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Here you'll find over 50,000 pages about old Hong Kong to explore, including over 30,000 photos. The content is added by a friendly community of people who enjoy sharing what we know about Hong Kong's history, and you are very welcome to join us.

Kind regards, David

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Dog-fights over Mid-levels

Submitted by David on Thu, 03/11/2010 - 14:39

Which years saw the skies above Robinson Road turned into an aerial battlefield?

Try the 1960s... On Monday, local ace Ah-Sek told me his tales of glory from those days. The days when he ruled the ranks of the fighting kites!

I guessed he'd join up with a group of friends at a pre-arranged time. But in fact the call to arms could come at any time:

"I'd be in my room doing my homework, but at the same time I'd keep an eye on the skies outside. As soon as I saw a kite, up to the roof I'd go."

Of course, buildings along Robinson Road were much shorter then...

1950s Norman Lawson's photos

Submitted by David on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 17:59

Thanks to Craig for getting access to these photos for us. As I understand the story, he met a family friend, Norman Lawson, who was visiting HK, with the offer to help him get around HK. On meeting, he found that Norman had also bought a well-annotated photo album from his time in HK in the mid-1950s.

Norman kindly agreed to share the photos, so Craig borrowed the album, scanned all the pages, and here they are.

Craig also sent this brief introduction from Norman:

National Tavern [????-????]

Submitted by David on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 17:49

This is linked to the John Olson story - he was the publican of this Tavern for many years.

Initial discussions of its location placed it much further west, based on an address given as "292, Queen's Road West". Today, that address is for a building on the corner of Centre Street and Queen's Road West in Sai Ying Pun.

But in fact the tavern was back in Sheung Wan. We can confirm that from the mentions of the Tavern in the newspaper reports of Annual Licensing sessions:

Lung Tsun Stone Bridge / Kowloon City Pier [1875- ]

Submitted by David on Sun, 02/28/2010 - 21:58

Though it was described as a stone bridge, it was actually a pier, extending out into the shallow waters of Kowloon Bay. It was first built in the 1870s by the Chinese government, enabling easier access to Kowloon City by boat.

The pier changed shape several times, as reclamation ate it up from the landward end, and different extensions were added to it at the seaward end.

It disappeared from sight completely in 1942, during reclamation for the expansion of Kai-Tak airport by the Japanese.

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