Temple Street and its Living Memories
Those who have been to Hong Kong would have heard of the “Ladies’ Street” in the shopping area of Mong Kok. I think equally fascinating is its counterpart, “Men’s Street.”
Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei is known to Hong Kong people as “Men’s Street.” Its vibrant night market sells all sorts of knick-knacks catered to men. From something so simple as reading glasses and pocket flash lights, to the more “private needs” of men, the Temple Street Night Market is always brimming with a “scene of manhood.”
Tin Hau, the Goddess of the Sea, is the figure of worship in this part of Yau Ma Tei. This likely had to do with the fact that Yau Ma Tei had a long history with the people of the sea. During the 19th century, Yau Ma Tei was a stretch of bay with a sandy shore. This attracted the Hok Lo people, who lived on boats offshore. In the early 20th century, Yau Ma Tei became a typhoon shelter, thereafter attracting many sampans, amounting to a floating village. But we do not see this scene today, due to the reclamation work by the Government. It has effectively destroyed the shoreline that was the main feature of this once-sea-reliant district.
And the Tin Hau Temple on is the focal point of the night market on Temple Street. The din of gongs and the hustling of hawkers gravitate toward the public park on the temple ground. The street probably was named thus after the Tin Hau Temple.
Every evening, hawkers set up makeshift stalls on the street in front of the Tin Hau Temple. Stalls of fortune tellers would read your fortune out of every variety of geomamcy imaginable. The sound of street singers performing the tunes of a distant past fill the air with festivity.
Perhaps not so readily observable, but transactions of a seedier nature continue to this day. Temple Street, as the “Men’s Street,” was long the breeding ground of cheap prostitution, gambling dens and drug trade. The opium dens and brothels used to be found on the sampans at the shore. Notwithstanding the disappearance of the sampans, the area remains known for making available cheap vices for working class men.
Certainly, as with all market places, Temple Street offers plenty of attractions to all. One unique feature of food at Temple Street is what the locals call the “neighborhood style”. Seafood restaurants have a strong presence on Temple Street. Customers order the seafood from the tanks, and then specify the cooking style. It is “neighborhood style” because of the availability of lower-end seafood, such as shells, or the oyster pancake.
Another special feature of food on Temple Street is the made-to-order casserole. The rice is cooked in the clay pot with a choice of meat. What is particularly special about the casserole in Temple Street is the cooking on coal-lit stove. On a winter evening, it is indeed an especially memorable experience. A group of people sit around a knee-height table, upon small stools, with a charcoal-lit clay pot sizzling besides them.
Finally, worthy of note is the Mido Café, which stands right across from the Tin Hau Temple. This two-storied café has been in business since 1950. It is a classic “bing sutt” serving Hong Kong styled small meals and Cantonese food. The menu features items like the Hong Kong Pineapple Bun with a slab of butter. Or a sweet French toast. If one feels like a regular meal, there is the baked spareribs over rice. A special drink is the lotus seed with yin-yang, which is the mixing of coffee and milk tea. If not this drink, then certainly finish the meal with a cup of dark-brewed milk tea.
Mido’s curved window panels upstairs show a top-down view of the Temple Street night scene. As with the China Café in Mong Kok (now closed permanently), Mido Café was the setting for a number of movies. It certainly is a part of Hong Kong memory.
In Christopher DeWolf’s wonderful article on Yau Ma Tei’s history, he noted that the neighborhood has retained much of its unique character throughout the years. Unlike the neighboring Tsim Sha Tsui, there was not much of an effort to revamp Yau Ma Tei. Yet Temple Street has changed, not in terms of its inherent character, but rather owing to the significant improvement of living standards in the rest of Hong Kong. To most of Hong Kong’s middle class, Temple Street and the life that it represents is valued more for its nostalgia than its marketplace. For this same reason, while Yau Ma Tei remains a working-class neighborhood, Temple Street has become a tourist attraction, more so than a cheap flea market.
Comes the break of dawn, and Yau Ma Tei would see Gwo Lan, the fruit market a few streets away, to open. Year after year, Yau Ma Tei continues to age as the rest of Hong Kong becomes increasingly affluent. In Chinese we say “ten years like a day,” and such is Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei.
Sources:
Christopher DeWolf, Hong Kong District History: Yau Ma Tei, Frenetic 24/7 Urban Centre That’s Unlike Anywhere in the City, South China Morning Post, April 16, 2018.