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Boxes of Taiwanese pomelos and New Zea- Jacky places boxes of fruit from his stall to his
land apples sit beside the female vendor. truck for delivery. The tailboard of his truck lifts
up both himself and the electric pallet jack.

Stacks of boxes with fresh fruit “My mentor operated the stall for
from different countries fill up Water- around 30 years. We took over the
loo Road, Shek Lung Street, and Rec- stall after he migrated,” he says.
lamation Street. Middle-aged workers Jacky learns the industry’s vibrant
yell fruit names against the buzz of history from his mentor. “There were
rumbling electric pallet jacks. more than a hundred fruit stalls be-
Hectic and chaotic it might seem, fore a fire accident in 2016…Those
fruit vendors begin just another or- were the good old days of the fruit
dinary day of work at midnight in market. Now only around 30 stalls re-
Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Market, Hong main,” he sighs.
Kong’s biggest fruit market. A three-alarm fire broke out at a
Like his fellow vendor, Jacky from stall near Shek Lung Street in Yau Ma
Raw Fruit, a small stall on Waterloo Tei Wholesale Market on September
Road of the market, starts his day at 4, 2016. At least 10 fruit stalls were
midnight. destroyed.
“We arrive at the airport to col- “Some stalls were destroyed and
lect fruit at around 10 p.m. and return closed down after the fire. Fewer peo-
to the fruit market at around 12 a.m. ple are joining this business. The in-
Our stall closes at around 4 a.m. after dustry starts to die down,” he says.
our customers pick up fruit they order Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Market was
from us,” says Jacky, owner of the stall, built in 1913. Originally named “Gov-
who declines to reveal his full name. ernment Vegetables Market”, it once
Jacky and his partner started do- handled nearly all fresh food sold in
ing fruit wholesale business five years Kowloon. In 1965, the government
ago. They took over the fruit stall from relocated the wholesale of vegetables,
their mentor who taught them how to poultry, and fish to Cheung Sha Wan.
do business. Since then, the market has only oper-
“My partner and I looked for fruit ated wholesale business of fruit.
suppliers as we wanted to start a fruit Commonly known as “guo laan”,
stall. This is how we met our mentor. meaning “fruit market” in Cantonese,
It is fate,” he recalls. the market stretches along Shek Lung In between towers of fruit boxes, a vendor crosses the road with his electric pallet jack.