Shek Tong Tsui, I don’t think you know this place. It’s at the west of HK Island. Before 2014 when HK MTR set up the Shek Tong Tsui Station, no one in HK really care about this place. But 100 years before, it’s the craziest place in HK. Rich people spent a lot money at Shek Tong Tsui. It’s the place of love and eros. We call it “Erotic Romance of the West Quarry”.
>石塘咀位於香港島的西邊，今天是一個名不經傳的地方，在2014年港鐵開通前，更是沒有什麼人留意的地方。不過，在100年前，它是全香港最熱鬧的地方，是富人們花錢最多的地方，也是愛與恨最多的地方，我們有一個名字稱呼石塘咀：「塘西風月」。

<center>![DSC04777.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmSoMRC9Dec3tUYNAcNKDf7FDTGb3PwEUGsZ2h5cEVFsTU/DSC04777.jpg) </center>

Prostitution was one of the most important of HK Government in the early 20th century. In 1902, the population of HK increased to 500K. The government found the land of Sheung Wan was not enough for Chinese and decided to develop Shek Tong Tsui. There were nothing in Shek Tong Tsui except quarry. So how to attract people to there? Ar! Let’s move all the brothels to Shek Tong Tsui. So, all the Chinese brothels at Sheung Wan were moved to Shek Tong Tsui. 
>娼妓是二十世紀初期香港政府重要的稅收項目，在1902年，香港人口由當初的二千人增至50萬人，政府有感上環一帶的土地不夠給華人應用，故決定開發上環西邊的石塘咀。但是，石塘咀一片荒涼之地，如何吸引人們搬到那裡？呀！就把所有妓院全搬到那裡吧！就是這樣，整個上環的華人妓院都被逼遷到石塘咀。

<center>![02-2.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmekPjYcTUyimrfdMPoVNdVT9JyhahVS5j6q33UkKJ6vym/02-2.jpg)
Shek Tong Tsui, 1920 (photo from hkheadline) </center>

At the early stage, the business was bad as people were not willing to go to Shek Tong Tsui until the first world war. People found life is impermanent and they cherished their life by going to brothels. At the peak period, there were more that 100 brothels. Number of prostitutes was over 2000 and 50,000 people were working related to brothels! (the population of HK was 500,000)
>初期石塘咀的妓院生意一落千丈，但自第一次世界大戰後，港人有感世事無常，及時行樂，竟讓石塘咀的妓院生意起死回生，高峰期的石塘咀有過百妓院，香港50萬人口，妓女超過2000人，更有5萬人從事與妓院相關的生意！

<center>![01-2.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWKD9QnVdt7R1LAZQnu28byFx8SMNEygPw5T7gZwGH5Q2/01-2.jpg)
Another photos of prothels of Shek Tong Tsui (photo form hkheadline) </center>

From the HK University to Shek Tong Tsui, there is a road called “Hill Road”. In the 1920s, it’s the road of brothels. The “Big Four Brothels”, Choi Fa, Wing Ngok, Yee Hung and Foon Tak, were just located at the Hill Road. Those sought-after prostitutes were already not measured by money. People may spend a year keep sending gifts, just to get a chance to dine with the sought-after prostitute. At the time, a banquet costed around $10 (almost US$120 today). And the price of the prostitute dining with you costed $100!
>今天從香港大學往石塘咀的山道，就是當年妓院林立之處，亦是四大名寨所在：賽花、詠樂、倚紅及歡得，當時曾有一句說話：「賽花姑娘歌舞精、詠樂阿姑最俏、倚紅阿姑曲藝佳、歡得姑娘極銷魂」，可見石塘咀的黃業是多麼興盛。四大名寨各有名妓，這些名妓已不是金錢可以得到了，據說不少公子哥兒，又送禮又設宴，足足一年才有機會與名妓吃一餐飯！而當時石塘咀最高級酒樓設一宴大約$10，應是今天的美金千多元吧，而名妓陪吃飯的價錢可是上百元！可見當年的誇張程度。

<center>![DSC04773.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQma21rZjHef8KWG4cZUSpHhaMvHNR2pjZNiNhzqRZXbeVW/DSC04773.jpg)
![DSC04775.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmda1S6YTykFSkFGoMdAwALvtPZ7paKh6FehgQZwZgm9eK/DSC04775.jpg)
Hill Road nowadays</center>

<center>![20130223124804_8779.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPdNWHP2xY2nzHdS3vP7kgwVCtJxKzggJPjwwFt2Rco5T/20130223124804_8779.jpg)
![DSC04777.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmSoMRC9Dec3tUYNAcNKDf7FDTGb3PwEUGsZ2h5cEVFsTU/DSC04777.jpg)
The Big Four Brothels, from 1920s to 2018</center>

<center>![DSC04778.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmeeeEcEkF4jvtvTrbcMLPnG3ffhyHJ24xR69KDj5v6VpP/DSC04778.jpg)
![DSC04781.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmR4yJDXy8EWn522Uvzo3YS9826MVDs2jitVAkZ6M5UNSE/DSC04781.jpg)
We can’t see anything related to brothels todays</center>

Don’t look down on the prostitutes. They may even have the power to save the country. The most famous prostitute of Shek Tong Tsui was Fa Ying Hang. She was initially prostitute of Guangzhou. Later she became the sugar baby of a politician but discovered by his wife. Together with Japanese started invading China, Fa decided to move to HK and became the most famous prostitute. 
At that time, there were a lot of singing contests and beauty contests in HK sponsored by HK rich people. And the sponsorship was actually sent to China to fight against the Japanese. Fa always joined the contests hoping to raise the amount of sponsorship and she even donated $700 to the Nationalist Party of China. 

Fa suicided at the age of 22.

>大家不要小看塘西名妓的力量，她們甚至可以救國！塘西名妓中，最出名的應該是花影恨了。花影恨本是廣州名妓，從被一名政客包養，卻被政客的妻子發現，加上日本開始侵華，無奈之下，花影恨決定來港發展，成為塘西第一名妓。當時香港經常舉辦歌唱及選美比賽，讓富人贊助比賽，贊助金實則是籌款救國，花影恨熱烈參加各樣比賽，以望提高贊助金額，更曾自己捐助國民政府七百大元。

>可惜，花影恨於廿二之年感懷身世，自殺身亡。

<center>![300px-Ms._Chu_Sau_Chun_(1939,_Hong_Kong_Singer).gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfGtmSYoxrnFjT123fhusYSXaCAeg2RhMY7wbKsiTDhCy/300px-Ms._Chu_Sau_Chun_(1939%2C_Hong_Kong_Singer).gif)
Fa Ying Hang, what do you think? (photo from Wikipedia) </center>

<center>![03-1.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYPaKys4vZpCskFFMjqz319nAbhQBMqE1Rgx3rmXvz5L9/03-1.jpg)
News of Fa joining singing contest (photo form oldhkphoto.com)</center>

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Due to the business of Brothels in Shek Tong Tsui, a lot of side business were also thriving. One of them was Chinese Restaurant. In the restaurant, the rich people did many crazy things, just to get the notice from sought after prostitutes. Let me tell you in the next post. 
>因為塘西妓院的興旺，讓很多附屬生意同樣興盛，如接載客人來街上環與石塘咀的人力車，還有就是酒樓，在塘西的酒樓，富人們為了奪取美人芳心，留下了不少荒唐的故事，且讓我下回為大家一一道來。

!steemitworldmap 22.2861677 lat 114.1350763 long d3scr

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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！
 
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