"Rebirth: Making a Name for Oneself" by Naonao Bu Ai Nao [Complete]
Synopsis:
This was a story about Hong Kong in the 1950s.
Those were fiery, tumultuous times.
In those fiery years, there could be countless big brothers and little brothers, and tales of hardship and displacement too numerous to tell.
In those fiery times, there could be more beauties and gifted people than one could count, and more tales of romance and passion than one could ever finish telling.
You could call them dark days, a pitch-black jumble of fish and dragons, but heroes often rose to prominence in such times.
Volume One: The Unruly
Chapter 0: The Beginning
This was a story that began in Hong Kong in the 1950s, a vast and turbulent age of surging waves and unpredictable currents.
In 1950s Hong Kong, the economy and society developed rapidly, and it became one of the wealthiest, most economically developed regions in the world, with one of the highest standards of living. Land prices in Hong Kong reached a high of 251 dollars and 44 cents per square foot, and the population reached 1.5 million. Foreign capital poured in, the population soared, and the rise and prosperity of the real estate industry were already in sight.
In 1950s Hong Kong, its identity gradually shifted from a trading port to an industrialized city. As real estate rose, it also spurred industrial growth, and countless funds flowed into Hong Kong from all sides to develop industry. By the late 1950s, Hong Kong's symbol changed from sails to skyscrapers, representing the replacement of shipping by real estate as the new standard of Hong Kong.
In 1950s Hong Kong, a newly recruited uniformed police officer earned 120 dollars a month, but even the lowest-ranking uniformed officer took home at least 300 Hong Kong dollars a month. The Hong Kong Police Force's case clearance rate at the time held steady at 6–10%. Throughout the 1950s, the number of crimes recorded each year in Hong Kong exceeded 100,000, a state of disorder between black and white. At the two midyear and year-end recordings to close cases, queues of hundreds would always form outside police stations. These were the fall guys who made their living taking the blame for others.
In 1950s Hong Kong, Miss Hong Kong was not yet a diversion Hong Kong people held for themselves, but a top Asian beauty pageant with a place on the world stage. The women chosen could attend the Miss World pageant in the United States, and the winner would be signed by a major Hollywood film company and receive six months of professional film acting training, with a weekly salary of 250 US dollars. At the time, a luxury Ford sedan sold for 2,000 US dollars at a Hong Kong dealership. Back then, Miss Hong Kong contestants were not judged by their origins: a teahouse waitress could just as well wear the winner's crown and become a star adored by thousands.
In 1950s Hong Kong, singers were still called songstresses and had no concerts of their own. Nightclubs, bars, and dance halls were where they showed off their voices. Their fans had a common name back then: "Young Masters' Club." Besides competing in singing skill and the limelight, singers also competed over the size of their clubs. After finishing a song and leaving the stage, a singer had to take the initiative to visit her club's table, socialize, and offer toasts, a practice known in the trade as "paying respects to the mountain." Club members at the time were either rich or influential. To support their songstresses, they booked every seat in the front row year-round, came to cheer them on every night, rain or shine, and followed them from venue to venue. They would readily compete in displays of wealth with other songstresses' clubs, throwing away a thousand pieces of gold at a stroke.
In 1950s Hong Kong, dance hostesses could go on a general strike, leaving every nightclub in the territory without hostesses to drink with customers, and demand that nightclub owners raise their pay and benefits. If a drunk customer beat a hostess and the nightclub owner did not stand up for her, he could forget about ever having hostesses work at his establishment again.
In 1950s Hong Kong, Filipina maids had yet to gain a foothold. Wealthy families preferred to hire experienced live-in Self-combed Maids, paying them 150 dollars a month and providing a private bedroom with a radio and two long holidays a year. Despite such demanding terms, Self-combed Maids were still hard to find even at a high price. Having a live-in maid with a long braid was, at the time, a mark of the household's standing.
In 1950s Hong Kong, aside from the indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories, no one called themselves Hong Kongers. There were Chiu Chow people, Shunde people, Huzhou people, Fujian people: a chamber of commerce for every place of origin, a society for every place of origin. When someone needed others to stand up for them, often there was no need to call the police. They only had to speak to the chamber of commerce president or a society boss, and someone would naturally step forward to settle the matter. Even if disputes, armed fights, deaths, or injuries resulted, they would never take a cent in return from a fellow townsman.
In 1950s Hong Kong, the world's top luxury brands had yet to arrive. People with a little money who wanted Western suits had to go to foreign tailors to have them made to measure. Truly wealthy Chinese paid the travel expenses to bring barbers and Shanghai tailors from Shanghai in each of the four seasons, to have clothes made to measure. Back then, at a Hong Kong barbershop with "Shanghai" on its sign, a barber could work from morning till night and earn 300 Hong Kong dollars a day including tips, more than many people's monthly wages.
In 1950s Hong Kong, the number of factories rose from 1,478 to 8,809 over the course of the decade, and the number of workers grew from 80,000 to 370,000. Countless tycoons rose to prominence in finance, textiles, shipping, entertainment, newspapers, toys, wigs, and clothing, and went on to hold the leading ox by the nose in their respective industries.
In 1950s Hong Kong, neighboring tiny Macau, a band of fierce robbers formed from defeated Kuomintang soldiers roamed the waters of both places, plundering merchant ships. Their boats were fast, their men vicious, and they were equipped with guns and artillery. At the time, they were known as "Big Sky Twos."
In 1950s Hong Kong, people prized loyalty and kept their promises. A newcomer to Hong Kong, with no one to turn to, had only to ask for help in a teahouse in their native accent, and a fellow townsman drinking tea would rise to help. Whether it was schooling, finding work, finding a place to live, or asking after relatives, every matter would surely be seen to properly.
In 1950s Hong Kong, 1,700 rickshaws traveled the roads, competing for business with Hong Kong's clanging trams and the newly emerging cars and buses. A tram ride cost six cents per person; at the prices of the day, six cents could buy a bowl of pig's blood congee and two fried dough sticks. To compete with the new means of transport, rickshaw pullers once launched a five-cent fare campaign across Hong Kong and Kowloon, pitting their feet against motor vehicles. In the end, they forced the Hong Kong government to stop issuing rickshaw licenses and restrict rickshaw routes.
In 1950s Hong Kong, young men either applied to police school or joined a society, or did both. Only those rejected by both would go to work in a factory. Working steadily in a factory was considered a sign of having no prospects. Back then, parents would rather marry their daughter off to a rich man as a concubine than to a poor young man. It was still an age when polygamy was permitted.