Hot Topics: How Hong Kong’s rules for hawkers are affecting the dying trade - YP

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Context: How ageing vendors, licensing laws and enforcement actions are affecting Hong Kong’s hawkers

Earlier this month, law enforcement officers confiscated a roasted chestnut cart from one of Hong Kong’s last licensed itinerant hawkers, Chan Tak-ching. They did so because Chan had asked a man, who was not a licensed operator, to mind the cart for her. She could lose the cart she has relied on for decades to earn her livelihood.

The 90-year-old had asked a man, who was her goddaughter’s 29-year-old son, to look after her cart as she went for a toilet break. Officers from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department accused the man of hawking illegally at a busy public accessway in Cheung Sha Wan.

The city has two kinds of hawker licences. The fixed-pitch permit allows merchants to sell their wares at a designated, stationary stall. The itinerant hawker licence covers mobile vendors such as ice cream trucks.

Authorities estimate that the number of itinerant hawkers will fall from 304 last year to 290 this year. Photo: Natalie Wong

Chan is one of only 300 licensed itinerant hawkers in the city, as the government has effectively been winding down their trade over the years.

The conduct of such vendors comes under the control of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s Hawker Control Team. This team ensures that vendors comply with the city’s Hawker Regulation and refrain from causing obstructions or nuisances.

The law also requires licensees to be present at their stalls during operating hours.

Fixed-pitch hawkers must get the government’s approval to employ assistants. Such employees can only help when operators are taking breaks and replenishing stocks.

Distraught 90-year-old hawker pleads with police after chestnut cart confiscated

But itinerant vendors are not allowed to hire assistants. Violations of this rule are considered illegal hawking. They are only allowed to trade in areas indicated in the permit.

Fixed-pitch hawkers can pass their licences to their spouses, children or parents. But the itinerant ones can only opt to give up their permits.

The number of fixed-pitch hawkers dropped to 5,200 last year, down 1 per cent from 2021. The number of itinerant hawkers has declined from 330 in 2021 to 304 last year, with authorities estimating the figure would fall to 290 this year.
Staff writers

Question prompts:

• List three challenges that Hong Kong’s itinerant hawkers face.

• Describe the general trend of the city’s hawker trade. Explain why this is happening using information from Glossary.

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Cartoon

Illustrator: Harry Harrison

Question prompts:

• Based on information from Context, what is the officer on the left holding?

• What is the officer most likely referring to when he says “this is going to be one Hong Kong story that is difficult to tell well”?

News: 90-year-old hawker appeals to authorities to change ‘outdated’ legislation governing trade

• Chan Tak-ching has asked for the return of her seized cart and says the rules about hawkers were drawn up when far more hawkers used the streets

• One lawmaker has appealed for compassion and common sense to prevail

For more than 60 years, hawker Chan Tak-ching, 90, has relied on her cart to sell clothes, fruit, poultry and roasted chestnuts on Hong Kong’s streets to support her family. But now, Chan could lose the business after her cart was confiscated by enforcement officers. According to Chan, it was the first time she had her cart confiscated, which had caused huge distress.

She has since appealed to the authorities to return the cart so she could start working again. She also asked the government to review its rules for the city’s dwindling number of hawkers. “The city’s hawkers are already dying out, but the government’s management is inflexible,” she said.

Chan added that the authorities should ease the number of places where hawking was banned. The rules were “unempathetic” to a struggling sector and outdated because they were drawn up when many street hawkers used to flood the streets and block traffic, she said.

She also called on the government to allow street vendors to hire assistants if they wanted.

Chan Tak-ching has asked the government to update its legislation for hawkers. Photo: Elson Li

She admitted she had been fined small amounts over the years for operating the cart in off-limits areas, such as those close to crowded MTR stations, where hawking was banned. But she explained hawkers sometimes risked a fine to operate in high-traffic areas because they had higher footfall, which meant better business.

Meanwhile, lawmaker Doreen Kong Yuk-foon said the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department had confirmed that a hawker could ask someone else to look after their cart while they were away, but that the individual could not operate the stall on their behalf.

“The helper cannot help sell things ... But can the officers be more compassionate when enforcing the law? When the licence holder is away, should the helper chase away people who want to buy things at the stalls?” Kong said. She added the department could have taken pictures or video of the cart as evidence instead of confiscating Chan’s means of making a living.

Kong said she was told by the department that the cart could not be returned to Chan because it was now an exhibit in the case.
Staff writer

Question prompts:

• Use Glossary to explain why Chan says the rules for hawkers are outdated.

• How far do you agree with Chan that the current rules for hawkers are “unempathetic” to a struggling sector?

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Issue: Seizing 90-year-old Hong Kong hawker’s roasted chestnut cart was right move, government union says

• Government hygiene workers’ union backs decision by authorities to confiscate 90-year-old hawker’s stall, saying ‘we always seize the tools as evidence’

• Food and Environmental Hygiene Department stressed that its handling of the incident had been lenient

Seizing Chan Tak-ching’s roasted chestnut cart was the right move since it was being operated by an unlicensed third party in her absence, but the vendor could have kept it despite obstructing a street if she was present, according to a government hygiene workers’ union.

Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Staff Rights Union vice-chairwoman Li Mei-siu defended the enforcement action involving the 90-year-old vendor.

“If she was there, she might only be prosecuted for obstruction of streets because she has a licence. But another individual man with no licence was doing business. That’s why he was prosecuted,” she told a radio programme. “When it comes to unlicensed hawking, we always seize the tools as evidence.”

Li also argued the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department had always taken a “relaxed” stance to enforce the rules. “Sometimes even if itinerant hawkers hire assistants to help with their business, as long as the licensees are present to man the stall, we would not prosecute them,” she said.

Itinerant vendors are not allowed to pass their licences to their family members and can only opt to give them up. Photo: Elson Li

In a statement, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said its handling of the incident was lenient given the area involved was in a busy public accessway. It wrote: “The officers gave a warning to the hawker and then dispersed but did not take enforcement action.”

Officers returned to the scene an hour later for a follow-up investigation and discovered the 29-year-old man operating the food stall, the department explained.

Li said the department’s frontline officers had clear guidelines to issue a warning when dealing with elderly people before taking any further actions.

“Her cart was outside the MTR station and did occupy a large area of the location causing an obstruction. In addition, the licensee was not at the scene and the man was actually handling the transaction,” the union vice-chairwoman added.
Staff writers

Question prompts:

• Do you agree with Li that it was necessary to confiscate the cart as evidence? Explain using News and Issue.

• Lawmaker Doreen Kong Yuk-foon said the government should consider preserving hawkers as Hong Kong’s cultural heritage. Suggest TWO changes the government must make for this to happen. Explain using Issue, Glossary and your own knowledge.

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Glossary

1. fixed-pitch permit: allows merchants to sell their wares at a designated, stationary stall. Examples include vendors such as those selling clothes and souvenirs at the Ladies’ Market in Mong Kok.

2. hawker: a person who makes money by selling goods, going from place to place and asking people to buy them. The Hong Kong Hawkers Association estimated there were more than 70,000 such vendors in Hong Kong and Kowloon in 1946, with many starting their businesses before World War II. The British colonial government at the time enforced a permit system. In a Legislative Council document from 2018, authorities said the Hong Kong government has made successive efforts to reduce the number of hawkers. Measures to do so included the resettlement of street vendors, an increase in enforcement actions, as well as restrictions on the issuance and transfer of licences.

3. itinerant hawker licence: a licence that covers mobile vendors. These hawkers are only allowed to trade in areas indicated in the permit, and there is a list of black spots, which are locations where no prior warning is given by law enforcement officers before they take prosecution action. Such areas include places of high pedestrian flow.

4. rules for hawkers: licensees must comply with the city’s Hawker Regulation, permit conditions and other related legislation. Rules include conducting business at designated spaces and refraining from causing obstructions to people. Anyone who breaches the rules could be prosecuted, have their businesses suspended or have their licence revoked. They could also face a fine and jail time. Those convicted of hawking without a valid license could be fined up to HK$10,000 and imprisoned for a maximum jail time of six months. Vendors must be present to operate their stalls; otherwise, they could be prosecuted or stripped of their permits.

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Sample answers

Context:

• List three challenges that Hong Kong’s itinerant hawkers face. They are not allowed to employ assistants. / They are not allowed to pass their licences to family members. / There are restrictions on where they are allowed to sell their goods. / The government has been winding down their trade over the years.

• Describe the general trend of the city’s hawker trade. Explain why this is happening using information from Glossary. The hawker trade in the city is declining because the Hong Kong government has made successive efforts to reduce the number of hawkers. The measures included the resettlement of street vendors, an increase in enforcement actions, as well as restrictions on the issuance and transfer of licences.

Cartoon:

• Based on information from Context, what is the officer on the left holding? Chan Tak-ching’s roasted chestnut cart

• What is the officer most likely referring to when he says “this is going to be one Hong Kong story that is difficult to tell well”? He is referring to the fact that it is quite upsetting for an elderly woman to have her livelihood taken from her. Many people have sympathised with her plight. Also, the cartoonist is making a snide comment about the government’s “Hello Hong Kong” campaign, which includes telling “good Hong Kong stories”. (accept other reasonable answers)

News:

• Use Glossary to explain why Chan says the rules for hawkers are outdated. The rules for hawkers were first drawn up by the British colonial government during a time when there were likely more than 70,000 hawkers. Now, there are only about 5,500 of them left.

• How far do you agree with Chan that the current rules for hawkers are “unempathetic” to a struggling sector? I agree with Chan to a certain extent that the Hawker Regulations are too restrictive, especially when it concerns itinerant hawkers. They can be updated to be more similar to those holding fixed-pitch permits. However, some existing clauses that determine where itinerate hawkers can operate should remain to ensure they are not obstructing people and road traffic. (accept other reasonable answers)

Issue:

• Do you agree with Li that it was necessary to confiscate the cart as evidence? Explain using News and Issue. No, I do not agree because the authorities could have taken pictures or video of the 29-year-old man running the cart as evidence instead of confiscating Chan’s means of making a living. (accept other reasonable answers)

• Lawmaker Doreen Kong Yuk-foon said the government should consider preserving hawkers as Hong Kong’s cultural heritage. Suggest TWO changes the government must make for this to happen. Explain using Issue, Glossary and your own knowledge. The city’s rules for hawkers need to take into consideration that many of the vendors are elderly, so it should allow them to hire assistants to help out during peak hours. The government can also set up designated areas with high foot traffic for these hawkers to ply their trade so that they will not risk flouting the law in order to get more business. (accept other reasonable answers)

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Hot Topics: How Hong Kong’s rules for hawkers are affecting the dying trade - YP
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