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The emergence of itinerant hawker in Hong Kong


From 1940s to 1960s, there was an influx of new immigrants from rural areas in Mainland China to Hong Kong due to unstable political tensions in China (eg. Chinese civil war and Cultural Revolution). Most of the new immigrants were uneducated and unskilled, thus becoming part of the lower class population in Hong Kong. Becoming an Itinerant Hawker is the main way for them to earn a living with low operating cost. The flexible nature of itinerant hawker allows people to keep moving in areas of the downtown section so they can operate business effectively with a bustling of stream of customers. The Itinerant Hawkers usually sold daily necessities with food and clothings to people from the lower working class. At that time, Hong Kong was experiencing a bad economy and the working class usually have to support big families, resulting in the rise of ‘family consumption’. These families bought their basic necessities from the Itinerant Hawkers, thus providing a source of living for itinerant hawkers.

The development of itinerant hawker in society


From 1960s-1970s, the number of hawkers exceeded 300,000 people. An enormous number of hawkers existed as there were no shopping malls or markets and existing regulations imposed upon hawkers in Hong Kong. The rise in Itinerant Hawkers in the beginning of 1970s was also stimulated by the 1973 stock market crash and 1974 energy crisis, forcing the closure of factories in the manufacturing industry of Hong Kong. Many workers lost their jobs and they attempted to make a living by being an Itinerant hawker. However with accompanying social developments, where Hong Kong grew increasingly urbanized and moving towards industrialization, the British government noticed that the trade of itinerant hawker were causing problems concerning hygiene, safety and street congestion. As such, a licensing system to regulate these hawkers was implemented in 1970s. After the implementation of this system, only 39,033 licensed hawkers could operate their business legally and 6000 illegal hawkers were left. Thus, the number of itinerant hawkers declined sharply thereafter.

Feature of itinerant hawkers in Hong Kong






The food that itinerant hawkers usually sell is cheaper, such as curry fishballs and Fake Shark's Fin Soup 碗仔翅. People can buy some for snack when they passed by. Moreover, the operation venue of these hawkers are unstable, usually they may exist in some public housing estate rather than commercial area. To the resident live nearby, it will be a habit for them to buy food. The relationship between the hawkers and customers become more friendly as they know each others well. It is difficult to find these kind of relationship in Hong Kong. There are a lot of chain stores selling brand name bags, milk powder, make-up products etc. These small shops is difficult to find as the rent in Hong Kong is facing unaffordable inflation.

In Cultural aspect
It can increase the atmosphere of the street. The method of operating and the spirit of “never give up” can be the culture of Hong Kong people from the history of it” A student, Leung Yin Ling, who studies about the cultural in Ling Nan University of Hong Kong claimed in her book: Disappearing of Itinerant Hawker Culture (消失中的小販文化). Since there were mass chain stores in Hong Kong, the unique and special stores are distorting. Itinerary hawkers not only a job, but also symbolize as the local food culture of Hong Kong.

In Economic aspect
Hong Kong is named as Food Paradise, however, this honour no longer keeps in the world. The Night Market in Taiwan will replace Hong Kong to get this honour with the policies supported by Taiwan government. ” Hong Kong only can rely on the street food and Dai Pai Dong to act as food paradise is not an effective way. If the policies of monitoring itinerary hawker too harsh, there is no room for the better development of Hong Kong food culture. “said by the local scholar who studies Hong Kong Local cultural Ma Kwok Ming. Therefore, if the Hong Kong government encourages the itinerary hawker to do better in promoting food culture and hygiene aspects, this can boost the tourism of Hong Kong.

Before the 1970s
Since there was no licensing system of street hawking, it gave rise to the huge amount of uncontrollable hawkers. According to the estimate from the Hong Kong Hawkers Association, there were more than 70,000 street hawkers in Hong Kong in 1949. On one hand, street hawking rendered employment opportunities for the lower classes. On the other hand, the enormous numbers of street hawkers could create many social problems such as noise nuisance and street congestion. In addition, it was condemned that street hawking led to an unfair competition to market since they only had to pay an annual license fee of HK$1,000 to HK$3,ooo depending on the size and location which was much lower than the skyrocketing rent paid by shop and stall tenants.

From the 1970s to 2010
Under the above controversies, the British government realized that there were needs to regulate street hawking. The two former municipal councils took a series of measures to limit the numbers of itinerant hawkers. In the 1970s, issuing new Itinerant Hawker Licence as well as the succession and transfer of the licence were banned, meaning that ”once a hawker retires that licence is not reissued”. In 2002, a five-year voluntary surrender scheme was implemented to encourage itinerant hawkers to hand over their licences voluntarily “in exchange for a one-off ex gratia payment, rental of a vacant stall in public markets under concessionary terms, or becoming a (non-cooked food) fixed pitch hawker”. As a result, the number of legal hawkers drastically decreased from 50,000 in 1974 to about 6,000 in 2007.

In Recent Years
There are more requests from society to preserve the Hong Kong local culture of street hawking. Therefore, the Food and Health Bureau(FHB) and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEDH) are jointly reviewing the licensing policy. For instance, they are evaluating the possibility of issuing new mobile ice cream van licences.