Today, I passed by the Garden Centre at Sham Shui Po, and I want to let you know of story of this building, a story related to the history of HK and China.
今天去深水埗路過了嘉頓公司的總辦事處，不期然讓我想為大家介紹這一座香港甚至中國現代史的一個故事。
The Garden Company is a HK based bakery manufacturer producing bread, biscuits and cakes. Everyone people in Hong Kong must had tried its products. And now the products of Garden has spread over China and china towns in various countries. Today, it is the 89th years of Garden.
嘉頓是香港一家生產面包、餅乾及蛋糕的食品公司，其產品相信每一個香港人都曾嘗過，到今日亦已外銷至中國及海外多個國家的唐人街，不經不覺，嘉頓已有接近100年的歷史。
The old Garden Centre 舊嘉頓中心
(photo from Wikipedia)
You must have seen them before 相信你未吃過也見過
(photo from Garden official website)
Garden was founded in 1926. As the founders discussed the projects in Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, they named the company as “Garden”. In 1938, the company moved their centre to Sham Shui Po, the current location. Garden had experienced two important incidents in the history of China and Hong Kong. The first one is World War II.
嘉頓公司創立於1926年，由於其創辦人當初是在香港動植物公園討論計劃，故公司就命名為「Garden」，直到1938年，嘉頓公司搬到圖中的現址。嘉頓公司經歷過香港史中兩個重要的日子，其一是二次世界大戰。
Appointed Supplier of the British Army 英軍指定供應商
During World War II, as the biscuits of Garden contains better ingredients of nutrition and longer expiration date, it was selected by the British army as the food of the army. Garden has tried working 24 hours x 7 to produce 200,000 pounds of biscuits to the army. Later the factory was occupied by the Japanese amry. They destroyed the machines and the company was closed until World War II finished.
二次世界大戰期間，由於嘉頓生產的餅乾有較高的營養成份及較長的保存期，故被英軍採用為軍隊的專用餅乾，嘉頓曾連續七天二十四小時趕工製作餅乾給軍人，數量達二十萬磅。不過其後工廠被日軍佔用並將裡面的原料及機器大肆破壞，直到戰後才恢復生產。
In 1956, There was the Hong Kong 1956 riots. It was caused by the escalating provocations between the pro-Nationalist and pro-Communist in Hong Kong. As the icon of Garden was a red pentagram (which looks like the star in China flag), it raised the resentment of the pro-Nationalist. They destroyed the factory and Garden stopped operating again.
到了1956年，香港雙十暴動，深水埗一帶正是暴動的中心，暴動源於雙十節期間位於香港李鄭屋徙置區的中國民國國旗被移除，引起國民黨人強烈不滿，繼而引起暴動。由於當時嘉頓公司的標誌正是一粒五角紅星，所以被國民黨人大肆破壞，廠房損毀至停產。
Hong Kong 1956 riots 香港雙十暴動
(photo from Wikipedia)
Expand of Garden 嘉頓擴建
building layout of New Garden Centre 嘉頓中心的建築圖
(photo from Wikipedia)
After the two disasters, Garden decided to expand the Centre in 1958. They invited Chu Pin, the first-generation architect of China to design the new Centre. Chu Pin was the first groups of Chinese to study architecture in the US. He applied modernism to the building, which made it an important sample of the “Coming of Western Ideas to the Oriental World” in China. Someone even said that the Garden Centre was “a modern building that can compare with the Western in the Chinese region”. And the building is what we can see in the photos.
經歷兩次動亂，嘉頓公司於1958年擴建，邀請了中國第一代建築師朱彬設計，朱彬是中國第一代到外國留學美國的建築師，他將嘉頓中心打造成現代主義作品，乃是中國「西學東漸」的重要例子，當年更被稱為「華人世界設計出可媲美歐美例子的摩登建築」，而這座建築一直存留至今。
The building is still kept today 落成的建築一直留存至今
Garden is already a memory of Hong Kong people. We all grow up with the biscuits and bread of Garden. The Garden Centre is also the icon of Sham Shui Po. The clock tower of the Garden Centre, is the witness of the changed of Hong Kong. Many years ago, Sham Shui Po was at the coast and there was ferry to the HK Island. People just counted the time to the pier by the clock tower. And the hill just beside the Garden Centre, is now called the Garden Hill.
(For more about Garden Hill, please check: @aaronli/hong-kong-snapshot-28-with-video-night-view-of-garden-hill-composed-by-ignored-stories-28
嘉頓而成為今天香港人的一個回憶，我們都是吃嘉頓的餅乾和面包長大的，而嘉頓公司更是一個地標，中心天台的鐘樓是香港社會演變的見證，當年深水埗在海邊，有碼頭去中環，市民們就是看這鐘樓去碼頭等船，而嘉頓公司旁邊的那座小山，更因而被市民稱呼為嘉頓山。
(關於更多有關嘉頓山的故事，請看：@aaronli/hong-kong-snapshot-28-with-video-night-view-of-garden-hill-composed-by-ignored-stories-28
View of Garden Centre from Garden Hill 從嘉頓山看嘉頓中心
(photo from Wikipedia)
In July this year, the Garden Company applied for renewing the Garden Centre. The new building will be a Commercial building with 25 floors and provides bakery courses and office rental. Once the news was published, there were a lot of opposite voices from the community. Some professional even believed that the Garden Centre can be listed as HK Grade II Historical Building. But the Garden Centre is a private property, so it is not graded and we can’t affect the decision of the renewal. Yes, the building connecting the HK community, as well as the relation between HK, China and the western, will soon be gone.
今年7月，嘉頓公司向香港城規會申請重建嘉頓中心，改建成一座樓高25層的商業大廈，提供烘焙培訓課程及辦公室。消息一出，竟引來市民極大的反對意見，亦有專家認為嘉頓中心可列為香港二級歷史建築，不過由於嘉頓中心乃嘉頓公司的私人物業，故未被評級，市民亦難以左右其重建計劃，所以這個連結著香港社區，以至中、港、洋三地歷史關係的建築，很有可能將會消失了。
We may not see the clock tower anymore 在未來我們再也見不到這大鐘了
Garden Centre 嘉頓中心
Address：58 Castle Peak Road, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong
地址：香港九龍深水埗青山道58號
!steemitworldmap 22.3338372 lat 114.1602669 long d3scr
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！
Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
