nighttime picture dont know of what or where 1954

Curly Watson
Wed, 02/14/2024 - 00:09
prevnextoldernewer
nighttime picture dont know of what or where 1954

I have no idea what this photo is of but can only assume that it was on the Kowloon side of the harbour because of the date when I took it.   In the early days of my tour I rarely went to the Hong Kong side at night.  Maybe someone can read the chinese script and add some guidance.

Date picture taken
1954
Tags
funeral
Gallery
1954-6 Curly Watson's photos
Shows place(s)
Kun Ting Study Hall [1870- ]

Comments

Hi There,

Based on the words on the white draps, it was likely about a Funeral somewhere.  The deceased was surnamed Tang (鄧).  There is a line cited 友山董事長千古.  Further looked up 鄧友山and found he was of the promenant Tang Clan in Yuen Long.

T

ps.   Mr Tang was among the village elders who raised funds to establish Yuen Long Public Secondary School, originally located at Au Tau.  Please see school history in the school website:

https://www.ylpss.edu.hk/en/school-history

Also this seems to be the sole school with '公立' instead of '官立' in its Chinese name.

It is possible that the large 'lit drapes' are part of the other (Ping Shan) funeral but this just muddies the water even more.  Forget the question of the date year as I might well have put  that photo on the album page with the others, just because it seemed to be of a similar subject.   The Ping Shan photos were taken in a single storey, medium sized  village house.  Although this construction  is smaller than it initially appears, the bricks in the wall behoind it, give some scale.  However, I have no memory, whatsoever, of there being an arch in their house.   If it is dedicated to Mr Tang of Yuen Long renown, as another comment stateas as likely, it is possible that he lived in Ping Shan ; the two places are (or were as small town and village went) not so far apart.

Hi There,

We simply do not have sufficient information.  The photo in the middle with quite a number of people have readable word\phrases, but no names are shown in it, thus unable to find any correlation between the photos.  

Indeed, Tang Yau Shan was likely living in the Ping Shan area.  When I did the lookup earlier today, the first piece was actually a blog entry about the funeral of his son Tang Nai Man (鄧乃文).  The funeral was held in Hang Mei Tsuen in Ping Shan.  The blog entry was dated 3rd March 2017.  That piece is only available in Chinese, but Google Translate should give you about 70-75% accuracy.

I have a faint impression that the blog master is also a frequent user here.

T

"屏山" Ping Shan was clearly visible on the drapes. Comparing the building on the left and the brick wall and arch, they are obviously not in proportion. I suspect the "building" was actually one of the paper offerings for the funeral.

Hello. The photo concerned was taken at Kun Ting Study Hall (覲廷書室) at Ping Shan, which still stands today and is a Grade 1 historic building. Luckily your photo shows part of the decoration above the “arch” (actually is a round-shaped entrance) that helps identify the location.

I find a Chinese article from Hong Kong famous fashion designer William Tang Tat-chi, who is a Ping Shan Tang clan indigenous villager. It’s coincident that in the article he shares a photo showing clearly that round-shaped entrance. 

The newspaper cutting from Alan shows that Mr Tang Yau Shan died in 1955. Then this photo should be at the same funeral ceremony as the other three of your collection. Very interesting sharing. Thank you.

@Chi Lau, agreed, the white paper building looks like a paper offering for the funeral.

@Hoyin, thanks for identifying the main building. It makes sense, as the Kun Ting Study Hall wasn't far from RAF Ping Shan where Curly was based.

Here are some more views of the study hall, including a view of this arch with the decoration above it at 2:28: