Looking at old Hong Kong toy collectors from Easter dolls made in Hong Kong: the post-80s and 90s are more in love with colonial feelings

When a person grows up, the people and things around him will never return, and the memories can only be placed in the old things to cherish the past.

Liu Renhui (Ricky), a toy collector who witnessed the golden age of manufacturing in the 1960s and 1970s, has been focusing on exhibiting and buying and selling used toys in a rental shop in Sham Shui Po in recent years. I have seen "the first time someone who has been around for decades has seen the sparse and sparse Yaliao Street", and the number of people in the store is only one tenth. At the same time, I saw that the new generation began to pay more attention to the colonization after the government accelerated decolonization. A product of the period, the "made in HK" Easter religious dolls, crosses, and old calendars in the store have become pilgrimage sites for the Easter holiday after the 1980s and 1990s, reminiscing about that moving time.

Collecting old things, publishing books, pop-up exhibitions to starting a business

Ricky, a toy collector in his 50s, started collecting plastic toys made in Hong Kong when he returned to Hong Kong to work in art and design education after graduating from studying in the UK in the 1990s. A pop-up exhibition was held on Huangzhu Street. After that, more and more people found that they liked old things. In the same year, the first used shop "Dian Xiao Er" was opened in an old thread factory shop on Nanchang Street for customers to sell or display publicly. Personal collections, moved to the current location of 600 feet Nanchang Street in the summer of the previous year to open "Elegant and Popular Thinking". The store has more than 10,000 collections, ranging from tin toys in the 1970s and 1980s, plastic candy boxes for the New Year, and New Year's advertising calendars. Brands, old-fashioned square TV boxes, old magazines and publications posters, convex glass disc wall clocks, as well as all kinds of old porcelain ornaments, the types are all-inclusive.

During the Easter holiday, there were a lot of visitors in the store, and they asked Ricky one by one about the year and origin of the products. More than 60% of them were young couples or young people born in the 1980s and 1990s. Ricky refused to come. , as long as the items displayed in the store are not fragile paper products or damaged items, Ricky allows customers to open the bags and read them carefully. In 1963, the Japanese radio factory calendar, Hong Kong-made religious crosses, and TV program schedules marked Hong Kong Easter Red Day. Out-of-print TV books and magazines marked the big Easter movies of that year have become a special event to search for past Easter.

The government's decolonization, and the stubbornness of drying out, has further inspired many future children to think about going back and out, not wanting the collective memories of the past to be forgotten.

Liu Renhui, the owner of the shop

Going through retail dark times and believing the worst is over

"In recent years, there have been a lot of literary and youth cafes in Sham Shui Po, and obviously a lot of young children are interested in coming to see them. More than half of the family's customers are of the new generation. It’s pretty, and some are more likely to buy on the spot.” He believes that young people who have not experienced the colonial era are more promiscuous, mainly related to the political climate. After the birth, I want to go back and get out, I don't want the collective memories of the past to be forgotten."

Behind the booming traffic flow, Ricky, like other stores, has experienced a dark period. He pointed out that the opening of the store happened just after social movements and the new crown epidemic. The worst day was when the fifth wave of the epidemic hit at the beginning of this year, and most of them stayed at home. Going out, the flow of people has also been drastically reduced to one-tenth. "If you have been to Aplia Street, you will know that it is the worst time to have no one. It is the first time in decades that people have seen the sparsely populated Apliao Street, with many shops. I can’t even open my head, I’m just shooting tear gas, at least some people are going to take the fish balls.” But he believes that with the government’s consumption coupons, the slowdown of the epidemic, the public’s mood and other factors, the worst time has passed. After the customs clearance, 30% of the tourists from the mainland and 30% of the tourists from abroad, I told myself that even if I didn’t die, I would have to leave.” He smiled wryly.

If you have been to Yaliao Street, you will know that it is the worst time to have no one. It is the first time for people in decades to see the sparse and sparse Yaliao Street, and many shops are closed. At least there are people who have taken the fish balls in Zhaodu.

Liu Renhui, the owner of the shop

+2

Descendants entrust the shop owner to find things to find the old days

Recalling that he turned his hobby into a career in life, Ricky is grateful for the days he grew up in the Kwun Tong public housing estate, and witnessed his parents wearing plastic flowers at home to earn income during the golden age of manufacturing in the 1960s. So far, he has collected more than 300 kinds of plastic toys made in Hong Kong, such as Jesus, the Shepherd, the Virgin Mary and other religious plastic dolls that mark Easter, as well as the plastic soldiers that Shito obtained through "Dive Paper Boys" in the past, In exchange for prizes such as plastic swords, he is no longer limited to exhibitions or sales, but more of "seeking things on behalf of others". For example, a customer came to leave his contact information, hoping that Ricky would find the 1970s on his behalf. Related items of the Red Chicken Restaurant, claiming that the restaurant was opened by his grandfather back then, hoping to find relevant old items to preserve, to remember the hard work of the previous generation; there are also customers who want him to find a certain wooden chess in the 1980s. To awaken the memory of the father suffering from dementia, slow down the decline of brain cells.

The walls of the wooden ladder in the store are covered with dense sticky notes, and the contact numbers of different guests and the items to be found on the paper are written down.

"I miss, I miss the past years, the appearance has changed early, the situation has changed, but the feelings have not changed." There is only missing.

Three girls join the funeral industry as interns to reflect on life and death The coach of the Wangang team moaned that the players would go to war?

01 Community