On Dec. 8, former Hong Kong-based correspondents gathered at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York City for a reunion to catch up with colleagues and tell adventure stories about working in this fascinating city.
Attendees shared anecdotes about their stays in the “Pearl of the Orient,” with collective experience spanning decades of the city’s history.
OPC member Seymour Topping, a veteran correspondent in China, recounted how he “broke the story of the onset of the Cultural Revolution.” He said after gathering information from security sources, he sent a message to the foreign desk at The New York Times indicating that the revolution had begun.
“I was patting myself on the back,” he said. “But then the next morning I got a message saying ‘sorry, we’re holding over your story for space. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I’d had this great world-shaking story, so I volleyed off a message of indignation and outrage to the desk.” But an editor with vast experience about Communist affairs, Harrison Salisbury, saw the story and put it on the front page the next day.
Audrey Topping talked about the couple’s unusual a honeymoon in Hong Kong in 1949 during a Christmas holiday. They had bought and trimmed up a Christmas tree in their hotel room, but in the middle of the night realized they were staying in a brothel.
“We grabbed our Christmas tree, grabbed a couple of rickshaws, and went to the Gloucester Hotel,” She said. “So Top walks in – it was happy hour thank goodness – carrying this decorated Christmas tree. And everyone stops and cheers ‘Merry Christmas!’”
OPC member Yvonne Dunleavy, who worked for the English-language daily The Hong Kong Standard during the early days of the Cultural Revolution, described harrowing conditions during riots and tensions between police, foreigners and Communist party demonstrators.
Click in the windows below to watch clips from the evening’s storytelling, or click on the link below to watch more on our Youtube channel from attendees, including OPC Foundation President Bill Holstein and OPC Governor Minky Worden.
See more clips from Hong Kong Night >>