: SCMP Archives

A shoe shop offers discounts of up to 50 per cent ahead of the 1995 Lunar New Year, a time when buying footwear is considered bad luck. Photo: SCMP Archives

A fai chun stall in Mong Kok in 1977. Photo: SCMP Archives

People shop for fai chun and lai see packets in 1980. Photo: SCMP Archives

A fai chun calligrapher at work in 1980. Photo: SCMP Archives

Calligrapher Lo Pak-chuen, 73, at work under the Canal Road flyover in Wan Chai in 1994. Photo: SCMP Archives

A customer chooses lai see packets at Chi Shing Hot Blocking, on Lee Tung Street, Wan Chai, in 2004. Photo: SCMP Archives

A woman outside the Kwun Tong branch of HSBC shows off the brand-new banknotes she has collected to fill her lai see packets in 2008. Photo: SCMP Archives

Visitors bundled up against the cold to see the frost on Tai Mo Shan, where the temperature fell to minus three degrees Celsius in December 1975. Photo: SCMP Archives

Bushes on Tai Mo Shan are weighed down with hoar frost as temperatures on the mountain plunged below freezing in 1975. Photo: SCMP Archives

A plant on Tai Mo Shan covered with frost in January 1990. Photo: SCMP Archives

A child enjoys the cold snap at Tai Mo Shan Country Park in December 1991. Photo: SCMP Archives

Locals head to Tai Mo Shan to see the frost in December 1991. Photo: SCMP Archives

A freezing day in Tai Mo Shan Country Park in 1991. Photo: SCMP Archives

Bushes on Tai Mo Shan are coated in frost. The Royal Observatory recorded a temperature of 5.9 degrees Celsius on February 20, 1996, which was the coldest Lunar New Year in 46 years. Photo: SCMP Archives

Children on Tai Mo Shan during the Lunar New Year in 1996. Photo: SCMP Archives

A cameraman takes video footage of ice on the outside the Hong Kong Observatory building on the top of Tai Mo Shan. Hong Kong Observatory recorded the lowest temperature this year on December 23, 1999. Photo: SCMP Archives

Frost on Tai Mo Shan at dawn on December 17, 2010, during a dry winter monsoon. Temperatures recorded by Hong Kong Observatory fell as low as 5.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest recorded in December for 11 years. Photo: SCMP Archives

Locals visit Tai Mo Shan to see the frost in January 2016. Photo: SCMP Archives

In Pictures: majestic sailing ships that made Hong Kong a port of call

Ship ahoy ... the Sail Training Association of Japan’s full-masted brigantine, the Kaisei, visits Hong Kong to drum up support for an Asian society of novice sailors, in 1994. Photo: SCMP Archives

A Portuguese training ship, the Sagres, stops over in Hong Kong in 1979 during its world tour. Photo: SCMP Archives

The deck of the Sagres on its 1979 world tour. Photo: SCMP Archives

The Golden Hinde (left), a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s ship, sails alongside a Chinese junk in 1980. Photo: SCMP Archives

The Sohar, an 88-foot-long vessel from Oman, is towed into the British Royal Navy base HMS Tamar in Hong Kong after completing its historic journey from Oman to Guangzhou, in 1981. The vessel has made the 6,000-mile (9,656km) trip to repeat the legendary voyage of Sinbad the Sailor as recorded in A Thousand and One Nights. Photo: SCMP Archives

The Gloria, a three-masted training ship for the Colombian Navy, arrives in Hong Kong on a four-day courtesy visit in 1983. Photo: SCMP Archives

A 200-tonne wooden junk, The Macau, raised anchor in Macau in 1988 to retrace the 1543 voyage by a Portuguese ship to Japan, which resulted in the introduction of Western firearms to the island nation. Photo: SCMP Archives

A seaman aboard the Pallada, a training vessel for the Soviet Union in Hong Kong in 1990. Photo: SCMP Archives

The Spirit of Hennessy, a clipper owned by brandy producer Hennessy, sails across Victoria Harbour to celebrate 120 years of cognac shipments to Asia in 1992. Photo: SCMP Archives

Crew members of the Kaisei, a 180-tonne full-masted brigantine owned by the Sail Training Association of Japan, climb one of the ship’s masts in Hong Kong in 1994. Photo: SCMP Archives

The Kaisei in Hong Kong in 1994. Photo: SCMP Archives

A replica of a 17th century Spanish galleon, the Galeón Andalucía, arrives in Hong Kong in anticipation of the China National Day in 2010. Photo: SCMP Archives

The Sedov, a 91-year-old sailing ship, sails into Victoria Harbour in 2013. Photo: SCMP Archives

The 98-year-old fully rigged Sorlandet arrives at Central Pier in 2016. Photo: SCMP Archives

In pictures: Hong Kong swimmers braving the cold on New Year’s Day, from the 1970s to 2000s

Young participants in the 1978 New Year Winter Swimming Lifesaving Championships organised by the Hong Kong Life Guard Club, now called the Hong Kong Life Saving Society. Photo: SCMP Archives

Swimmers take the plunge in 1978. Photo: SCMP Archives

Cheung Wai-chi celebrates winning the men’s section of the race in 1980. Photo: SCMP Archives

Contestants brave the cold at the 1980 New Year Winter Swimming Lifesaving Championships. Photo: SCMP Archives

Making a dash for the cold waters in 1990, at the 14th New Year Winter Swimming Lifesaving Championships. Photo: SCMP Archives

A contestant is all smiles during the 1999 race. Photo: SCMP Archives

More than 2,000 swimmers took part in the 2003 race. Photo: SCMP Archives

The 2007 race attracted 2,300 participants, a record at the time. Photo: SCMP Archives

Participants are helped out of the water during the 2008 event. Photo: SCMP Archives

In pictures: Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties in Hong Kong from the 1970s to 90s

Staff members of trading firm FocalPoint International enjoying themselves in a special Christmas party held at the skating rink in Cityplaza in Hong Kong. Photo: SCMP Archives

Underprivileged children enjoy a Christmas party at The Excelsior hotel in Causeway Bay in 1977. Photo: SCMP Archives

Participants in the 1978 New Year Run pose for a group picture after the event, organised by the Kowloon Hash House Harriers. Photo: SCMP Archives

A folk dancing show is staged during a Christmas party held at the MacPherson Stadium in Mong Kok in 1978. Photo: SCMP Archives

Santa Claus distributes presents from charitable organisations to children during a Christmas party at the Hilton hotel in Central in 1979. Photo: SCMP Archives

Carolyn Newbigging (centre) – the wife of the chairman of Jardine Matheson, David Newbigging – dances with guests at the New Year celebration at the Noonday Gun in Causeway Bay in 1983. Photo: SCMP Archives

The Santa Express Party at Ocean Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui in 1986. Photo: SCMP Archives

Staff of trading firm FocalPoint International attempt to ice skate during a Christmas party held at the skating rink in Cityplaza, in Taikoo Shing, in 1991. Photo: SCMP Archives

A Scottish dance is performed at the Hilton hotel’s New Year’s Eve ball in 1991. Photo: SCMP Archives

James Smith (centre), general manager of the Hilton hotel, celebrates after his successful bid for two first-class air tickets to London, donated by British Airways. The prize was part of an Operation Santa Claus charity auction in 1991. Photo: SCMP Archives

In pictures: how Hong Kong celebrated Christmas from the 1970s to 90s

Christmas decorations in Landmark in Central, Hong Kong, in 1988. Photo: SCMP Archives

Japanese department store Daimaru in Causeway Bay during the 1976 Christmas season. Photo: SCMP Archives

Throngs of Christmas shoppers in the Daimaru department store in 1976. Photo: SCMP Archives

The Matsuzakaya store in Causeway Bay in 1977. Photo: SCMP Archives

School girls pick out Christmas cards at the Matsuzakaya store in 1977. Photo: SCMP Archives

Island School students admire the latest Christmas card designs in 1984. Photo: SCMP Archives

Workers sort mail at the General Post Office in Central in December 1988. Photo: SCMP Archives

The old HSBC Building decorated for Christmas in 1977. Photo: SCMP Archives

Chater Road in Central is lit up on Christmas Day in 1981. Photo: SCMP Archives

Crowds gather to see the Christmas lights in Tsim Sha Tsui East in 1985. Photo: SCMP Archives

Lan Kwai Fong in 1995. Photo: SCMP Archives

Furama Hotel chef Roland Sager prepares a Christmas turkey in 1984. Photo: SCMP Archives

The San Francisco Steak House in Tsim Sha Tsui serves festive feasts in 1986. Photo: SCMP Archives

Kwok Ping-kwan, pastry chef at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, displays the hotel’s treats in 1964. Photo: SCMP Archives

Pierre-Alexis Dumas, then Hong Kong-based regional marketing director of Hermès and now the French label’s artistic director, whips up a Christmas feast in 1996. Photo: SCMP Archives

PostMag

Culture

A look at how Hongkongers have prepared for the most significant Chinese holiday of the year, from the 1970s to the 2000s


A look at how Hongkongers have prepared for the most significant Chinese holiday of the year, from the 1970s to the 2000s.


In pictures: Hong Kong readies for Lunar New Year

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A look at how Hongkongers have prepared for the most significant Chinese holiday of the year, from the 1970s to the 2000s

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Visiting the flower markets

A look at how Hongkongers have prepared for the most significant Chinese holiday of the year, from the 1970s to the 2000s

Visiting the flower markets