Stories of Wooden Carts

(On Collison Course: This photo was taken at the Fruits Wholesale Market, a must-go for any photographer visiting Hong Kong. But beware that taking pictures of the workers there can get you cursed and bullied with four-letter words. Co-incidentally, the most common Cantonese foul expressions are also in four syllables. So, you should be able to know it when people with fierce eyes speak them to you. Interestingly, the most well-known Japanese foul expression is also in four syllables. This may bring us to some Chomskian discussion on the connection of anger, mothers and languages)

In Hong Kong, wooden carts come in many different sizes and shapes. Unlike other big cities, the metal version which you see in the offices are the minority here. Instead, these omnipotent wooden ones are ubiquituous. You see them in snack kiosks, eateries, factories, marketplaces, schools and rubbish collection stations, you name it.

(Limousine and Chauffeur: This garbage collection man shouts to passers-by to give way as he wheels his wooden limo through the busy street. There is an even longer version of which I am yet to have the luck to take a photo. Talking about limousine, this was what whisked me around to see dignitaries in town when I worked for a Consul-General to Hong Kong. I felt like a trillionaire each time I got out of the limo and saw heads turn)

If you have never tried wheeling a loaded wooden cart, I can tell you from my first-hand experience that it is not as easy as you may have thought. I worked as a cleaning worker for one school summer holiday as I said in a previous post. Well, I had actually been in quite a number of interesting positions. More on that when the time comes.

Back to wooden carts. They are not made in large factories whatsoever but by carpenters not of note. The skills in which are on the brink of being lost. The known surviving local carpenters making these carts are the Lees. Old Lee, who is an octogenarian now, and his wife of over 70 year old have been in the trade for more than 50 years. At the heyday, they received hundreds of orders each year, which are reduced to just one in several months now.

(Points and Lines: Points, lines and planes are the fundamental elements for certain forms of fine arts, including photography. If I can do one thing to make this photo better, I would like another worker moving a cart on the near end so that there would be two contrasting points connected by the lines to form an interesting segment on the image)

Knowing that this heritage of wooden cart manufacturing is vanishing, some architects and designers commissioned the Lees to make home furniture to order in a hope of getting more people to continue the trade. In a city on the fast track of development, the loss of old things often leaves a whistful sense in the locals growing up not being able to re-visit places and things in their memories.

When we grow really old, can we be able to teach our grandchildren to use films and slides to take photos. I really, really doubt. And that will be a pity waiting to happen.

(In the end, the man steeled the wooden cart through the bustling road. This happens every day in the Fruits Wholesale Market. Although accidents happened, the brave workers are as brave as can be. So, next time if you take photos there, be careful not to be too intrusive to make them angry. Otherwise, they may do whatever they are going to about you and there is virtually nothing that can deter them)