Hypnotic unique Neon Signs made in Hong Kong
Neon Signs illuminate Hong Kong history
Hong Kong’s iconic Neon Signs
The soft glow emitted from these neon signs create an almost surreal streetscape within the space.
Journey through time as the exhibition of Vital Signs delves into the heritage of Hong Kong’s iconic neon signs.
The neon lights on show tell how these signs became a beloved symbol of Hong Kong’s vibrant culture.
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As Hong Kong emerged and rebuilt after World War II, the city underwent rapid economic growth.
Factories and workshops worked competitively to sculpt, bend, and blow delicate gas-filled glass tubes to produce neon signs that advertised burgeoning new businesses.
These bright lights advertised restaurants, theatres, hotels and more, becoming potent lures drawing tourists to Hong Kong.
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The soft glow emitted from these signs created an almost surreal streetscape.
Unique and romantic, auteurs such as Wong Kar-wai and Ridley Scott immortalised their likeness in film.
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Clear and flashing in English and Chinese alike, these unique messages written in light have faded over the years, giving way to new technology and tightening government policies.
Art of neon
Through the efforts of a devoted public and conservationists, the fading art of neon signage production lives on with a hopeful eye towards the future.
The neon craze began in the west. From the 1930s onwards, bright signs lining the sides of buildings increased in popularity.
They flashed their messages and reinvented the metropolitan visual language.
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The combination of typography, illustration and graphic design became an efficient signal of the postwar economic prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s.
Astute business owners invested in long-lasting signs intended to pass from generation to generation.
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These larger-than-life promotions had to deliver their messages quickly and effectively.
Neon sign industry began 1930s
As drivers sped on the roads and pedestrians hurried from point A to B, the wording would be sparse, and imagery, if any, needed to make an immediate and lasting impression.
Hong Kong’s neon industry was formed in the early 1930s. Throughout Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, there were three main classes of neon signs – extensions of buildings, on buildings and shopfronts, which could further be broken down into twelve archetypes.
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The most commonly seen is the extension sign. Either braced with steel frames and cables or extended cantilevers, these signs honour eastern and western traditions with their vertical placement.
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Reminiscent of 1930s American neon theatre signs, their orientation was favourable to Chinese characters, which can be read horizontally or vertically.
Here, variations of Chinese calligraphy shone in the spotlight. Among them, the Northern Wei style was the most common in Hong Kong.
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Asymmetric and angular, its heavier stroke weights are reminiscent of stone inscriptions.
These bold signs began with a sheet metal base panel. Glass tubes would be affixed, and then text and other graphic elements were arranged and cut out of sheet metal and welded to the base plates before spray paint was applied.
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The colour scheme for the base panels often differed from those of the neon tubes.
Before manufacturing began, graphic artists usually rendered these gigantic designs at reduced scale for client approval.
Once given the green light, full-scale drawings served as templates for the neon masters to craft the glass tubes and sheet metal to spec.
Surprisingly, developing Hong Kong’s once-iconic neon streets was a wholly organic exercise.
While individual businesses strove to outshine their competitors in this crowded space, many were considerate enough not to obscure other signs deliberately.
The mixture of columnar and banner signs and reasonable distances between them accidentally created a multilayered and dynamic cascading effect.
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The city’s neon industry reached its zenith in the 1990s. By 2005, there were about 100 colours available for use in neon sign production.
Industry zenith 1990s
In recent decades, neon lights’ gentle glow has started giving way to more cost-effective alternatives such as LED lights.
A once-burgeoning industry has whittled down significantly.
Now, precious few artisans are still actively engaged in the trade, and fewer than twenty-nine neon colours are available for commercial use.
Master Fung, a calligraphy artist with a broad talent scope, continues to be in high demand.
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Not only one of the city’s finest calligraphers, Fung is also passionate about preserving the art of neon signage for the next generation, so that they may learn from his skills and continue the craft.
Original giant columnar sign for Nam Cheong Pawn Shop in Sham Shui Po
While the calligraphy artist lays the foundation, the tube-bender must bring the characters to life.
Master Wong, Hong Kong’s preeminent neon tube bender, has been active in the city’s neon industry since the 1950s.
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Though he is now in his eighties, Wong still goes to his studio every day to develop tubes for new neon installations.
Once the signs are ready to light up the sky, trained specialists install them.
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Master Yau began his career as an apprentice neon sign installer when he was seventeen. After more than forty years, Yau is one of the last actively producing neon sign painters.
Having worked at enormous scales in the prime of their careers, these masters now work with less frequency and at smaller, more manageable scales.
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Moving along in an uncertain market, only time will tell whether these practices will continue to hold economic viability.
Besides the dwindling industry and manufacturing capabilities, neon sign owners are also being threatened by increasing government scrutiny.
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Since the early 2010s, the Hong Kong government’s Buildings Department has ramped up its removal order efforts.
Romantic hearts and the fortune-optimising number 8 feature heavily in this sign (Origin unknown)
Citing public safety concerns, removal notices for oversized signs force their owners into making a difficult choice.
Once you’ve received the notice, you have two options – apply for installation and retroactive approval or remove the advertisement altogether.
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Regretfully, most business owners take the latter approach. It’s cheaper, faster, and the success rate of applications for retroactive approval is abysmal (Between 2013-2022, the Buildings Department approved less than half of the 932 submitted applications).
A dragon and phoenix, two mythic creatures revered in Chinese mythology, circle around the sun, commissioned for the Vital Signs exhibition
While there is merit in consideration of public safety, there is no inspection committee. The sudden vanishing of hundreds of neon signs has darkened once-vibrant city streets.
In 2011, Hong Kong boasted about 120,000 neon billboards. While 700 removal notices were released in 2015, this number ticked up to 1,119 in 2022.
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Businesses typically have sixty days to remove their neon sign upon receiving the removal notice. Far too many of these signs are turned into scrap metal and tossed into landfills.
A yellow koi leaps into the air as it reaches for a gold coin (Origin unknown)
Thankfully, there is a group that is working to rescue and preserve as many of these artefacts as possible.
Founded in 2020, Tetra Neon Exchange (TNX) is a local non-profit organisation that collects famous neon signs that have been dealt the removal notice.
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Since regulatory tightening around unauthorised neon signs, TNX has received almost sixty signs that would otherwise have been condemned.
A cat chatting on a phone neon sign of Autumn Harvest in Sham Shui Po, a store specialising in Japanese electronics, salvaged by TNX in 2021
Most of these rescued artefacts are stored in a rural part of Yuen Long in the New Territories. Once there, the signboards are raised atop wooden planks to prevent them from being damaged by potential flooding.
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The artistry and finesse required of Chinese neon artisans allowed the Hong Kong industry to develop in ways unique from all other places.
A dog chatting on the phone neon sign of Autumn Harvest in Sham Shui Po, a store specialising in Japanese electronics, salvaged by TNX in 2021
Over the last two decades, thousands of neon signs have vanished from districts throughout Hong Kong, replaced by LED, printed billboards, and less conspicuous advertising.
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2009 alone saw the removal of more than four thousand of these artefacts. Once shuttered off to scrap metal furnaces, the remaining support beams look like frail skeletons.
Change is inevitable and sometimes hurts more than you’d expect.
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This exhibition, conservation efforts and the continued use of neon signs on building exteriors or in nostalgic interiors – admittedly on a smaller scale – offer pleasant reminders of Hong Kong’s unique contribution to this distinct art form
Text Victoria Mae Martyn / Photos Victoria Mae Martyn & Cammy Yiu
