Hong Kong Snapshot (51) Touch the moving Tram! Chun Yeung Street 香港隨拍 (51) 觸摸行走中的電車！春秧街

I believe every tourist of Hong Kong knows the tram. The Tram is the oldest transportation of Hong Kong. It is a must try transportation for every visitor. If you ask which part of the 13KM tram rail is the most wonderful, I would say the Chun Yeung Street in North Point.

相信來過香港的朋友都知道香港著名的電車，電車是香港最古老的交通工具，更是來港必定要一試的交通工具，不過全長13公厘的電車路程，你又知道最有趣的路段是哪一段嗎？我會說是北角春秧街的那一段。

You may have heard about the Maeklong Railway Market in Bangkok, Thailand. There is a railway building in the market. The train just pass by you! In Chun Yeung Street, you have get the similar experience.

相信有些朋友會聽過泰國曼谷的美功鐵路市場，那裡竟有一段火車路軌建在市場之間，火車往往在你身邊擦身而過，而在北角春秧街，你也可以擁有類似的感受。

This is the Maeklong Railway Market
這是美功鐵路市場
(photo from hopetrip.com)

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Chun Yeung Street is a famous traditional market in Hong Kong. One side of the market is selling dry goods, clothes and accessories. The other side is a wet market selling meat and vegetable. Visitors may feel the two feature of HK traditional market at the same time. But the most surprising feature of Chun Yeung Street is the tram path in the middle of the market.

春秧街是香港一個著名的露天市場，一邊賣的有乾貨、雜貨、衣服、飾物，而另一邊則是各種肉類蔬果，遊客可以同一時間體驗香港的傳統市集及傳統街市的氣氛。而春秧街最大的特色，就是在市集中間的電車路軌，電車在你身邊擦身而過。

The dry market 乾貨的一邊

The wet market 濕貨的一邊

Chun Yeung Street is named after South Asia trader Kwok Chun-yeung. Kwok was a one of the biggest sugar trader in South Asia from late 19th to early 20th century. He was also one of the richest Chinese at that time. Being born in Fujian of China, the sugar factories of Kwok spread over the whole South East Asia. The land around Chun Yeung Street was developed by Kwok. That’s why it is named as “Chun Yeung Street”.

春秧街命名自南洋商人郭春秧，祖藉福建的郭春秧，郭春秧是十九世紀末至二十世紀初的著名糖商，糖廠遍佈東南亞，他更時當時全球最富有的華人之一，而春秧街一帶的土地，就是郭春秧開發的，故街道以他為名。

Kwok Chun-yeung 郭春秧
(photo from Wikipedia)

In 1953, the tram service was extended to North Point. As the King’s Road, main road of North Point was to narrow to build a loop for U-turn, the tram company added a rail at Chun Yeung Street for the trams to turn back, making Chun Yeung Street a special experience.

在1953年，香港的電車綫路延伸至北角，但由於北角的主道路英皇道的寬度不足以建位讓電車掉頭的迴圈，故電車公司就在春秧街鋪路軌，讓電車能夠在春秧街掉頭，就是這個原因，讓春秧街成為了獨特的存在。

The tram coming closer and closer, and then leave
電車在離我們越來越近，穿過，又離去了

People in Chun Yeung Street just walk on the road until the tram comes. They stay at two side and come back to the road when the tram leaves. It’s a funny picture. As the tram is very very slow when passing Chun Yeung Street, you can even touch the tram without any danger. If you take the tram you have another experience. The market, the people seems just beside you. You can even have time to say hi or shake hand with the people on the street.

在春秧街購物的市民，往往都是走在馬路，直到電車駛來，大家才避往馬路兩旁，在這段路的電車都行駛極慢，我們是可以隨手觸摸行駛中的電車而沒有危險，當電車駛過後，大家又重新走回馬路上去，可說是春秧街的一大奇景。如果你坐在電車上，又會有另一番感覺，坐在窗前，眼前的市民和市集像是觸手可及，你甚至是有時間和電車外的市民打招呼甚至握個手！

I was touching the tram when taking this photo
我拍照時左手是在碰著電車的

By the way, not only trams, but also cars…
順帶一提，除了電車，這條街還有汽車…

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Another feature of Chun Yeung Street is its another title of “Little Fujian” and “Little Shanghai”. After World War II, because of the political chaos in China, many people in Fujian and Shanghai moved to Hong Kong. Due to the reason of Kwok Chun-yeung, many Fujian people moved to North Point. On the other hand, Kwok built the Ritz Garden Night Club which attracted a lot of rich Shanghai people to move to North Point. Today, 30% of the population of North Point is from Fujian and 10% is from Shanghai. So you may even find that people in Chun Yeung Street speaking Shanghainese and Hokkien (dialect of Fujian)!

春秧街的另一特色，就是它「小福建」和「小上海」的稱號。二次世界大戰之後，中國因為特別的原因(你懂的)，有很多福建人及上海上移居到香港，因為郭春秧是福建人的關係，很多福建人移居到北角春秧街一帶。另外郭春秧的兒子郭雙鳌當年在北角建有名震一時「麗池夜總會」，亦吸引了不少較為富有的上海人移居到北角。今天北角的福建人佔人口的30%，上海人則佔10%，在整個香港中都佔有一個較大的比例，所以福建和上海的朋友來到春秧街應會感到特別親切，因為你偶然會聽到店員和顧客會在說閩南話和上海話！

The street already forms a community
這條街道其實已是一個小社區

There’s a hotel in the street. You may try!
這裡有間酒店，下次不妨來住住！

However, land becomes the most expensive thing in Hong Kong. North Point, as an old district, old buildings are turning into new buildings. The market, the old buildings in Chun Yeung Street may leave us soon. So when Chun Yeung Street is still the street we are familiar with, treasure it and feel it.

不過，香港是一個寸土尺金的地方，作為舊區的北角，春秧街的新舊樓房也在不停交接中，這裡的市集和舊唐樓還可以存留多久，我們真的不知道，所以，趁著春秧街仍是我們熟識的春秧街時，好好珍惜這個地方，體驗傳統香港的精彩！

!steemitworldmap 22.2912572 lat 114.1956216 long d3scr

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謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！

Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!

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