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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Skeleton of a shell turtle creature |
Moving to human time,
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| Slicing and dicing with stone tools |
into the modern time Hong Kong, the Hai-Shang People living on junks (boats),
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| Realistic Pier Recreation |
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| Bamboo sticks, for counting? |
to the Punti (locals) living on land, who built ancestral halls,
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| 1:1 ancestral hall!!!!! |
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| Inside the ancestral hall |
to the common stone houses,
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| Stone houses of the Punti |
to the Chinese opera theatre,
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| Bamboo Theatre with actor and actress, and audience |
to local court,
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| local court or temple? |
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| 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,
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| Paper effigy of Guardian Gods |
as well as the bun mountain of Cheung Chau,
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| bun mountain of Cheung Chau |
Other then the rituals, there was another side of old Hong Kong,
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| Birth and Early Growth of the City |
which includes the cash notes issued by HSBC,
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| HSBC 100 dollar note @ 1st September, 1930 |
rice stores which sold rice, rock sugar, ham, vinegar and other groceries,
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| Rice Store |
tea shops which sold all kinds of dry tea leaves,
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| Tea shop |
tailor-shop which made qipao,
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| Tailor shop |
pawn shop,
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| Pawn shop |
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| Pawnbroker table |
cake shop which sold various Cantonese cakes in jars,
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| Cake shop |
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| Cakes in jars and boxes |
Cantonese restaurants for
Yum Cha,
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| Yum Cha restaurant |
old transportation such as the old tram for comfy travels,
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| Old tram version, seems much bigger and more comfortable |
herbal tea shops for chatting with friends,
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| 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,
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| Local store |
barber shop for a Shanghai-style hair shave,
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| Barber shop |
old toys,
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| Toys which I guess my parents used to play |
and the old Gold & Stock exchange,
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| Gold and Stock Exchange, hand-written trades |
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| 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 artifact) an 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
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
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
