A general test tube brush is baked soft on a hot fire of 1100 degrees. It is transformed into various patterns by the master’s skill, and then vacuum-packed, introducing different kinds of rare gases. Come colorful brilliance. Combining two test tube brushes of various colors and shapes together makes a beautiful neon sign.
In the 1950s, according to the direction of development for several decades, neon signs first spread rapidly in Hong Kong. When night falls, thousands of neon lights flicker one after another, depicting what Hong Kong looks like at night.
Many Hong Kong films at that time also framed the camera lens under neon lights. Neon lights, as a visual symbol, were promoted to the world together with the story of Hong Kong. It is probably as valuable to Hong Kong as a bright red public telephone booth is to London, England. It has also become the first different impression mark for mainlanders after arriving in Hong Kong.
But now, at that time, the neon lights of various colors have been dimmed one after another, and the processing technology of neon lights is cost-effective, and it is very easy to assemble LED lights instead. It can be said that it has entered the waning years.
This point is especially clear to everyone in the sign advertising industry. A master who has been in the industry for 25 years once said that when he was young at the time, he came to Shenzhen to do a sign advertisement and received an overseas neon sign project in China Town. It was my first As an external processing project, there are many aspects to get a bucket of gold stamps, but with the popularization of new crafts and raw materials, I haven’t done a larger neon sign project for seven or eight years…
The representative of the new wind and prosperity of the civilization tree
Neon lights first started abroad in the new era of 19, and after World War II, they were revived in Hong Kong. In the 1950s, with the improvement of Hong Kong’s economic development, neon signs gradually perfected a new advertising method.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Hong Kong’s economic and social development gradually became brilliant, and neon lights also ushered in its golden age. At that time, Hong Kong people sang “Under the Lion Rock” and firmly believed that no matter good times or bad times, if you work hard, you will win.
In order to create a “good character sign” passed down from generation to generation, whether it is a hardware store, a hairdresser, a handmade brand shoe store, a fast food restaurant, no matter how small, the boss will spend a lot of ideas and come up with a good name. The most eye-catching signs, and even invited calligraphy masters to inscribe.
During this period, a large number of neon signs with distinctive design concepts and artistic atmosphere have been promoted. The retro style of calligraphy and painting art and the professional ability of modern advertising have been combined, and the neon signs have been perfectly integrated. A more traditional design is the logo of the Hong Kong pawnshop company: a spider holds a copper coin, and the copper coin represents property, and the spider originally means “blessing”, which represents “wealth, honor and prosperity and endowment insurance”.
Another example is the signboard of “Big Golden Dragon Sparrow Playing Music”. Although the model and specifications are not too big, the design scheme is very beautiful. A few strokes outline the lead, dragon claws, tiger tail, and there is a cloud under the dragon.
The most famous is the steakhouse located in the eastern district of Hong Kong, the signboard of Sammy Western Restaurant. It is nearly 10 inches long and 8 inches high. The green and white light outlines a slender cow with beautiful legs in the air, which is very eye-catching. become the landmark of this area.
The neon lights of big brands are even more eye-catching. In 1973, a whole wall of a commercial center on Nathan Road was blocked by Konka’s “Sound” door advertisement. At that time, this was made of 4,000 dry neon tubes. , a 20-story high door advertisement, was written into the Guinness Book of Records. At that time, there were more than 100 benders in Hong Kong, and the order information was so large that they often worked overtime until 11 o’clock in the middle of the night.
Since then, neon lights have gradually become the visual symbols of Hong Kong. At night, the neon lights flicker, and the metropolis gradually comes to life. A variety of interior lighting outlines the streets and neighborhoods of Hong Kong in a diverse and prosperous scene. “When you think of Hong Kong and its visual culture, the first thing that comes to mind is the neon sign,” said Chen Bokang, curator of design and architecture at the M Museum.
sign of desire
In addition to the prosperity of the business, the world also has its other side under the neon lights.
During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, U.S. warships often docked in Hong Kong, which boosted the leisure sales market in Wanchai.
In 1963, the film “Su Si Huang World” was released. In the film, the sexy actress Su Si Huang, wearing a cheongsam dress, with a variety of styles, and the chicken shop in Wanchai became synonymous with Hong Kong. In 1970, there were still commercial KTVs in Hong Kong directly named “Su Si Huang”. Since then, people have gradually associated neon signboards with the city’s becoming a chicken shop.
In Hong Kong, the names of business ktv stores cannot escape the characters “gold” and “treasure”, which means simple and rude. Jin Duo Bao, Jin Mong Kok, Jin ppg, Bao Duo Jin… Its neon signs are generally red and green, with sharp contrasts and eye-catching, shining with ambiguous brilliance at night.
In many movies, neon lights have also become a symbol of wildness, irrationality, and even sin. This kind of solution is often seen in Wong Kar-wai’s works. In “Mong Kok Carmen”, he uses neon lights to create an atmosphere of sin. In “Fallen Angels”, neon lights are the most basic elements to create a vaguely visible atmosphere.
Du Kefeng, the videographer of the film “In the Mood for Love”, said, “The neon light world is a world full of dizzying and bright colors. It is a world that is illusory and true if you don’t pay attention.”
declining industry
Since the 1990s, neon lights have gradually declined due to the birth of LED lights. In addition to the disadvantages of being relatively expensive and not easy to assemble, the neon signs hanging below the street community have serious safety hazards.
Therefore, at the end of 2011, the government of Hong Kong, Hong Kong and Hong Kong SAR implemented a new management plan for outdoor decoration, and strictly controlled the size of the light signs and various intervals.
Since 2006, which was relatively early, an average of 3,000 illegal advertising signs have been demolished by the Hong Kong Buildings Department every year.
According to the Hong Kong magazine CityLife, the number of neon lights in a city has dropped by 90 percent in the past 20 years. The visual appearance of Hong Kong has also undergone some changes. That well-known landmark building, the “Cow Neon Light” of Senmei Restaurant, was also demolished in August 2015 due to safety hazards.
“It feels like something has been reduced,” said Ye Fengyi, the restaurant manager. “The whole street is empty.”
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