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The World in Chung King Mansions
The World in Chung King Mansions
Photo by Paul Fan
The Chung King Jungle
Photo by Paul Fan
The Chung King Jungle
Wong Kar Wai, the director of the Movie Chung King Express, said “The place was always a mystery to me. The people living in and living on it seemed very different from those I encountered. You can’t help but have fantasies about what was actually happening inside.” (as cited in the article Hope and Squalor at Chungking Mansion by Karl Taro Greenfeld, August 13, 2007)
Supposedly, this building was designed for residential land use. The first two floors of the building have been transformed into shops and restaurants and it became a hidden jungle gathering the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong particularly the Indians, Middle Eastern people, Nepalese, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Nigerians, Americans, Pakistanis and many others from all around the globe. According to Gordon Mathews’s research, a professor from Chinese University of Hong Kong, there are around 120 nationalities passing through the building in a single year (as cited in the article The World of Chung King Mansion of BC Magazine by Yvonne Teh). Known for its multi-ethnic nature and its reputation as one of the cheapest accommodations in Hong Kong, it has always been a destination for new ethnic minorities and backpackers from around the globe. People also call it “The Armpit of Asia” (as cited in the article Hope and Squalor at Chungking Mansion by Karl Taro Greenfeld, August 13, 2007). TIME Magazine even awarded the Chungking Mansions as "The Best Example of Globalization in Action" , because it contains the greatest ethnic diversity in a very limited area (as cited in the article The World of Chung King Mansion of BC Magazine by Yvonne Teh). Somehow this place has obtained its fame beyond people's expectation!
Stepping through the entrance of Chung King Mansions, we were truly impressed by the number of tiny shops. There was a large variety of businesses, particularly money exchange services, curry restaurants, groceries and electronics shops. The money exchange shops were omnipresent at the main entrance of the building as the position was more visible and tangible for people who badly needed exchange services. Furthermore, many Indians were holding their menus to grab people’s attention . They were making every endeavor to recommend the scrumptious and famous Indian curry to every single passenger.
At the same time, we heard an Indian man yelling to us in Cantonese with a beam of welcome,
“Do you want to try curry? The restaurant's very near. It's on the third floor!”
“Do you want to try curry? The restaurant's very near. It's on the third floor!”
Passing by the Indian man with a subtle smile, we continued our way in the mansions. It was seemingly that the reason for people not willing to enter the building was the sense of insecurity. Yet, the situation got better after the renovation of the old mansions. Security guards could be found outside the elevators, standing at the main entrance and more guards on standby at the security desks.
Strolling in the Chung King Mansion, though we thought that we were behaving properly, we still received chilly glances from people.
Strolling in the Chung King Mansion, though we thought that we were behaving properly, we still received chilly glances from people.
“Their glares are terrifying.” Samantha said.
“Are they staring at us?” Carmen asked.
Kasey replied, “Probably.”
It was obvious that we were strangers intruding the relaxing life inside this world. At this moment the insecure feelings were simply replaced by embarrassing ones. This building, just liked a secret base, concentrated most of the Indians, Africans and Southeast Asians in Hong Kong. We had suddenly become a minority in this place which we were not acquainted with.
After climbing up the stairs, we arrived at the second floor. Most restaurants in Chung King Mansions were concentrated here and all of them were rather small, so they could only accommodate a few customers. We could easily sniff the aroma of the curry. This strong smell, which was without doubt an Indian symbol, enveloped the restaurants. It made a person wonder if those customers really liked the curry. This sauce looked so authentic. A few steps further, many were doing electronics business in the building. Their shops provided second-hand electronic devices and those unscrupulous so-called “businessmen” were even selling counterfeit mobile phones to their clients who were mainly tourists, backpackers and low-income immigrants. A large proportion of these immigrants had overstayed their visas in the hope of make quick money as restaurant workers or peddlers of counterfeit watches and bags. Mothers wearing traditional sari were walking round the “shopping mall” where they could buy the goods they were familiar with. Meanwhile, the ethnics could find some cheap stuffs in the comprehensive grocery shops. It sold multifarious products which were definitely convenient to the inhabitants in Chung King Mansions.
After climbing up the stairs, we arrived at the second floor. Most restaurants in Chung King Mansions were concentrated here and all of them were rather small, so they could only accommodate a few customers. We could easily sniff the aroma of the curry. This strong smell, which was without doubt an Indian symbol, enveloped the restaurants. It made a person wonder if those customers really liked the curry. This sauce looked so authentic. A few steps further, many were doing electronics business in the building. Their shops provided second-hand electronic devices and those unscrupulous so-called “businessmen” were even selling counterfeit mobile phones to their clients who were mainly tourists, backpackers and low-income immigrants. A large proportion of these immigrants had overstayed their visas in the hope of make quick money as restaurant workers or peddlers of counterfeit watches and bags. Mothers wearing traditional sari were walking round the “shopping mall” where they could buy the goods they were familiar with. Meanwhile, the ethnics could find some cheap stuffs in the comprehensive grocery shops. It sold multifarious products which were definitely convenient to the inhabitants in Chung King Mansions.
Experiencing the multi-ethnic natures here, we asked ourselves, what the common language is in Chungking Mansions. As the building is a gathering place of varied ethnics, many languages can be found in there. We heard Cantonese, Indian, English and other unknown dialogues spoken by the holiday makers, shopkeepers or the travelers, more accurately the tenants, who were hanging around the Mansion and talking to their friends. In order to do business with the Chinese, some of them, most likely the shops owners, could speak some simple Cantonese and Mandarin but generally they spoke their mother language when chatting with their friends and colleagues. Needless to say, given the numerous signboards mainly written in English, it could be concluded that English is still the most common used language whenever they had to do business with people or just had a talk with a stranger for the first time. As said by Kingsley Bolton, "Today it is something of a cliché that English is a global language, no longer the property of Britain or the United States." (as cited in the article The Sociolinguistics of Hong Kong and the Space for Hong Kong English by Kingsley Bolton) Undeniably, English globalize most of the people, including the minority and majority. It would be hard to move any further without this common language.
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