Hong Kong ~ 香港

Click on photo for Peninsula Web site

n 1922, the Hong Kong Hotel company laid the foundation for the most splendid hotel “east of Suez.” The hotel opened to the public in 1928 as part of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels group. On Christmas Day, 1941. the British officially surrendered in the hotel to the Japanese, who subsequently renamed it the Toa (East Asia) Hotel.

During the occupation the hotel was the administration headquarters of the Japanese. Three years and eight months later, they surrendered to the Allies at the Peninsula. The travel posters, left and below, by the American graphic artist Dan Sweeney, date from the late 1920’s.

“There are many great and famous hotels in the world, but so far as I know only one is habitually known by its nickname. Mention ‘The Pen’ to world travelers in any continent, and they will know at once that you are talking about the Peninsula Hotel, Kowloon, Hong Kong,” writes the British journalist and author Jan Morris. “We are the oldest, the most expensive, and the last colonial hotel in Hong Kong,” says Public Relations Director Sian Griffiths.

Nowadays clients can pay up to $5,000 (HK $39,000) for a luxury suite.

On Nov. 23 1938, the author writes:

On arrival in Hong Kong, I put up at the swank Peninsula Hotel. (HK $14 a day) and called at our large office to receive the not too pleasant news that I am destined for Canton; the Japanese took the city a month ago and now the Chinese are putting on a big push to recapture it. There is absolutely no means of communication between Hong Kong and Canton except by British and American gunboats.

Labels above and right by Dan Sweeney

March 4, 1938:

The planes to Chungking are full up; unless I get hold of a cancellation, I won't get out of here until the 18th. But I'm not complaining. Hong Kong is the most amazing place I have seen yet: immense mountains, tropical climate, blue water, palm trees — just beautiful.

‘In Hong Kong one would scarely realize a war is
going on.’

Frank White, whom I met at the Hong Kong Hotel at teatime yesterday, is the oldest resident of the port. Born here 72 years ago, he has never lived anyplace else except for a brief schooling in England. He has had three whisky sodas every day for as long as he can remember. And feels hale and hearty, in fact younger every day. He talks your ear off if you give him half a chance.

In Hong Kong one would scarely realize a war is going on. Sometimes, when the wind is just right, the bombing of the Canton-Kowloon Railroad can be heard. We had a practice blackout the other night while I was at the War Memorial Hospital up on the Peak.
  

Above, an early view of the Hong Kong Hotel, which opened on Victoria Island in 1868 and billed itself as “the most commodious and best appointed hotel in the Far East.” It was overtaken in the 20’s and 30’s, however, by the more posh Peninsula. The hotel closed in 1953.

Leafy and serene Statue Square on Victoria Island in the early 20th century. The statue of Queen Victoria, which miraculously survived World War II, (it was shipped to Japan for melting down but was recovered after the war), was moved from the square to Victoria Park in the 1950's.

courtesy of CNAC Web sit

March 6, 1938

I’ll never forget the first night trip across the harbor to the Hong Kong side. As the ferry left Kowloon we passed several hundred yards away from a large P.&O. liner destined to sail for England the next morning. Every light on the ship was gleaming, and the light on the water between the ferry and the ship was like a huge moonpath. Into that path suddenly towered the huge rectangle sail of a sea-going junk, creating an astonishing silhouette. Then looking ahead toward the Hong Kong side, I saw one of the most famous sights in the world. You don’t see any buildings, or any mountains or any land. But it’s as if all the stars in the universe were gathered in one great section of the sky. From the invisible horizon, they rise in close-packed constellations to an amazing height, twinkling and living again in the reflection on the surface of the bay.

‘It’s as if all the stars in the universe were gathered in one great section of the sky.’

Victoria Island in late 30’s, showing the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, billed at the time as “the tallest building between Cairo and San Francisco,” center. It was torn down in 1985 to make way for the present building, designed by Lord Norman Foster. (For today's view, see color picture at bottom of page.) Below, another view of Central in the 1930’s.

On March 9, 1938

BEFORE I left Hong Kong, there was the usual scurrying around, changing money, getting my trunk into storage and saying goodbye to friends. The next day I was up before daylight, and was off in a taxi to Kai-Tak Airport, which is on the outskirts of Kowloon, and a good 20 minutes ride from Star Ferry. At the field, a big tri-motored Junker belonging to Eurasia Airlines was warming up under the care of German pilots for its Hankow run. My even larger Douglas DC-2 was standing on the runway. Then a taxi pulled up and Lily stepped out. It was still twenty minutes before seven, and there was the usual desultory meaningless conversation that is the curse of delayed farewells. In one corner of the small waiting room, a French couple were having a bad time of it. The girl's tears were making a sorry mess of her rouge.

This photo was taken by the author on his flight from Hong Kong to Chungking in March 1938. The original Peninsula Hotel building is visible slightly left of center.

Later, spotting her in the seat across from me on the plane, I could see that at least half of her makeup had been transferred to him. When the plane finally took off, I had one last look at Hong Kong from the air. It was a marvelous sight. As we headed north, I took a final glimpse at the Peak and the harbor studded with junks and steamers. Then we crossed into Chinese territory.

nIn December 1941, the British for a short time used the Repulse Bay Hotel as their headquarters. Although they and their Canadian allies managed to drive the enemy out of an area around the hotel, the troops were unable to dislodge the Japanese from the surrounding hill positions and were forced to withdraw. In 1943 the Japanese reopened the hotel to the public, renaming it, somewhat more colorfully, the Midorigahama Hotel ("The Hotel of the Green Mountain" ). After reverting to the British in 1945, the hotel lasted until 1982, when it was dismantled for development. Today it is a commercial complex with four residential towers in the midst of an upscale area highly prized for its sandy beaches. The poster is probably from the 1930s.