About
Photo taken at Portland street in 2007 by UCLARodent.
Store signs are a good parameter of the wealthiness and liveliness of a city. Therefore, many tourists remember Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, for her characteristic night view, which comprises of countless store signs. Illuminated store signs, including neon store signs and LED store signs, are the reasons for our city to remain alive even at midnight. By digitising them, we can capture interesting moments in this non-sleeping city and help promote our home to the world.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong is also a city full of culture and history. Hand-written signs, found in many parts in Hong Kong, are one of the collective memories of Hong Kong people. From characteristic fonts to different writing styles, they have accompanied generations and generations of Hong Kong people, and observed the vast changes in the city. As these signs are becoming less common, it is important to digitise these signs so that people can continue to access them in the future.
Through this gallery, people from Hong Kong can get to know more about different styles of store signs in their hometown. For non-locals, it is a good chance to immerse into the characteristic ambience of this fragrant harbour. We hope that this gallery can raise the awareness of Hong Kong people about store signs which may disappear in the near future due to damage or replacement, so that this culture can be passed on to our next generations. More importantly, we would like to invite you to contribute to this gallery by taking photos of traditional Hong Kong store signs around your home or workplace!
Finally, thank you for being interested in this gallery and reading this introduction. Also, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to Dr. Xiao Hu and Mr. Jeremy Ng who have been supporting us throughout the whole semester.
Enjoy browsing!