Milestones in Hong Kong history: its first 7-Eleven, first shopping mall, first fusion restaurant, first Lan Kwai Fong club and more – do you know them?

What better time to celebrate nostalgia than Mid-Autumn Festival? We look back at some of Hong Kong’s turning points that shaped the city we know today

Reading Time:9 minutes

Cheng Wai-ching has worked six days a week at 7-Eleven throughout the chain’s 40-year history in Hong Kong. Photo: Antony Dickson

Published: 9:15am, 19 Sep 2021Updated: 10:17am, 19 Sep 2021

Hong Kong is ever-changing: skyscrapers and tower blocks mushroom on the city’s skyline, land is reclaimed along the harbourfront, new neighbourhoods redefine cool as transport networks spread their tentacles. And throughout the course of its history, social change in the city has been marked by a series of milestones that have shaped the way we live today.

As Beijing tightens its grip and Hong Kong teeters on the brink of yet more change, there is a palpable air of nostalgia – and what better time to celebrate nostalgia than during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Here, Post Magazine looks back at some famous Hong Kong firsts – from temples and social housing to nightspots and restaurants; turning points that in one way or another have signalled change in Hong Kong.

Staff get ready to serve drinks at the grand opening of the Yau Ma Tei branch of Tai Ping Koon in 1964. Photo: Tai Ping Koon

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