The Hong Kong Maritime Museum presented an exhibition of Hong Kong in the 1950s, entitled “One Man’s Legacy: Lee Fook Chee’s Photographs, Hong Kong in the 1950s” last year.
Lee Fook Chee was born in Singapore and became a seaman. He then came to Hong Kong in 1947.
He became a photographer with the help of his cousin, who owned a studio, and started photographing Hong Kong in the mid 20th century.
In the 1960s, Lee abandoned photography and ran a grocery store in the New Territories instead.
His work shows the changes and harbour development Hong Kong has experienced since 1950.
The Lee collection shows the Tanka people’s fishing spots, Central, The Peak, as well as Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui and the New Territories. There are also photographs of cargo junks, ferries, and life at Victoria Harbour.
A cargo junk in the western harbor. Photo: The Estate of Lee Fook Chee.
