(This old man is selling clothes on a sidewalk beside a busy road. The photo was taken with my GX200 set to the MY1 mode and the focus fixed at 1m focal distance)
As in any country in this part of the world, peddlers have a long history in Hong Kong. They are very good survivors of the tides of economy, especially when the economy is depressed. There is always a flourishing number of them whenever the unemployment rate is up. But don't mistake peddlers as poor people, they can be very rich. I know an information engineer who have been working for an European cellphone manufacturer hawked in the street during weekends for good money. To be exact, he sold cheap clothes using his makeshift mobile kiosk. Now he lives with his family in a bungalow worthy of almost US$1.5 million. Of course, hawking is just one of his source of income. The point is peddlers can be weathy people.
Without the need to pay for rents or taxes, hawking is a surefire way to restart a nomral living with a steady flow of income when people is unemployed or retired for whatever reasons. The haphazard growth of peddlers in an increasing number once forced the Bristish Colonial Government to budge. A 1958 government document shows that the number of peddlers was shooting up so fast that they were allowed to co-exist with the 42 government retail market throughout Hong Kong at that time, in effect ending the government's policy to curb hawking activities.
(A peddler in the street at an unspecified location in Hong Kong at 1920)
Before the return of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China, the now defunct Urban Council and Regional Council passed motions to eliminate peddlers in the street. The purge ceased when Hong Kong became one of the hardest hit city during the Asian Financial Crisis, giving rise to a large number of peddlers.
Apart from those with a fixed pitch, the licensed peddlers in Hong Kong have an interesting official title, "licensed itinerant hawker". The title suggests that these peddlers are supposed to move around in the street. Of course, for the unlicensed ones, it just doesn't matter at all.
(Old Hong Kong in this historical scene with peddlers of different trades)
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