Traditional Hong Kong crafts in Sai Ying Pun celebrated by pop-up museum and app guide: we take a tour

Old-school craftsmanship and colourful characters still exist amid the hipster cafes and high-end restaurants of changing Sai Ying Pun, and a new pop-up museum and app show visitors the best of the area’s surviving past

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A new app guides users around the Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood, highlighting traditional crafts businesses and famous shops.

Published: 1:02pm, 2 Jul 2018Updated: 10:16am, 4 Jul 2018

Sai Ying Pun on the northwest part of Hong Kong Island has become more gentrified over the past few years, with hipster bars, cafes and high-end restaurants taking root after the MTR opened a station there in 2014 as a part of its Island Line extension.

Striking a balance between old and new is a constant battle across similar areas in the city, and conservationists have expressed fears that Sai Ying Pun’s old-style charm will fade as urban renewal increasingly knocks at its doors.

But two organisations are making sure people don’t forget the vital role that traditional crafts businesses play in the area.

iDiscover, an organisation with a mission to keep local heritage alive through stories shared via online guides and apps, and Sai Ying Pun community group Magic Lanes have launched the SYP Neighbourhood Museum, a two-week pop-up that started on June 30 on Sheung Fung Lane. An app-based neighbourhood guide has also been launched, and a colourful foldable map illustrated by local artist Carmen Ng, featuring 26 sites highlighting local cultural heritage – all hand-picked by locals – is available to buy.

The colourful foldable map illustrated by local artist Carmen Ng that serves as a neighbourhood guide to Sai Ying Pun.

Among the featured sites are Tuck Chong Sum Kee, a company that makes food steamers from single pieces of bamboo; Kwong Lam Kee, a homewares store selling items including hand-painted enamel pots and vases; and a tailor shop run by Lee Zam-kee, who still repairs clothes with his reliable vintage Singer sewing machine.

Archive image from 1971 of the Sai Ying Pun waterfront. Photo: SCMP