Abstract: Wet markets (濕貨市場) in virtual and real Hong Kong, which are often referred to as "street markets" (街市), are not just unique and eye-catching, but also reflecting the eating preference, pragmatism and ethnic origins of the people living in the city. This article will go through these distinctive features one by one.
In a few virtual Hong Kong in video games, you may come cross wet markets. The markets are where Hong Kong people buy fresh meat and produce, named "wet" because they require frequent washing to maintain good hygiene. These virtual markets altogether share a few unique and eye-catching characteristics just like the real counterparts. This is not a coincidence, but a result of the local people who buy or sell food there. In this article, we will go through these distinctive characteristics one by one, and more importantly the historical and cultural origins behind them.
Characteristics of Hong Kong wet markets
Traditionally located on streets
The wet markets of Hong Kong dated back to 1842 when British colonized Hong Kong and set up Victoria City in the current Central district. Population then grew inside and around the city, making daily markets profitable. Since then we started seeing wet markets on the streets of residential areas: Individuals opened stores on the street level of the residential buildings, set up stalls on the sides of streets, or just laid down goods on the ground and start selling (爾東, 許嘉汶, & 陳國豪, 2014).
A variety of daily necessities are for sales, but the most significant of them all are the meat and produce, freshly slaughtered and harvested every day. They are exactly what the majority Chinese customers wanted. In Chinese culture, freshness is the key for best possible texture and taste.
Being convenience and selling products that customers wanted, these outdoor "street markets" (街市) was, for a time, how new wet markets got started and why they became popular.
Famous wet markets of this kind include:
Graham Street (嘉咸街) of Central - one of the first wet markets established since Britain established the colony of Hong Kong in 1842
Chun Yeung Street (春秧街) in North Point - a wet market featuring Fujian food (due to immigrants from Fujian province of China after World War II) and double-decker trams running through it (more details)
Temple Street (廟街) in Yau Ma Tei - much more well-known for its night market with cooked food stalls, low-cost merchandises and fortune-telling (more details)
Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market (油麻地果欄) in Yau Ma Tei - a wholesale fruit market with several blocks of one or two story brick-and-stone historic buildings
They are the basis of the wet markets in the following games:
Art of Fighting 2 (SNK. Arcade et. al: 1994)
Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Capcom. Arcade et. al: 1996)
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (SNK. Arcade et. al.: 1997)
Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact (Capcom. Arcade et. al.: 1997)
Shenmue II (Sega. Dreamcast: 2000, Xbox: 2001)
Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon (Universal Interactive. Xbox: 2002)
Stranglehold (Midway Games/Success. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2007)
Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012)
Resident Evil 6 (Capcom. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012).
The street market in Graham Street. Source: Wikipedia
Green Market Quarter for meat and produce in Shenmue II
A tram moving inside the market in Chun Yeung Street. Source: Wikipedia
The Chinatown stage of Art of Fighting 2 featuring a tram running through a street market
A stage of Real Bout Fatal Fury Special featuring a tram running through a street market
The Hong Kong stage of Street Fighter III: 2nd impact featuring a tram running through a street market
The street market in Temple Street. Credit: Rachel Moore
A fruit stall in Temple Street. Credit: Marcelo Druck
Temple Street in Street Fighter Alpha 2. From left to right, there are a fortune-telling stall, a butcher shop (back) and produce stall (front), and several clothing stalls.
The market based on Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market in Resident Evil 6
Inside the real Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market. Credit: Chong Fat
Inside the street market in Resident Evil 6
The street market in Resident Evil 6
While the number and popularity of these street markets were growing, the government was also constructing standalone wet market halls (and later municipal services buildings which offer many other public services such as libraries and sports centers). The first few include Central Market (中環街市) and Wan Chai Market (灣仔街市) constructed in 1858 (爾東, 許嘉汶, & 陳國豪, 2014). One can find a market based on Wan Chai Market in Deus Ex (Eidos Interactive. Microsoft Windows/Mac OS/PlayStation 2: 2000).
The 2nd generation of Central Market hall, built in 1895. Source: Wikipedia
The current generation of Central Market hall, built in 1939. Now it is largely abandoned. Source: Wikipedia
The old Wan Chai Market hall in 2006. Source: Wikipedia
Wan Chai Market in Deus Ex
Another indoor market of this kind can be found in Resident Evil 6.
Inside the wet market hall of in Chris's campaign Chapter 1 of Resident Evil 6
The indoor market building in Resident Evil 6 (starting from 26:53)
For over a century, these indoor wet markets weren't that welcomed by many store owners. This was understandable as the separately-located market halls were never as convenient as the streets that citizens walked by every day, which means less customer traffic and hence poorer sales. It was until 1960s and 1970s when citizens finally got used to shop in these halls and store owners changed their mind (爾東, 許嘉汶, & 陳國豪, 2014).
Note that even though these wet markets aren't located along streets, many Hong Kong people and even the government are still referring them as "street markets" (街市) in Chinese, probably because the stores in these markets preserve a few features of the traditional street market stores.
Seas of red lampshades
Remember, fresh ingredients are why customers visit the wet markets. Shop owners are thus motivated to do whatever they can to highlight the freshness of their stocks. One impressive practice is perhaps the sea of red lampshades often found in nearly all wet markets. Used with high-power light bulbs, the lampshades create bright red light which shines on produce, fish and meat and makes them look fresher. The lampshades are so widely adopted that some designers even use them as an icon of the wet markets.
Red lampshades in a produce store of Sleeping Dogs
Red lampshades in a produce store of Resident Evil 6
Red lampshades in a seafood store of Resident Evil 6
Red lampshades in a butcher store of Resident Evil 6
Facebook profile picture of Sui Sai Wan Market
The art exhibition "The Street Market Symphony" (燈燈燈櫈 – 香港地道街市之旅) in 2012. See here for more images. The exhibition uses the red lampshade as the icon of the wet markets in Hong Kong.
Promotional video of the art exhibition "The Street Market Symphony"
Live seafood and chicken
To keep stocks as fresh as possible, some shop owners even keep live seafood and chicken in their stores and slaughter them as late as when customers make the purchase. Shopping a wet market is then like visiting a zoo and an aquarium combined!
Live chickens kept in cages in a real poultry shop. Credit: Rob Young
Live chickens left in cages, in the evacuated street market of Resident Evil 6
Live seafood in a real seafood store. Credit: Rob Chan
Live seafood in a seafood store of Shenmue II
Live seafood in a seafood store of Resident Evil 6
Stocks hung throughout the stores
For other kinds of stocks, shop owners often hang them up. This is a smart way to utilize every piece of limited store space to show off the variety and quality of goods.
Cooked meat hung in a real store in Hong Kong. Credit: Canadian Pacific
Cooked meat hung in a store of Shenmue II
Chicken body hung in a store of the street market in Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon
Raw and cooked pigs hung in a store in Stranglehold
Cooked meat hung in a store of Sleeping Dogs
Raw pork hung in real butcher shop
Raw pork hung in a butcher shop of Sleeping Dogs
Raw pork hung in a butcher shop of Resident Evil 6
Some shop owners even hang plastic bags and petty cash baskets/buckets over the air for their convenience.
Plastic bags and a bucket hung in a real seafood street market store
A pink petty cash bucket hung in a real produce store. Credit: Yu Hin Wong
A basket bung in a produce store of Shenmue II
Baskets hung in a produce store of Sleeping Dogs
A bucket hung in a butcher store of Resident Evil 6
Reuse of packaging materials
Packaging cardboard and polystyrene boards are often reused by shop owners to organize stocks and mark prices. This practice saves shop owners money and resource from making fancy ones. More importantly, the packaging materials are so abundant that the shop owners can pick up another one for replacement. Indeed, prices in the wet markets could fluctuate not only every day but also every hour of the day. In late evenings, shop owners often offer discounts in hope of selling all their stocks before the market closes for the day. You may even try to bargain for further cut-down.
Reuse of packaging materials (baskets, boxes) in a street market stall
Reuse of packaging materials (baskets, boxes) in a grocery store of Shenmue II
Reuse of packaging materials (polystyrene boxes) in a real produce store. Credit: inmediahk
The reuse of polystyrene boards to mark prices of seafood in a real seafood store
The reuse of polystyrene boards to mark prices of seafood in Resident Evil 6
Chinese traditions
The ethnic Chinese origin of the majority store owners affects how the stores look like in general. First, their store signs are in Chinese. Many of them are even in calligraphic style. Second, the fonts on the signs are usually in red which symbolizes fortune in traditional Chinese culture. What is more, inside the stores one may find posters with blessings written in Chinese. Sometimes, you may even see posters or altars of Chinese gods.
A wet market store sign in Sleeping Dogs
A wet market store sign of Resident Evil 6
The use of regular computer fonts (the first two characters from the left) and Chinese calligraphic fonts (the remaining five characters) in a real butcher shop
A label with Chinese blessing on the top of a door in a store of Shenmue II
A poster of Chinese God for fortune in a store in Resident Evil 6
Label with Chinese blessing in a real wet market store of Hong Kong
Challenges
Recently, wet markets in Hong Kong are facing fierce competition from supermarkets. Instead of a collection of small, independent shop owners, each supermarket is operated by a single management. It is thus easier for supermarkets to maintain overall cleanliness, a criterion that more and more shoppers care as living standard improves. In 2014, the share of the wet market in fresh food dropped to 40% (香港消費者委員會, 2014, January 14).
To survive, wet markets are innovating.
A notable pioneer is Tai Yuen Market (大元街市) in Tai Po. It got renewed in 2010. Besides renovations on infrastructures such as floor, wall, illumination, drainage and ventilation, there are new gimmicks including on-site cooking classes using the fresh produce bought in the market, the use of multi-purpose stored value smart cards for payment, the establishment of a roof garden using the leftover food as organic fertilizer for growing produces which are later sold in the market, and the hiring of service ambassadors to provide customers with daily shopping tips (LINK, 2012 May).
Four major innovations in the renewed Tai Yuen Market in 2012. Source: LINK
Later in 2015, the refreshed Siu Sai Wan Market (小西灣街市) introduced two other technological innovations: a vending machine for fruits, and the i-Chicken system which allows customers to examine and order live chicken located at another market remotely.
Demonstration of various technologies used in the refreshed Siu Sai Wan Market
These moves are driven by a profit-making private management firm LINK (領展) which have taken over the markets from the government. Mainly aiming for profit, the new management change has much more motivation to innovate.
The changes are reported to have brought customers back to the wet markets (東方日報, 2017, January 6). However, at the same time, management are alleged to have intervened how individual shops do their own business. While some traditional wet market features such as the red lampshades are not affected and even specially preserved, some others such as the calligraphic store signs are not with the same luck (周詠雯, 香港01, 2017, January 03). There are also complaints on the soaring rent: the average rent increased from 54.3 HKD per feet in 2007 to 70.0 HKD/feet in 2013 (爾東, 許嘉汶, & 陳國豪, 2014). Individuals which cannot afford the high rent have to leave. With fewer competitions from individuals, the provision of daily necessities and services are at risk of being monopolized by chain stores opened by large corporations. Those large corporations and lucky few surviving small individuals respond to the high rent by raising the price of their goods, which harms the customers.
The public has already noticed the problem and urged the government to do something. One proposal is to build new government-managed wet markets which can provide individuals with low-rent store locations.
Final Remarks
The local customers and shop owners of the wet markets have shaped the distinctive wet market features: With many Chinese customers who loves fresh meat and produces, the shop owners introduce a sea of lampshades, mini-aquariums and mini-zoos to the markets. To make best possible use of the limited store space and resource, the shop owners hang stocks and accessories here and there, and reuse wholesale packaging in their stores. The font and choice of color on the store signs reflect the ethnic root of the shop owners.
However, what we see today are subjected to change. With customers' increasing awareness on hygiene, traditional wet markets are losing their market share over supermarkets which are generally cleaner. In response, some wet markets have their management transferred to some profit-making corporation which are much more motivated to upgrade infrastructures and introduce new marketing gimmicks. While reported to have boosted customer traffic, the management switch appears to reduce the autonomy of individual small store owners. Sometimes it even becomes a matter of whether these owners could survive under soaring rent. The government is pressed to act to protect the interest of this portion of citizens.
Anyway, hope that next time when you visit a wet market, either real or virtual, you will have another level of appreciation.
References
東方日報. (2017, January 6). 青衣長發街市改名重開 檔口縮水租金加40%. Retrieved March 26, 2017, from http://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20170106/bkn-20170106151433985-0106_00822_001.html
周詠雯, 香港01. (2017, January 03). 領展換走小店手寫體招牌 彩園邨店主：逼我換仲要我俾錢. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.hk01.com/%E7%86%B1%E8%A9%B1/63619/%E9%A0%98%E5%B1%95%E6%8F%9B%E8%B5%B0%E5%B0%8F%E5%BA%97%E6%89%8B%E5%AF%AB%E9%AB%94%E6%8B%9B%E7%89%8C-%E5%BD%A9%E5%9C%92%E9%82%A8%E5%BA%97%E4%B8%BB-%E9%80%BC%E6%88%91%E6%8F%9B%E4%BB%B2%E8%A6%81%E6%88%91%E4%BF%BE%E9%8C%A2
香港消費者委員會. (2014, January 14). 超市一站式購物模式-對消費者影響的反思. . 《選擇》月刊, (447). Retrieved March 11, 2017, from https://www.consumer.org.hk/ws_chi/choice/447_06
爾東, 許嘉汶, & 陳國豪. (2014). 樂遊九龍街市. 香港: 明報出版社
LINK. (2012, May). Tai Yuen Market Modern Operation of the Fresh Market in the New Millennium All-Round Approach to Environmental Protection and Recycling. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://channel823.linkreit.com/201205/cover-story.html
In a few virtual Hong Kong in video games, you may come cross wet markets. The markets are where Hong Kong people buy fresh meat and produce, named "wet" because they require frequent washing to maintain good hygiene. These virtual markets altogether share a few unique and eye-catching characteristics just like the real counterparts. This is not a coincidence, but a result of the local people who buy or sell food there. In this article, we will go through these distinctive characteristics one by one, and more importantly the historical and cultural origins behind them. 
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