Hong Kong Centennial Tianxing Small Wheels to suspend?People from Hong Kong and Shanghai: It entrusts the feelings of hometown under our outbreak

"It's the sea, it's not the river."

Four years ago, Gao Kang, who had just came to work in Hong Kong, would always be corrected by local friends when he blurted out of the "crossing the river". The Shanghai guy who grew up by the Huangpu River seemed to have a little intimacy when he saw the starring wheel of Victoria Harbor.

The hull double -headed design, the white down green on the hull, and the top chimney of the boat have four small stars embellished. In recent years, the starring wheels have the feelings of Gao Kang's hometown. "I only went back to Shanghai once in these 3 years, and said that it was a month of leave. In fact, I stayed at home for 5 days." Therefore, in Hong Kong's leisure time, Gao Kang will take a boat and face the sea breeze. Under the ups and downs of the hull, I remembered my family, thought of the dignitaries, and the oily pier of Huang Chengcheng ...

However, during this time, the news that Tianxing's small wheels had difficulty in operating and possible suspension made Gao Kang on the side of the WeChat phone a little sad. "Local friends said that this feeling is like watching the old man who grows up. . "So, will the starring wheels that have been sailing for more than 100 years in Victoria Harbor, carrying a Hong Kong business card with a generation of generations of Hong Kong people. Will it really come to the end of history?

"Almost all the mountains and rivers are exhausted"

"Almost all of the mountains and rivers." Gao Kang noticed the press release issued by Tianxing Terry Company last month -from June 2019 to February this year, the company's cumulative loss exceeds 70 million Hong Kong dollars, which is the total of the past 20 years of profits. Now every month, it is now monthly. The income of income is not enough to pay the employee, and it can only be used for debt.

According to data from the SAR Government Transport Department, the total number of passengers in February this year was 381,000, with an average of 13607 people a day, a decrease of 46%compared with the same period last year. From 2019 to 2021, the average annual passenger volume was 17.971 million, 8.529 million, and 9.578 million, which was far lower than previous years.

Gao Kang had a deep understanding of this. In the past few months, he has sat many times in the stars, boarding the ship from the Central Wharf of Hong Kong Island to the Tsim Sha Tsui Wharf opposite the Victoria Harbor. "The ferry comes on time and walks on time. There are only dozens of people who are rare on each shot." According to his observations, passengers either the old man who passed the time, or the young man who blows the sea breeze while the rest day. Travel, "In the past few years, there were tourists taking pictures on the boat."

Gao Kang's observation was also confirmed. Zhou Zhuoxian, general manager of Tianxing Small Wheel Company, said in an interview before that the Star Wheel has always rely on tourists' income to subsidize the expenses of local public transportation, so as to achieve the balance of income and expenditure. In the past two years, the number of tourists has been affected by the epidemic, which has caused a huge blow to the company's operations.

The influence of less tourists is that the ferry itself is not just the ferry itself. There are more than a dozen shops near the Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui Tianxing Wharf, and half of them have been suspended. Even the souvenir stores that are still in business are in and out. "No guest had to open the door for half a day, only two or three single business." The shop rented by Boss Huang has been operating here for more than 30 years. Now the business has fallen by 80 %, only 5,000 yuan per month.

Even though the landlord Tianxing Xiaoshuan is willing to rent a house, the life of Boss Huang still lives tightly. "Earlier in the Mainland youth who graduated from Chinese University, he was ready to leave after working in Hong Kong for many years. Here I bought some postcards and lock sticks back."

"It seems to be a portrait for more than 100 years in Hong Kong"

According to this boss Huang, from the 1990s to take over this shop, 80 % to 90 % of customers are foreign tourists. "Many people deliberately experience the starring wheels. Memorial stamps, refrigerators (freezer) stickers, etc. ".

The origin of Tianxing Small wheels can be traced back to the "Kowloon Crossing Sea Small Company" established in 1880. It was originally operated by a steam ship named "Xiaoxing". In 1898, the businessman Ji Zi Paul Juda bought all the small wheels. Since all the ship names have a "star", they named the company named Tianxing Small Company.

For more than 70 years, the star wheel has been the only channel connecting Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It was not until 1972 that after the opening of the first submarine tunnel in Hong Kong, the ferry began to transition from transportation to tourist attractions. After that, as the Skyrims on both sides of the Victoria Harbor became longer and taller, taking the Tianxing Wheel Vendor Port became almost all options for tourists to Hong Kong. Today, Tianxing Small Wheels specializes in two golden routes -Hong Kong Island Central to Kowloon Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong Island Wan Chai to Tsim Sha Tsui.

"In the past, traffic was inconvenient. The stars are the most close channel for Hong Kong Island to establish connections with the New Territories of Kowloon. It is the support of the two sides of the Victoria Harbor." Gao Kang said that almost every Hong Kong person will contact it. In addition The fluttering state in the Victoria Port ship seems to be the true portrayal of the development of more than 100 years after the opening of Hong Kong's port.

Captain Li Runqiang, who has joined the Star Star, has witnessed the most lively time of it. At that time, there were large -scale activities such as book shows and gourmet exhibitions in the Wan Chai Convention and Exhibition Center. The Jiawan Line (Tsim Sha Tsui to Wan Chai) always had to work overtime. Free travel tourists and foreign tourists who come to Hong Kong also like to take the ferry to visit the port.

According to data from the SAR Government Transport Department, from 2017 to 2018, the number of passengers per month was maintained at 1.3 million peaks of 2 million passengers. By the second half of 2019, due to the storm, the number of passengers fell below 1.2 million times in August. After that, the number of tourists was almost zero with the number of tourists in 2020, and the operation of the starring wheel was increasingly difficult.

"No Hong Kong people want it to close." According to the Star Small wheel company, even in 2047, the debt owed now is unclear.

"As the last 'mission' of the Chief Executive, it is to ensure that two important historical sites can have a sustainable future." On the 18th of last month, the Chief Executive of the Special Economic Zone Lin Zhengyue said in the nostalgic photo exhibition. When a tram has served Hong Kong citizens and tourists visiting Hong Kong for more than a century, it has become Hong Kong's "iconic cultural relics". Lin Zhengyue said that the government has measures to strengthen their support for them, while actively discussing how to develop sustainable development with the two companies.

In Gao Kang's perspective, the reason for the ferry loss is that the fare is too cheap. Even after the price increased by 16.5%at the end of last year, the ferry from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui now on working days. One comparison is that if you take a bus from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui, it will cost HK $ 10. Gao Kang recalled that at the end of last year, I heard the news of the price of the star in the stars, and almost no one was opposed.

However, he also admits that when the number of tourists cannot rise sharply in a short period of time, a small price increase can only be said to be better than nothing. Zhou Zhuoxian, general manager of the Star Wheel Company, said that if the number of local tourists alone to increase the price to balance the income and expenditure, the price increase will be "amazing".

The rescue solution given by the SAR Government Transport Department is to handle the management power of Tsim Sha Tsui Wharf, Central No. 7 Pier and the Linking Building and Wan Chai Ferry Wharf. The company can subsidize the ferry operation by earning non -ticket income. In other words, the SAR government hopes to subsidize enterprises in disguise by giving enterprises with additional management rights and management rights.

At present, Tianxing Xiaoshuan is running three docks in Central, Tsim Sha Tsui and Wan Chai in the golden area of ​​Hong Kong. Zhou Zhuoxian told the media that the company considers to convert it into urban landmarks and introduce special coffee shops, Japanese -style skewers, etc., to give passengers more experience, "don't (passengers) just take a boat." Even so, he still had to admit that in order to reverse the current financial difficulties, the transfer was still a large number of foreign tourists came to Hong Kong.

"No Hong Kong people want it to close. The stars' small round is an important Icon (symbol) in Hong Kong, which carries Hong Kong's culture." Gao Kang also noticed that yesterday, the shooting place of Zhou Xingchi's "God of Food" and accompanied Hong Kong people 46 The annual treasure seafood crickets also had to leave Hong Kong because of their incompetence. "It survived the financial crisis and SARS epidemic, but after all, it lost to the double blow of social storms and the new crown epidemic."

"I don't want to, the scene of treasure seafood will appear again." Gao Kang was looking forward to the end of this epidemic, the economy can recover soon, and the starring wheel can continue to sail at Victoria Harbor. You can freely return to Shanghai to visit relatives, vacations, eat oil pier, and take the crossed Jiangqian in Shanghai. "

Liberation Daily · Shangguan News Original manuscript, reprinting without permission

Author: Hong Junjie

WeChat editor: Antong

School counterpart: Jia Simin

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