Hong Kong Snapshot (60) – The vanishing old Hong Kong – North Point香港隨拍 (60) 消失中的舊香港 – 北角

The new and the old, how to choose? What to lose? It’s a hot topic of the whole world recently. When the economy and life of people become better, people start to miss the old things. At the same time, we all know new development is the most important element to develop the society. So, we keep watching the Old vanishes and the New comes.

新與舊，到底如何取捨，成為了各地近年的熱門話題，當經濟越來越好，生活越來越好的時候，人們開始懷念舊事物，但同一時候，大家都知道去舊迎新才是社會繼續進步的元素，所以，我們仍每天看著舊的去，新的來。

Recently, I always go to North Point in Hong Kong Island. One day, when I walked in North Point, I took some photos of the town. When I tidied the photos when I back home, I found some old views of Hong Kong which are vanishing.

最近經常在香港島的北角區遊走，有一次在北角街道走路的時候，就隨處拍了幾張照，回家一看照片，才發覺這裡仍有一些即將消失的香港舊風景。

In 1841, HK Island was colonized by Britain. The British took Central as the center of development. North Point was the fringe of the development: no best development in North Point, but better than those area not developed. In around 1920-30, people from Shanghai and Fujian of China moved to North Point. North Point started to develop rapidly. We could see a lot of residential buildings and entertainment venues. But later the Government started to develop Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok in Kowloon. North Point became an old town again. Today, we can find the old HK in North Point.

1841年，香港島割讓給英國，英國以中環一帶為基本發展，北角區正是當年的「邊緣城市」：即是最好的建設不會在北角，但又未至於不被發展的地區。及後到1920-30年代，大量上海人及福建人移居至北角，北角開始飛速發展，住宅、娛樂場所等不停冒現，但隨著政府開始發展九龍的尖沙咀、旺角一帶，北角亦隨之成為舊區。今天，我們在北角仍看見大家心目中的舊香港。

Passing through a few streets, I saw lot ofs signboards just above the road. Signboard is a great feature of HK. Many foreigners come to HK just to take the photos of the signboards. But do you know? The HK Government is now limiting the setting up of signboards. We may find that many signboards have been cleared. In few years, we may find no signboards again in Hong Kong.

經過幾條內街，仍見到不少招牌豎立在馬路之上。招牌是香港的一大重要特色，也是外國人十分喜歡的拍攝對像，但大家知道嗎？政府開始立例管制招牌，很多招牌已被清拆，照片中在馬路上方的招牌可能很快就消失不見了。

Keep walking, I saw a Newsagent's shop. This kind of Newsagent’s shops is full of the characteristic of HK. Actually the life of the shop owners are not good. In the past, they had to pay the protection fee to gangs. Although it is better nowadays, the Government doesn’t issue new hawker license anymore. Also people now are used to buy stuffs in convenience store. These newsagent’s shops are vanishing.

沿路繼續直走，見到一家報紙檔，這些報紙檔也是香港的一大特色，檔主的生活絕不叫好，數十年前他們需要交保護費給黑社會，雖然近年有所改善，但政府已不再簽發新的小販牌照，加上現代人更習慣到便利店，我們亦開始懷念這些買少見少的報紙檔。

And also Tong Lau. Tong Lau is the building style of the Guangdong and Hong Kong from the late 19th century to mid 20th century. It shows us the fusing of the Chinese and Western building style. In North Point, we can still see different types of Tong Laus built from the 1920’s to 1970’s. I may talk more about it later. So how about after 1970’s? No Tong Laus anymore. We built new western style buildings. Some Tong Laus are lucky to be conserved. And most of them are being rebuild. Tong Laus are going to be history.

還有唐樓，唐樓是廣東一帶以至香港在二十世紀初期至中期的主要建築，體現了東方與西方混合的建築特色，在北角，我們還能夠找到由1920年代至1970年代期間興建的唐樓，每個年代的唐樓都有不同的建築特色，我或會在之後的文章再講多一點點。至於1970年後呢？1970年後我們沒有再建新的唐樓了，轉為較西方化的新式樓宇，有些唐樓較幸運，得以保存，但很多已逐漸被清拆，成為歷史。

It’s mankind. When life is not good, we wish to have new things. When life becomes good, we wish to preserve the old things. It’s a kind of contradiction but this contradiction builds up culture. Is culture a must? Actually no. But culture builds up our self-identity. Because of culture, we are proud to tell others we are Chinese, we are Japanese, we are the US, we are British…etc. furthermore, we are different from animals because of culture. We build the diversity of human society by culture.

人總是這樣的、生活不好的時候，總希望有新的東西，當生活好了的時候，卻想要保留舊東西，這是一種茅盾，但這種茅盾卻建構了文化。文化是否必須存在？老實說，不是，但文化可建立我們的身份認同，我們因自身的文化而敢於對人說我是中國人、我是日本人、我是美國人、我是英國人…..亦是文化，讓我們有別於其他動物，建立了人類社會的多樣性。

However, we need to agree that the world is facing homogeneity. Places are urbanized. People wear similar clothes, building similar houses, using similar products. Of course, something like foods and religions are still having strong local feature. But the difference is narrower. I may ask, should it be like that? No answer at all. We must learn from the good. The ancient Europe learnt from Greece. The ancient East Asia learnt from China. The modern world learnt from Western. We can’t escape from it. Luckily, some traditional cultures like traditional clothing and custom are still preserved. If not, I will feel regret.

不過，大家都應該同意，全球都開始漸趨單一，越來越多的地區被城市化，穿同樣的衣服，建一樣的高樓大廈，使用同樣的產品，當然，還有很多諸如飲食、宗教等具有強烈的地區特色，但當中的差別也變得少了。我有時會想，事情需要這樣發展嗎？其實這沒有一個肯定的答案，學習好的事物是必然的，古歐洲追隨希臘、古代東亞追隨中國、而近代追隨西方，都是必不可免的，幸而，一些屬於民族的傳統文化，如傳統服裝、習俗等，雖而不再是日常，但仍然被保留，否則，我會覺得很可惜。

What do you think about it. Feel free to comment and share.

不知道大家有何感想和見解，歡迎大家留言分享。

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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！

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