{"id":23516,"date":"2023-12-25T11:55:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T03:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=23516"},"modified":"2024-04-18T16:40:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T08:40:00","slug":"reviving-hong-kongs-traditional-crafts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2023\/12\/reviving-hong-kongs-traditional-crafts\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviving Hong Kong\u2019s Traditional Handmade Umbrella Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kiki Leung Yuen-ki keeps the 138-year-old handmade umbrella brand alive to preserve traditional craftsmanship in Hong Kong.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jasmine Lam<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being the fifth generation of Leung So Kee, a famous umbrella making shop in Hong Kong established in 1885, Kiki Leung Yuen-ki only officially became a full-time worker of the shop in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not like a shop only selling umbrellas, but like an old friend (to customers), \u201d Leung says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waking up every day at 9 a.m., Leung opens the shop at 11:30 a.m. and leaves as late as 8:00 p.m. Her main area is marketing, replying to customers\u2019 messages and managing social media accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe working hours are more flexible compared to before,\u201d she says, adding that she worked in the leasing industry. She was mainly responsible for dealing with tenancy agreements and leasing residential and industrial properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once Leung joined the family business, she adopted new measures to renew the 138-year-old brand to attract customers, including moving the retail shop to a new site and setting up umbrella making workshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By moving Leung So Kee from Sham Shui Po to Tsim Sha Tsui, Leung brings the traditional handmade umbrella shop into the modern world. She has also transformed the brand by using more digital marketing and she has set up a website for the public to order products online since October 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Products in the shop, including umbrellas with bamboo handles. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSocial media is important. It is the way with the lowest cost to promote products,\u201d Leung says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pandemic changes everything. It makes me think something more like \u2013 You cannot just sit here and do nothing,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of promoting digital marketing, she initiated an umbrella making workshop in 2021. Customers can make their own umbrellas, with the assistance of staff in two hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough the workshop, people know how to make an umbrella and how our brand is,\u201d Leung says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaking umbrellas is actually an intangible cultural heritage. All our umbrellas are handmade. I want to promote this culture,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, she wants everyone in her family can contribute to the family business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy brother draws really well. And we decided to print his drawings in the fabric of umbrellas,\u201d she says, adding that her brother was diagnosed with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kiki Leung<\/em><\/em><\/em> Yuen-ki<\/em> is holding the umbrella with fabric drawn by her brother. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While many people are leaving the city, Leung, who studied Specialist Economics in the University of Toronto, is determined to stay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used to come back to Hong Kong every year. I love Hong Kong more (than Canada), \u201dLeung says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy parents wanted me to come back. Also, Hong Kong has more job opportunities. The pace of Hong Kong suits me more, \u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leung stresses she loves the century-old family business because it is not merely a shop selling umbrellas but a place with many different stories with customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter the pandemic, customers can take the flight back to Hong Kong. Many emigrants come back and talk to us about their stories,\u201d Leung says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than people flying back from the United States, Singapore and Japan, some new customers come because of their social media and interviews published in various channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike yesterday, a group of emigrants from the U.S. came to the shop. A lady said her son had told her to buy an umbrella here because he spotted our interview online,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter buying an umbrella for him, she later returned to buy another one for her other son. All her sons now use our umbrellas,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leung does not have a definite answer for her future plan. She believes there are still many opportunities for her to explore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cFor this moment, I would like to stay here,\u201d Leung says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sub-edited by Christine So<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kiki Leung Yuen-ki keeps the 138-year-old handmade umbrella brand alive to preserve traditional craftsmanship in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":23522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2185,79],"tags":[2132,33,2133,205,2131],"class_list":["post-23516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-december-2023","category-people","tag-cultural-heritage","tag-culture","tag-handmade","tag-hong-kong","tag-traditional-crafts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23516"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23607,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23516\/revisions\/23607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}