Just as the emblem of Paris is the Eiffel Tower or New York is inconceivable without its skyscrapers, Hong Kong is identified with neon signs. Or rather, it identified itself: the classic illuminated signs, which still resist in the Asian city, are disappearing from the urban landscape.
The reasons that explain this dismantling are several. The main one is the imposition of more demanding urban regulations. After decades of open bar, the number of posters was so large and their sizes so different that a few years ago the City Council decided to establish a limit on neon signs and regulate their dimensions. The objective was to guarantee the safety of both the structures and the buildings where they were installed, in addition to saving and reducing light pollution.
This regulation, together with the rise of LED technology, more efficient and less polluting than neon, explains why these classic signs have been reduced by up to 90%. The positive part is that many of these signs have not been destroyed, but have been stored, and some can be seen in an exhibition.
The initiative is part of the Tetra Neon Exchange association, in charge of collecting the neons withdrawn. Following a restoration process, the association has been exhibiting the illuminated signs at the Tai Kwun Cultural Center, a former police complex, since the beginning of August.
The signs can be seen both outside and inside the enclosure. The magic occurs at night, when the exhibition offers a light show where neon lights of all kinds abound –big, small, elongated, round, wall-mounted, flown…– and of all colors –although red and yellow tones predominate. and orange.
One aspect of the neon signs that stands out is the combination of Chinese and English characters. A vestige of Hong Kong’s colonial past, a territory that was part of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997.
The heyday of the signs was from the fifties – when the Hong Kong economy began to take off – until the end of the 20th century, when the peak of neon was reached in the Asian city.
With the arrival of the new millennium, the signs began to withdraw: “Neon lights like these are seen less and less… So I wanted to come here to take photos and have a memory,” says an 18-year-old student in statements to Agence France-Presse. “We saw these signs when we were young, but with the passage of time, many of them disappear,” says another citizen who contemplates the exposed signs.
The neons can be visited until September 3. Its promoters hope that the exhibition will help awaken the nostalgia of Hong Kongers to preserve the few illuminated signs that still remain on the streets.
But the reality is stubborn. On the same dates that the exhibition opened, municipal technicians removed the oldest poster in the city, installed in 1964 in the famous Tai Ping Koon restaurant. “I still remember the day the sign was put up. My grandfather was here and I was here, witnessing the story. Today, my son will be here to witness the removal of the sign”, explains the owner of the restaurant, who assures that they will request a new license to put up a small sign.
The decline of neon is accompanied by the slow disappearance of its artisans. To make these lights, glass is melted, bent and blown into the desired shapes. A rather complicated process compared to the increasingly prevalent simple LED technology.
Whether for safety, energy savings or environmental reasons, the reality is that neon signs are seen less and less on the streets of Hong Kong. The exhibition taking place this summer helps illuminate times gone by. But the exhibition will end, and Hong Kongers will always be nostalgic.
