[Field-Homework 3] Vanishing City: Dai Pai Dong

Video Essay:

Director and Producer: Angie Tang

Video Essay:

The video will be focused on the preservation of ‘dai pai dong’, or street food vendors in Hong Kong. A typical dai pai dong consists of a small green metal stall that serves as a kitchen, with wooden or plastic seating outside. It translates to ‘food stall with a big licence plate’, referring to the restaurant’s printed permit to operate. There were over 40 of these stalls in 1950s Hong Kong, but just a little more than 20 survive today. My selected dai pai dong, So Kee, is well-known for its 24-hour service, yuen yeung, and pork chop noodles with a fried egg on top.

The video’s topic will revolve around nostalgia and a strong sense of locality, with the goal of exploring their cultural relevance and evoking memories of ancient Hong Kong. The video will focus on a specific stall on Yiu Tung Street in Sham Shui Po, which was chosen because it is in an older, more local community and is more likely to disappear than other stalls on Hong Kong Island. These stalls are not like traditional indoor restaurants. Customers normally sit outside on disposable tableware, while the owners cook inside a little rickety stall. These conditions make it a target for government officials’ concerns about hygiene and overpopulation. The Hong Kong Urban Council has not issued any new dai pai dong licences since the 1970s, and current ones can only be passed on to immediate family members and, if not, are terminated upon the licensee’s death. I also selected to title the essay ‘Vanishing City’ since the government is exterminating these stalls for cleanliness and urban regeneration goals, and it is crucial for me to emphasise this in the title.

To create an authentic ambiance, authorization will be obtained from the stall owner to shoot the inside and dining area of the stall, allowing viewers to experience the unique ambience. The camera will also show the stall’s activities, such as boiling noodles, preparing drinks and delivering meals to customers. I will document the production of popular Hong Kong street cuisine, as well as the staff’s movements as they work within this limited space to offer a taste of old school Hong Kong.

To conduct research for the video essay, both primary and secondary sources will be used. Primary research will include visiting the dai pai dong in Sham Shui Po and observing their everyday activities to determine which ones are noteworthy enough to capture on camera. Filming these interactions will provide vital insight into the stall’s cultural, culinary, and social value in the Hong Kong community. Secondary research will include obtaining information from publications, interviews, and credible web sources to support the video’s narrative. This will provide further background for the booths’ prominence in the city and their role in shaping the city’s image. I will also investigate the government policies that have been implemented to eliminate street food booths to provide a comprehensive explanation for why they are disappearing and how many of them remain.

In terms of video production, the video will be shot from a diner’s eye level and perspective at the stall, providing a personal, unique experience of being at a dai pai dong and guiding viewers to act as customers themselves. As the owners may not want their faces in the video, multiple viewpoints from the stall’s ‘windows’ or holes between the metal panels will be used to show their hard work in the kitchen without their faces.  This also showcases the interesting architecture of the stall itself as it is not like a classic building, but integrated into the structures beside them and covered by metal and plastic sheets only. Close-up shots will be utilised to show the food preparation in the kitchen as if the viewer is watching their meal being prepared, while long shots will be used to film the stall at the start and end to emphasise how it is gradually disappearing from society owing to government demands. There will also be a strong filming focus on the hands that prepare the food, as they keep business running and are as important as the stall itself. The movie will be edited with warm and saturated colour grading to emphasise nostalgia and create a sense of familiarity and intimacy with the stand. I will additionally keep the video’s background sounds and add subtitles instead of adding a voiceover, as I believe it will help immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of the stall with all of the busy people and sounds of cooking and food being prepared. To convey the vanishing nature of street food booths, the video will end with a long shot of the lane where the stall is located, emphasising the physical and symbolic distance between the viewer and the stall. This final shot will serve as a reminder of the stalls’ transient nature and the need for preservation in today’s Hong Kong.

Throughout the video, a coherent narrative will be woven, emphasising the cultural significance and community features of street food vendors. Being raised in Hong Kong, I had previously eaten at these street food stalls after school, and I recall the very local atmosphere, smells, and sounds that can only be found at these stalls. Despite concerns about noise levels, overcrowding, sanitation, and a departure from the past, the loss of these booths would be devastating to Hong Kong’s lower-class urban culture and people who rely on them for a living. With possible subsidies and a push towards international tourism, the government may recognize their significance. My goal is to make a visually appealing and emotionally resonant video that raises awareness about the importance of preserving these humble but indispensable cultural treasures in the face of urban redevelopment, a modernising global city, and shifting preferences among Hong Kong residents.

Bibliography: