This work is a selection from the exhibition "HONG KONG - Photographs by YAU Leung from the OP Collection" (LEE Ka-sing gallery June 26 thru July 15, 2007).
YAU Leung (1941- 1997, Hong Kong) is considered one of the most important photographers in the contemporary photo history of Hong Kong, China. With a career spanning over thirty years, Yau had amassed an overwhelming collection of street scenes and daily life of ordinary people which have become important historical evidence and social documents of the ex-colonial city.
The image Two Women, Wanchai, circa 60s was shot in the 60s, during the American/Vietnam war. Hong Kong was then frequented by battleships from the United States and the GIs would land on the Central part of Hong Kong (Wanchai, the little bay) and made their ways to one of the local bars along Lockhart Road and Jaffe Road - the famous red-light district in the heart of the city.
The novel "The World of Suzie Wong" (1957) by Richard Mason about the love affair between an English artist and a bar girl in Hong Kong has been adapted into a hit film in 1960 starring William Holden and Nancy Kwan. Though the film has been accused of stereotyping East Asian women, it also reflected the type of business flourished in the city at that time.
The women in Yau Leung's photograph wear cheongsam. Cheongsam (qipao) literally means "long dress" in Cantonese, and qipao means "banner dress" in Mandarin. It is a traditional dress for Chinese women and has undergone a lot of changes and improvements since the early 1900s. The style of cheongsams in Hong Kong in the 60s were usually tight-fit and covering the knees. This street scene was taken in Wanchai, probably Gloucester Road, a street close to the harbour and near the red-light district.
