Sunday Tour of Kowloon

Today, to make up for the travelling time that I lost due to yesterday's hectic schedule, I decided to make a walking tour of Kowloon. Unfortunately, I somehow slept in until 11:35am so I was late to both Masses at St. Vincent Church. This also meant that I had to quickly re-orient my tour schedule from this...

1. Mass at St. Vincent Church
2. Photos at Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower, near Tsim Sha Tsui Station
3. Visit to Hong Kong Museum of History, near Chatham Road South and Austin Road
4. Browse at Yue Hwa Chinese Products (裕華國貨) , near Jordan Station
5. Possible browsing at Shanghai Street
6. Browse at Sai Yeung Choi Street, near Mong Kok Station
7. Browse at Harmony Music, near Prince Edward Station

 ...into something that actually turned out like this...

1. Second failed attempt to find Tsoi Wah Sheung (采華裳漢服店) at Dragon Centre, near Sham Shui Po Station
2. Browse at Harmony Music, near Prince Edward Station
3. Browse at Sai Yeung Choi Street, near Mong Kok Station
4. Pass-by of Tin Hau Temple (天后廟) without realizing it
5. Browse at Yue Hwa Chinese Products (裕華國貨) , near Jordan Station
6. Pass-by of Tak Sun School (德信學校), Bruce Lee's old school 
7. Pass-by of Gun Club Hill Barracks
8. Pass-by of Hong Kong Polytechnic University
9. Visit to Hong Kong Museum of History, near Chatham Road South and Austin Road
10. Mass at Rosary Church 

First, I got off the MTR at Sham Shui Po Station and like last night, I still couldn't find Tsoi Wah Sheung, which is an atelier for Hanfu (traditional Han Chinese clothing). To the best of my knowledge, it's the only merchant of Hanfu in Hong Kong with a physical storefront (most others are online stores).

Then, I continued on my journey south on Sheung Sha Wan Road and merged with the very tip of Nathan Road...

Near the intersection of Nathan Road and Prince Edward Road, as I was trying to find Harmony Music (known for selling both Western and Chinese musical instruments), I found a park filled with Indonesian and Filipino domestic workers (it was Sunday, after all). And while I was trying to find my bearings, I stumbled upon this tree - a Bauhinia blakeana, the Hong Kong Orchid Tree (洋紫荊) - whose flower is the one represented on the Hong Kong flag. Unfortunately, the tree was not blooming then:

 Afterwards, I finally found Harmony Music and checked out its wonderful collection of traditional Chinese musical instruments, which retained traditional forms but utilized Western manufacturing techniques (for instance, metal strings instead of silk strings). However, I couldn't think of a way to justify buying a $200-3000 CAD bulky and fragile instrument when I could not foresee a time in the near future where I would have time to learn to play it.

Here are some pictures of Fa Yuen Street:

And now onto Sai Yeung Choi Street (西洋菜街) and Tung Choi Street (通菜街) which were both as crowded as reputed to be:

I almost forgot, today was the final day of Hong Kong's unofficial citywide referendum (6-22) on Hong Kong voters' opinions on democratic suffrage. You can see a yellow banner urging Hong Kongers to vote in the middle of the above photo.

Currently, the Central Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) controls who is selected as the head of state of Hong Kong, the Chief Executive. The PRC has promised to allow universal suffrage to Hong Kong's eligible voters by 2017 but the candidates will have to be approved by the PRC first, effectively limiting the choice to only pro-Beijing candidates. This unofficial referendum was held to select one of three messages to send to the Beijing authorities asking for a democratic selection of Chief Executive candidates. The Beijing government has already condemned the referendum as "illegal" but the statistics are quite shocking - about 1/5 of Hong Kong's eligible voters have voted in this referendum!

Almost at every major intersection on Nathan Road or Sai Yeung Choi Street, there would be volunteer promoters for the referendum handing out flyers and urging people to vote. Of course, as a Canadian citizen, there was nothing I could do but refuse - I can't interfere with Hong Kong politics. But maybe this will turn out to be an historic moment...at least I have the pictures to show I was there.

I kept heading south and I encountered this green sign in the below photo. Initially, I was confused - what was this "會總夜OK拉卡"? Then, I realized it was written in the traditional right-to-left direction "卡拉OK夜總會" (Karaoke Nightclub). Haha! I think that was one of the few times that I saw a right-to-left sign that did not belong to some store selling traditional Chinese wares.

Eventually, after walking down almost the entire length of Nathan Road and making some surprising discoveries (such as Bruce Lee's old school and Tin Hau Temple), I went into the Hong Kong Museum of History where they had a free exhibition on Lingnan Culture (嶺南文化), or Southern Chinese Culture. Lingnan Culture is a term that encompasses the common cultural roots of the Guangdong, Macau, and Hong Kong regions. The exhibition showed historical artifacts demonstrating the commonalities that this regional culture shared with the rest of China as well as its distinctive features:

Here are some clay models of early Han Dynasty houses in the Lingnan Region.

These are the oldest bamboo strip writings in the Lingnan Region.

 And here are some clay models of ordinary life in Southern China:

The paid permanent exhibits told the story of Hong Kong and its formation. The first sections discussed the geological formation of Hong Kong's landscape and then talked about the early Yue (越) peoples that lived in the southern China - northern Vietnam region. These peoples - also known as the Baiyue (百越) and Nanyue (南越) - were a group of tribes centred around the Pearl River Delta (珠江三角) and were a distinct group from the Han Chinese (漢) people that originated from the Yellow River Valley. Early Han Chinese were shocked at the "barbaric" Yue practices of living in stilt houses, tattooing themselves, and cutting their hair. As opposed to the dragon worshipped by the Han people, the Yue people worshipped the frog and snake. Eventually, with the advent of the Han Dynasty in China, the region came under Imperial Chinese rule and as Chinese soldiers intermarried with native Yue women, the region became indistinguishable from Han culture elsewhere in China.

In the succeeding centuries, apparently Hong Kong became politically attached to the southern Chinese province of what is now Guangdong Province. Its main roles were that of a salt refinery (the government had a monopoly on salt making so it was very profitable), farming, fishing, and as a small garrison against pirates operating in the lucrative trade routes near the Pearl River Delta.

Hong Kong was constantly threatened by conflict, so walled villages were commonplace amongst the early settlers of Hong Kong:

And this is what the infamous Kowloon Walled City (九龍城寨) looked like as an army barracks in the Qing Dynasty - the model is very beautiful and intricate!

Then, the museum showcases one of the most interesting parts - an entire full-scale exhibit highlighting the various ethnic groups of Hong Kong's early settlers: the Punti (本地), Hakka (客家), and Hoklo (福佬) peoples who spoke Cantonese, Hakka, and Hokkien respectively and were culturally distinct groups:

Here is a life-sized mock-up of a Punti ancestral temple:

And here is a life-sized mock-up of a Hakka house, with its characteristically few windows (to improve its defensibility in times of war, the few windows it had were barred):

A mock-up of a Chinese Opera, which was traditionally performed in honour of a deity's birthday:

Don't those models look so life-like?

And then here is a mock-up of a Taoist temple:

It's too bad that I couldn't stay longer to visit the other exhibits at the museum, because I had to rush over for the 7:00pm Mass at Rosary Church. I didn't take any pictures inside, but it was a startlingly different experience than that I had at St. Vincent's last week. The congregation at Rosary Church was mainly comprised of Chinese (as opposed to Filipinos), the priest was a Westerner (as opposed to Filipino), and the atmosphere more solemn (as opposed to lively). Here are some photos of Rosary Church's lovely exterior: