Tai Pak amusement park

Submitted by bowulf on Sat, 09/29/2018 - 13:51

In his book Streets: Exploring HK Island Jason Wordie notes about Li Po Lung Path in Kennedy Town that the small street is named after the Chinese entrepreneur Li Po Lung, who also established an amusement park (Tai Pak Yau Lok Cheung) in the area, that is on the hillside above Belcher's Street. Is anything else known about this entrepreneur and his amusement park? Do we have any pictures of the park?

 

I have searched this site, but have not found anything on the subject. Sorry if I have missed something

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Submitted by
bowulf
on
Wed, 10/17/2018 - 11:39

I also read that the entrepreneur Li Po Lung named some of the surrounding terrace paths after phrases from Li Po's poetry. These paths include Hei Wong Terrace, Ching Lin Terrace, Hok Sze Terrace.

Again, I wonder if any one knows more about Li Po Lung and his amusement park - and about his evident interest in the classic poetry of his namesake. Can we know what these poetry phrases are and their meaning?

There is an interesting online article about Li Po Lung. He is the fourth son of Li Sing who was the richest man in HK at the turn of the 20th century. Li Po Lung developed the 7 terraces (my father lived in To Li Terrace after the war and until 1957). The article says that 6 of the 7 terraces were named after the Tang Dynasty poet Li Po. The Tai Pak Lau amusement park was developed in 1915 and closed in 1924, which is when Li Po Lung ran into financial difficulty before heading to Shanghai. I managed to find one photo online of Tai Pak Lau amusement park which my father says looks to be correct, given the harbour views in the background (https://www.localiiz.com/post/culture-history-hong-kong-amusement-parks…). 

I found a little background on the naming of some of the 7 terraces in Kennedy Town buried in a December 2011 thesis about old Hong Kong street signs. Li Po Lung Path was named after the famous Chinese developer who developed the area at the time. He liked a Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty called Li Po (also called Li Bai), 701-762. Tai Pak Terrace was named after Li Bai's courtesy or style name. Ching Ling Terrace was named after his pseudonym, And To Li Terrace referred to the term used in his "Preface to the Spring Evening Banquet at the Peach ("To") and Pear ("Li") Blossom Garden". There is no mention of how the remaining three terraces were named (Hee Wong Terrace, Hok Tse Terrace and Chi Lan). 

@Msuqa, unfortunately the photo at https://www.localiiz.com/post/culture-history-hong-kong-amusement-parks… is of the following entry in the article, "4 Ming Yuen". (You can see more photos of Ming Yuen at https://gwulo.com/node/20041/photos)

I lived in To Li Garden and then Academic Terrace for several years, so I'm also hoping to see a photo of the Tai Pak amusement park.