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1901 - 1945

section one RISE OF ELECTRICITY AND THE COMMUNITY 1901 - 19451

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V Section 1

Chronology

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!"#$%&'()*+,-./01 in the early 20th century was NN developed by fishermen and small merchants Section 1

Chapter 1

The Beginning (1901-1917)

he Chinese have a saying “To While the high-rise outline of present day reap a return in 10 years, plant gives few clues to its past, Tsim T trees. To reap a return in 100 Sha Tsui in the late 19th century was a years, cultivate people.” Looking back on restricted military area, inhabited mainly its centenary of service, Light & by Europeans, most of whom were Power takes pride in the way that it has soldiers. Few Chinese lived there. Yau Ma “cultivated the people” in the good and Tei, a small township on the western side hard times it and they have experienced. of the peninsula with about 8,000

!"#$%&'()*+,-. Its success was possible only because of fishermen and small merchants and their the character, industriousness and families, gave promise of growth and Before its development the was an uncultivated area commitment of the people it served; for prosperity. On the eastern side, Hung they have lived through an era of change Hom was home to about 5,000, mainly so rapid and so revolutionary that it workers employed by the and evokes another Chinese saying: “Seas Whampoa Dockyards and the Green change into mulberry fields and mulberry Island Cement Company. Further north, fields into seas.” It is an intriguing story, and were small so let us tell how it happened. village clusters, largely uncultivated and surrounded by rice fields. In the hinterland of the New Territories, old farming villages followed an unchanging lifestyle in valleys and on hillsides, oblivious to the political changes overtaking Hong Kong as the 20th century dawned.

!"#$%&'()*++,-./ NO was an important military area since the mid-19th century

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!"#$%&'() NP CLP’s power station at Guangzhou in its early times ord Lawrence Kadoorie, Chairman of CLP since the

Section 1 L 1930s, recalled that in the early days “Kowloon went lightless by night. In the course of time its few suburban roads—if narrow pathways could be dignified by that term—were lit by kerosene lamps. Where today Salisbury

Chapter 1 Road is one of Kowloon’s leading thoroughfares, in those times it was a 15- foot avenue lined by banyan trees, interspersed with narrow granite pillars surmounted by oil lanterns, leading to the bamboo pier at Kowloon Point. , had not been reclaimed.”

As it moved into the 20th century, the night scene of the Kowloon peninsula gradually changed. Founded in 1901 with a capital of $300,000 and three small generators, China Light and Power Limited began to shine a new form of light on Kowloon and the New Territories. Sir Geoffrey Northcote, , reviewed its progress in a speech in 1940, saying: “The provision of light and power is fundamental to sound progress for the inhabitants of Kowloon... The China Light and Power Company has helped in the illumination of Kowloon and assisted in the development !"#$%&'()*+,-. of various industries. Obviously, without at the beginning of the 20th century; there were only gas lamps to light the road electricity, machines in the factories would be unable to function.”

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!"#$%&'()*+,)-./ CLP’s first power station at the junction of present-day and NR !"#$% !"# !"#$%&'!( Hong Kong Weekly Press report on the newly built CLP power station in Kowloon, 1903 ut it takes more than new capital and technology to transform a

Section 1 Bsociety. CLP originally began its electricity supply business in Guangzhou, capital of neighbouring Guangdong province. Management difficulties led to a reassessment of its activities, suggesting that development should be concentrated

Chapter 1 on Kowloon—even though at first the supply area was less than two square miles (5.2 square kilometres) and there were fewer than 200 consumers.

Big changes were taking place, however, on either side of the New Territories border, with the building of a railway line connecting Guangzhou and Kowloon. In 1911, the Kowloon-Canton Railway was completed and began running between Tsim Sha Tsui and the New Territories border, linking up later with the Canton-Kowloon line. A contract to supply power to the venture was announced, marking a major new development in the territory’s economy. The Company seized this opportunity to highlight the increasing role of electricity in the coming years. With new generating equipment ordered, and following an increase in capital, a new power station was inaugurated and the supply area rapidly enlarged.

!"#$%&'()*+,- Tsim Sha Tsui terminal of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, opened in 1911 NS

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!"#$%&'()*+,-./01 Map of Kowloon in the early 20th century marked with the location of Chatham Road Power Station

NT he choice of location of the new

power station was both strategic Section 1 T and extremely practical, situated at the intersection of what is now Chatham Road and Princess Margaret Road, and well placed to serve Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei and . Fuel for the generators could be transported

Chapter 1 easily and it was conveniently placed to serve the needs of both the commercial- residential areas of Yau Ma Tei, the wharves on and the industrial area of Hung Hom. Thus the business strategy of its founders contributed positively to the development of these two areas.

!"#$%&'()* Star Ferry Pier at Tsim Sha Tsui in the early 20th century In the first two decades of the 20th century, a red brick market was built at in Tsim Sha Tsui and Salisbury Road was broadened; the railway terminus and clock tower were completed, which then became landmarks and distinctive symbols of Kowloon. A commercial and tourist centre gradually took shape. Foreigners were the main inhabitants and the buildings bore the stamp of Western architecture, albeit with colonial overlays.

!"#$% Hung Hom in the early 20th century NU

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NV !"#$% !"#$%& ' Street lamps can be seen in in Sham Shui Po, 1927 he most prosperous Chinese commercial and residential area

Section 1 T was still Yau Ma Tei. Three- storey buildings with dwellings on top and a variety of shops, teahouses, groceries, moneychangers, pawnshops and hardware stores emerged at street-level, while cars and buses vied with pedestrians, rickshaws

Chapter 1 and carts on the network of roads that began to develop. On the seafront, the harbour outlines began to change as reclamation began at Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po, creating new districts and a demand for light and power.

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Yau Ma Tei Pumping Station, built in 1895, witnessing the development of the area But it was not just lighting and power for factory machinery that drew on the generators; this was an era of electric appliances—radios, fans, and refrigerators, even lifts in the more prosperous buildings. Newspapers advertised Welsch & Jack bulbs—one of which could produce “the brightness of 24 candlelights by using only 16 candlelights worth of electricity.” Stressing that the consumption of electricity was economical, it assured buyers: “it is the best thing for households.”

!"#$%&'()*+,-./01 All Saints’ Church at Mong Kok in 1925, the areas around were still uncultivated OM

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!"#$ !" Kerosene lamps used in the early times !" !"# !"#$ “Kerosene lamps with electric light”advertised in ‘China’, 1907

ON he William Parker Company called on residents to “please

Section 1 T come to our company to see the grand and brilliant strip light electric lamps...that have a brightness of 500 candlelights but only cost nine cents an hour.” Even makers of kerosene lamps jumped on the bandwagon by describing

Chapter 1 their products as “kerosene electric lamps”. Sam Wing Cheong’s advertisement assured readers that these could be hung from the ceiling or placed on the table “accompanied by two big kerosene bottles” and that they were both bright and !" !"# !" “very economical.” Nor were these all Light bulb advertisement, Chinese Mail, 1920 foreign imports. For as industrialization grew in China, its own products appeared on shop shelves. The China Bulb Company of Shanghai offered reliable, low consumption bulbs and called on the gods of fortune to oversee lucky draws with prizes for customers.

!" !"# !" Light bulb advertisement, Chinese Mail, 1906

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!"# News report, Chinese Mail, 1911

OP timely development was the The lights were blinking on increasingly arrival of electricity for one of in many parts of Kowloon and in 1911

Section 1 A Kowloon’ s first major when King George V was crowned in transport systems. A newspaper reported London, the colony celebrated with a vivid on 12 November 1907 on the construction display of electric lights. Celebrations in work of the Kowloon-Canton Railway in Tsim Sha Tsui were described as brilliant, the New Territories. It stated: “For the and eye-witnesses tell of a grand sight with end of the tunnel at the many colourful scenes. Newspaper reports

Chapter 1 side there have been new engines from Chinese Mail on 23 June said that in installed, and lamps set up. This had been , Wang Cheung Company !" !"# !"#$%&'()*+ done in construction due to darkness. lit up lamps as well as in Yee Fong Lau News report on the construction work of the Beacon Inside the tunnel electric lamps have also which had “dozens of lamps and lanterns Hill Tunnel, ‘China’, 1907 been installed.” It is difficult to imagine around its well-decorated gates and how the tunnel would otherwise have corridors, accompanied by both the been completed on time. Chinese dragon flag and the British flag.” Hundreds of lamps were also seen around ! !"# ! !" the wharves in Canton Road and there News report on the installation of electric were “hundreds of lamps and dozens of lamps in Sham Shui Po, Chinese Mail, 1915 lanterns around the Tsim Sha Tsui pier.” Not to be outdone, the famous local brothel area of Yee Fong Lau joined in the celebrations, according to reports in the newspaper Chinese Mail, telling of a spectacular display of lamps to demonstrate the popularity of electricity. The newspaper’s reporter was also excited that Sham Shui Po was soon to receive electricity—“this will really mean lighting up the dark night,” the report added.

!"#$%&'() Construction work of the Beacon Hill Tunnel at OQ

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!"#$%& Advertisement of Astor Theatre, 1911

! !"# News report, Chinese Mail, 1917

OR ighting ushered in changes in people’s daily lives, with the

Section 1 L advent of cinemas like the famous Astor Theatre of Yau Ma Tei showing “electric moving pictures accompanied by Western gramophones, and the staging of shows featuring dancing girls.” But it also ushered in a

Chapter 1 crime wave with the theft of many light bulbs by souvenir hunters and would-be users. So serious was the problem that one company published a warning notice in the newspaper Chinese Mail: “Our company originally used the electric bulbs of the electric company. Since a large number of these bulbs have been stolen every month and we cannot catch the thief, we have decided to use our own bulbs with the Chinese and English company names written on the bulbs. All these new bulbs are now registered. If any other company is found using our company’s light bulbs, we will deal with it through legal action.”

!"#$%&'()*+ In 1918, with its name changed to China Announcement of the renaming and restructuring of China Light & Power Co. Ltd. Light & Power Company Limited, it moved into a new era, winning major new customers and exchanging its old station for Lot 93 in Hok Un. There it would build a new and more advanced station, paving the way to comprehensive development in the 1920s.

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