Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market

To feel what it's like to step back in time, you only need to visit Kowloon's Yau Ma Tei Gwo Laahn (油麻地果欄), or Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market (the word laahn (欄) actually means railing or fence, but as the area is enclosed the understood meaning is market).

View large image Established in 1913, the 94-year-old market's original name was Kowloon Wholesale Fruit Market, which stood for 77 years until it was transferred to the complex in Cheung Sha Wan. Consisting of stone buildings one or two-storeys tall, the structure runs along Waterloo Road between Ferry Street and Reclamation Street, with Shek Lung Street (石龍), or Stone Dragon Street cutting through a short walk down the block.

With signs dating from before WWII, the structure has been classified as a Grade III historical building, which means "buildings of some merit; not yet qualified for consideration as buildings for which preservation efforts should be made."

This may be because the market is still in use: with 270 stalls, it's a major distribution hub of fresh fruit from all over the world, most of which ends up in the city's ubiquitous fruit stalls and wet markets. The busiest time of day is between 4am and 6am, when trucks arrive jam-packed with fruit boxes, which are then off-loaded to storage stalls, smaller delivery vehicles, and hand carts.

The market looks dilapidated, but it's still an important cogwheel in the fruit trade's machinery. Despite the influx of computers, many wholesalers continue to use the abacus for basic transactions.

And fruit isn't the only commodity that's been sold over the years. Back in 1975, when heroin supplanted opium as the drug of choice among the city's dope fiends, dealers began slinging packets with the fruit market as a front. As the business grew, the dealers were able to operate with near-impunity after giving the district police their cut of the profits. Cops on the take would provide protection, cover-ups, tip-offs of impending raids, and best of all, take out any potential competition.

An eventual crackdown netted the major players, who in turn rolled over on everyone else, including police constables, station sergeants, and officers from drug and anti-smuggling squads. In the end 18 law-enforcement officers were found guilty of "conspiracy to pervert the cause of public justice".

Thirty years later in July 2006, police shut down a triad-run 24-hour gambling den using a Trojan-horse technique; officers hid inside a fruit delivery truck as lookouts were effective against routine foot patrols.

Should the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market be upgraded in historical value (and survive the depredations of time), perhaps in 30 years another criminal syndicate will be found operating there. But one thing is certain regardless: the city's fresh fruit will still be handled within its grubby walls.

To visit the market, turn east (right) from Exit B2 of the Yau Ma Tei MTR station and walk down Waterloo Road. Cross Shanghai Street and proceed to Reclamation Street; the market sits kitty-corner from the crosswalk.

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