1096814

research-article2022
CJXXXX10.1177/15501906221096814Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives ProfessionalsAllsop

Article
Collections: A Journal for Museum

Walking Books? The Oral

and Archives Professionals
2022, Vol. 18(3) 362­–381
© The Author(s) 2022
History Method at The Hong Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
Kong Heritage Project https://doi.org/10.1177/15501906221096814
DOI: 10.1177/15501906221096814
journals.sagepub.com/home/cjx

Amelia Allsop1

Abstract
What role can oral history play in business archives and in public history contexts
in Hong Kong today? This article addresses the work of The Hong Kong Heritage
Project (HKHP), a major business archive and soon-to-be museum and its work in
collecting and recording oral histories since 2007. It situates the work of HKHP
within the wider Hong Kong cultural context and investigates the methodologies
used by the project to record 530 oral history interviews, the largest collection of
oral histories held by a private cultural institution in Hong Kong. In addition, the
article examines the challenges and opportunities of collecting oral history in a for-
profit environment and the application and uses of oral history in exhibition contexts
as a tool to foster audience engagement as well as to encourage understanding and
empathy for history as well as other people.

Keywords
archives, collections, collections, community, exhibition, oral history, research and
topics, research and topics, subject focus

Introduction
This article investigates the work of the Hong Kong Heritage Project (HKHP) in record-
ing and preserving oral history in Hong Kong during a ten year period, from 2007 to
2017. HKHP was founded in 2007 by Sir Michael Kadoorie as the corporate archive of
the Kadoorie family, whose business interests include, among others, China Light &
Power (CLP), a major utilities firm based in Hong Kong; The Hongkong & Shanghai
Hotels (HSH), a luxury hospitality brand which manages heritage assets including The

1
The Hong Kong Heritage Project, Hong Kong

Corresponding Author:
Amelia Allsop, Research Manager, The Hong Kong Heritage Project, 8 Laguna Verde Avenue, Hung
Hom, Hong Kong.
Email: ameliaallsop@gmail.com
Allsop 363

Peninsula Hotel and the Peak Tram; Kadoorie Estates Ltd., a property company; Tai
Ping Carpets, a luxury custom-made rug company; Heliservices and Metrojet, rotary
and jet service providers; as well as other historic companies which are no longer active.
Together, these businesses have both witnessed and shaped Hong Kong’s history over
the last 150 years. The Kadoorie family have also played an important role in Hong
Kong’s history through their social and philanthropic work. Formerly merchant farmers
from Iraq, Baghdad, the Kadoories, a Jewish family, first came to Hong Kong in the
1880s. Sir Elly Kadoorie and his brother Sir Ellis Kadoorie founded and funded schools,
universities, and social clubs in Hong Kong, many of which are still operational today.1
Sir Elly’s sons, Sir Horace Kadoorie and Lord Lawrence Kadoorie, founded the
Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Association in Hong Kong in 1951 to help Chinese refugee
and immigrant farmers during the Cold War era (this organization lives on today as the
Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden).2 In addition, Horace and Lawrence were appointed
to serve on numerous government and non-government bodies in twentieth century
Hong Kong, and Lawrence Kadoorie was the first Hong Kong-born citizen to be con-
ferred a peerage in Britain’s House of Lords.3 HKHP’s Archive therefore holds a sub-
stantial number of non-corporate records which relate to the social and philanthropic
work of the Kadoories, as well as the wider history of the city. In recent years, this
history has been the subject of academic research as well as more popular histories,
most notably Jonathan Kaufman’s bestselling book Last Kings of Shanghai (2020),
which describes the history of the Kadoorie family in Hong Kong and Shanghai.4
HKHP is funded in three equal parts by two of the largest Kadoorie companies
(CLP and HSH—two major record creators) as well as the Kadoorie family them-
selves. This funding structure means that HKHP both fits within these corporations
(and others) in terms of its archival holdings, but that the Project itself maintains orga-
nizational independence. There has always been a desire by HKHP’s senior manage-
ment, notably its founder, Sir Michael Kadoorie, to widen interest in the collection
whilst acting to preserve the memory of Hong Kong. As part of this remit, oral history
has been an essential aspect of HKHP’s archival collection from the start. Oral history
is important both as a means to plug gaps in HKHP’s archival collection and to pre-
serve Kadoorie business history (see Figure 1).

1. For a history of the Kadoorie family, see: Maisie Meyer, Shanghai’s Baghdadi Jews: A
Collection of Biographical Reflections (Hong Kong: Blacksmith Books, 2015).
2. Christopher A. Airriess, “Governmentality and Power in Politically Contested Space:
Refugee Farming in Hong Kong’s New Territories, 1945 – 1970,” Journal of Historical
Geography, 31, no. 4 (2005): 763–83.
3. Jonathan Kaufman, Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped
Create Modern China (New York: Penguin, 2020).
4. Ibid.
5. See for example Peter Hibbard, Beyond Hospitality: The History of The Hongkong and
Shanghai Hotels (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2010).
364 Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 18(3)

Figure 1. A selection of HKHP’s interviewees, 2007 to 2014.

HKHP’s oral history collection has two main functions. Firstly, the collection is used
by Kadoorie businesses to engage and inspire staff (traditionally through internal broad-
casts which show edited oral history clips), and as a way to preserve organizational mem-
ory and knowledge, for example by using oral history quotes in “official” corporate
history books.5 Secondly, oral histories are used by HKHP to engage external audiences
through its exhibitions which are hosted in major museums, as part of its outreach activi-
ties with youth groups, and as new sources of information for scholars studying Hong
Kong’s history. This article will discuss HKHP’s collecting scope and methodology, as
well as the challenges and opportunities which face corporate archives collecting and
using oral history. Furthermore, it will use three case studies to investigate the benefits of
recording oral history from the perspective of corporations, business archives, and the
wider community. This article is written from the perspective of the Project’s main
English-language interviewer, and so predominantly uses English-language case studies.

Oral History in Hong Kong

In 2007, oral history programs in Hong Kong were mainly confined to the universities,
such as the University of Hong Kong’s Hong Kong Oral History Archives: Collective
Memories project pioneered by the Hong Kong Government to “promote a sense of
cohesiveness and belonging among Hong Kong people.” This project is now part of
the Hong Kong Memory Project (HKMP), a cultural “Internet space” in the words of
Allsop 365

one of its organizers, where oral history clips, documents, and photographs can be
found online.6 Other organizations holding sizable oral history collections include
government-run cultural institutions such as the Hong Kong Museum of History, the
Hong Kong Film Archive, and the public service broadcaster RTHK, which started
recording in-depth interviews with Hong Kong residents after the Second World War.7
With the exception of the RTHK collection, these oral history interviews were predomi-
nantly recorded in the Cantonese language. Most interviews are available on audio
format (with transcripts) and are publicly accessible via university or government-run
libraries and museums. HKMP is arguably the largest and best-known of Hong Kong’s
oral history repositories. Now managed solely by the Hong Kong Government, the col-
lection is organized thematically around topics such as: “Japanese Occupation,”
“Education,” “Community,” and “Social Life.” Its website and catalog are bilingual.
From 2010 onward, several new corporate archives were established in Hong
Kong.8 Previously, there were only two corporate archives open to the public in
Hong Kong: HKHP and the HSBC Asia Pacific Archive. Some of these corporate
archives have started to record oral history interviews with retired members of
staff. However, these interviews are not always accessible to the public, and no online
catalog exists for these holdings. HKHP therefore straddles both the public and cor-
porate sector in terms of its oral history collection. Its collection is a mix of business-
related and “community” life story interviews, and oral history clips and portions of
the catalogue are also available online on its bilingual website, much like HKMP. In
addition, HKHP stands apart from most collecting organizations in Hong Kong as the
majority of its interviews are recorded on film, as shall be discussed later.
Before we investigate HKHP’s collection in more detail, it is worth probing the rea-
sons why HKHP embarked on an extensive oral history program beyond the reasons
already elucidated above. These are as follows:

6. Patrick Mok, “Reflections on the Hong Kong Memory Project,” The Digital in Cultural
Spaces Conference Publication, 10, 2016, available at: https://www.mccy.gov.sg/-/
media/Mccy-Ca/Feature/Resources/Conference-Papers/The-Digital-In-Cultural-Spaces-
Publication/3-Dr-Patrick-Mok.pdf
7. The Hong Kong Memory (HKMP) project can be accessed online at: https://www.hkmem-
ory.hk/index.html (accessed May 25, 2021), the Hong Kong Film Archive is available at:
https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en_US/web/hkfa/home.html (accessed May 25, 2021),
and some of the oral histories recorded by RTHK are accessible through the Hong Kong
Public Libraries website available at: https://mmis.hkpl.gov.hk/hong-kong-oral-history-
special-collection (accessed May 25, 2021).
8. See the Hong Kong Archives Society ‘Archives Directory’ available at: http://www.
archives.org.hk/en/page.php?pagename=archive_directory (accessed January 22, 2022).
366 Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 18(3)

•• Firstly, oral history is a more equal and democratic form of history that allows for
a multiplicity of stand-points to be created. Oral history promotes social inclusiv-
ity, as archives, especially corporate archives, often tell the stories of elites.
•• Oral history can help create a more linguistically diverse collection. The major-
ity of HKHP’s written records were created in the English language. By inter-
viewing Hong Kong’s Chinese citizens in Cantonese, we can help redress this
linguistic imbalance within HKHP’s archival holdings.
•• Finally, oral history widens the intellectual parameters of HKHP’s archive to
include a wider social history of Hong Kong, thereby complementing its existing
collections, which as we have seen, already encompass Hong Kong’s business,
social, charitable, and political landscape.

Methodology
From 2007 to 2017, five full-time members of staff (Fanny Iu, Melanie Li, Edward
Kwong, Sing Ping Lee, and Amelia Allsop) interviewed nearly 500 men and women
from diverse backgrounds. These interviews were predominantly recorded in the
Cantonese and English languages, and were captured in Hong Kong, the Chinese
mainland, Australia, Britain, and the United States. Today, the Project is home to the
largest filmed oral history collection in Hong Kong (530 interviews). In this section,
the article will outline how these interviews were captured. HKHP’s interview meth-
odology is based on the “life history” method, whereby interviewees are asked ques-
tions about their childhood and family background before moving forward
chronologically. Interviews are conducted on a one-on-one basis and recorded on film.
This means that the oral historian is both the camera operator and the interviewer, and
the subsequent multitasking can at times be challenging (in more recent years we have
started to record interviews using one interviewer and one camera operator). Interviews
are generally in-depth, with an average recording time of one to three hours for one
sitting (multiple sessions are often recorded). Consent and copyright forms are dis-
cussed before the interview and signed after the interview. While the interviewer
writes a summary of the interview, transcripts are outsourced to transcription firms to
ensure that the team’s resources are maximized (transcription software is currently not
sophisticated enough to pick up on linguistic nuance or purposeful silence, laughter, or
complex names). Further information on the use of technology and the archival stan-
dards used to catalog these interviews can be found in a previous article published in
the Journal of East Asian Libraries (JEAL).9

9. Amelia L. Allsop, “The Hong Kong Heritage Project, Preserving Corporate and Community
History,” Journal of East Asian Libraries, 171 (2020): 3.
Allsop 367

Oral history projects work best when they are planned around a theme, such as a
profession, a locality, or an event (although it is also important not to be reductive
and to capture the whole history of an individual). Our first task was therefore to
define the parameters of the oral history program through a collecting scope. Unlike
organizations such as HKMP, HKHP had an existing archive collection and so
themes were chosen to complement these materials. This resulted in a list of sixteen
themes, half of which were corporate-related (relating to Kadoorie family busi-
nesses), and the other half community-based (some of which tangentially reflect the
archival holdings). The sixteen themes are as follows: The Kadoories, China Light
(CLP), Daya Bay (CLP), Peninsula Hotel (HSH), Kadoorie Farm, Tai Ping Carpets,
Peak Tramways (HSH), New Territories Development, Manufacturing, Public
Housing, Jewish Immigration, Groups & Minorities, Shipping, Aviation, Hong
Kong Society, and Life History. As time went on, the importance of the sixteen
themes diminished, and we started to look outside of these topics as our research
interests matured. For example, oral histories were increasingly collected as part of
specialist projects such as exhibitions or corporate history books. In addition, we
were also put into contact with individuals who had interesting stories to tell but
whose lives did not neatly fit into the sixteen themes.
Finding interviewees is always a challenge for any oral history project. However,
HKHP has been able to leverage existing networks developed by Kadoorie businesses
over many years. For example, the archive team were able to find former CLP staff
through long-established alumni and retiree networks. We could also take advantage
of in-house research tools such as corporate newsletters featuring staff stories, as well
as long-standing staff who were a source of expertise. These existing networks were
crucial in finding and securing interviewees from all rungs of the business. For non-
business interviews, we developed our own contacts with academics, journalists, civic
organizations, charities, and community leaders. Organizations such as “Kaifong”
associations (traditional Chinese welfare associations) were invaluable in identifying
and introducing Chinese-language interviewees. Long-standing Hong Kong journal-
ists, among other professionals deeply embedded in the community, helped introduce
us to many other interviewees. These networks were vital in that they allowed us to
contact hard-to-reach people.
Today, social media is a useful tool that can provide access to communities, for
example those based in specific localities or individuals who may share a common
profession or national identity (e.g., the Gurkha community in Hong Kong). Fifteen
years ago, however, such social networks were not nearly as prevalent as they are
today. However, the more traditional work of nurturing contacts with journalists,
retirement homes, retiree clubs, and other organizations remains just as fruitful today.
Interviewees who were not traditionally connected to Kadoorie businesses were
approached by the team in a different way to our corporate interviewees. This is
368 Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 18(3)

because community-based interviewees often need more background information per-

taining to HKHP’s remit as an archive which collects materials relating to Kadoorie
businesses as well as wider, non-corporate life histories. However, both corporate and
non-corporate interviewees receive the same information about the ways in which
their interviews will be used, accessed, and preserved.

Recording Corporate Histories

The article will now touch upon the challenges and opportunities of capturing oral his-
tory from the perspective of a corporate archive in a for-profit environment. The
British oral historian Robert Perks highlights how oral history can help reveal a unique
understanding of the way a business operates, potentially offering a far greater insight
than the paper record can.10 This is because the type of written records kept by large
corporations are invariably always “high level” records such as minutes of Board
meetings, AGMs, or shareholder documents. Oral histories can help redress this imbal-
ance by giving voice to those situated near the bottom of a corporate hierarchy, thereby
preserving the history of a workforce for whom few records are maintained. In addi-
tion, interviews can put flesh on the bones of corporate archives by filling historical
gaps, incorporating a more “human” dimension, or by revealing uncomfortable or
challenging histories that are not always found in the written record.
Of course, there will always be an inherent tension with regards to retaining the
integrity of the historical endeavor in a for-profit environment. One of the criticisms
of corporate-led oral history programs is the specter of undue influence from that
corporation, or self-censorship by its participants. However, the overwhelming
majority of HKHP’s interviewees were retirees rather than current employees, who
were subsequently forthcoming with their memories of work (it should also be borne
in mind that people who dislike their place of work are less likely to accept an inter-
view invitation, and this will invariably skew the results of any oral history program).
In addition, HKHP is sponsored by three different entities and is also a key driver of
community-based heritage events for the general public. As mentioned previously,
the organization is therefore different in its ethos and structure to a traditional corpo-
rate archive. This unique background is important as interviewees are more likely to
see the organization as an independent or impartial entity. Finally, and as previously
discussed, it is important to remember that interviews are co-constructed by both
interviewer and interviewee, and this is also salient in a corporate heritage

10. Presentation by Robert Perks “Corporate and Business Oral Histories: Some Themes and
Challenges,” no date, available at: https://www.businessarchivescouncil.org.uk/materi-
als/05_rob_perks.pdf/ (accessed May 25, 2021). See also Arnold Kransdorff, Corporate
Amnesia: Keeping Know-How in the Company (1998).
Allsop 369

environment. As much as we try to maintain a neutral standpoint, our position as

corporate archivists will undoubtedly influence the trajectory of some interviews. On
the other hand, “insider knowledge” of a complex business like CLP, which has local,
regional, and international operations, a separate holding company, a complex infra-
structure and distribution network and a long history, can only be beneficial. Recording
oral histories within a corporate archive space offers other salient advantages, too. As
previously discussed, these advantages include the benefit of tapping into pre-existing
networks, as well as a recognizable brand that engenders public trust. Resourcing is
another key benefit. For example, HKHP has been able to use and keep up to date with
the latest recording technology.

Using Oral Histories

One of HKHP’s core missions is to promote access to its collections through public
participation in exhibitions and heritage-related events. Since 2010, HKHP has orga-
nized thirteen exhibitions which explore different facets of Hong Kong’s history.
Oral history has played an integral and visible part of these exhibits. Oral histories
offer compelling narratives, foster audience engagement, and can help engender a
sense of empathy and understanding of history as well as other people. For example,
oral histories played a crucial role in the curatorship of Remembering Our Urban
Legacies, an exhibition held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in 2014, where inter-
views were featured as film reels on screens embedded in panels (see Figure 2).
Visitors were also encouraged to share their memories of specific Hong Kong land-
marks on postcards that were distributed for free and returned to HKHP by free-post
(thanks to a partnership with the Hongkong Post). The postcards subsequently
became part of the exhibition as a “Memory Tree,” thereby shaping the curatorial
narrative (see Figure 3). Through this process of two-way engagement, the audi-
ence’s interpretation of place, as well as that of the oral history interviewees, was
invoked. Some scholars have highlighted the challenges of oral history in museum
contexts, primarily the use of soundbites which de-contextualize the interviewee
from their wider life story.11 However, oral history clips are a necessary compromise
in museum settings, as oral histories will always need to be edited, whether they are
used in academic articles or in museum or archive contexts.

11. Gareth Griffiths, “Museums and the Practice of Oral History,” Oral History, 17, no. 2
(1989): 49–52; and Madeline White, “A Museuological Approach to Collecting Oral
Histories: A Case Study of the Holocaust Collections at the Imperial War Museum,”
Journal of Holocaust Research, 33, no. 2 (2019): 138–56.
370 Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 18(3)

Figure 2. HKHP’s “Remembering Our Urban Legacies” exhibition poster. The exhibit was
held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in 2014.

Ultimately, our goal as archivists is for scholars to access and use HKHP’s oral his-
tory collection themselves. At present, portions of HKHP’s oral history collection can
be accessed through online platforms. HKHP’s website provides a partial list of inter-
viewees and PDF versions of finding aids (the synopsis).12 In addition, short films

12. See HKHP’s website available at: https://www.hongkongheritage.org/Pages/home.aspx

(accessed May 25, 2021).
Allsop 371

Figure 3. The “Memory Tree” was a centerpiece of the exhibition.

making use of oral histories can be found on HKHP’s YouTube Channel.13 However, in
order for researchers to access HKHP’s full catalog as well as oral history transcripts
and filmed interviews, they must first send a research request and visit the archive in
person. Access to HKHP’s collection will be considerably enhanced in 2022, when
HKHP will move to a permanent home in CLP’s former headquarters on Argyle Street
in Kowloon, Hong Kong, which is currently being transformed into a museum facility
(see Figures 4–7). Once open, the museum will house a new and larger repository for
HKHP’s collections, as well as a dedicated research space. The museum will include a

13. HKHP’s YouTube Channel can be accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/

UCcRAM-NoyvZacJhxk6wKdqg (accessed May 25, 2021).
372 Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 18(3)

Figures 4–7. In 2022 the former CLP headquarters will open as a new museum which will
house HKHP’s archives. Above left and right: the new archive research center and offices.
Below: the thematic gallery.
Allsop 373

gallery to showcase regular thematic exhibitions as well as oral history kiosks, where
visitors can listen to a selection of oral histories.

Case Studies
Social historian George Ewart Evans once said that: “although the Old Survivors were
walking books, I could not just leaf them over. They were persons.”14 This approach
aptly encapsulates HKHP’s philosophy. We feel that it is important to remember that
interviewees have entrusted us with their personal stories, secrets, and legacies.
Moreover, oral history is not a positivist discipline, nor should it be used for the pursuit
of knowledge alone. One should never embark on an oral history project with a jour-
nalistic approach in mind; to seek answers to questions at all costs or to prove a thesis.
Having said this, research forms a crucial part of HKHP’s oral history process, as it
does at HKMP.15 Of course, we also know that oral histories are not the most reliable
form of empirical evidence. Interviews are co-constructed by interviewer and the
interviewee, and memory is also mediated by genre, art, and culture.16 However, oral
historians such as Alessandro Portelli have helped shift the perception of oral histories
from purely eyewitness accounts toward a more literary analysis of memory and the
meanings attached to stories.17 This approach is invaluable when using oral histories
that deal with subjects including place, work, family, trauma, or loss. The following
section will include insights gleaned from three case studies. These case studies, which
include interviews with Hong Kong’s Portuguese, Chinese, and British communities,
will investigate the ways in which oral histories can enrich our understanding of Hong
Kong’s history and the benefits of recording oral history from the perspective of busi-
ness archives, corporations, and the wider community.

Case Study 1: The China Coast Community

One of HKHP’s earliest oral history programs was a series of interviews with six resi-
dents of the China Coast Community (CCC) in 2008. The CCC is a residential-care
home based in Kowloon Tong and a charity that provides care for English-speaking

14. Paul Thompson and Joanna Bornat, The Voices of the Past, Oral History, Fourth Edition
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 22.
15. See the ‘Interview Methodology’ section of HKMP’s website, which can be accessed here:
https://www.hkmemory.hk/collections/oral_history/intro/index.html (accessed January 22,
2022).
16. Mary Chamberlain, “Transnational Families: Memories and Narratives,” Global Networks,
4, no. 3 (2004): 228–30.
17. Alessandro Portelli, The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in
Oral History (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1991).
374 Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 18(3)

persons regardless of their financial circumstances. These interviews were collected as

part of HKHP’s “Life History” theme, and came about thanks to a suggestion from a
journalist. Residential applicants need to have spent a significant proportion of their
lives in Hong Kong or Asia in order to qualify for residency. Through this organization
we were therefore able to get in touch with English-speaking people from different
socio-economic backgrounds, professions, and nationalities who had spent the major-
ity of their working lives in Hong Kong or on the China Coast. The interviews recorded
with so-called “Old China Hands” show how Hong Kong was a diverse and culturally
mixed port city in the inter-war years. Many of those interviewed were Macanese, or
Portuguese-Dutch, or so-called “Eurasians” (those of mixed European and Asian par-
entage). That there were so many Portuguese residents at the CCC, a charitable institu-
tion, reflects the fact that socio-economically and linguistically, the Portuguese often
formed a middle layer between the British and the Chinese in colonial Hong Kong at
a time when racial hierarchies were rife. Many Portuguese men and women in Hong
Kong were employed in financial, administrative, or secretarial roles in large multina-
tionals such as Shell, HSBC, and Jardine Matheson.18
The oral histories recorded at the CCC demonstrate how migrants came to Hong
Kong in the early twentieth century through networks of empire, commerce, and
trusted people in treaty port China (treaty ports became foreign-ruled enclaves after
the Opium Wars, when foreign powers wrested legal and commercial concessions
from China).19 For example, one of our interviewees was born to a Portuguese family
in Shanghai and moved to Hong Kong in 1928, the year after the Chinese Civil War
began. Another interviewee, who was also Portuguese, was born in the French conces-
sion of Shameen, in today’s Guangzhou. The family moved to Hong Kong when the
interviewee’s father was transferred to the colony through his work with American oil
company Shell.
Another topic that was central to these interviews were the post-war protests in
Hong Kong that are referred to locally and in academic literature as the “1967 riots”
(see Figure 8).This movement was part of a large-scale anti-colonial protest that was
partly influenced by poor working conditions in Hong Kong as well as the Cultural
Revolution in China. Scholars working on this subject, including most notably Ray
Yep, have helped further our understanding of the motivations of the participants as
well as the formulation of colonial government policy in response to these protests.20

18. Catherine Chan, “Macau Martyr or Portuguese Traitor? The Macanese Communities of
Macau, Hong Kong and Shanghai and the Portuguese Nation,” Historical Research, 93, no.
262 (2020): 754–68.
19. John Carroll, A Concise History of Hong Kong (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 16.
20. Robert Bickers and Ray Yep, eds. May Days in Hong Kong: Riot and Emergency in 1967
(Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009).
Allsop 375

Figure 8. Police riot training in Fanling. Image courtesy of Peter Moss.

The CCC interviews complement these efforts by shedding light on public memory
of these events from the perspective of the Portuguese, a hitherto overlooked com-
munity in this context. HKHP has used the interviews collected as part of the CCC
project in different ways. Firstly, they were edited into a film which was sent to the
interviewees to safeguard their own stories and family histories. Secondly, the tran-
scripts have been used by academics including Felicia Yap, a renowned scholar of
Asian history, and as part of journal articles and doctoral dissertations written by
external researchers.21 Thirdly, the interviews were used as part of HKHP’s major
Urban Legacies exhibition, detailed above.

21. Felicia Yap, ‘Portuguese Communities in East and Southeast Asia During the Japanese
Occupation’ in ‘Portuguese and Luso-Asian Legacies in Southeast Asia, 1511 – 2011,
vol. 1,’ ed. Laura Jarnagin (2011). For an example of oral history interviews used in
PhD research, see: Stefanie Scherr, “As Soon As We Got Here We Lost Everything: The
Migration Memories and Religious Lives of the Old Believers in Australia” (Unpublished
PhD thesis, Swinburne University of Technology, 2013), which utilises oral histories with
HKHP’s Russian interviewees.
376 Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 18(3)

Case Study 2: Hong Kong Marine Police (or “Sui Geng”)

In 2010, the HKHP team interviewed twelve Chinese and British retired Marine Police
officers in both Cantonese and English. These interviews were recorded specifically
for an exhibition about the history of Hung Hom and Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) hosted at
“1881 Heritage” in 2010 to 2011 (see Figure 9). 1881 Heritage is an “adaptive re-use”
heritage site that was originally home to the Marine Police headquarters in TST and is
now a hotel, restaurant, shopping complex, and community space (see Figure 10).
Although this complex is not owned by Kadoorie businesses, the exhibition touched
upon the history of Kadoorie businesses located in the area, such as The Peninsula
Hotel and CLP. The exhibition, titled Sailing Through Time from 1881, therefore strad-
dled both corporate and community history through the use of corporate documents
and photographs as well as maritime-related oral histories. The team encountered sev-
eral challenges in the capture of these interviews. Firstly, it was difficult to find retired
Marine Police officers. Interviewees were eventually found through contacts supplied
by 1881 Heritage and through recommendations from interviewees and others.
Secondly, the Marine Police interviews were very research intensive. As mentioned
previously, research is vital to the oral history process, especially when interviewing
people whose personal or professional identity straddles multiple historiographies,
and whose stories encompass specific geographies or linguistic terms particular to that
group. We found this to be particularly true with the Marine Police officers, many of
whom had intimate knowledge of Hong Kong’s maritime worlds and who used lan-
guage specific to their profession, such as acronyms or hybrid words melding both the
English and Chinese languages. Our research method involved visits to university
libraries to access specialist resources as well as pre-interview meetings with inter-
viewees as part of a “learn as you go” process. Ultimately however, the Marine Police
interviews were highly fruitful in that they permitted the project team to learn about a
niche aspect of Hong Kong’s history, one that was tangentially related to HKHP’s
corporate archive collection through a shared geographic scope.
The Marine Police interviews are important to the wider community in that they
form part of the intangible heritage of 1881 Heritage, a newly adapted historic site.
This is because the interviews invoked a strong sense of place. They told the social
history of the former Marine Police headquarters at a time when the function of the
building and its urban context had radically altered. The following oral history quote
gives an insight into the original social and administrative purpose of the building:

“The Marine Police headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui wasn’t just offices for the senior staff, it
was where the crews actually changed duties and we went there, got into our uniforms, we
had our kit lockers, the armoury was there, the stores was there, our mess was there with the
little bar, and so that was a working police station . . . At that time there were very few
police stations in the land with a bar, so the Mariner’s Rest was . . . one of the first.”
Allsop 377

Figure 9. Exhibition poster for HKHP’s “Sailing Through Time from 1881” exhibition
(2010–2011), hosted at 1881 Heritage. The exhibition made use of oral history interviews
recorded with Marine Police officers, as well as corporate photographs and records from the
HKHP Archive.

Another interviewee spoke about the social and cultural traditions of the building that
evolved from colonial legacies, specifically the Indian troops who were stationed in
Hong Kong as part of the British Army:

“The Mariner’s Rest . . . that was the social centre of Marine headquarters . . . there
would always be a curry lunch there . . . and these curries started off with the Indian
constables that were in Tsim Sha Tsui, then it became the fashion for the sergeants to
learn to make these curries.”
378 Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 18(3)

Figure 10. The tip of Tsim Sha Tsui—the Marine Police headquarters can be seen in the
center foreground surrounded by trees. Today, the site is home to 1881 Heritage, where a
HKHP exhibition was hosted in 2010. Image courtesy of Cheng Po-hung.

The collection also encompasses multiple perspectives that tell the multifaceted story
of colonialism in Hong Kong. This is because interviews were recorded with both
Chinese and British officers in Cantonese and English, whose experiences diverged
quite sharply primarily because of colonial racial hierarchies which favored British
officers. The bilingual nature of HKHP’s oral history program is therefore highly ben-
eficial from a research standpoint, and it is probably one of the few archives in the
world to have taken this approach. The collection also enriches our understanding of
Hong Kong’s ethnic minority communities. Many of the interviews touched upon the
Vietnamese refugee crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Vietnamese refugees—
otherwise known as Vietnamese Boat People—started to arrive in Hong Kong by boat
after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, and again in 1979 as a result of the Vietnamese
Government’s persecution of its ethnic Chinese populations. HKHP’s Marine Police
interviews give new insights into government policy as well as the very different atti-
tudes and viewpoints held by police officers about refugees. Of course, when looking
Allsop 379

Figure 11. Oral history screening at the “Sailing Through Time from 1881” exhibition
hosted at 1881 Heritage.

to the history of the Vietnamese Boat People in Hong Kong, it is imperative to give
agency and voice to refugees. Scholars including Carina Hoang have recently recorded
oral histories with refugees who lived in Hong Kong which are now available online.22
In sum, the Marine Police interviews form an important part of Hong Kong’s historical
record, as well as the institutional memory of a government department. The oral histories
also gave an important community aspect to HKHP’s Sailing through Time exhibition
(see Figure 11 below, which shows the exhibition in-situ).

Case Study 3: China Light & Power (CLP)

As described above, CLP’s written records form a core part of HKHP’s archival collec-
tion. Because of this, the Project team sought to interview CLP retirees from the very
start of its archive creation activities. HKHP’s previously stated aim to interview former
employees from every position in the corporate hierarchy has made an important contri-
bution to our understanding of the business. For example, one Chinese interviewee

22. See the ‘Vietnamese Boat People’ website created by Carina Hoang, available at: http://
vietnameseboatpeople.hk/about-us/ (accessed May 25, 2021).
380 Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 18(3)

remembers working as an office attendant at Hok Un (CLP’s power station) at the age of
thirteen during the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong. He remembers that: “in those
days, one’s salary was paid in Japanese Military bills with rice as a supplementary
allowance.” This interview is of vital importance to the HKHP Archive because no writ-
ten records exist describing the fate of CLP’s Chinese workforce during the Japanese
Occupation. In addition, Chinese-related World War Two histories do not appear in the
company’s earlier “official” corporate history (“Power: The Story of China Light”)
which was published in 1982, as the author predominantly interviewed senior British
expatriate managers as part of his research process.23
This interview therefore sheds light on the lived experiences (including child
labor—a norm in Hong Kong at the time) and experiential perspectives of CLP’s
Chinese workforce during the 1940s. Oral history interviews can also plug gaps in
the archival record in other ways, too. For example, another oral history interviewee
spoke about various labor-saving devices introduced before the age of the modern
computer. Having started work as a meter reader at the age of 19 in 1946, the inter-
viewee used an abacus for calculations when he first joined the company. He
describes how new technologies, such as the roll-out of the NCR 325 (Hong Kong’s
first computer), which went into operation in 1963, radically altered working prac-
tices on the ground among administrative staff—thereby giving a different perspec-
tive to the high level records which tend to describe procurement decisions as
directed by senior staff. Such corporate interviews have been used in internal exhibi-
tions and staff broadcasts which are distributed via company email. They are also an
important component of new and “official” corporate histories (forthcoming) which
provide a more holistic, bottom-up history of the company. These books also support
corporate branding and marketing efforts to show the longevity of the company and
its rootedness to Hong Kong.

Conclusion
This article has shown how the HKHP Archive straddles both the corporate and non-
corporate environment in terms of its collections, its funding, and organizational struc-
ture, and the level of access it provides to its holdings. It has also shown the importance
of oral history to the HKHP Archive, Kadoorie businesses and to the community at
large. Firstly, oral history is of vital importance to the HKHP Archive as it can plug gaps
in the historical record. It does so by giving voice to those underrepresented in the cor-
porate record—as shown in case study three. Oral histories therefore help to preserve
corporate memory and provide a more holistic and egalitarian view of businesses and

23. Nigel Cameron, Power: The Story of China Light (Oxford : Oxford University Press,
1982).
Allsop 381

the ways in which they operate. Secondly, oral histories are a useful tool for Kadoorie
businesses. They can engender staff engagement through exhibitions and other internal
channels, and provide insights about the history and values of a business. Oral histories
can also be used in corporate history books, tools which can communicate brand mes-
sages such as longevity and resilience. Finally, HKHP’s oral histories have made an
important contribution to Hong Kong’s historical record by delving into topics ranging
from the Vietnamese refugee crisis of the 1980s to the history of Hong Kong’s
Portuguese communities. As detailed in case study one, HKHP’s oral histories have
already been used by a number of scholars. In addition, the collection is frequently used
as part of HKHP’s exhibitions as accessible and engaging material which can educate
Hong Kong citizens about their city’s past, as described in case study two.
The article has also described the challenges and opportunities faced by corporate
archives when project-managing oral history programs. Such challenges include the
specter of self-censorship, the risk of “insider” interviews, and potentially hidden
biases from the interviewer. However, as described earlier, these challenges are miti-
gated by HKHP’s organizational independence, and through the self-reflection and
experience of its interviewers. On the other hand, there are many advantages enjoyed
by corporate archives, such as ready-made human networks, more ample resources,
existing expertise, and public trust in a well-known corporate brand. It is hoped that
more scholars and Hong Kong residents will access HKHP’s oral history collection
with the opening of its new museum facility in 2022.24

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.

ORCID iD
Amelia Allsop https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6630-2771

Author Biography
Amelia Allsop is the Research Manager at The Hong Kong Heritage Project and a Co-Founder
of History Ink, an archives and heritage consultancy.

24. For further information about HKHP’s oral history collection and to access the archive,
please contact Melanie Li at: Melanie@hongkongheritage.org.