Hong Kong's Markets: Urban Contexts in Everyday Architecture 1842-1981 / By Shum-wing Sze

**Markets – a microcosm of the city, Hong Kong's history hidden in its streets.** **Why did the Hong Kong British government spare no effort in building public markets?** **What is the relationship between market design and urban governance?** **How did Hong Kong's modernist architecture come into being?** **How do markets from different periods reflect the changes in Hong Kong society?** As one of the earliest public buildings constructed after the British set foot in Hong Kong, public markets were primarily designed and built by the Public Works Department during the colonial period. Over the years, evolving from classical to modern styles, market architecture has responded to the social needs of different eras. The transformations in their management, distribution, and functions also reflect the city's history and social changes. Diverging from previous architectural studies, this book sets aside the reverence for iconic buildings to select everyday yet distinctive public markets for a longitudinal study. By extensively referencing primary historical materials and tracing the development of market architecture during the colonial period, the author analyzes the social, political, and economic contexts behind them. Connecting architectural history with Hong Kong's history, the book invites readers to rediscover "markets" and explore the urban memories they carry. ISBN: 978-988-237-273-3 Binding: Paperback Language: Traditional Chinese Pages: 280 Dimensions: 148 x 210 x 20mm **About the Author** Shum-wing Sze graduated from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a qualification as a registered architect in Hong Kong. She later completed her doctoral degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Lingnan University, primarily researching the history of housing, architecture, and urban planning in modern China and Hong Kong. She is currently leading several research projects funded by the Research Grants Council, including "The Hong Kong Public Works Department and Modernist Architecture" and "Hong Kong Resettlement Housing Estates." She is also dedicated to raising public awareness of urban history and architectural heritage, having shared her research findings at numerous public lectures and hosted the RTHK program "Architectural Insight" to introduce the history of urban and architectural development to the public. **Recommendations** This book offers a powerful and in-depth study of the architectural history of Hong Kong's markets since the 1840s, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of Hong Kong's everyday urban life, the composition of its public spaces, and the genesis of modernist architecture. Professor Shum-wing Sze uses public markets as a focal point, placing architecture within Hong Kong's social and economic history, achieving a new breakthrough in this regard. — HUI, Peter, UNESCO Chair Professor in Building Conservation and Management, Head of Department, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore Once upon a time, Hong Kong's markets presented a bustling yet orderly picture of street life. To improve sanitation, markets moved from the streets indoors; some lost their vitality, while others reformed their formats. This book reconstructs the past and present of markets, meticulously recording and analyzing the development and evolution of our city's most vibrant architecture – the markets. They connect the joys, sorrows, and struggles of generations, bearing witness to the changes in our city's daily life, and representing the values and aesthetics of different eras. Despite the prevalence of online shopping today, markets remain an irreplaceable cultural carrier for Hong Kong people's social interactions. — CHENG, Ping-hung, Associate Professor, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture, Former Member, Antiquities Advisory Board