Sha Chen Department Store - Honey · Flower Note · Telephone T-Shirt

Sha Chen Department Store - Honey · Flower Note · Telephone T-Shirt Hong Kong was established as a port in 1842. By 1851, foreign brothel keepers were placing small advertisements in the *China Mail*: "At Mrs. Langdale's, a small quantity of the finest honey is for sale, also gin, brandy, sherry... Location: No. X, Floor X, Wellington Street, Victoria City." It's believed you're familiar with the other meaning of "honey" in English. The advertisement was, in fact, a veiled reference to "finest honey"—high-class foreign courtesans awaiting gentlemen on Gage Street. It's said that foreigners would offer flowers to win favor with courtesans, leading to the flower stalls gathered on the street giving Gage Street its Chinese name. Those in the know would quickly arrive with newspapers and fresh flowers. - As commercial trade gradually flourished, the first telephone company was established in Hong Kong in 1881, and advertisements for installers began appearing in newspapers. The term "德律風" (De Li Feng) was unfamiliar to the general public (some say it was a transliteration from Shanghainese dialect; others point to the "Tong Sheng" published in Hong Kong in the latter half of the 20th century, which included "De Li Feng" in the Cantonese-phonetic English learning guide "Hua Ying Tong Yu"). Its more widely known name is the translation "telephone," introduced from Japan. From the 1900s, Hong Kong's erotic entertainment scene shifted from Watermelon Square to the grand restaurants and dance halls of Shek Tong Tsui. Where there were "Western vegetables" (foreign courtesans), there were naturally "local prime vegetables" (native courtesans), with many exceptionally famous courtesans captivating thousands. Following the ancient tradition of courtesans being skilled in song and dance, the renowned courtesans of Shek Tong Tsui were graceful and elegant, never vulgar. "Guessing" (finger guessing games), "drinking" (a good capacity for alcohol), "singing" (vocal talent), and "beauty" (radiant appearance) were merely standard requirements. Starting with the fee of "one dollar chicken" (originating from guests at Shek Tong Tsui restaurants paying one dollar to write a "flower note" to summon a courtesan for drinks, conversation, or a song), the young masters entered a phase of extravagant spending. How many "filial sons" of that era spent their fortunes and devised ingenious schemes to win a smile from their beloved, not only burning money on sweet bean soup or folding banknotes into flower arrangements, but even installing the fashionable new device, the telephone—then only accessible to high-ranking officials and nobles—in their rooms, all in an effort to move their beloved. As they say, poverty limits imagination. If not for seeing Ruyi and Twelve Young Master in *Rouge*, we common folk would find it difficult to imagine such a Gatsby-esque life of drunken revelry. - Subsequently, telephones became increasingly popular, while Shek Tong Tsui declined for various reasons. In the early 1930s, the British government legislated against prostitution, which extended to the colony of Hong Kong. Alas, desire is human nature. After the complete ban on prostitution in 1935, euphemistic forms of erotic transactions like seeking "tour guides" began to emerge. "Tour guide agencies" became the "liver-soothing gardens" for admirers (the term "liver-soothing" was originally a medical term, but in Cantonese, it evolved to mean experiencing something pleasant and refreshing). Hotels would introduce guests, and with just a "dial" (Cantonese for making a phone call; old telephones had a rotary dial on the front with small holes numbered 1 through 9 and 0. One would insert a finger into the corresponding hole for each digit of the phone number and turn clockwise to dial), the "tour guide" would be summoned. Fate is unpredictable; the erotic industry, while driven underground, unexpectedly became intertwined with the telephone in this manner. The ebb and flow of human affairs, the myriad aspects of life, weave together the hundred years of romantic change in Hong Kong. - This very real (and grand) history, infused with our own imagination, has become the pattern. The extravagance and opulence of old Hong Kong, in which the telephone played an extraordinary role. Therefore, we have taken inspiration from a corner of the telephone booth at the Hong Kong Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park, which once hosted exotic dance performances, to create "Honey · Flower Note · Telephone."