From egg tarts to the Star Ferry: 25 objects that tell us this is Hong Kong
- Trams and cast-iron postboxes speak to the history of the city, while delicacies such as fishballs and egg waffles are street food essentials
- Octopus cards, cable cars and red, white and blue bags have become synonymous with Hong Kong
1. Tram
Affectionately called “ding dings” for the sound of their bells, the iconic trams are one of the earliest forms of public transport in the city, trundling through the streets of Hong Kong Island. When Hong Kong Tramways was founded in 1904, its first fleet of 26 tramcars were all single-deck. Now its 165-strong fleet includes one of the world’s few remaining double-decker trams, carrying an average of 200,000 passengers a day.
2. Dim sum
A 2015 survey by lifestyle website healthyD estimated about 800 million dishes of dim sum were consumed annually by Hongkongers, who on average ate dim sum meals 5.6 times a month. The top three favourite dim sum are shao mai, shrimp dumpling, and sweet custard bun. As of September 2021, there were 4,325 Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong, staffed by 83,240 people. Amid the Covid slump in 2021, their total restaurant receipts amounted to HK$92.69 billion, compared with HK104.3 billion in 2015.
3. Silk stocking milk tea
The bizarre name tells the charm of this tea-making method. The filter used to separate tea leaves looks much like pantyhose. Cooks say that the “pantyhose” can make the tea smooth and milky. The brewing technique earned the Hong Kong-style milk tea a place in the city’s list of official intangible cultural heritage in 2014.
4. Mark Six
