1960s Hong Kong | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

1960s Hong Kong

Different views of Hong Kong in the 1960s, starting with:

1960s Hong Kong in words

Andrew Craig-Bennett's excellent series about Hong Kong's history includes:

  • Hong Kong in the late Fifties and early Sixties
    The 1960s were probably the defining decade in the formation of the Hong Kong identity as it is today. Read more...
     
  • A note on "Fragrant grease"
    Hong Kong in the Fifties and Sixties, especially the Sixties, was a nest of corruption, springing from the population explosion. There was unmet demand for just about everything, and allocation of resources was an obvious field for corruption. Low Government salaries certainly contributed so far as local officials were concerned, but the Englishmen in the Government service had no such excuse. In fairness to them, though, they were often very fine people in other respects - senior and junior policemen and firemen were often brave, efficient and corrupt at the same time. Read more ...
     
  • More Sixties Stuff
    Expanding public education, riots, "R&R", the Confrontation Tie, and Mainland China's views of British Hong Kong during this time. Read more ...

 

1960s Hong Kong in photos

I've chosen a few favourites to begin with (you can click on any photo to see a larger copy):

 

BOAC Hong Kong poster
Arrive by air

 

1960s Kai Tak Observation Deck
Kai Tak Observation Deck

 

P&O SS Chusan
Or arrive by sea: P&O's SS Chusan, shown berthed at Kowloon Wharf

 

1960s TST Clock Tower
View over the Railway Terminus & Clock Tower towards Central

 

1961 Central banks decorated for Princess Alexandra's visit
Central banks decorated for Princess Alexandra's visit in 1961

 

1960s HSBC
Inside HSBC

 

1960s Traffic Pagoda
Traffic Police Pagoda

 

1960s Hong Kong
Queueing for water

 

196x pic taken at victoria park
Victoria Park playground

 

Repulse Bay Beach-1969
Repulse Bay Beach

 

Fisher-folk Children Sha Tau Kok -1960's
Fisher-folk children at Sha Tau Kok

 

1967 Staunton's Creek
Jam-packed Staunton's Creek, Aberdeen

 

1960s Hong Kong
Bus on Lantau

 

1960s #72 Des Voeux Road Central, Tak Wing Pawn Shop
Taxi & bus on Des Voeux Road Central

 

1960 Gingles Restaurant
Nathan Road, showing Gingles Restaurant

 

1965 Chantecler ad
"Specialising in European and Russian food"

 

Shirley_Bassey-HK.jpg
Shirley Bassey at City Hall

 

1960s Sun Ya Hotel, Nathan Road, Mong Kok
Mong Kok at night

 

For more photos from the 1960s, see:

Then browse through over 500 photos from the 60s in our galleries.

 

New buildings in the 1960s

Look how the 1960s building boom changed Hong Kong's skyline. This first view is from the 1950s:

1952 View down the Peak Tram line and over Central

At that time the buildings in Central were mostly 3-6 storeys high, built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. The only "skyscrapers" in this photo are the HSBC and Bank of China buildings.

The second was taken in the mid-1960s. Can you spot the two bank buildings? By this time they were dwarfed by all the new construction.

1965 View over Central & Harbour from The Peak

To see the effect at street-level, here's how Queen's Building (in the foreground) and the original Prince's Building looked. Both were built within a few years of each other at the start of the twentieth century:

1910s Queen's Building

Both were knocked down at about the same time too. Queen's Building went first, replaced by the 27-storey Mandarin Hotel. In this photo from 1964, the new Hotel was just a year old:

CityHall & Mandarin Hotel

That dark shape behind the hotel is the new Prince's Building under construction. It was finished the following year.

Here's how the two buildings looked in 1966. 

A very modern Central

(Look to the right of Queen's Building in both photos, and you'll see another old building disappearing. The St. George's Building was about to be re-developed.)

The changing skyline even made the international news in this Pathé film clip (if you can't see the video or the map below, please view the web version of this page):

Here are all those new buildings from the 1960s shown on a map:

The map is live - you can zoom in, change layers, click a marker to see the building's name, etc. Or if you prefer, you can see the new buildings shown as a list. (Both the map and the list are a work in progress, so please add a page for any buildings we've missed.)


Thank you to everyone who has contributed the all facts and photos above.

If you have any favourite photos or memories of 1960s Hong Kong you can add, we'd love to see them. Here's how to upload a photo, and for any memories or stories please leave a comment below. Longer memoirs are also very welcome.

Regards, David

Also on Gwulo.com this week:

Comments

Your picture of the BOAC poster has reminded me of my first flight on BA922 to Hong Kong on a then brand new B707 on a Saturday in August 1965. It took just over 21 hours with the delights of seeing for the first time in my life, the sights (and smells) of Zurich, Karachi, Calcutta and Bangkok airports, which we stopped at for refuelling on the way. I remember the horror at Karachi of being charged all of two and sixpence for the smallest glass of orange juice.

I have even found the TIMETABLE on line.

 

 

Kaitak Airport BOAC 707.jpg
Kaitak Airport BOAC 707.jpg, by ehktang

 

BOAC had turned into British Airways!!!