Hong Kong Snapshot (73) – Lyndhurst Terrace, Honey, Flower, and Prostitute 香港隨拍 (73) – 擺花街，擺花風流，盡成往事

Some people may say, prostitute is the oldest occupation of the world. It represents the basic need of human. Thousands of years after, we can still see a lot of brothels all over the world. Every one of you should have heard about the underground sex business of your city. Although most brothels now are operating in private, 170 years ago, it was one of the main tax income of HK.

很多人說，娼妓是世界上最古老的職業，它代表了人類的最基本需求，千萬年後的今日，我們仍能見到世界各地的妓院處處，每個人都總聽過自己城市的地下性交易。雖然今天世界上的娼妓基本都是在暗地經營，不過在百多年的香港，曾是香港最主要的稅收收入。

There is a street called the Lyndhurst Terrace in Central of HK Island. The Chinese name is 擺花街, which means the street of flower. You may guess there must be a lot of florists. However, this “flower” didn’t really mean flower. In 1842, HK Island was ceded to Britain. Suddenly there were many British and adventurer from all over the world came to HK. And you know, the desire for food and sex is nature, the demand of prostitute greatly increased in HK. At the same time, the HK Government needed money to run the city. When they saw the demand of prostitute of HK, you know what they would do. In 1844, all brothels in HK were fined 5 dollars. Yeah, everybody understands that it’s the tax! And 2 years later, the HK Government offered official license to brothels and prostitutes.

擺花街，擺花添嬌，位於中環。第一次聽到這個名字，你或會想這條街道是盛產花卉的街道，但其實，這花另有含義。1842年，香港島割讓給英國，這個小島一時湧現了很多背鄉別井的英國人，還有來自世界各地的闖蕩者。所謂食色性也，娼妓在香港需求大增，同時，英國人在香港需要資金營運，眼見娼妓需求之大，自然從中收稅。1844年，香港政府開始向妓院收取不多於5元的罰款，那大家都明白了，交了罰款就代表可繼續經營了，2年後，香港政府更正式發牌，讓香港娼妓合法化。

At the early stage, the brothels of HK were mostly at two places. The low-grade Chinese brothels were at Tai Ping Shan Street in Sheung Wan. And the high grade western brothels were mostly at the Lyndhurst Street. Where did the western prostitutes come from? Mostly from Macau. There were already lot of Portuguese prostitute at Macau. When they found HK was developing, they all came to HK.

早期香港的妓院主要集中在兩個地方，較低級的華人妓院在上環的太平山街一帶，而高級的洋妓院就在擺花街。洋妓從哪來？從澳門，澳門早已有很多葡萄牙妓女，她們見到香港發展了，就全都走到香港來了。

The old Lyndhurst Street (Photo from Wikipedia)

Of course, prostitution was not something glorious. So, the brothels usually placed advertisements of honey on newspaper. What was that honey for? You know that. And the clients had to bring a flower as recognition. Time passed and there were more and more florists at the street. The prostitutes were professional trained. They knew how to chat with men, cocktail, and also the knowledge of wine and cigar. Many people might go to the brothels just for chit chatting without sex.

當然，召妓不是一件風光的事，故洋妓都會在報紙登賣蜜糖的廣告，蜜糖指的當然就是妓女了，而嫖客們都會帶一束鮮花以作記認，久而久之，擺花街的鮮花店就越開越多了。這裡的妓院都主打高檔路線，妓女們都受過專業訓練，懂得與客人打酒談心，也會調酒和點雪茄，很多洋人當時都會到擺花街只為與妓女們把酒談心，一展風雅。呀，忘記了說，擺花街的英文名字是Lyndhurst Terrace倫核士街，但華人都稱呼其為擺花街，結果今天擺花街已成為它的官方名字。

The old Lyndhurst Street (Photo from Wikipedia)

In 1903, the HK Government started to develop Shek Tong Tsui at the west of HK Island. To do this, they forced all the brothels to move to Shek Tong Tsui. And the flowers and sex of Lyndhurst Terrace become history.
Today, there are only two flower shops in Lyndhurst Terrace. It becomes a commercial street.

不過在1903年，政府開發香港島西邊的石塘咀，下了一招狠的，將所有妓院都搬到擺花街，擺花街的擺花風月就成為了歷史。
今天的擺花街已與花無關，整條街只有兩間花店，它變成了一條中西合璧的街道。

This is Tai Cheong Bakery. Chris Patten, the last Governor of British HK, said that the egg tart of Tai Cheong is the most delicious in the world.

這裡有泰昌餅家，香港最後一任港督彭定康，曾稱這裡的蛋撻是全世界最好吃的蛋撻。

And Law Fu Kee. The fried dace ball is the most famous in Hong Kong.

還有羅富記，它可能是全港最出名的炸鯪魚球食店。

You may find that the brothels of Lyndhurst Terrace were so high graded. So did the sailors and adventurers have money to go? Yes, they didn’t. And they won’t go to the low graded Chinese brothels. Therefore, in Wan Chai, we got a name for a street, “Big Number”. Let me tell you the story in the next post!

你可能會問，擺花街的妓院那麼高檔，那一般水兵水手哪有錢去？是的，他們沒有錢去，而他們也不會到太平山街光顧那些低級華人妓女，所以，在灣仔，有一條街慢慢的多了一個稱呼，叫「大Number」。下次再跟大家說！

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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！