Photo of the day No. 29 - The Bank of China Hong Kong 1967
Culture Wars with the old Hong Kong Hilton Hotel
Me Jamie, your host, I am English and I have lived in Hong Kong for 53 years - I know the place.
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Photo of the day No. 29 - The Bank of China Hong Kong 1967
Culture Wars with the old Hong Kong Hilton Hotel
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Hong Kong in 1967: When the Bank of China Building in Central Became a Giant Propaganda Machine
“Hang David Trench.
It’s not often a major financial institution calls for the murder of a Hong Kong leader, but that’s exactly what happened in 1967, when a red banner was hoisted outside the Bank of China’s headquarters on Des Voeux Road Central. David Trench was the British governor of Hong Kong at the time and a prime target for revolutionary propaganda. But he was far from the only one.
“Stew the White-Skinned Pig”
“Fry the Yellow Running Dogs”
“Blood for Blood”
“Down With British Imperialism”
All of these slogans were accompanied by loudspeakers blasting calls for revolution. It was an echo of the tumult that was occurring across the border in mainland China, where, in 1966, Mao Zedong had unleashed a chaotic Cultural Revolution aimed at upending every pillar of Chinese civilisation – at least to the extent that it allowed him crush his rivals and consolidate his power.”
This is part of the opening text from a fabulous article by Zolima Magazine in Hong Kong in 2018, please read the full article by clicking on the link above. The photograph is courtesy of the Information Services Department of the Hong Kong Government.
We arrived in Hong Kong on January 2nd 1972 and missed out on the 1967 troubles but I must stress that this image could have been taken in 1972, 1972 Hong Kong looked exactly the same and my dilemma was do I talk about the Hong Kong Hilton Hotel which was my old stomping ground as an 11 year old or do I talk about the Bank of China Building which I visited today 25th March 2025 and still looks exactly the same minus the red banners and speakers, so why not both!
One of my saddest days in Hong Kong was the day they started to demolish the Hong Kong Hilton Hotel in 1995 (it opened in 1963) it was an absolutely epic Hotel with an amazing lobby and the father of my best friend in school here had a tailors shop in the lobby which is why I spent so much time in there, plus they had a great coffee shop called Cat Street Cafe and I was in there just prior to it being demolished.
James Clavell wrote my favourite book which is called Noble House, 1,000+ pages charting Hong Kong in 1963 (actually it was 1963 - 1972 and all the events in the book actually happened) he really nailed it and the Hong Kong Hilton and the Bank of China old headquarters were featured heavily in the book., I should point out that the American Consulate in Hong Kong was (and still is) a 6 minute walk up Garden Road next to the Hilton, the US Consulate has a 999 year lease.
On the right of the Bank of China is the old Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank headquarters which was a similar design to the Bank of China, it is literally today a 10 yard walk between the 2 banks! and naturally the newish (1985) HSBC Headquarters is much taller than the old Bank of China and the Bank of China responded with the new Bank of China in 1990 (on the site next to the Hilton Hotel) which is 72 floors and it dwarfs HSBC, that put an end to that contest!
Legend has it that the CIA operated in Hong Kong back in 1967 and rented rooms in the Hong Kong HIlton Hotel to spy on the Bank of China, I absolutely believe that.
Zolima magazine also wrote another great article about the old Bank of China, see link below and well worth a read, for myself I always like to look at these old iconic images, after 53 years here it brings back a lot of memories.
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Consultants Hong Kong | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong |
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