Probably the best site for exploring the history of Hong Kong is gwulo.com which has thousands of photos of the colony. The site hongwrong.com also has a fund of information and many interesting historical facts and photos.
Michael Rogge has amassed hundreds of videos, particularly of historical scenes in Asia. I have attached a selection of these for those interested in how Hong Kong looked principally during the 1940s to 1960s. Well worth a look. Thanks, Michael.
Shantytowns, which housed most of the refugees from China, sprang up in the hills of Hong Kong. There was no running water or sewerage and huts were built of bits of iron, wood and whatever scrap was available. The biggest concern was fire and typhoons when these shanty huts proved very perilous homes. These photos give you some idea of how people lived.
Below are some of the places mentioned in my novel with photos of what they were like then and now.
Peak Tram
The Peak Tram was how our kids travelled to school so they have fond memories of this unique means of getting down the Peak. These are some photos of earlier days and now.
The Peak Tram in 1897
One of the earliest trams
Peak Tram in our days there
Peak Tram today
Star Ferry
The Star Ferry as I remember it and which features in all my novels
Hongkong & Shanghai Bank
As I knew it in the 1970’s
The Lions – Stephen on the left
The Lions – Stitt on the right
The Hong Kong Bank today
China Bank
Bank of China as I knew it, dwarfed by new HKSB building
Bank of China today – close to the old building
The Green Street Trams
I’ve included in my novel trips on the famous green trams on Hong Kong Island on trams which looked like this in those days.
The cheapest form of transport and still running
Gwulo has some great photos of this period showing something of the environment at the time with the trams passing through streets I know so well.
Cheung Chau Bun Festival
This features in The Mao Circle and is still going strong
Cheung Chau Bun Festival 1961- parade
Cheung Chau Bun Festival 1961 – snatching the buns – before Health & Safety reared its head.
Cheung Chau Festival – a new bun tower after b….y Health and Safety
Two films of Hong Kong in the 1930s held on the Archive Farms website gives a good idea of Hong Kong 80 years ago when many of my characters fled from Shanghai during my novel The Shanghai Circle. The first is a silent film.
Here is a video of Hong Kong in 1968 which has the Peak Tram, the harbour and ferries, neon signs, market stalls, Repulse Bay, Aberdeen harbour, sampans etc, all of which I try and describe as a writer in my novels, but seeing them as a video gives them a life I can never achieve of course,