Yik Chi Theatre / 益智戲院 [1968-1972]

Submitted by OldTimer on Thu, 03/02/2017 - 04:19

Current condition

Demolished / No longer exists

Date completed

1 Jan 1968

Date closed / demolished

31 Dec 1972

Address: Section 12, Rennie's Mill, Kowloon, Hong Kong. This address is no longer applicable. Gwulo has these pages on Rennie's Mill:

https://gwulo.com/atom/16908 ; https://gwulo.com/node/17778#15/22.3041/114.2504/Map_by_ESRI-Markers/100

Yik Chi Theatre was located in a former refugee camp for the Nationalist Army and refugess from Mainland China, the site later became a housing estate.

In his/her recounting (source listed below) when children could buy candies for as little as five cents, the writer traces foot-steps through the village back to Rennie's Mill market, the shops along, and further towards the sea there was Yik Chi Theatre having no roof cover, with an estimated seating capacity between 200 and 300, and showing black and white movies at night. After walking past the theatre on the left was 小海灣，名為沙灣 (Little Sea bay known as Sandy Bay), which was near a large ship dock and the present Tiu Keng Leng Station. I believe the site of the former theatre is no longer near water given land reclamation that followed. The location marker on this map is approximate.

According to the Hong Kong Almanac, the theatre operated in the late 1960s and early 1970s. For the purpose of this page, the operating period is estimated to be 1968-1972.

A search in the internet has not been able to identify its original English name, if such existed. Cinema Treasures provides a Chinese name "Yik Chi" meaning "to grow in intelligence or wisdon" and the two words were selected to match the Cantonese pronunciation of its Chinese name. My reverse-translation lead to 益智戲院 which is exactly the same as found in Wikipedia's list.

The origin of both the Chinese and English names of the area is a interesting read in one source listed below.

Sources: