1930s Cheung Chau House

moddsey
Fri, 10/05/2018 - 15:28
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1930s Cheung Chau House

A watercolour of a Cheung Chau scene recently sold at an auction. Details shown here

Date picture taken
5 Jul 1933
Author(s)
Moddsey
Gallery
1930s Hong Kong
Shows place(s)
Cheung Chau [????- ]
European House #20, Cheung Chau [????-????]

Comments

The auction notes:

Aquarellierte Tuschezeichnung auf Papier aus dem Besitz des Malers Gustav Schleicher. Womöglich handelt es sich beim Urheber ebenfalls um eine/n Maler/in des Hölzels-Kreises! Bezeichnet links "Hier wohne ich. hübsch??", rechts "Cheung Chau. 5. Juli 1933 Südchina". 17 x 22 cm. In der Mitte gefaltet. 

And Google's translation:

Watercolor ink drawing on paper owned by the painter Gustav Schleicher. Perhaps the author is also a painter of the Hölzels circle! Inscribed on the left "Here I live, pretty ??", on the right "Cheung Chau, 5th July 1933 South China". 17 x 22 cm. Folded in the middle.

Hello ,

By speculation on the background and the sunlight, the house is likely one of those on the seascape penisula of the Fa Ping area near Nam Tam Wan.

During the 1950s every time we walked past the house, there was a german flag telling us we were near a german residence. There was also a house with a Swiss flag nearby.

Regards

Tung

Yes moddsey, I think this may well be a watercolour of "The Rockies", the house that my grandparents lived in later, in 1946-53. Interesting that there is a German connection: my grandmother was German and both she and my grandfather spoke German. I wonder if they knew the owner and the house before the war, and that's how they came to be there after the war. They were certainly members of the German Club in Hong Kong pre-war, and I can imagine it would have been a relatively small community.

Hello,

How are you? or Wie geht?

Do people remenber there was a diplomatic tie between China and German during the time of WW2. And german diplomats in Chung Xing ( the wartime capitol of the China's Nationalist Government)  placed a very large marking on its site to be visible by the Jap bombers so that they would not  drop their load there.

There were no shortage of friendly germans, including some missionaries, who devoted their desire to stay in China and to help the average chinese people.

Some were on CC too during the WW2.

Tung

Thanks to all for the very interesting comments.

Being German and living in HK for almost 29 years, 17 years on Cheung Chau, I can imagine that Germans felt in love with this place just as I did.

We just moved into Seascape Peninsula a few months ago and of course love the sights, sounds and smells after we battled the hills going up.