What did visitors to Hong Kong experience in the mid-1930s? International leisure travel, then, was only for the affluent; almost anyone else who ventured beyond their home countries did so for work opportunities; tourist activities encountered en route were just a welcome bonus.
After the free-spending, worldwide economic boom that characterised the Roaring Twenties abruptly ended with the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression years, leisure travellers became a relatively scarce commodity.
Slim guidebooks such as an (unfortunately undated) Tourist’s Guide: The Colony of Hong Kong And Vicinity, interestingly produced by the Nationalist Government’s Publicity and Information Bureau, offered insights and suggestions for a brief local stay. From passing mentions that the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Bank of East Asia each had soon-to-be-completed buildings under construction (both opened in 1935), publication should have been in 1934 or early 1935.
“Picturesque Hongkong is quaint and charming as all seasoned travellers know …” and “ … a city of myriad lights, the Pearl of the Orient.” As this guidebook makes plain, this latter cliché has been regularly redeployed for the better part of a century by those unable to conjure anything more original, and currently shows no sign of abatement, however much the pearl in question may have lost its lustre – at least to some beholders – in recent years.
Shopping was a key attraction; full- or half-page advertisements detailed then-popular visitor purchases such as “ivories, amber, lacquer and pewter, blackwood, teakwood furniture and camphor trunks” along with “All kinds of linen embroidered dinner sets, luncheon sets, bridge sets, tray cloths, napkins, table runners, etc.”; in short, characteristic Oriental curio items that – then – were hard to source in Adelaide, Dunedin or Durban.
“If you care for the unusual, stop at the Chinese Shanghai Street … Here you will enjoy the picturesque quaint shops with goods of every kind and description.
“The atmosphere of adventure will be more enhanced if the tourist visits it at night, for then the magnificently lighted streets and illuminated shops are a spectacle in themselves.”
Upper and Lower Lascar Row, the famed “antique streets” below Hollywood Road’s Man Mo Temple – were herein termed “Paddy’s Market”.
“A rather squalid and unique place offering countless diversities …” caution was nevertheless suggested: “It is unadvisable for a lady to go alone and she should provide herself with a companion before venturing out here.”
Summer holiday recommendations revealed that “ … only a twenty-minute motor ride over one of the most beautiful scenic highways in the world, lies the ideally situated Repulse Bay Hotel, facing a lovely, tranquil island-guarded bay”.
“Wonderful sea-bathing and boating, a modern, beautifully-situated hotel swept by a cool sea breeze the year round. An ideal spot for pleasure and recreation.”
Prior to the Communist assumption of power in 1949, side trips to nearby mainland cities were encouraged. “ … get off the beaten track and visit the real old China of glamorous charm. The quaint and picturesque cities of Swatow, Amoy and Foochow are adjacent to Hongkong.”
In particular, “Canton is well worth a visit …”; the picturesque river journey via the Bocca Tigris, with views of rice fields and distant pagodas, was highly recommended.
While some suggested visitor experiences vanished decades ago; “ … no tourist should go away without having had a ride on a sedan [chair], for this is quite a unique experience of its own,” other excursions to Hong Kong’s easily accessible open countryside remain recognisable, and included advice that would definitely not be given today.
To cite one example: on the way into the New Territories, near the Tai Po Road, “at the Reservoir, there are some monkeys (let loose some years ago, and which have increased in population now); these are so tame that they almost feed out of your hand. Bring some peanuts or bananas with you for a present.”