The family moved to Tai Po in 1934, but at this stage they were still living in Kowloon.The European woman is my grandmother Kathe de Chaffoy, and the child is my mother Kiki de Chaffoy. I think this image was made into a postcard!
Date picture taken
18 Jan 1930
Shows person / people
Shows place(s)
Comments
Re: Postcard
May have seen such a postcard but cannot be sure. Would the scene be the Kowloon City Walled Village instead?
Postcard
Not impossible, but I'd have to double check the original (which is in London and I'm in HK).
Old Kowloon City
Have yet to make a connection with the original photo but a similar scene with a water pipe on the stone slabs.
Old Kowloon City
You're right, it's uncannily similar, even down to the basket seller on the corner. I suspect you are correct.
1937 Photographic Booklet
Noted the main photo in a photographic booklet titled "La Perla Del Oriente" that was recently sold at auction. Printed in 1937, comprising 15 pages of photographic scenes of Hong Kong.
The booklet appears connected with the cigar store "La Perla Del Oriente" that also printed postcards of Hong Kong scenes for sale. In 1937, the cigar store in the Gloucester Building was opened by Messrs. The Orient Tobacco Manufactory C. Ingenohl Ltd.
Photographic booklet titled "La Perla Del Oriente"
Is a copy of this booklet anywhere online? I'm sure you are right, that it is connected with the shop in Gloucester Building.
Hong Kong - La Perla Del Oriente
The booklet can be viewed at: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=La+Perla+del+Oriente%2C+… and
https://www.ebay.com/itm/125881300453?hash=item1d4f1c35e5%3Ag%3Afp8AAOS…
Photographic booklet titled "La Perla Del Oriente"
Thank you. I see the photo at the top of this Gwulo page features in the booklet, which makes is a nice connection.
1925-1927 Photo
By chance, came across this photo: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/712304028/1920s-kowloon-street-scene-hong-kong?click_key=db0494d2d76ada0c7d4f5555a98b0ac861650301%3A712304028&click_sum=b1a7f641&external=1&rec_type=ss&ref=landingpage_similar_listing_top-1
which I think shows the next shop house further up the street. The two vertical shop signboards in Chinese characters hanging at centre right in the main photo appear very much the same.
Other photos can be viewed at: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/Ninskaphotos?ref=sim_items_shophome&search_query=hong+kong
Not Hong Kong?
"dans un village chinois pre's de Hong Kong" seems to mean in a Chinese village close to Hong Kong. It could be a village across the border in China. In the 1930s, you may not even need a visa to cross the border. I may be wrong.
1925-1927 Photo
Yes moddsey, I think you may be right.
Re: crossing the border, simtang, I don't remember my mother saying that they ever did that, in all the time they were in HK (1930-1953). I think "near Hong Kong" means near the city, rather than near the colony.