of tl're best looking antiqnarian u-orks on Hong Kong I f-iaIe yet seen. ancl I hope he hzrsn't lost sales to the kind of
Hacker takes on history
icliot that
Reviewed by Robin Lynam
ale cellrin crrllings abotrl ftr.,. I u'lr¡cll tlre crllecl cìo wellro keep
if
tl'iey wisf i to renain part of tl're
con\/e1'sation
at cocktail
par-ties.
Inspector of taxes is one of these Rat catcl'iel' is another, ancl u'ell up in tl're
pantheon,I'm afraid,
is
local l'ristorian.
The local historian stancls in lelation
to the leal histor-i:rn in lor-rghly tl-re relation of a Chr-rr-ch of Englancl lay pr-eachel to the Alchbisl-rop of Canterbtrry. Knou'n for' 1-ris \\'o1'1n's e 1 e view of tl'ie past and
Hâving rlade the transition from artist n-ho writes a bit to li.ritel who occasionally cloes a bit of art ol design, Artl-ur is to be congratulated on harrinÉl learnecl the important lesson thzrt 1'ou c¿rn't sencl good matelial lound too lnany t1lnes.
There is a certain amottnt of overlap in dre content of these trl,'o books blrt it is r"'ell worth har.ing both of then an)-\ ra\'. Notq.'ithstanding its title Arthut" Haclaer's
'úanchai is leally
his passionate lnslstence on
a
mini history, of Hong Kong as a vn-hole q'itl'i a
special emphasis on that nebulously
talking endlessly ¿rbout its minntiae,
he is ¿rhlost aln'ays bestavoided. Unless
bounclecl area.
\ü'/anchai bargill u,itl-r the healt of gold rnay u.ell be impossible to find today, but the "Angels of W'ancl'rai" dr-rling tl-re Second Vor'ld W'ar were cleally laclies of ¿r different stalnp. They have an hononrable place in the storl u,'hic1'r Arthul dr,rly alots them. He spends, per-haps, a little mol'e tirne on the Suzie \íong br-rsiness than a local reader' wor-rld q,ish, but tliis book is publishecl
asons fol this. One is
-1
R,rrr .l)/ror1r¡rr,¡riri. Ilooftl
n-ryths u,ill
quality
fol a hi.stolian and Philip
Bol.'r'ing u'ill doubtless be glateful fol justice clone to his ancestor', Sir Jol'in, and his Gleat Prava
finally looks set to becorle a realiq.. On the whole
,,l'1lI I860.
althor-rgl'r
fzrir'l1'
eady stage
in
- will r'ecognise the tone and content of his books. They reacl like good conr.ersation, and ale packed
with obscure yet
interesting infolr-nation presentecl u.ith eng¿rging
goocl hur-r-ronr HarrinÉ{ a sense of httt-t-lottr is one t1-re
qualities tliat sets Arthur apart
of his
tlainspottir-rg colrntel'pal'ts Eacl-r of these books offel's ser.eral lar-rghs pel page, along
flor-r-r r-r-rost
point
u.ith nuggets of painstalcingll' gleaned and unr-rtterably' obscure information which, rathelthankillthe subjectstone clezrd as is r,rsna11.v the case, somehos' bring it to life THE CORRf,SP0NIIENT Ocrober 199-
Al'thr-rl rl'r'ites
of the players in
Hong Kong and \ù/anchai's past - from Gor,'efno|s to pirates to baf girls - as thor-rg1-r
he hacl knon'n
tl'ren-r all
Press Club nevel'\\'ent bankr-r:pt is one of tü,'ancl-iai's most insolllble m)'steries
It is not only in existence todal'but
Hong I(ong
personally. In the case of a felr. of the last lot quite clear'ly he l-rad. He begins u.ith the Stone Age and ends r-ith his cantious pledictions for tlie year 2010. Pliol to citing 13 possible scenarios for tl-re futr-u'e
he offels us "Hacker's Lau.":
'Vhater.'el 1,ou pledict abont Hong
Kong's fr-rtule u'ill be n'r-onp¡'. That at least is alnost certainly corl'ect. His rlzrin concel'n l-iou'er.'er is the past, ancl here he puts a fe\\'common misconceptions in their place. The
is
- and tl-rat he gets the title of zr poem by Alexander Pope wrong on paÉle 110, but doubtless this is because the British Council's copv of the great Ar.rglrstan's Collected Poems llzls l'tcen s¡ippetl to Hanoi. Having made his caleer shift Artliur has steaclfastly reftrsed to get invoh,.ed in tlie design of his books, but sensibly made an exception for' Hong Kot'tg' A Rare Pbotogrøphic RecorcJ of the 1860s The result is one
sctil.orc
taking
hct¡tp1,
RÌgltl: The Qtreett o.f tbe Winner Bcn in Iuard Ro¿tcl Silk scrcen ¡nint b.1'
Arlhttr Hacker. 1987
jimrlla, ancl looks like it" - and fen' coulcl argue witl-r his cìescription of Sir'
little suspect on page 107 - "\ú'hy the
flor-rlishing"
Anterictnt
Fu
Nol'man Fostel"s Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Bnilcling as an "offshore on-shore oil rig" bttt I har¡e to t:rke issne with l-ris praise of I ÀI Irei's Bank of China as '.splenc1icl" Of al1
will annoyhim, tl'iat his plescience is a
the
er.ening
of
I u''i11
out to the author, simply because it
Top.
stl.tps it1 Lockhcn'l Rr¡ctcl. 1966
desclibes as "Hong Kong Electric's depressing sub-station' rt4ricl-i now
and meticulous on
er.er chattecl to
r-nore colourfr-rl episodes
rragnificent o riginal Zetland Hal1, once just donrn the roacl fi'ou tl-re Club. to argr-re tl-iat u'hat Arthr,tr col'rectl)¡
ir-r-rplor.ement. He also makes se nse on buildings sncl-i as Gor¡ernt-nent Hor-Lse 'rebttilt ì 11- a,Japanese railu.:r)¡ engineer, Seichi
the small details,
hin-r
On the v4role I an-i in s)rmpathy with this version of the man It would be difficult for any sensible person looking at Sir Geor-ge Clevell)''s
occupies the site is any kincl of
book is sound on the big pictr-rre
bal about the
fire earll'
tl-re
Kong. Anyboclyu,'lio has
ideally at a
photograpl
contelllpol'a1fr
reaclers less fanriliar'
Fair n-rindedness is an irpofiant
trs, is Arrìrur'. tllc otìrel rs that his sr-rbject is Hong
of this locale's histoly -
Territolies, The book is n'orth having for the
\X/anchai's best-knou,'n tale.
that Arthur', God help
alor-rncl the
tl-ie cir.ic br-rildings of the ela deplessingl), feu' of u'hich fiaye snn.ived - to days zit the laces ancl lillage houses out in tl-ie Neu'
plesr,rmably u.ant to knou,'mol'e abor-rt
in the UK and
n'ith Hong Kong's
HONG KONG
Thel'e al'e t$'()
This book presents excellent reprocluctions of a fine set of \-ictorian albr-rr-nen prints - r'eac1 the intl'odr-tctior-i to fìnc1 out lr,hat this neans - and offels a fascinatingglin-rpse into zìspects ollile in ealll r'olonìallristolr langing fi'om panorarlas of tl-re l-ralbolrl and
is alone - sot'ne .surplisinp¡l1r photoÉaraphers appar:ently r-n¿rde tl-ieir'üra)/ oLrt east - but the real jo)' for ue is Arthur s colÌlmentarJr en face, He re r'r'e al'e introchrced to Hacker the critic of al'chitecture , ântiqLre and
Schen-ie u'hich
of conrse f-ie is Artl-rur Hacker'. re
books accolcling to
publishing only a softback edition
Hong l{ong: A Rare Plroto Recold of the 186Os t>y Arthr- r Hacker, rX/attis Fine Art Arthl r Hacker's \X/anchai by Arthr,rr Hacker, Odyssey
qr-riet
r-¿rh,res
the clensity of tl-ieil co\/ers b)
s abundance of ugly effiçs builclings, that one still str'ikes rne as tbe single biggest blot on a tortr,u'ed
r-rlban landscape
Botl'r of these books are cìesigned to be easr. to pick up. clip into ancl set clou'n again Actnalltt u,hat Arthul has come Lrp r.itl-i are page turner-s I leacl tlrror-rgl-r t\\'o at a singìe sitting and I sLrspect )'oLt
\\'ill probabll'do the szulle
Both zrre available fi-on'r tlie
.
FCC
reception clesk
@
7bp: A grouþ ol cill tbe tI
i Lfe
renl
Co
nl trcLclores
en tp I o.)'e(l b-y Eu rol te cnt
Hongs. nr Hottg Kcntg Rrgltt:
Itt
1B9B ll:¡ere tt,ere
645 riclesha.us otr Hcntg Iior tg Islcr ttcl'l u)ent-l' J)ect rs lctter tbere u,ere ot'er 2 000 October 1991 THE
CoRRf,SPOIIIIIEI{T