Indepth Arts News:
"Early Hong Kong's Kowloon Peninsula"
2007-12-19 until 2008-03-16
University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam, ,
HK Hong Kong
In the past few years, the University Museum and Art Gallery has
collaborated with Mr Cheng Po Hung on several exhibitions focusing on the
history of Hong Kong, which mainly dealt with the history of Hong Kong
Island. This exhibition focuses on the history of the Kowloon Peninsula.
Many people are familiar with the tram services provided on Hong Kong
Island, but do not know that in 1897 the Hong Kong government passed a
tramway ordinance authorizing the Kowloon Godown to construct a tramway for
transporting cargo in Kowloon. In the early 1910s, the Hong Kong Tramways
Limited requested permission from the government to establish tramlines to
carry passengers in Kowloon but this proposal was finally rejected, hence
the Kowloon tramway was never built. This exhibition features over seventy
photographs, focusing on the areas through which the proposed tramways were
to be constructed. This includes the parts of Kowloon that were owned by the
Colonial Government, such as Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei, Ho Man Tin, Mong Kok
and Tai Kok Tsui, as well as those owned by the Chinese Government (later
renamed the New Territories), such as Sham Shui Po, Cheung Sha Wan, Lai Chi
Kok, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon City, To Kwa Wan and Hung Hom. Also included in
the exhibition are images of then undeveloped areas such as Ngau Chi Wan,
Wong Tai Sin, Ngau Tau Kok, Kwun Tong, Yau Tong, Lei Yue Mun, Tiu Keng Leng,
and the new town of Tseung Kwan O.
In the early days, Kowloon was divided into "British Kowloon" which referred
to an area south of Boundary Street, ceded to the British in accordance with
the Convention of Peking in 1861 and "Chinese Kowloon" (later known as the
New Territories), the area from Boundary Street to the Shenzhen River, which
was leased to the British in 1898. Today, the boundaries of the Kowloon
Peninsula extend from Tseung Kwan O in the east to Lai Chi Kok in the west,
Tsim Sha Tsui in the south to Lion Rock, Tate's Cairn, and Fei Ngo Shan in
the north, which links to the New Territories. It is one of the three major
regions of Hong Kong.
Over the past hundred years, Kowloon has played an important role in Hong
Kong's economic, transport, and social developments. In Sham Shui Po, Tai
Kok Tsui, and Cheung Sha Wan, many factories producing textiles, clothing
and ironware were built contributing enormously to the industrial
development of Hong Kong in the 1970s. The Canton-Hong Kong Railway which
terminated in Tsim Sha Tsui, and the Kai Tak Airport completed in 1931 in
Kowloon City, facilitated the development of both trade and tourism. At the
foothill of Lion Rock, the public housing estates of Wong Tai Sin were home
to typical working class of Hong Kong families in the 1950s. Through the
photographs from the collection of Mr Cheng Po Hung, viewers can witness
changes in the Kowloon Peninsula over the last hundred years.
The exhibition preview will take place on Tuesday 18 December 2007 from 6:00
to 7:30 pm. Mr Cheng Po Hung will give the following talks in Cantonese to
coincide with the exhibition, "The British Kowloon, south of Boundary
Street" (Saturday 26 January) and "The New Kowloon, north of Boundary
Street" (Saturday 2 February) at 3:00 pm. The talks will take place in the
Museum and are free and open to the public.
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