Hong Kong in the 1930s | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Hong Kong in the 1930s

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Submitted by Leonard To on Sat, 2021-03-06 00:06

https://youtu.be/D62TzU1X2jk
Old 8mm movies shot in the 1930s by Douglas Chun Wai Yee (1906-1983). https://www.geni.com/people/Douglas-Wai-Yee/6000000009196913617
Original film discovered and digitized by Roger Woo in the United States.
Uploaded version (with scenes mostly from Hong Kong) edited by myslef.

Please comment if you can recognize any location in the video. Thanks~

 

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Hong Kong
1930s
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Submitted by moddsey on Sat, 2021-03-06 12:49.

Most of the scenes were taken in Kowloon. The Central British School (still standing, now the Antiquities and Monuments Office, 136 Nathan Road) , St Andrew's Church, Sacred Hill (Sung Wong Toi , demolished) overlooking Kowloon Bay and Chatham Road Children's Playground (demolished) can be viewed.

I note the "Ye Olde English Faire" was held on 5 November 1932 in the garden of St Andrew's Church. A similar Faire was held in 1931 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Church. Hong Kong Daily Press 7 November 1932 refers.

Submitted by Leonard To on Sat, 2021-03-06 22:11.

Thank you for pointing those out. I was told the most precious part of the video is that it is the only video taken of the original Sung Wong Toi and the "sacred hill"  before it was demolished by the Japanese to make way of the enlarged Kai Tak Airport.

Do you have more information about the "Ye Olde English Faire"? I am curious of what it might have been.

 

Submitted by moddsey on Sat, 2021-03-06 22:53.

Yes, that is the only video of Sung Wong Toi that I have seen. Please see here of the "Ye Olde English Faire"

Submitted by David on Fri, 2021-03-12 12:37.

The building's sun screens at 0:26 have "Lane Crawford" written on them. Does anyone know Lane Crawford's address on Nathan Road in the 1930s?

Submitted by kevin sun on Sun, 2021-03-14 20:37.

Very likely this part is St Andrew's Church boundary wall and Old British School on Nathan Road, TST. If this clip is 1930, school had new classrooms near Nathan Road(https://www.amo.gov.hk/form/FormerKBSpanels.pdf). The boundary wall of the Church was demolished during the church extension project in 2010s( grading issue was being discussed in AAB meetings after the launch of 1444 grading exercise in 2007 or 2008). The photos or newspapers of 2009-2015 may give clues. 

Submitted by moddsey on Sun, 2021-03-21 08:49.

As viewed here , the Lane Crawford Store in Kowloon was a bread, cake and grocery department at 74 Nathan Road that adjoined the Dairy Farm Ice and Cold Storage at the corner of Humphreys Avenue and Nathan Road. Hong Kong Telegraph 2 May 1928 refers.

 

 

Submitted by David on Fri, 2021-03-26 15:00.

Thanks Moddsey, I hadn't found that on my searches.

Here's a photo of that building, with Dairy Farm on the corner.

1930s Dairy Farm Ice and Cold Storage
1930s Dairy Farm Ice and Cold Storage, by moddsey

 

The Lane Crawford bread, cake and grocery department would have been to the left of the photo.

Unfortunately the columns on this building's arches (all rectangular) don't match the columns on the building in the video (panning from north to south the columns we see are: rectangle, 1 x round, rectangle, 2 x round, rectangle, 1 x round, rectangle, then the clip ends). I don't know if it means that Lane Crawford opened another shop, or if the columns were re-designed at some point.

Submitted by moddsey on Fri, 2021-03-26 22:06.

At 0:18 into the film, it looks like one is turning into a side street/road from Nathan Road (where the trees are). 

What about this building and its pillars south of Granville Road as seen below?

1930s Nathan Road
1930s Nathan Road, by Moddsey

Submitted by David on Sat, 2021-03-27 12:06.

Thanks Moddsey, that's a match for the building. I'd been looking too far south.

So I think the section 0:18 to 0:39 is taken on the section of Nathan Road in front of this building, starting from the junction with Granville Road and heading south. (I don't think they turned into a side street, because a bus passes in front of the camera at 0:25).

The section 0:40 to 0:48 was likely taken at the southern end of the same building, near the junction with Cameron Road. At the end of this section there's an open patch of land on the right with a fence around it that threw me, but looking at the building on the 1920 map (https://gwulo.com/node/35994#18/22.29917/114.17300/Map_by_ESRI-1920_Kowl...), the land to the south of it, on the NE corner of the junction with Cameron Road, was empty for some time.

Submitted by moddsey on Sun, 2021-03-28 08:52.

Agreed with your findings.