Welcome to Gwulo

Here you'll findover 50,000 pages about old Hong Kong to explore, including over30,000 photos. The content is added by a friendly community of people who enjoy sharing what we know about Hong Kong's history, and you are very welcome tojoin us.

Kind regards, David

P.S. To receive more old Hong Kong photos and stories, please sign up for ourfree weekly newsletter.

How to spot clues in old photos

Submitted byDavid on

In this video I'll show how to spot the little clues that help pin down a photo’s location, then use them to show a century of changes along Pottinger Street:

(If the video didn’t appear above, pleaseclick here to watch it on Youtube).

Upgrade - London talk - Chinese translation - Missing wartime diaries

Submitted byDavid on

Gwulo website upgrade

The Gwulo website is back online again after I've finished upgrading the software that runs it. The next job is to fix the problems that inevitably occur after an upgrade like this.

London talk on 5th April

[Update: we're now fully booked for this talk. Thank you to everyone who has booked, and I look forward to seeing you on the 5th.]

If you attended theGwulo's farewell talk I gave in Hong Kong last year, and can think of any friends in the UK who might enjoy it, please could you let them know I will give the talk again in London on 5th April? When I last checked there were only 10 seats still available for the 70-seat venue, so I'm hoping we can make it a full house.

Chinese translation of Gwulo's first book

Some exciting news for Gwulo's books: I've signed a contract with a Hong Kong publisher to publish a Chinese-language translation ofVolume 1 ofOld Hong Kong Photos and The Tales They Tell. That's all I can say at the moment, but I'll share more details when I can.

Missing wartime diaries

The dailyWartime Diaries emails couldn't be sent during the website upgrade. If you'd like to catch up on the missed days, please use the links below:

83 years ago

82 years ago

81 years ago

80 years ago

It's upgrade time again

Submitted byDavid on

The software used to run the Gwulo website needs to be upgraded. It isn't as big a project as the last major upgrade in 2022, but this upgrade will still take several weeks.

I've created a new forum where I'll post updates on progress, and where you can report any problems:2025 Gwulo upgrade

During this time I'll focus on getting the upgrade finished ASAP, so I won't be sending out any new newsletters or videos, and my responses to emails and messages on the website will be delayed. From time to time the website will be unavailable as I make updates to the software.

If you're missing the newsletters you can alwaysvisit theWhat's new page, to see what Gwulo's contributors have added lately.

I'll send out the next newsletter once the upgrade is complete.

Regards, David

1960 Hong Kong in colour slides

Submitted byDavid on
1960 View over Central

Visit 1960 Hong Kong via twenty colour slides. As always, lots of clues to explore, plus a mystery with the Furama Hotel I hope you'll be able to explain.

(If the video doesn’t appear below, pleaseclick here to watch it on Youtube). 

Here are links to more information about the various topics mentioned, listed by the time they appear in the video:

New on Gwulo: 2025, week 05

Submitted byDavid on

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:

 

Organisations & People

There have been some great stories added these last two weeks:

  • The epic is the almost 500-pageMum's diaries by Jon Rollins. As the name suggests, it is based on diary entries written by his mother, Phyllis Lang, in Hong Kong, Macau, and finally England, during the years 1941-46. When it starts she is aged 19, and studying at Hong Kong University, so we get a very different view of life in wartime Hong Kong than we've seen in previous diaries. If you had family members in Hong Kong at that time, you might want to start with theIndex of Names to see if they are mentioned.

     
  • February 1944 saw American pilot Donald Kerr shot down over Kai Tak airfield.His journal of the dogfight, parachuting to the ground, and the long escape to free China makes fascinating reading.

     
  • Chandru Vaswani writes about his father, Assudamal Hashmatrai VASWANI [1899-1949]. Chandru knows his father was arrested, tortured, and imprisoned by the Japanese during WW2, and is hoping to find out more about why that happened. We've been able to add some details, but any extra information will be gratefully received.

     
  • Moving post-war, Martin Reynolds has posted his mother Shirley Gillard's impressions of visits to Repulse Bay, Fanling, a Japanese circus, etc., after she came out to HK in 1956 as a young teacher with the Army School at Murray Barracks.

     
  • Stuart Braga continues his series of biographies of the thirteen Braga siblings with a page for Paul BRAGA [1910-1989], businessman and fine arts collector.

Other people:

 

General

 

Places & Streets