What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:

General

• Readers in Scotland or southwest England: I'm planning to give a talk in Glasgow on 1 November, and Exeter on 8 November. It will be my first talk, that was the foundation for Volume 1 of my books. I'll follow up with more details in later newsletters, but please keep the date clear if you're able to join us. I'd also welcome suggestions for good venues in both cities, somewhere with a good screen and projector so the photos display well.  We've got a couple of places in mind, but please let me know if there's somewhere you've seen an onscreen presentation that was clear for all to see.
   
• In last week's newsletter about using AI to transcribe old documents I recommended using Google Gemini. Several readers wrote to tell me Google Gemini isn't currently available in Hong Kong. They recommend either accessing Gemini via Poe, or using Deepseek as an alternative to Gemini.
   
• The 1886 Jurors List is now online. Thanks to volunteers David, Grace, hkspace_wl, and joybot for typing up the pages. Only three more lists to go until we've finished this mammoth project, which leads on to ...
   
• We've started typing up the 1885 Juror's List. Please join in and help by typing up a page.
   
• Talk in London on 13 Sep 2025: The Friends of East Asia are hosting "Searching for Billie" by Ian Gill.
   
• Andrew Salmon's wartime diary gives an insight into how the Hong Kong POWs who'd been shipped to Japan experienced the Japanese surrender. Start reading from his entry for 15 Aug 1945, then follow the links to later pages.
   
• Memories of a voyage from HK to Shanghai in 1942
   
• Looking for information about:
  • Where was the Mongkok cafe that sold Friesland's mango ice cream?
     
  • Who is Bennet's Hill in Aberdeen Country Park named after?
     

  • Constantin Kluge [1912-2003], a Latvian / Russian painter and architect, who lived in Hong Kong between 1946 and 1950.
     

    

Places

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:

General

• A 1941 report about travelling from Hong Kong to Shanghai on a 'blackout boat'.
   
• Keiji Makimura's memories of the Japanese surrender in August 1945: Part one - Part two.
   
• Early 20th-century schools on Cheung Chau
   
• 1959 tourist video of Hong Kong: A Million Lights Shall Glow
   
• Quick Links - a collection of useful resources when researching Hong Kong's history.
   
• Readers ask:
  • What was the "Gas-House Club" in Stanley Camp?

The Chinese version of Gwulo's book

For subscribers in Taiwan, I can see the Chinese version of Gwulo's book is now listed at several online stores:

• Books.com.tw
• Cosmed.com.tw
• Iread.com.tw
• Momoshop.com.tw
• Taaze.tw
   

Places

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:

General

• Pan Am's "Clipper" flying boats revolutionised passenger travel and mail services between Hong Kong and America. Stuart Braga tells us their story in his post: The China Clipper: Pan Am flies to Macau and Hong Kong, 1937-1941
    

  

   

• Watch several films of Hong Kong in the 1930s
   
• The 80th anniversary of the Japanese surrender will soon be here. Follow the dramatic events of August / September 1945 via daily entries from diaries written 80 years ago:
  • Read today's diary entries
     
  • Sign up to receive daily diary entries from 80 years ago via free email
     
  • Read "Sweet Waters", an account of the Allied fleet's entry to Hong Kong's harbour in late August, 1945.
     
• Readers ask:
  • When was ice cream first sold in Hong Kong?
     
  • Do any enrolment lists for Ying Wa Boys School around the 1850s still exist?

The Chinese version of Gwulo's book

It is now available in bookstores including Book Punch 一拳書館, Cosmos Books, Hong Kong Reader, and Lion's Ink Bookstore.

You can also buy it online at Chung Hwa, HKTV mall, and My Book One.
 

Places