Poetry / September 2016 (Issue 33)


Remembering Hong Kong as 39 Everyday Objects

by Antony Huen

Bing sutt’s pastel-coloured plastic plate/tea-coloured plastic cup
Dai pai dong’s toothpick/menu holder with the print of a beer brand
Cha chaan teng’s order pad with waiters’ scribbles
Vitasoy glass bottle
Turtle jelly china bowl
White paper cup with a maize-field print
Clay pot for clay-pot rice
Dim sum basket
Tea-coloured glass Lazy Susan
Long, hand-held barbecue fork

Bamboo pole for scaffolding
Bamboo bird-cage
Bamboo hat/broom
Lancelets the white plimsolls/blue plastic flip-flops
Suitcase
Red-white-blue bag
Post box/traffic light control box from before 1997
Orange rubbish bin
Blue ribbon
Street railing
Yellow ribbon/umbrella
Surgical mask

Metal folding chair with a circle wood-print seat
Rattan cane
Chung Hwa pencil
Aeroplane chess/Jungle the board game
Mahjong
Day calendar made of very thin paper

Tung shing the Chinese almanac
Kau cim stick
Joss stick
Fortune cat a Japanese talisman
Fai chun a Chinese New Year decoration

Lai see the red envelope with a trademark
Octopus card
Plastic 10-dollar note
Coin with a bauhinia’s blossom
Coin with the Queen’s head

Miss Hong Kong’s tiara
 
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