Pearl of the Orient is a short film from International Film Distributors, Inc. (likely from the 1950s) that gives viewers a quick tour of the Hong Kong Island. The film opens with a shot of a ferry in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor. Viewers see junks with Hong Kong’s sky scrapers in the background. Cars drive past the pier where commuters leave the ferry and walk to the high-rise towers for work. The film shows Victoria City, dubbed the Wall Street of Hong Kong (01:54), a municipal parking lot, a small park, and women watching a newlywed couple be photographed (02:42). Buses drive through the narrow streets. A rickshaw driver pulls his rickshaw next to narrow double-decker trolley cars. People explore a Chinese shopping arcade (04:02). The film shows a great view of Victoria City from the top of Victoria Peak (04:29). From the vantage point, there is a panoramic shot of the island and the harbor. Viewers see North Point (an urban area) and its Happy Valley Racetrack (05:12), as well as a Japanese department store (05:58). A woman steers a sampan on the water (06:14). Footage shows a number of sampans on the water. There are more shots of streets lined with apartment buildings (07:05), and on the slopes rising above the city are dozens of shanties. One of the island’s highlights for visitors is the ornate Tiger Balm Garden, which is now a theme park of sorts (08:01). Next, viewers see Aberdeen, located on the Port of Hong Kong (09:07). Junks and sampans move on the water. Viewers see the lit-up floating restaurants of Aberdeen at night. A boat woman ferries passengers to one of the floating restaurants. The film concludes with footage of Hong Kong’s streets lit up at night (10:45), including one shot of an illuminated fountain.
Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China and commonly abbreviated as HK, is a special administrative region on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in southern China. With over 7.4 million people of various nationalities in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is the world’s fourth most densely populated region.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after Qing Empire ceded Hong Kong Island at the end of the First Opium War in 1842. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 after the Second Opium War, and was further extended when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. The entire territory was transferred to China in 1997. As a special administrative region, Hong Kong’s system of government is separate from that of mainland China and its people overwhelmingly identify as Hongkongers rather than Chinese.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
