Where to find Hong Kong's history

Here are some ideas of where to look if you're interested in Hong Kong's history.

Geoffrey's photos got me thinking about this. He sent in several old family photos, and asked for help finding out where they were taken. I've been surprised at the very different ways people use to find out the information - old photos, maps, newspapers, specialist knowledge (eg cinema histories), web-searches, personal memories, etc. I've also enjoyed us working together, sharing snippets of information that build up until we can reach a clear answer (or at least an educated guess!). So hopefully the easier it is to dig into Hong Kong's history, the more people will take a look, and the more we'll find.

Old Maps of Hong Kong

I'll start with my favourite - I've always enjoyed poring over maps, especially old maps of somewhere I know. The first book I turn to is "Mapping Hong Kong - A Historical Atlas", authored by Hal Empson. It has old street maps, topographic maps, as well as some aerial photgraphs. It's a big book and well printed, so there's lots of detail to see.

If you'd like to take a look there's a copy in the Map Library, 5/F Central Library. They also have a good range of large-scale old street maps available to look at, and map-reading tables so you can read in comfort. I struggled on my first visit to find the exact map I wanted (you have to submit a request to the librarian, and they bring it out for you to look at). The trick is to ask for the "Hong Kong Map Catalogue" folders. There are two, one for recent maps, and one for old maps. For each map series that is available you can see the dates and areas covered. From there you can request the individual sheets you need.

I often look at the modern online maps too, especially when I'm looking for remaining signs of physical features like fortifications and tunnels. You can often see their shape if you zoom in to the map at the highest maginfication. There are several maps that are based on the government's surveys. The commercial sites (YPMap and Centamap) are fastest and easiest to use. There are also several government sites that display the maps, eg the Statutory Planning Dept.

Old photos of Hong Kong

There are two good government sites that offer old photos and allow searching:

• The Hong Kong Public Records Office (PRO) offers an online catalogue to their 'Archives for Still and Moving Images'. There are over 8,000 images in the archive.

• The Hong Kong Public Library also has a good online search for old photos. The photos can be viewed and downloaded in high-resolution (though with the library's logo on the picture), which means they can be cleaned up well in an image editor.

There have been times when I can't find a relevant photo on those sites, but one of our readers can. The trick seems to be to avoid being too specific on a search. eg instead of searching for 'Nathan Road', you might try searches for 'Tsim Sha Tsui', 'Yau Ma Tei' and 'Mong Kok'.

We also have a collection of donated photos, and photos we've taken, which you can search by date and location.

Then there are the Hong Kong-related photo collections that we've started listing. Some don't have any searching features, but it's well worth browsing through them when you have time.

Google & Wikipedia

Often the first place to start is with a search on Google. Many of those searches will take you to relevant pages on Wikipedia.

If you're using Google to research a topic, it's worth opening up a new document (notepad or wordpad are fine) where you can keep a list of the searches you've made, and the results for each. When I don't do this, I either can't find a document that I read earlier, or waste time running the same search twice (or more!) at different times!

Old Hong Kong newspapers

Both the PRO and the Public Library offer online searches that include newspapers, though I've never been able to get the PRO search to return anything useful for me. The Public Library search works well though, as it searches the text within the newspapers. It returns scanned images of the newspaper pages so you can read them online.

It's not perfect. It seems to only search through text in headings (I expect the general text was too small to ocr reliably), and not all newspapers (eg the SCMP) are included in the online search.

If you're interested in a certain brief period of time (or if you want to read back issues of the SCMP), you're probably better off viewing the microfilmed copies of these old newspapers. The microfilms and readers are available at the PRO and in Central Library.

Government records

Hong Kong University provides an excellent resource with their HKGRO:

Hong Kong Government Reports Online (HKGRO) is a full-text image database providing online access to pre-World War II issues of four major government publications, namely, Administrative Report, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, Hong Kong Hansard and Hong Kong Government Gazette. It contains a wide range of information, such as official notifications, proceedings of the Legislative Council, statistics, and reports of government departments and special committees, which are essential to students and scholars in conducting research on Hong Kong.

It's good for searching, but also worth the occasional browse. Most visits will turn up some interesting piece of information. As an example, the first result of a search on 'census' is the 'CENSUS OF HONGKONG 31ST DECEMBER, 1853.' It showed the total Hong Kong population stood at 39,017, with just 476 'Europeans and Americans'.

Specialists

If you have a question about Hong Kong during the Second World War, Tony Banham is the man who knows the answer. His website is worth a regular visit if you're interested in that part of Hong Kong's history. He keeps it updated with the latest news and photos he receives each month.

For Hong Kong's cinemas, Raymond Lo has obviously done a lot of research. He has added historical notes for many of Hong Kong's cinemas at the Cinema Treasures website.

General historical articles

To take a break from researching, it's good to read some finished articles about Hong Kong's history.

The 'Walk the talk' blog has a lot of interesting stories. There haven't been any new posts since last December, but the old posts are still all there, and make good reading.

The journal of the Royal Asiatic Society is another source of things you never knew about Hong Kong's history. Many editions (I'm not sure the exact range) are available online at the Hong Kong University's 'Hong Kong Journals Online' site. Or if you become a member you'll receive the new journals as they are printed.

You can also find some history-related articles here.

Libraries

The local public libraries hold copies of all the popular books about Hong Kong's history.

If I'm in Tsim Sha Tsui and have some free time, I like to visit the reference library at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre. It's usually empty, and they have a good selection of local history books.

You!

If you've already gathered information on some part of Hong Kong's history, why not put it up on the web? Then anyone searching for information can benefit from the work you've done, and hopefully contribute some extra information to you too. You're welcome to post information up in our forum, or if you'd like your 'own' site it's easier than ever to sign up at a free blogging site and start posting information.

Feel free to ask questions on our forum, too. Then make a note to check back for replies in a couple of days, a couple of months, and even a year later. You never know when someone will see your question as part of a web search, and be able to add some information about it.

Oh, and keep your eyes open as you wander around town. Many of my own questions have come from seeing an unusual building, or a tunnel entrance, and wondering what it is.

What else is out there that I'm missing? I see that Hong Kong University has a whole list of resources, where I've only been using two. So that's worth a closer look. Then of course there must be plenty of Chinese-language resources that I know nothing about.

What would you recommend?

Regards, MrB