3. Silk stocking milk tea
The bizarre name tells the charm of this tea-making method. The filter used to separate tea leaves looks much like pantyhose. Cooks say that the “pantyhose” can make the tea smooth and milky. The brewing technique earned the Hong Kong-style milk tea a place in the city’s list of official intangible cultural heritage in 2014.
4. Mark Six
Since 1975, Mark Six lottery has brought hope to many Hongkongers. At first, it was a six-out-of-14 drawing. The present six-out-of-49 format was adopted in 2002. From July 1, 1997 to April 2022, 3,322 draws have been held, with the total turnover reaching HK$158.3 billion. The highest payout for a single bet was on August 26, 2021: the first prize of HK$91,247,640. Of 100-plus betting outlets, Stanley Street in Central’s branch is the luckiest branch selling a total of 47 first prize Mark Six tickets since 1994.
5. Basic Law
Comprising 160 articles in nine chapters and having three annexes, the city’s mini-constitution stipulates that Hong Kong’s capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years after the 1997 handover. After the handover, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee stepped in no less than five times to help with clarifications of Basic Law articles over issues ranging from the right of abode, the chief executive’s tenure, lawmakers’ oath of office, and the city’s policy on state immunity. These occasions arose in 1999, 2004, 2005, 2011 and 2016.
6. Fishball
Hong Kong’s signature street food is so popular some hawkers claim they sell up to 70 bowls daily. In the 1980s, vice dens used “fishball stalls” to refer to fast-food style sex services for clients. But in 2016, fishballs became a catalyst for a violent mob during the Lunar New Year holiday. A crackdown by municipal officers on illegal fishball hawkers in Mong Kok degenerated into a riot dubbed the “fishball revolution”. Among those arrested was pro-independence activist Edward Leung Tin-kei, who was later jailed for six years for rioting.
7. Egg tart
With the crispy crust and warm egg filling, the famous dessert earns a place among the 480 entries of the city’s intangible cultural heritage. The humble snack nonetheless has high-profile fans including Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong. He became an egg tart lover after trying them on a walkabout in the New Territories in 1993.
8. June 4 candle
Every year since 1990, Victoria Park on June 4 would light up with tens of thousands of candles in a vigil held to remember those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Attendance peaked about 180,000 in 2012, 2014 and 2019, according to the organisers. But in 2020 and 2021, the vigil was banned by authorities, citing the coronavirus pandemic. The vigil’s organisers, Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were disbanded in 2021 due to “intensified political repression”.
9. Star Ferry
Established in 1898, the Star Ferry is an affordable and iconic means of public transport. National Geographic dubbed it a “Hong Kong must-do”, rating it one of the 50 “places of a lifetime”. An adult ticket for the upper deck costs only HK$3.2 (weekdays), and HK$4.2 (weekends and public holidays). It used to carry more than 60,000 passengers a day. But hit by economic shocks of 2019’s social unrest and the pandemic afterwards, numbers dropped to under 27,000 a day in 2021.
10. Mickey Mouse
The mascot of “the happiest place on earth” arrived in 2005 with the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, a joint venture between the government and the Walt Disney Company. But Mouse and magic kingdom have lost their sheen. The theme park posted HK$2.4 billion in losses for its last financial year ending on September 30, 2021, its seventh in a row without turning a profit, amid pandemic-related closures and lack of tourists. Annual attendance dropped to 2.8 million from its peak of 7.6 million in 2014.
11. Cable car, Ocean Park
Ocean Park, established in 1977, has seen its fortunes go up and down like its iconic 1.5km Cable Car system. Under mogul Allan Zeman, the 915,000 square-metre attraction got a facelift in 2005, and saw attendance peak at 7.79 million by 2014. After he left, the park slid so far downhill that by 2020 and 2021, it needed government bailouts of HK$5.4 billion and HK$2.8 billion. Last year, it unveiled HK$6.8 billion plans to transform into a leisure and retail destination focused on education and conservation.
12. Umbrella
This everyday item has become a symbol of resistance since 2014’s “umbrella revolution”, when protesters used them as shields against police pepper spray. In a bid to force Beijing to give Hong Kong more democracy, protesters occupied major thoroughfares citywide, and stayed put for 79 days, until their last camp site in Causeway Bay succumbed to police clearance. A total of 1,003 people were arrested. Economist Professor Francis Lui Ting-ming once estimated the protests cost the city an economic loss of up to HK$350 billion.
13. Octopus card
The Octopus card was launched in September 1997, becoming the first in the world to use contactless stored value smart card technology for public transport. Now it has extended its arm into retail payments and is arguably the most preferred payment for small purchases in Hong Kong. Today, more than 30 million Octopus cards are in circulation, with 98 per cent of the population aged 15 to 64 having one in their pockets.
14. Mainland travel permit
Popularly called a home-return permit, this travel document is an ID card issued by the mainland authorities to Hong Kong permanent residents for travel there. Introduced in 1979, it was a passport-like booklet until 1999, when it was updated to its current credit card-like form. A new version was launched in 2013 with enhanced security features to allow easier immigration clearance at the mainland checkpoints, and closer integration between the two places. Some 6.9 million Hongkongers hold home return permits. In 2021, over 371,000 Hongkongers were living in the mainland.
15. BN(O) passport
British National Overseas nationality, created in 1985, was a lifelong status for Hongkongers to retain links to Britain. It did not grant citizenship rights and could not be transferred. After Beijing imposed the national security law in 2020, London announced a new system for an estimated 5.4 million BN(O) holders and their families a pathway to citizenship. Since 2019, Britain’s Passport Office has recorded 541,873 BN(O) passports renewed, with about 316,000 renewed in 2020. About 123,400 Hongkongers applied for the BN(O) visa pathway from January 2021 to May 2022, with 113,742 getting approved.
16. Typhoon signal board
Typhoon signal boards are placed at many buildings when storms hit. The first numbered typhoon signal system was launched in 1917, going from 1 to 7. Before that, a typhoon gun, or later typhoon boom, was used to warn the public. In 1931, the signals were amended to 1 to 10. The last revision in 1973 introduced 8NW, 8SW, 8NE, and 8SE to indicate the same wind severity but different directions. Since 1997, four typhoons required the hurricane signal No 10: York in 1999, Vicente in 2012, Hato in 2017, and Mangkhut in 2018.
17. Pets
As at 2018, 241,900 Hong Kong households keep dogs or cats as family pets. They kept 221,100 dogs and 184,100 cats, compared with 2005’s 197,700 dogs and 99,200 cats. The pet care sector has experienced steady growth over the past decade, with the number of registered vets climbing almost 90 per cent from 565 in 2010 to 1,066 in 2020. There are about 160 pet shops in Hong Kong.
18. Egg waffle
One of Hong Kong’s most beloved street foods, these crispy little puffs are so popular that fans have set up a Facebook group called “Concern group for egg waffle”. Its 27,000 members share information about where to find the best egg waffles as well as recipes. Master Low-Key Food Shop in Shau Kei Wan is rated among the best stalls in town, selling some 200 to 300 egg waffles on an average weekday and 500 at weekends, for HK$22 each for the original flavour.
19. “Emperor of Kowloon” graffiti
Before they emerged in exhibitions and auctions, the graffiti of the late Tsang Tsou-choi, better known as the “Emperor of Kowloon”, had dotted lampposts, feeder pillars, and walls across the peninsula, claiming sovereignty over Kowloon. Most people believed he was mad. But his black ink graffiti made it to the art world after Tsang was featured in the now-defunct arts magazine Crossover in the early 1990s. He died in 2007, aged 86. One of his graffiti pieces sold in May 2022 for HK$201,600 at a Christie’s auction.
20. Striped bags
The carrier bag, made of woven plastic tarp and striped in three colours, gained popularity in the 1970s when people used it to transport gifts, necessities, and even home appliances to visit relatives on the mainland. Nowadays, they are often used by people moving homes. Their durability and multi-functionality signify characteristics of Hong Kong people: adaptable and hardworking.
21. Postbox
The first two cast-iron British postboxes were imported to Hong Kong in 1878. There used to be over 1,000 servicing the city during the colonial era. Today, 59 still remain. But they have been painted green, with a plate covering the royal insignia. The oldest remaining one, located in Lei Yue Mun Hoi Pong Road Central, was installed in 1957.
22. Shopping suitcase
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the sight of mainland tourists towing knee-high suitcases was common in shopping areas. Hong Kong received a record 65.1 million visitors in 2018. Of them, 51 million were from the mainland. Each one who stayed overnight spent HK$7,029 in Hong Kong, with up to 74 per cent of that going to shopping and meals. Same-day in-town visitors from the mainland spent HK$2,410 each, with 87 per cent going to shopping.
23. Lockers
With an average living space per capita as small as a car park lot, many Hong Kong people have turned to using mini-storage services. At mid-2021, the city has about 690 mini-storage premises operated by about 130 companies. Eastern had the most, 144, while none were in Wan Chai, outlying islands, and Sai Kung. These storage spaces usually range from 10 to 100 square feet, and cost between a few hundreds dollars to over HK$1,000 a month.
24. Ping on bun
Ping on buns are Chinese-style steamed buns with sweet filling, stamped in red with the words “ping on”, or “peace” and “safety”. It is a prominent feature of the Bun Festival on Cheung Chau, which takes place annually during the fourth month of the Lunar calendar and attracts thousands of tourists. The festival has been on hiatus since 2020 because of the epidemic; along with its iconic bun-snatching competition, which sees contestants scale a bun-covered tower to grab as many plastic ping on buns as possible.
25. McDull
The adorable and innocent animated piglet McDull, debuted by home-grown animators Brian Tse Lap-man and Alice Mak Ka-bik in 1995, has evolved from being a source of joy for children to Hong Kong’s household name, bringing cheer to the lives of Hongkongers with his happy-go lucky spirit. McDull cartoons have won multiple awards at international film festivals, including the “Grand Prix (Feature Film)” at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2003, and “Best of the Decade” award at the 2010 Chinese Film Media Awards.
