@theloserlose There is one difference, though. Fifty years ago there was little chance of being filmed as few people had a movie camera, whereas nowadays almost everyone seems to have a video camera. So present day images will not be so rare as fifty years ago!
@laujjp Yes, See Artamerican's response two years ago. He made me change the year based on the heading in that newspaper referring to the 1962 missile crisis,
Dear Mr. Rogge. I have followed your work since I first discover them here many months ago. Your excellent historic archive of the old Hong Kong will forever delight those grew up there in the era, especially to countless one who left the great city decades ago. Your work captured the daily life of the people and the allure of the former colony in it's struggle to become the pearl of the Orient.
@MichaelRogge Nice to read that at least some of these images are being preserved by an institution. This digital sharing is great within its limits, but the ephemerality of it often worries me.
wow! in a way it kind of still resembles what it looks like today. It's hard to believe how rapidly hongkong has changed and most people don't know what an exciting modern history hongkong has compared to other cities, and that change really accounts for a lot since so many have come and gone from this city. My grandfather has a tailoring shop in Central, in fact, still does today! Must be overwhelming for him to see the city change drastically, these videos make me understand him more. Thanks!
@artisticallyfree My films were also used in HK television history broadcasts. For instance in '1963' of HK Cable TV in which also old residents who lived at the time are interviewed.
Your wonderful Sheung Wan videos insipried me to make my first YouTube presenation called Sheung Wan Shuffle 2011. Next time I'll do Central and suggest viewers look at them together with your own to compare, the views, not the film making, as I will come a poor second, fifitrixabelle
Michael is a legend through and through. You can see the genius in all of his camera work, correction..... cinematography. I can't get enough of these videos. However, part of me weeps when I see the "Old" Hong Kong consumed by the "New" Hong Kong of today.
Wonderful clips. I wonder if you can share with us what your occupation was in those days?? I am so curious and very happy to see these old clips. Many thanks.
To this day I still remember the aroma of coffee around the corner of Pedder Street and the crystals at The Town and Country shop at Theatre Lane.Thanks again for posting. Fond memories!!
Thank you so much for providing us this time machine :)
Now that we can travel back and forth to the 50's and even 40's to see how Hongkong people REALLY lived at that time. This is so different than seeing old Hongkong from a movie. Mr. Rogge, you are such a gifted file maker!
@lf2god2003 absolutely agree with you ...i was born in hk in the 50's when i watch Mr.Rogge 's precious pics of old Hong Kong,,,i could'nt help crying!!! i miss those days of hk!!
You must be a very energetic young man then. I can imagine that it is not easy to shoot a short film like this. Climbing up and down with your equipment.
Fantastic! It's the Star Ferry car park on HK Island and the tall and newly-built City Hall building. Rickshaw rides were 50 cents. Taxi flag fall was $1.50 on Hongkong Island and only $1 in Kowloon. (There are more hills on the island.) You can also see the old Hong Kong Club, the white colonial building next to the HK Cenotaph war memorial.
I love this clip just as much as the others if not more so. Were you working in HK back then? Would you happen to have any plans to travel to HK? You have a lot of fans here, we certainly love to meet a 'great' person who has brought back the past in such vivid images to the present generation!! Thanks for sharing.
@180cming World War 2 had colour film, especially the German Agfa films. There is a lot of colored home movie footage of Adolf Hitler gets used and re-used again and again in documentaries on The History Channel. And there is American color film as well from the early 1940s when they were fighting Japan in the Pacific arena.
@lycfmtkl Oh yes. Those caterers would deliver the food to your office or room any time of the day or night. They used real porcelain plates and cups too, and the boy would come back later to collect the dirty plates. No plastic cups or paper plates like today. The old way was much better... for employment (admittedly low-paid) and for the environment.
Wooow, I can recognize all these places. I lived in Central and everything feels like not too long ago. A newspaper stall was my neighbor's. If it was not 1997, I would never want to leave this place. Thanks for all these memories.
Wooow, I can recognize all these places. I lived in Central and everything feels like not too long ago. A newspaper stall was my neighbor's. If it was not 1997, I would never want to leave this place. Thanks for all these memories.
@MichaelRogge - i only speak a little cantonese but I believe that is correct. Which bank did you work for in HK and Japan? (Oh, well, I can probably find the answer if I look at your other vids and home page, so you don't have to answer)
Thank you! Michael. I am reaching middle age and this is slightly before my time. However, it is a shame that the government has not preserved many of the buildings in your picture. Now, HK has simply become a characterless city and its buildings have no architectual significance to attract tourists ... Our colonial master before my generation has made a great mistake ... sigh ...
my parents were born in the 1940s-1950s, and they tell me that back then, the waters around hong kong used to be clean enough to swim in...is that true? hk's beautiful in this video =)
Indeed, see my clip of the cross harbour swim held every year in the fifties and may be later. I have also photo's of this crossing. A collection of my photo's of Hong Kong in the fifties will be shown from 17th March 2010 in the Tao Evolution Gallery,
These videos are amazing. I didn't realise that the City Hall high block and low block were built that long ago. The War memorial and City Hall memorial gardens are still the same. Sadly now it is dwarfed by the multitude of skyscrapers and you can no longer see (much) of the blue sky in Central.
This is 10 years before I came to work in HK at the age of 30. But it is very similar to what I remember. By 1972 (when i arrived) the young people had become very fashion-conscious. There were very few cheongsams on the young ladies. Young men in Central wore close-fitting, tailored trousers with deep waistbands. Later (by about 1978) the many small tailors had their business snatched from them by factory-made jeans. (Like Jeans East and Bang Bang). Remember? Now i am back in England....
Great work! Thanks Michael. I really miss HK watching this. I miss the old HK before it becomes the world city as it is today. Life was simpler and better then.
Thanks. A collection of my photo's of Hong Kong Kong in the fifties will be shown from 17th March 2010 in the Tao Evolution Gallery, 13 Circular Pathway, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.
The camera angle where Mr. Rogge shot at 2:08 was on Pedder Street, the buses ran on Queens Road Central from eastward to westward. That 'strange' building was in fact a scaffolding structure where a new building was being constructed inside, it was located on Wyndham Street.
1962 - ten years before I arrived in HK to work and live. So much of the old Central District has gone - replaced by modern buildings. The old Prince's Building, Mandarin Hotel being built, the old HK Club. So many memories. These were the years before Hk people became rich and very successful.
Oh my gosh!, all of your vids are the HISTORIES!!!! Thank you very much Mr.Rogge for bringing all of us a histories all over the World, well not just only HK but also Spain, Japan, or even my birthplace; Thailand.
I love the one where you took the vid @ Victoria Peak. Nowadays, all of the past is completely dissapear, nothing but the skycrapers and the gigantic towers.
Did the camera which you used to take the vids at the time still working?
Yes, in later years Chinese and Portugese took over the head of department functions. I was born at a favorable time: 1929, although my father lost all of his money then. But I escaped persecution by the German occupators. After the war there was a great demand for young people to be sent overseas, but many hesitated to leave their country for six years on end. I never saw my father again.
You never thought something called youtube and internet that could show your great work then. This one is in color. Is color "video camera" only avaliable in 1962? Did they call it a "video camera"?
The term video was hardly known at the time as there was no television. The clips are made from Kodachrome 16mm colourfilm digitalized. My camera was called cine camera, or movie camera by Americans.
1962, my mom was only a year old. It's great to have no other voice over, one can hear the sounds of the street better. The clip still strangely feels so contemporary. Thank you for uploading it.
@eddielung31 You mean the Mandarin Hotel, with Prince's Building on the other side of Des Voeux Road Central - oh yes, and the footbridge between the two.
Thank you for taking the time to post these videos. One sees the old pictures but seldom have I come across videos. These are true gems. Thanks again! From HK.
Thank you very much for posting such valuable clips of Hong Kong. I am a Chinese Hong Kong person and I am so glad to see how HK was like when my parents was a child, or in their youth. It's such a pity that the HK Governmenmt does not regard the cultural importance of its heritage. Anyway, thanks for your contribution to fill in the gap. A friend of HK!!
Sorry, somehow I seem to have overlooked that great Victorian building. Here in Holland we have committees that guard over our cultural heritage not being torn down. Amsterdam's buildings have not changed that much in a century. I remember the building quite well, though.
Uncle Michael, if my distant memory is correct, old Central Post Office was located at the junction of Des Voeux Rd and Pottinger St?
That's really a pity! If our HK heritage conservation education/power could have been grown 20 years earlier, you would still see many historical buildings now, a reason for you to come back again!
Nice to watch this clip showing the previous old time of Hong Kong Central, the place that I've just been recently. There are things that we can't see anymore... one of those is the elder people's living style in the old Hong Kong...
I guess probably the SARS government is so naive to think if they ignore everything related to the history that HK was a former British Colony before '97, then the fact and history itself will simply disappear, gone, vanished. Eventually the government will think the HK people will also forget everything. Such pity.
Indeed I combined some movies around a central theme. The ones from 0,53 are from the early fifties. I had some additional scenes taken by a friend of mine in 1962 to complete my TV film.
WOW, it's amazing ! Thanks Michael. But is this the HK back in 1962 ? I notice the color of the clip changed at 0:53, could it be a different clip that you just combined together ? One other thing is that you mentioned you stationed in HK form 1949 to 1955, how come this clip dated in 1962 ? Anyway I love to watch more clips like this one, I always think that old Hong Kong was much more beautiful, with clearer sky and fresh air, it also had a sense of romance, do you have more ?
Yes, the Manderin Hotel was still under construction. The City hall was just completed.I think I was swining around at City Hall with my parents. I was only two then. Still sucking my little thumb !
This is simply amazing! Thank you, Michael, for treasuring these valuable footages of HK in the old days. I am especially impressed by the high picture quality (don't know how you managed to do so). At 0.15, I think the building being constructed is the Mandarin Oriental...
When I came to HK in 1949 it was not there. I believe it was constructed ten years later or so. I suppose it is still there. I haven't been to HK in thirty years!
By the way, the buildings shown at 0:13 & 0:24 shouldnt be demolished. They looked so elegant. These ancient buildings are really hard to seen in Todays Hong Kong!
Old Central, Hong Kong was looked so elegant comprised with ancient buildings! Ive gone through your mostly video clips from your film. One thing has to be mentioned is those background music were perfectly added that made them more touching & memorable! Thanks for sharing!
Amazing, just the thing I've been looking for. Thank you so much for posting these videos up here to share with us. The HK Govt's attitude towards your offer sadly reflects the problem with young Hong Kongers these days as a whole... no regard for anything "old"! Sad.
Thanks so much for sharing these precious films, I have been living in HK these last 12 years and only just cought the last 6 months of the Colonial era here, yet I have a great fascination for HK's bygone years, sadly I'm in the minority..thanks again, really great to see..1964 the year the beatles came too!
I was there in the year 1962 too ! I recognize most of the streets and building
gonojaja 1 week ago
I have to admit this is one of the best video of Hong Kong History. Good job. Salute.
chachhi2011 2 months ago
thank you Britain for bringing civilization to Hong Kong
EnemyofHK 2 months ago
2:52 Can't believe Milo the chocolate drink has existed for so many years.
greenmileofcurry 4 months ago
Thanks to the British rule, HK marched into a world leading modern city!
pakurangaguy 4 months ago
Gem in orient, amazing work, a piece of history.
Love it !!!
huwingcheng 5 months ago
Look at that lovely blue sky!!! This was before all those dirty factories were built in Shenzhen i guess.
MynameisElliott 8 months ago
Guys, don't feel awkward if a video camera is filming you! Coz after 50 years, you might be in HK Museum of History lol.
theloserlose 8 months ago
@theloserlose There is one difference, though. Fifty years ago there was little chance of being filmed as few people had a movie camera, whereas nowadays almost everyone seems to have a video camera. So present day images will not be so rare as fifty years ago!
MichaelRogge 8 months ago 5
I can see "All xxxx missiles dismantled" in the newspaper. Is that the cuba missiles?
laujjp 8 months ago
@laujjp Yes, See Artamerican's response two years ago. He made me change the year based on the heading in that newspaper referring to the 1962 missile crisis,
MichaelRogge 8 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
The was taken 2 years before I was born but I recognised all the places. It's great to see it again. Is the DVD on sale?
Thanks for posting this !!
Onbehaard 8 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
The opening scenes of were taken 2 years before I was born but I recognised all the places. It's great to see it again. Is the DVD on sale?
Thanks for posting this !!
Onbehaard 8 months ago
The opening scenes of were taken 2 years before I was born but I recognised all the places. It's great to see it again. Is the DVD on sale?
Thanks for posting this !!
Onbehaard 8 months ago
This was taken 2 years before I was born but I recognised all the places. It's great to see it again. Is the DVD on sale?
Thanks for posting this !!
Onbehaard 8 months ago
I saw this video in Hong Kong Museum of History today !!
StarlightForOneYear 8 months ago
@StarlightForOneYear. Indeed they acquired my DVD's for their archive.
MichaelRogge 8 months ago
@MichaelRogge
Dear Mr. Rogge. I have followed your work since I first discover them here many months ago. Your excellent historic archive of the old Hong Kong will forever delight those grew up there in the era, especially to countless one who left the great city decades ago. Your work captured the daily life of the people and the allure of the former colony in it's struggle to become the pearl of the Orient.
maestrovso 6 months ago
@MichaelRogge Nice to read that at least some of these images are being preserved by an institution. This digital sharing is great within its limits, but the ephemerality of it often worries me.
yohei72 4 days ago
wow! in a way it kind of still resembles what it looks like today. It's hard to believe how rapidly hongkong has changed and most people don't know what an exciting modern history hongkong has compared to other cities, and that change really accounts for a lot since so many have come and gone from this city. My grandfather has a tailoring shop in Central, in fact, still does today! Must be overwhelming for him to see the city change drastically, these videos make me understand him more. Thanks!
artisticallyfree 9 months ago
@artisticallyfree My films were also used in HK television history broadcasts. For instance in '1963' of HK Cable TV in which also old residents who lived at the time are interviewed.
MichaelRogge 9 months ago
Mandrain Oriental Hotel was under construction in 1962, and opened in the next year.
3AD17 9 months ago
its amazing how the street vibe has literally stayed unchanged!
Spontaen 9 months ago
My god michael, these are like 720p HD videos, how did you managed to record these!
raoXI 11 months ago
Your wonderful Sheung Wan videos insipried me to make my first YouTube presenation called Sheung Wan Shuffle 2011. Next time I'll do Central and suggest viewers look at them together with your own to compare, the views, not the film making, as I will come a poor second, fifitrixabelle
fifitrixabellehk 1 year ago
@fifitrixabellehk Thanks. I'm looking forward to your clip!
MichaelRogge 1 year ago
Michael is a legend through and through. You can see the genius in all of his camera work, correction..... cinematography. I can't get enough of these videos. However, part of me weeps when I see the "Old" Hong Kong consumed by the "New" Hong Kong of today.
darkstatehk 1 year ago
Wow, you could see so much SKY!
AAMLfan 1 year ago
No More Rickshaws for now
TheDavidatkinson 1 year ago
@TheDavidatkinson . I was working in a bank and later as a cinematographer. See also my playlist 'My life'
p=9A134A7027ECB650
MichaelRogge 1 year ago
@MichaelRogge
if would be great if you put more old hong kong clips on youtube .
TheDavidatkinson 1 year ago
Wonderful clips. I wonder if you can share with us what your occupation was in those days?? I am so curious and very happy to see these old clips. Many thanks.
chieko8 1 year ago
These videos are AMAZING! It's like taking a time machine from 2011 to 1962 and seeing everything again (even though I was born in 1980).
Thanks again :)
pcmarriotthk 1 year ago
I loved it! I wish I had been there. Hong Kong was so beautiful back then!
girishajindesu 1 year ago
Very precious clip that awake my memory in that era!
galsyhk2 1 year ago
To this day I still remember the aroma of coffee around the corner of Pedder Street and the crystals at The Town and Country shop at Theatre Lane.Thanks again for posting. Fond memories!!
daiwaiu 1 year ago
This is the early 60s!!!! Looks more like the 80s when i first watched this. Well, what do i know, i wasn't born in the 60s
geoffybellofiore 1 year ago
Thank you so much for providing us this time machine :)
Now that we can travel back and forth to the 50's and even 40's to see how Hongkong people REALLY lived at that time. This is so different than seeing old Hongkong from a movie. Mr. Rogge, you are such a gifted file maker!
woowoototo 1 year ago
Hong kong is great because of the help from britian. Although britian no longer great.
asutn 1 year ago
thank you Great Britain....without you hong kong wouldn't be like this today
lf2god2003 1 year ago 2
@lf2god2003 absolutely agree with you ...i was born in hk in the 50's when i watch Mr.Rogge 's precious pics of old Hong Kong,,,i could'nt help crying!!! i miss those days of hk!!
bettyg008 1 year ago
Yat yee sam say = 1 2 3 4
umgoogu 1 year ago
Thank you so much for sharing this! This is precious!!
seeseeloca 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
The clip is so clear, looks like a "DVD" verson.
jyw0510 1 year ago
Wow! The clip is so clear. Looks like a "DVD" verson!
jyw0510 1 year ago
Thanks so much for sharing this, Michael - I love these videos - especially this one, shot the year I was born.
kinzielove 1 year ago
You must be a very energetic young man then. I can imagine that it is not easy to shoot a short film like this. Climbing up and down with your equipment.
hkjazz1 1 year ago
Fantastic! It's the Star Ferry car park on HK Island and the tall and newly-built City Hall building. Rickshaw rides were 50 cents. Taxi flag fall was $1.50 on Hongkong Island and only $1 in Kowloon. (There are more hills on the island.) You can also see the old Hong Kong Club, the white colonial building next to the HK Cenotaph war memorial.
gedanate 1 year ago
wow you can see the blue skies in hong kong during those years =p
ch0anne 1 year ago
Incredibly beautiful and vibrant. Thanks so much.
lampeterlam 1 year ago
I love this clip just as much as the others if not more so. Were you working in HK back then? Would you happen to have any plans to travel to HK? You have a lot of fans here, we certainly love to meet a 'great' person who has brought back the past in such vivid images to the present generation!! Thanks for sharing.
beaches159 1 year ago
@beaches159 Thanks.
A collection of my photo's of Hong Kong in the fifties is shown from 17th March 2010 in the Tao Evolution Gallery,
13 Circular Pathway, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Open Monday-Friday 10h00-13h00 / 14h00-19h00
Saturday 14h00-18h00. Open till 3rd of July 2010.
They have also for sale a book with my photos of that era.
No, I'm 81 now and not traveling anymore except taking a cruise from Amsterdam up north.
MichaelRogge 1 year ago
Amazing videos videos of old HK Michael- I wasnt even born then but I love watching them!
raymond08586 1 year ago
50s had color camera ??? woo~~You videos are treasure!!!
180cming 1 year ago
@180cming World War 2 had colour film, especially the German Agfa films. There is a lot of colored home movie footage of Adolf Hitler gets used and re-used again and again in documentaries on The History Channel. And there is American color film as well from the early 1940s when they were fighting Japan in the Pacific arena.
gedanate 1 year ago
Thanks for sharing. I was raised there and it gives me a little history of what it was like for my folks.
yakimaquest 1 year ago
It is a great documentary film ! It makes me remember my memory of the old 1960's Hong Kong.
In the film, you can see the food caterers carrying the meals over their heads !
lycfmtkl 1 year ago 2
@lycfmtkl Oh yes. Those caterers would deliver the food to your office or room any time of the day or night. They used real porcelain plates and cups too, and the boy would come back later to collect the dirty plates. No plastic cups or paper plates like today. The old way was much better... for employment (admittedly low-paid) and for the environment.
gedanate 1 year ago
i have a very strange feeling when i am looking the video...
everything changed...too fast...history goes too fast...
GREAT video, thank you!!
sharpe16 1 year ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
Wooow, I can recognize all these places. I lived in Central and everything feels like not too long ago. A newspaper stall was my neighbor's. If it was not 1997, I would never want to leave this place. Thanks for all these memories.
AnnaPoon97 1 year ago
Wooow, I can recognize all these places. I lived in Central and everything feels like not too long ago. A newspaper stall was my neighbor's. If it was not 1997, I would never want to leave this place. Thanks for all these memories.
AnnaPoon97 1 year ago
2:22 that guy can handle it so stably!!
StarlightForOneYear 1 year ago 3
That shot was used in the title of HK Cable TV series '1963' !
MichaelRogge 1 year ago 3
@MichaelRogge Cable TV told you they would use it? it's great
StarlightForOneYear 1 year ago 2
you get a good scene of central in the 1960 film "The World of Suzie Wong" ...
outdevo 1 year ago 2
love it
123pelerin 1 year ago
Thanks for vids of 1967. I'm surprised that even in 1967 so much had changed already after the fifties , especially in Wanchai.
MichaelRogge 1 year ago 2
@MichaelRogge - you're welcome. may I ask a personal question--how much Chinese (mandarin or cantonese) do you speak? merely curious. Thanks! :)
123pelerin 1 year ago
The only thing I remember is Yat yee sam say and even there I may be wrong. I have a bad memory, alas!
MichaelRogge 1 year ago 3
@MichaelRogge - i only speak a little cantonese but I believe that is correct. Which bank did you work for in HK and Japan? (Oh, well, I can probably find the answer if I look at your other vids and home page, so you don't have to answer)
123pelerin 1 year ago
@MichaelRogge You got the "One, Two, Three, Four" right, so your memory hasn't failed you. ;-)
hkspiderman833 1 year ago
Thank you! Michael. I am reaching middle age and this is slightly before my time. However, it is a shame that the government has not preserved many of the buildings in your picture. Now, HK has simply become a characterless city and its buildings have no architectual significance to attract tourists ... Our colonial master before my generation has made a great mistake ... sigh ...
jyap22 2 years ago 2
Right you are!
MichaelRogge 2 years ago 2
my parents were born in the 1940s-1950s, and they tell me that back then, the waters around hong kong used to be clean enough to swim in...is that true? hk's beautiful in this video =)
azn88hunni 2 years ago
Indeed, see my clip of the cross harbour swim held every year in the fifties and may be later. I have also photo's of this crossing. A collection of my photo's of Hong Kong in the fifties will be shown from 17th March 2010 in the Tao Evolution Gallery,
13 Circular Pathway, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
MichaelRogge 2 years ago 2
Comment removed
gedanate 1 year ago
These videos are amazing. I didn't realise that the City Hall high block and low block were built that long ago. The War memorial and City Hall memorial gardens are still the same. Sadly now it is dwarfed by the multitude of skyscrapers and you can no longer see (much) of the blue sky in Central.
non2002 2 years ago 3
Indeed. Much of the heart of Hong Kong has been demolished to make way for new constructions. For a full account read Jan Morris: Hong Kong.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago 2
This is 10 years before I came to work in HK at the age of 30. But it is very similar to what I remember. By 1972 (when i arrived) the young people had become very fashion-conscious. There were very few cheongsams on the young ladies. Young men in Central wore close-fitting, tailored trousers with deep waistbands. Later (by about 1978) the many small tailors had their business snatched from them by factory-made jeans. (Like Jeans East and Bang Bang). Remember? Now i am back in England....
Bouncybon 2 years ago 3
Yes, I understand that the big building boom started by the time you arrived.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
Uncle Rogge,
I really wish you could come to Hong Kong and share your experience with our HK folks.
Jeffery from Hong Kong
frankie1031 2 years ago 2
Great work! Thanks Michael. I really miss HK watching this. I miss the old HK before it becomes the world city as it is today. Life was simpler and better then.
jafaru 2 years ago 5
Thanks. A collection of my photo's of Hong Kong Kong in the fifties will be shown from 17th March 2010 in the Tao Evolution Gallery, 13 Circular Pathway, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
They even have plazas back in 1962!!
BlindandGore 2 years ago
i love Hong Kong
tonikong 2 years ago 5
Thank you for sharing these valuable videos to all of us, really appreciate it! Take good care and wish you the best of luck !
200505paulmei 2 years ago 5
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200505paulmei 2 years ago
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200505paulmei 2 years ago
What is that strange building at 2:08?
DavePerry2012 2 years ago 3
Sorry, after fifty years I forgot. May be one of the other viewers knows?
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
The camera angle where Mr. Rogge shot at 2:08 was on Pedder Street, the buses ran on Queens Road Central from eastward to westward. That 'strange' building was in fact a scaffolding structure where a new building was being constructed inside, it was located on Wyndham Street.
hellodelaynomore 2 years ago 3
@hellodelaynomore My first job was ias a cub reporter n the South China Morning Post in old Wyndham Street.
gedanate 1 year ago
Comment removed
DavePerry2012 2 years ago
thanks for sharing
slacker8080 2 years ago 5
these upload video are just so so so nice. thanks for sharing it on youtube. thanks mate, dank u well. ik neem aan dat je een nederlander bent.
jocoven 2 years ago 4
1962 - ten years before I arrived in HK to work and live. So much of the old Central District has gone - replaced by modern buildings. The old Prince's Building, Mandarin Hotel being built, the old HK Club. So many memories. These were the years before Hk people became rich and very successful.
Bouncybon 2 years ago 7
Love that white and bright blue sky. It is hard to find these days:-(
yputup 2 years ago 3
Hey great video! What song did you use here at the 0:27 mark? Would love to know, thanks!
itsgangstamayne 2 years ago 5
Sorry, but I don't hold a record of music used.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
Oh my gosh!, all of your vids are the HISTORIES!!!! Thank you very much Mr.Rogge for bringing all of us a histories all over the World, well not just only HK but also Spain, Japan, or even my birthplace; Thailand.
I love the one where you took the vid @ Victoria Peak. Nowadays, all of the past is completely dissapear, nothing but the skycrapers and the gigantic towers.
Did the camera which you used to take the vids at the time still working?
Afrarius26135 2 years ago 6
I used a high quality Swiss made Paillard Bolex 16mm camera. Sold it long ago and use now a HD video camera. See my Spitsbergen cruise vids.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
Where do you come from by the way, and how can you got there at the time?
Afrarius26135 2 years ago 5
Read my profile on YouTube. I was stationed there for a Dutch bank from 1949 till 1955
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
@MichaelRogge That must have been a dream job. Now only the top execs get postings in foreign countries. It was a different time...
DukeAlba 2 years ago
Yes, in later years Chinese and Portugese took over the head of department functions. I was born at a favorable time: 1929, although my father lost all of his money then. But I escaped persecution by the German occupators. After the war there was a great demand for young people to be sent overseas, but many hesitated to leave their country for six years on end. I never saw my father again.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
Mr Rooge, what you filmed and shared to us here are so important to us, the Hong Kong young people.
Thanks a lot!!!!
Will u come to Hong Kong again?
josephinechingng 2 years ago 7
I'm afraid that I shall not return again to the once splendid place.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
absolutely awesome video. I was born 2 years after this video. This is like going back in time right in front of eyes
psychochun 2 years ago 7
You never thought something called youtube and internet that could show your great work then. This one is in color. Is color "video camera" only avaliable in 1962? Did they call it a "video camera"?
gary1yim 2 years ago 7
The term video was hardly known at the time as there was no television. The clips are made from Kodachrome 16mm colourfilm digitalized. My camera was called cine camera, or movie camera by Americans.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
hartelijk dank
gary1yim 2 years ago 7
Oh wow, this is just amazing... thank YOU!
Apt192 2 years ago 10
Michael, thank you very much for sharing such valuable video. I like Central in its old day because many grand historical buildings still be there.
hksparkler 2 years ago 8
some part look abit like london...
knight7fox2 2 years ago 8
1962, my mom was only a year old. It's great to have no other voice over, one can hear the sounds of the street better. The clip still strangely feels so contemporary. Thank you for uploading it.
Akibatai00 2 years ago 8
Mandarin still under construction, time really flies
eddielung31 2 years ago 8
@eddielung31 You mean the Mandarin Hotel, with Prince's Building on the other side of Des Voeux Road Central - oh yes, and the footbridge between the two.
gedanate 1 year ago
Yes, that's how it looked like. I was there. Thanks Michael.
TaipoRoad 2 years ago 6
THANKS A LOT
birdleung 2 years ago 5
Thank you for taking the time to post these videos. One sees the old pictures but seldom have I come across videos. These are true gems. Thanks again! From HK.
digdigdig1 2 years ago 12
Mr Rogge,
Thank you very much for posting such valuable clips of Hong Kong. I am a Chinese Hong Kong person and I am so glad to see how HK was like when my parents was a child, or in their youth. It's such a pity that the HK Governmenmt does not regard the cultural importance of its heritage. Anyway, thanks for your contribution to fill in the gap. A friend of HK!!
spcs19 2 years ago 7
What I pity most is the old Central Post Office being torn down when I was around 10.
Uncle Michael, do you have a clip showing the old Central Post Office?
raymondkkng 2 years ago 5
Sorry, somehow I seem to have overlooked that great Victorian building. Here in Holland we have committees that guard over our cultural heritage not being torn down. Amsterdam's buildings have not changed that much in a century. I remember the building quite well, though.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
Uncle Michael, if my distant memory is correct, old Central Post Office was located at the junction of Des Voeux Rd and Pottinger St?
That's really a pity! If our HK heritage conservation education/power could have been grown 20 years earlier, you would still see many historical buildings now, a reason for you to come back again!
raymondkkng 2 years ago 4
@raymondkkng
The Old Post Office was built with granite taken from Lantau Island. It is a true made-in-HK gem.
jafaru 2 years ago
Hi, does 1:41 the pedder street? seems like it
martingdgd 2 years ago 4
I was born in 1967, and this video also recall all my childhood memories. Thanks you nice guy.
Greeting from Hong Kong
klsuperman 2 years ago 3
Nice to watch this clip showing the previous old time of Hong Kong Central, the place that I've just been recently. There are things that we can't see anymore... one of those is the elder people's living style in the old Hong Kong...
Thanks for sharing ^.^
the50s60s 2 years ago 4
Your set of video of old Hong Kong is something that I am sure even RTHK would love to get their hands on, this is truly wonderful.
Thank you!
jackhon 2 years ago 3
............gorgeous....
roost137 2 years ago 2
Your collection of old Hong Kong Videos is absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing!
gthsoo 2 years ago 4
This is great. Thank you for sharing
mbrooks1976 2 years ago
很懷念的童年回憶景象!!
akwong96 2 years ago 3
很羨慕你曾經在那個時空生活過 : (
kuromikuromi 2 years ago
Comment removed
kuromikuromi 2 years ago
I guess probably the SARS government is so naive to think if they ignore everything related to the history that HK was a former British Colony before '97, then the fact and history itself will simply disappear, gone, vanished. Eventually the government will think the HK people will also forget everything. Such pity.
yuetkukoihoje 2 years ago
Thank you so much for taking the effort to digitize these old films! Instant subcribe!!!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
cloneofsnake 2 years ago
while in mainland china, they are ready for glorious Cultural Revolution. Now they have Ghost net...great
o10ciano 2 years ago
Indeed I combined some movies around a central theme. The ones from 0,53 are from the early fifties. I had some additional scenes taken by a friend of mine in 1962 to complete my TV film.
MichaelRogge 2 years ago
WOW, it's amazing ! Thanks Michael. But is this the HK back in 1962 ? I notice the color of the clip changed at 0:53, could it be a different clip that you just combined together ? One other thing is that you mentioned you stationed in HK form 1949 to 1955, how come this clip dated in 1962 ? Anyway I love to watch more clips like this one, I always think that old Hong Kong was much more beautiful, with clearer sky and fresh air, it also had a sense of romance, do you have more ?
artamerican 2 years ago 2
I am looking forward to watching more old HK videos, as it can let me know more about my birthplace "HK".
andyhui0812 3 years ago
this is amazing
spongy55 3 years ago
I'm turning 50 this year, and these sights and sounds are part of my earliest memories... Thank you for your wonderful films.
pinkysgrl 3 years ago
It's sad that most of the Hong Kong people only like everything NEW!
quangkhanhsam 3 years ago
REALLY historical here i like it
George21T 3 years ago
2:25 Haha the headlines read "All missles disarmed"
Must've been October-November
Roodosutaa 3 years ago
Yes, the Manderin Hotel was still under construction. The City hall was just completed.I think I was swining around at City Hall with my parents. I was only two then. Still sucking my little thumb !
canman5060 3 years ago
good old days......
ilovecopycat 3 years ago
This is simply amazing! Thank you, Michael, for treasuring these valuable footages of HK in the old days. I am especially impressed by the high picture quality (don't know how you managed to do so). At 0.15, I think the building being constructed is the Mandarin Oriental...
kat2877 3 years ago
They were filmed on the just released Kodachrome II 16mm film and professionally digitalized.
MichaelRogge 3 years ago
MichaelRogge,
Both new and old governments disdained to do
such records. You earned the hearts of the people watched these. You generously share
your valuable and rare collections is great appreciated. Tons of thanks.
googlebly 3 years ago
A fantastic historical record. Thank you for posting all your films Michael.
gragrn 3 years ago
the first building is still here right?
euvucan 3 years ago
When I came to HK in 1949 it was not there. I believe it was constructed ten years later or so. I suppose it is still there. I haven't been to HK in thirty years!
MichaelRogge 3 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
MichaelRogge,
Both new and old governments disdained to do
such records. You earned the hearts of the people watched these. You generously share
your valuable and rare collections is greatly appreciated. Tons of thanks.
googlebly 3 years ago
You must come here and see what Hong Kong looks like now! Lots of change but personally I like old Hong Kong.
harrisyoutube 2 years ago
the tall building and i believe the paring lots are still there
vin1214 3 years ago
By the way, the buildings shown at 0:13 & 0:24 shouldnt be demolished. They looked so elegant. These ancient buildings are really hard to seen in Todays Hong Kong!
alfeewusy 3 years ago 2
That's Hong Kong Club. Governors used to work in there. Maybe it had some secrecy inside so the British government pulled it down.
rlywtf 3 years ago
Old Central, Hong Kong was looked so elegant comprised with ancient buildings! Ive gone through your mostly video clips from your film. One thing has to be mentioned is those background music were perfectly added that made them more touching & memorable! Thanks for sharing!
alfeewusy 3 years ago
oh ma god....
they're all grannies right now
kobeip 3 years ago
Thankyou very much Michael,i will watch your films with my son.
yf21 3 years ago
simply amazing !!!
makwaiwing 3 years ago
Wow the sky was so blue back then. Thank you for all these amazing videos.
mediatapwater 3 years ago 4
The City Hall looked so modern.
lchan80 3 years ago
wow this video very good
wfcandrewkit1999 3 years ago
Amazing, just the thing I've been looking for. Thank you so much for posting these videos up here to share with us. The HK Govt's attitude towards your offer sadly reflects the problem with young Hong Kongers these days as a whole... no regard for anything "old"! Sad.
vaultsofry 3 years ago
Thanks for sharing the old hong kong! i must let my mom see those video!! my mom very miss the old time when she was childhood!! Thank you so much!!
DRMETALLIZED 3 years ago
Thanks so much for sharing these precious films, I have been living in HK these last 12 years and only just cought the last 6 months of the Colonial era here, yet I have a great fascination for HK's bygone years, sadly I'm in the minority..thanks again, really great to see..1964 the year the beatles came too!
w1lf1ewoo 3 years ago