How Hong Kong’s famous Christmas decorations came to life, as told by one of their creators
One of the city’s most prolific festive light designers recalls his career spent illuminating the Hong Kong skyline
It was December 1990 and I was four years old. Hong Kong then got much colder than it does today, but standing to my mother’s right as we took in the Christmas lights, my younger brother to her left, the cold seemed to melt away. Wide-eyed and clutching my mother’s hand, I gazed upon the illuminated towers and parapets of a snow-white castle. Angels perched on the battlements, haloes aglow. Fairy lights festooned the winter scene on the waterfront by Harbour City, in Tsim Sha Tsui.
My mother carried these memories and traditions with her, growing up alongside Hong Kong as it flourished from a manufacturing hub to a financial powerhouse. She herself would become part of that meteoric rise, joining the property sector just as Victorian buildings were giving way to the first skyscrapers.
In Hong Kong, traditions are often intertwined with commerce, and the property sector has always been behind the Christmas lights that shine so vividly in the city’s consciousness. While the displays would capture the attention of the city, those responsible for designing and building them often operated unseen by the public.
At the time, Ko was working as a washing machine and air-conditioning repairman, but began his set design career in earnest in the late 60s with an apprenticeship at Peacock, one of only a few companies that did such work. He toiled under the gaze of his master, Lau Wai-tong, who is still well known today for having designed the iconic poster for the Hong Kong release of Bruce Lee’s 1973 film Enter the Dragon.