The second generation of the wealthy families was mostly big spenders. They loved shopping at the newly established Chinese department stores around De Voeux Road in Sheung Wan. Sincere, Wing On, Whiteaway Laidlaw and The Sun were among the most well known ones. Those who knew English would shop at Lane Crawford, which was opened by foreigners as early as in the 1840s. Apart from buying suits, clocks and watches and equipment for smoking opium for themselves, these young masters loved most to buy various kinds of perfumes, floral water, clothes, jewels and little gadgets as gifts for the prostitutes they adored. Tons of gold were squandered just to get a smile from the beautiful lady. Certain young masters of the second generation from Nanyang setting fire on currency notes to compete for prostitutes, and burning HK dollar notes to cook green bean soup; another young master making a block booking at “The Big Four” to stop other people from getting intimate with his sweetheart – these tales often circulated around West Quarry in the old days.

Amazing! Wing On and Sincere stores are still there!

My 12th Young Master’s family name was Chan, and his name was Chun Pong. Everybody called him the 12th Young Master. It was a popular practice at the time that the sons from the noble Chinese merchants’ families were addressed according to their family names and followed by their seniority among their siblings. Because of superstition, the wish to stay discreet or the wish to inflate and fake a big family, many people “add 10” or even “add 20” to their names. Hence, Chan’s second young master was called Chan 12th Young Master, and likewise, Lam’s third young master was called Lam 23rd Young Master and so on.