Monday 18 April 2011

Travelling and Living: The Hong Kong Museum of History

Entrance

Finally, I have the time to make a visit to the Hong Kong Museum of History to see The Hong Kong Story. I got to know this exhibition while watching a DigitalRev video (way below all the pictures) and then I told myself, I must go and see it myself.

You can go through a quick tour with me while looking at some of the photos I took.

First, because I went on a Sunday, so I have to buy a ticket, but it was only $10, cheaper than buying a bar of chocolate.

Board at the entrance
When you first enter the hall, you will see some displays, like the flip boards that shows both the journal front cover and the details on the flip side.

Flip boards
And you also get to pretend to be "the Desperados" for photo-taking.


Unfortunately, this Centennary China's Revolution does not allow any photo-taking, so you will have to see it for yourself. But there are many artefacts from Hubei Museum such as military badges, letters written during the revolutionary period, photographs of Empress Cixi, and many more, and I read the descriptions of almost every single one exhibit in details (though can't remember anything now), took me at least an hour.

Then the next big attraction is of course The Hong Kong Story, which starts 0.4 billion years ago.

Skeleton of a shell turtle creature
Moving to human time,

Slicing and dicing with stone tools
into the modern time Hong Kong, the Hai-Shang People living on junks (boats),
Realistic Pier Recreation
Bamboo sticks, for counting?
to the Punti (locals) living on land, who built ancestral halls

1:1 ancestral hall!!!!!
Inside the ancestral hall
to the common stone houses,

Stone houses of the Punti
to the Chinese opera theatre,
Bamboo Theatre with actor and actress, and audience
to local court,
local court or temple?
QUIET!!!

Then there are practices which are still on-going even till today, like the making and burning of the paper effigies of Guardian Gods,
Paper effigy of Guardian Gods
as well as the bun mountain of Cheung Chau,
bun mountain of Cheung Chau
Other then the rituals, there was another side of old Hong Kong,
Birth and Early Growth of the City
which includes the cash notes issued by HSBC,
HSBC 100 dollar note @ 1st September, 1930 
rice stores which sold rice, rock sugar, ham, vinegar and other groceries,
Rice Store
tea shops which sold all kinds of dry tea leaves,
Tea shop
tailor-shop which made qipao,
Tailor shop
pawn shop,
Pawn shop
Pawnbroker table
cake shop which sold various Cantonese cakes in jars,
Cake shop
Cakes in jars and boxes
Cantonese restaurants for Yum Cha,
Yum Cha restaurant
old transportation such as the old tram for comfy travels,
Old tram version, seems much bigger and more comfortable
herbal tea shops for chatting with friends,
Herbal tea shop
local mini-mart / store for all kinds of accessories which even includes ink, pencils, noodles and children's favourite games such as kites and hola-hoops,
Local store
barber shop for a Shanghai-style hair shave,
Barber shop
old toys,
Toys which I guess my parents used to play
and the old Gold & Stock exchange,
Gold and Stock Exchange, hand-written trades
Sino-British Joint Declaration
This part of the exhibition took me at least 2 to 3 hours. Was it worth it? You bet! It was an amazing experience! I have a feeling that I should take my grandma here and visit again just to remind her of the good old past. I highly recommend you come to visit the Hong Kong Museum of History as well!

Never knew that museums could have so much fun!!

Now, here's the video!

Vocabulary:
centenary -- (n) [C]  (US usually centennial(the day or year that is) 100 years after an important event; the 100thanniversary
artefact -- (n) [C]  mainly UK (mainly US artifactan object that is made by a person, such as a tool or a decoration, especially one that is of historical interest
empress -- (n) [C] a female ruler of an empire, or the wife of a male ruler of an empire
exhibit -- (n) [C] an object such as a painting that is shown to the public
ancestral hall -- (n)[C] A semi-religious hall. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestral_hall
effigy -- (n) [C] a model or other object which represents someone, especially one of a hated person which is hung or burnt in a public place
pawnbroker -- (n) [C] a person who lends money in exchange for things which they can sell if the person leaving them does not pay an agreed amount of money in an agreed time
Yum Cha -- (vb)[I], (n) literally means "drink tea", but with dim sum of course. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum_cha



Resources:
The Hong Kong Story @ Hong Kong Museum of History

Canon EOS 600D (T3i) vs 60D: Which one is better? (plus bonus material) @ YouTube


Ancestral Hall @ Wikipedia


Yum Cha @ Wikipedia