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Hong Kong debutantes pose for the press in 1959. Photo: SCMP Archives

Old Hong Kong

Cheongsams, mohair pants and a bridal finale at Hong Kong’s 1959 debutante show

In 1959, the Diocesan Girls’ School debutante ball made headlines in the Post, revealing glamour, gowns – and a very different era.

6 Nov 2025 - 10:00PM

Cantopop

When rumours swirled around the cause of Cantopop star Danny Chan’s death

16 Oct 2025 - 6:15PM

Happy Valley

And they’re off! When Hong Kong’s Happy Valley got night racing in 1973

9 Oct 2025 - 6:15PM

Mid-Autumn Festival

When crowd control concerns threatened Hong Kong’s Mid-Autumn fireworks display

The team behind the extravaganza finally saw their efforts literally go up in smoke more than 2 weeks after the festival date.

2 Oct 2025 - 3:15PM

Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour glows with a fireworks display held more than two weeks after Mid-Autumn Festival in 1983 – also the now-defunct Urban Council’s centenary year. Photo: Robin Lam Kit

Classical music

When the London Philharmonic Orchestra came to Hong Kong and Asia

The LPO performed in Singapore, Hong Kong, Manila, Seoul and Tokyo, with John Pritchard and Jerzy Semkow taking turns conducting.

26 Sep 2025 - 4:31PM

Hong Kong

When a sculptor designed a first-of-its-kind playground for Hong Kong kids

American artist Paul Selinger created huge sculptures for children to climb on and explore in the 1960s.

14 Sep 2025 - 6:15AM

History

When Hong Kong impressed business visitors at a trade fair in Germany

The quality and range of Hong Kong-made products on show reportedly brought in numerous queries about imports and manufacture.

11 Sep 2025 - 6:15AM

A worker at the loom of a one-room factory in the basement of a tenement building in Hong Kong during the 1960s. Photo: Getty Images

Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

When Hong Kong got breakthrough Aids tests to screen blood donors

As fears over the deadly HIV exploded in the 1980s, the city scrambled to get new detection kits from the US to make sure blood transfusions were safe.

4 Sep 2025 - 6:15PM

Hong Kong

When 15 people died from a cholera outbreak in Hong Kong

In 1961, 2 suspected cholera cases led to an extensive vaccination campaign and the confiscation of produce in Hong Kong’s markets.

28 Aug 2025 - 6:15AM

Old Hong Kong

When 4 people were killed after a boy fell into a remote Hong Kong village well

In 1981, residents of a worm-farming community were left devastated after a 14-year-old fell into a well and 3 of his rescuers perished.

21 Aug 2025 - 6:00PM

Hong Kong

When Hong Kong got its first kidney dialysis treatment centre in 1981

Millions were raised to fund the medical centre, with charitable donations from the likes of the Jockey Club and businessman Li Ka-shing, reported the Post at the time.

13 Aug 2025 - 6:15AM

From left: chairman of the Kidney Foundation Lee Quo-wei, Hong Kong acting governor Sir Jack Cater, and director of medical and health services Thong Kah-leong at the opening ceremony of a new kidney dialysis centre run by the Hong Kong Kidney Foundation in 1981. Photo: SCMP Archives

Crime

When a university student, drugged and sexually assaulted by her boss, ended up dead

In 1994 the Post reported how a 21-year-old died after being drugged and subjected to a sex attack by a property agent who filmed his crime.

2 Aug 2025 - 4:00AM

Old Hong Kong

When 5 people were killed and 50 hurt by a runaway Hong Kong bus

A horror bus crash in 1979 saw a driver prosecuted, but later acquitted in court, after carnage at a bus stop, the South China Morning Post reported at the time.

20 Jul 2025 - 12:45PM

History

When a Hong Kong drug queen escaped from a police station

Within an hour of being arrested over a HK$1 million heroin seizure, the suspect escaped from a police station, the Post reported.

13 Jul 2025 - 10:15AM

Alleged Hong Kong drug queen Yeung Yin-hing (right) is taken into Taipei District Court handcuffed to her bodyguard Chen Kwan-po to face narcotics trafficking charges. Photo: Photo: SCMP Archives

From our archives

When Hong Kong got its first care home for mentally ill children

Plans for the Siu Lam Hospital for the Mentally Handicapped were revealed in 1968 and 4 years later the institution finally opened.

7 Jul 2025 - 3:15PM

Hong Kong

When a man threw five children into a Hong Kong drain, killing one

Tragedy struck Hong Kong in 1934 as a man grabbed five children and threw them into a drain, leading to the death of a boy.

22 Jun 2025 - 8:00AM

Hong Kong

When the Hilton Hotel chain came to Hong Kong in the 1960s

The Post covered the arrival of the city’s first Hilton Hotel, from the announcement of plans to its demolition in 1994 by tycoon Li Ka-shing.

17 Jun 2025 - 6:15AM

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