An Inch of Time：A Happy Valley Childhood

Told through a little girl’s keen and often amused observation, AN INCH OF TIME gives a truthful, pleasant picture of daily life in Hong Kong in the post-war years. This first-hand account of the kind of home and school education received by many middle-class local Hong Kong children decades ago contains reminiscences about aspects of life-style, customs and traditions – both eastern and western – which average Hongkongers lived by in the 1940s and ‘50s. This memoir is set in a specific locality, the Happy Valley district of Hong Kong Island, home for over a century to the famous Jockey Club race-course.

The author, DORIS NG SHIU MAY, was born and raised in a traditional Chinese family in post-war Hong Kong and grew up imbued with the age-old concepts and disciplines of Southern China. They lived in a large apartment in Happy Valley, which they shared with her grandmother’s two sworn sisters and their families. After a few years in a government primary school, which seemed like a second family to her, Shiu May was transferred to a Catholic missionary school for girls, because her parents wanted her to learn more English. There she was immersed in a different style of education and had to come to grips with a vibe which she found both foreign and exciting. Shiu May graduated from The University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree – she also holds MAppSc (Lib&InfoMgt) (CSU); and MALS (HKBU) qualifications – and has worked as a teacher, librarian and translator. In recent years, she has spent her time in tutoring, compiling English Language teaching materials and also writing for enjoyment. Throughout her studies and work, Shiu May, who is married with two children and three grandchildren, remained in Hong Kong, except for brief periods of time. Lasting impressions from her childhood and the people then around her fill her heart with fondness and contentment as she reminisces about her early years. The appropriate title of this book, “An Inch of Time”, is part of a Chinese saying, written as a seven-character couplet, which reminds us how very precious time is.

COMMENTS
An Inch of Time: A Happy Valley Childhood records the author’s footprint, combining literature, locality and recollection through a forceful blend of imagination, memories and experience….
… From this book, readers… will know … some of the customs and cultural settings, living conditions and public services (for example, education, healthcare, transportation) in the context of 1940s and 50s Hong Kong. … [Through] her descriptions of Happy Valley and other places in Hong Kong, the author shares with us her admiration and affection for them. Her work … truly… paints “a truthful, pleasant picture of daily life…both eastern and western”.
—THERESA CHAN
Former Editor, Kung Kao Po (《公教報》)