Hing Wah Street - Now and Then

For those interested in Then/Now comparisons (I've done afew before) I popped down to Cheung Sha Wan (it's a 20 minute walk for me) to take some pictures of the area along Hing Wah Street where some scenes were filmed for Das Mädchen von Hongkong back in 1973.

First up is the view along Shun Ning Road from Hing Wah Street. Sadly the street market has long since disappeared and the intersection/junction is now quite busy and dangerous. There are some things I won't risk for my art, so I had to snap this from a bit further away on the far side of Hing Wah Street. The ornate slope in the distance is the rear entrance to Caritas Medical Centre (known locally as Ming Oi Hospital). I don't think there is a single building in the film image that still exists today. It's all been redeveloped.

Next up is the view up Hing Wah Street looking towards the old version of the So Uk Estate in the background. For reference, the junction where the first image along Shun Ning Road was taken is the one behind the actor. The market that ran down the middle of the road (right of image) has long since gone and the large central reservation area of the road has been turned into beautified rectangular traffic islands that stretch between each junction. The So Uk Estate still exists but has been completely rebuilt and reconfigured into a high-rise version just in the last few years.

Next up is a shot of the truck that the two main characters try to flee from the bad guys in. The camera captured the vehicle as it drove down Hing Wah Street and was about to turn across at the junction with Un Chau Street (this road is actually called Yuen Chau Street but the missing initial "Y" is taken from an older form of anglicisation/romanisation).

Although the main block at the back has been redeveloped, at the far right you can see the Castle Peak Road facing section of the Wo Hing Building. This place is (currently) still around, albeit covered in scaffolding (see my comparison pic). This could mean imminent destruction, but I think it might just be because they are renovating the exterior. Time will tell. This photo shows you what has happened to the central reservation.

As the truck rattles past the camera location we get to see a bit more of the area. To take both of these last two images I had to stand on the SE corner of the junction with Un Chau Street and I think it is a fairly good match to where the film camera must have been sited at the time. As you can see, as in the previous image the old buildings here have all gone. Both sides of this junction have been replaced by a pair of matching developments called Heya Aqua and Heya Crystal (don't ask me what it means, HK residential development names are some of the most pretentious, nonsensical things I've ever come across).

The thing to note is how much space the older buildings took above the pavement. Pretty much all building stock of a certain era in Hong Kong (pre-70s?) was able to build over the pavement area. This maximised the liveable/usable area of a building from the first floor up, but also meant pedestrians could shelter from the stifling heat/sun or torrential rain. Modern buildings, due to their height/weight, no longer have these cantilvered levels and as such the space along each side of a road is more open - as you can see from the above newer images - but to the detriment of pedestrian comfort/safety and certainly to the detriment of a building's character. But that's just my old fashioned opinion, apparently.

Anyway, that's your lot for now but expect more of the same over the coming months.