Hong Kong Museum of History

Ok, it's official, those weather gods really hate me, Amber rainstorm and Thunderstorm warnings, and heavy rain falling. Hmmmm, not a good sign, so today is the day to finally visit several museums that have been on the list for years.

At the top of the list is the Hong Kong Museum of History, which, given that I am interested in history, specifically Asian history, should be a surprise to absolutely no one. So after the Maritime Museum, I am expecting good things from this one.

So, as always, after fueling up with breakfast, it's time to head out. Given that the Museum is located in Tsim Sha Tsui, normally I would walk to Central and get on the Star Ferry, then walk from the ferry wharf.

However, remember those weather gods really hate me today; the rain ruled most of that out, so I gave up and headed for the MTR, and after changing trains at Admiralty station, I emerged from Hung Hom station, which is the closest to the Museum.

Not just close, but there are covered walkways that run almost to the museum's door- covered, yes; air-conditioned, nope. Oh well, at least it's better than walking in heavy rain.

Heading in and looking for the ticket office, to my surprise, there was a sign saying "free admission", which, after some digging, it seems the permanent Hong Kong Story exhibition is free admission.

Talking of exhibitions, there is another permanent one dedicated to National Security. It may interest some people, but to me, there is no real interest, as I try to avoid politics at all costs.

Enough of that, now on to the interesting stuff, so into the exhibition I go.

The initial impression is: wow, it's media-rich, with animations projected onto most walls.

And yes, there are display cases, but not the rooms full of them I remember from the museums I visited in my school days.

In place of this, there are displays with information in both Chinese and English, then relevant artifacts.

Much better: read the information, then look at the artifacts.

During this visit, those weather gods were having fun; outside, it was heavy rain, so I had expected the museum to be packed, but no, there were a few other people wandering around, but no sign of the expected crowds.

Interesting, as even this early in my visit, they are missing something good.

While I am not going to cover every one of the many exhibits, as my intention is not to spoil your visit, but to cover the sorts of things on display.

Moving on, this first exhibit was of especial interest to me, as I had never even thought about history that far back for this part of the world.

And now I am more than a little interested in learning more, and it's only the first exhibit.

Anyhow, it's a little hard to read in the photo, so here's the information.

Now, before I get bogged down digging further into the very early history of the Hong Kong area, it's better I cover a little more of the exhibits.

Continuing on through the exhibits, it covers the history of Hong Kong in detail, the Opium Wars, trade, transportation, the whole colonial era, etc., and as a surprise to me, the nightmare of the World War 2 occupation in detail.

Then comes the major infrastructure development, including the history of the Kowloon Canton Railway, then moving to the MTR, Cathay Pacific airlines and the port of Hong Kong.

Check out the poster on the left. Note the clock tower in the image. And yes, that's the same one that's in current-day Tsim Sha Tsui, close to the Star Ferry Kowloon Wharf.

Not that that should be a surprise, as that used to be the station for the Kowloon Canton Railway, with the clock tower being the only part that still exists.

At the moment, the clock tower is covered in scaffolding for renovations, but normally, you can go in. Which, yes, is a new one on me, as even after living in Hong Kong for years and walking past the tower more times than I can count, I never knew it was open to the public.

This one has been added to the list for the next Hong Kong visit, which, with any luck, will be sometime in 2027.

And yes, it goes without saying that the extensive history of commerce is covered in detail, complete with a full-size mockup of various shops, complete with projections of the storekeepers.

I did visit many of these and found the exhibits in each fascinating, without information overload or being aimed purely at children. The recorded commentary from the projected shopkeeper was interesting to listen to and did not just repeat everything in the exhibit; it just added to it.

As for why I included the following photo of a photography shop and not one of the many others, well, as a surprise to no one, I am very interested in photography, and it's my page 🤩

Seriously, there are many of these mockups, so there will be something for most visitors, and looking up, there was a second level to some of these with things like housing mockups and more exhibits showing the products the shops traded.

Hang on, while looking up, I spotted something which really hit me as unexpected. Neon, yes, the light shows which made Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Yes, I know that this is not actually neon, but LED-based, but still, it shows what used to be all over Hong Kong. Note the "used to be"; well, these have been removed almost everywhere.

After some googling, it seems it doesn't really have anything to do with energy usage, but a government regulation thing; check out this article or this one, for more details.

The above shows how things used to look back in mid-1992, before the majority were removed. Sad, yes, but things change. And yes, the above shot has had some serious Photoshop quality time to clean it up.

Something else I noted while looking up brought up another area the Museum was covering, it's the Hong Kong Movie industry, which, for those who are not aware, is very developed.

While I do not speak much Cantonese or Mandarin, I still watch some Chinese movies, and not only the old Jackie Chan Police Story, but more recent ones like Wandering Earth, and finally the classic Bruce Lee kung fu movies.

Anyhow, before I ruin the whole experience of visiting this Museum, it's time for my final thoughts.