New on Gwulo: 2024, week 12

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:
 

Gwulo's talks

• On Tuesday next week (26 Mar) I'll give a new talk, using old photos to investigate Hong Kong's military history. The venue is a perfect fit for the topic, as we'll be at the United Services Recreation Club (USRC) in Jordan - the club opened in 1911 to offer recreational facilities to the British armed services. The talk is hosted by the local branch of the Orders & Medals Research Society: you'll find full details of the talk on their website.

  If you'd like to attend please click here to contact their Hon. Secretary, Martin Heyes, by e-mail <martin.heyes@gmail.com> and make your reservation (and also to make sure that seats are still available).
   

• Last week's talk, Who in these 1880s-1950s photos called Hong Kong 'home'?, was recorded and can be viewed online at Youtube or Facebook (skip ahead to 1:05 to go to the start of the talk).
  

  Thank you to Gary at the Vibe book and music shop in Silvermine Bay for hosting the event, and to Phil Whelan for managing the multiple microphones and video streams to produce the recording shown above.

  I'd also given that talk a few days earlier, to members and guests of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong. The last few attendees arrived soon after I took this photo, so we had a full house:

  

   

• Looking further ahead, I'll be giving another new talk in May, first on the 8th, then again on the 22nd. It'll take us through the last 18 years of running a Hong Kong history website, showing some of my favourite photos and finds, and also sharing my favourite stories - both stories of Hong Kong's history, and some of the moving personal stories we've heard. 

  The talks in May will be a bit different as we've booked the venues ourselves for the first time. Both venues have large screens and theatre-style seating, perfect for showing high-resolution photos at their best!

  Booking details will follow in early April, but please keep the dates free as I'd love to see you there.
   

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General

• Memories of:
  • Growing up in Osborn Barracks
     
  • Shrimp paste on Ma Wan Island
     
  • The old Peak Tram, kept for maintenance use
     

• Dan Ip took listeners to RTHK's 清晨爽利 on a guided trip through several of the photos in my latest book, Volume 5 of Old Hong Kong Photos and The tales They tell. The recording (in Cantonese) is now online, and starts at 05:40 in Part 2.

• The next video interview from Bristol University's Hong Kong History Centre is online, Video #4: Professor Ching May Bo.

  • Professor Ching shares her experiences of researching history in Guangzhou and in Hong Kong: Which has the better resources? What about restrictions and taboo areas for research? Are mainland researchers interested in Hong Kong history? 

    The interview also explores her book about the history of the Tai Ping Theatre, and how the Theatre was not just a cinema but was also an important catalyst for change in local Chinese opera. Finally, she looks at Hong Kong's development, and some of the reasons for its success.

• Readers ask:
  • How to distinguish between Japanese wartime tunnels and mining tunnels?
     
  • HK$104,400.00 in 1918 - what is it worth in today's money?
     

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People

• 3rd Battalion, Middlesex Regiment [????-????]
   
• Alfred Philip GREAVES [1884-1949], stockbroker
   
• Ernest KNAUFF [????-????], secretary, Oriental Tobacco Manufactory
   
• Interned in Stanley Camp
  • Arthur Ernest Henry MARKER [1889-????], merchant
     
  • John Hennessy SETH [1878-????], retired accountant
     

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Places

• Hong Kong Island
  • Eucliffe [1933-1988]
     
  • Military construction on northern slope of Pottinger Peak [????- ]
     
  • St. Paul's Co-educational College (formerly St. Paul's Girls' College) [1927- ]
     
  • Summer retreat of JJ dos Remedios, Pokfulam [1860-????]
     
  • Temporary buildings along seafront in front of the Central Market construction site [c.1891-c.1895] - does anyone know what they were used for?
     
  • Terrace of four houses above Kennedy Road on site of modern Grandview Tower [????-????]
     
• Kowloon
  • King's Park boundary stone [????- ]
     
  • Old Fire Hydrant on Boundary Street [????- ]
     
  • S.K.H. All Saints' Church / Cathedral [1928- ]
     
• New Territories & Outlying Islands
  • Tung Shan Temple [????- ]
     

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Photos
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Click to see all recently added photos.