30th May 2010 (15)
ACCOMMODATION WITH NO PRIVACY
During my early years in life, my family was living in an apartment to our
own, not like most of the other people in Hong Kong having to share an
apartment with several other families. I was told later in life by my husband
that he was born and brought up in a 4-storey building. The building was in
Des Voeux Road Central in the heart of the capital of Hong Kong, Central
District, overlooking the tram ways from the balconies.
Hong Kong 1940s-1960s
In the 1940s, my husband's parents owned an apartment each on the 3rd
and 4th floors. They occupied most of the 4th floor including the area
extended out to the balcony, and letting the remaining areas to a number of
families. The 3rd floor was used as his father's trading office. Rooms were
partitioned with wood and translucent glass panels. Glass panels were used
because they allowed light to filter through from both ends of the whole
apartment. There was usually a gap of a few feet between the ceiling and
the top of the panel to permit some ventilation. A family of three or four
people slept in a double bed which was extended in the evening by placing a
plank of wood resting on two high stools on each end. There were also bunk
beds along the wide corridor for couples or single persons to rent. Privacy
was kept by drawing a curtain across the bed.
The only kitchen on each floor was shared by several families and each had
his or her own stove fuelled by kerosene. Fire regulation was very loose at
that time and there was only one wooden staircase from the ground floor to
the top. The kitchen was always wet. Washing of clothes or vegetables was
done in one's own basin on the kitchen floor. Water was collected from a
tap. Needless to say toilet was not water borne. Faeces were collected
every morning by ‘night soil collectors’ before dawn and they were invariably
women. In those times, when people had to get up early to do something,
they often joked by saying ‘as early as a night soil collector’.
My husband and his seven siblings were strictly brought up by his mother in
not getting into fights with the other children tenants. Some of the tenants'
children went to schools which had their lessons conducted in the rooftop.
School fees were of course less expensive. Some rooftop schools were
even free because they were run by charities.
My mother-in-law gave birth to all of her seven children at home, with the
help of the same mid-wife. She did not like the idea of going into or near a
hospital. She could never travel by bus or car as she would get car sick.
She either walked or travelled in a rickshaw which was a common mode of
transport in those days.
Yuen-yee
ACCOMMODATION WITH NO PRIVACY
During my early years in life, my family was living in an apartment to our
own, not like most of the other people in Hong Kong having to share an
apartment with several other families. I was told later in life by my husband
that he was born and brought up in a 4-storey building. The building was in
Des Voeux Road Central in the heart of the capital of Hong Kong, Central
District, overlooking the tram ways from the balconies.
Hong Kong 1940s-1960s
In the 1940s, my husband's parents owned an apartment each on the 3rd
and 4th floors. They occupied most of the 4th floor including the area
extended out to the balcony, and letting the remaining areas to a number of
families. The 3rd floor was used as his father's trading office. Rooms were
partitioned with wood and translucent glass panels. Glass panels were used
because they allowed light to filter through from both ends of the whole
apartment. There was usually a gap of a few feet between the ceiling and
the top of the panel to permit some ventilation. A family of three or four
people slept in a double bed which was extended in the evening by placing a
plank of wood resting on two high stools on each end. There were also bunk
beds along the wide corridor for couples or single persons to rent. Privacy
was kept by drawing a curtain across the bed.
The only kitchen on each floor was shared by several families and each had
his or her own stove fuelled by kerosene. Fire regulation was very loose at
that time and there was only one wooden staircase from the ground floor to
the top. The kitchen was always wet. Washing of clothes or vegetables was
done in one's own basin on the kitchen floor. Water was collected from a
tap. Needless to say toilet was not water borne. Faeces were collected
every morning by ‘night soil collectors’ before dawn and they were invariably
women. In those times, when people had to get up early to do something,
they often joked by saying ‘as early as a night soil collector’.
My husband and his seven siblings were strictly brought up by his mother in
not getting into fights with the other children tenants. Some of the tenants'
children went to schools which had their lessons conducted in the rooftop.
School fees were of course less expensive. Some rooftop schools were
even free because they were run by charities.
My mother-in-law gave birth to all of her seven children at home, with the
help of the same mid-wife. She did not like the idea of going into or near a
hospital. She could never travel by bus or car as she would get car sick.
She either walked or travelled in a rickshaw which was a common mode of
transport in those days.
Yuen-yee
Roof top school
Street librairies
To-day, there are still people living in
rented bed spaces which we call
cage beds.
rented bed spaces which we call
cage beds.
