THE FLOATING STAGE

Grabbing his microphone, amplifier and guitar, Derek Ng walks pass the crowded concourse and steps out of the Mong Kok MTR station. As usual, he walks to Sai Yeung Choi Street and plans to find an empty spot on the street. Yet, the street is mostly occupied by different performance parties. Ng then walks to the end of the street which is less crowded and starts to set up his mic, amplifier and guitar.

To many Hong Kong street performers, the above experience is no news to them, as well as to Ng, of course. Ng starts to perform on Sai Yeung Choi Street two year ago. As a Year 3 university student, he only performs in the weekends due to his academic work. ‘I wanted to be a singer, but stepping into the music industry of Hong Kong is too difficult. That’s why I choose to sing and play guitar on the street, as another way to pursue my dream,’ said Ng.

According to a survey done by the Department of Psychology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, there were around 300 active street performers in Hong Kong up until 2015, in which it is estimated that the numbers of street performers will be increasing throughout the years. That means the street will be more crowded with more street performers. This history of Hong Kong street performance can be traced back to 1920s in Sheung Wan although the number of performers were way less comparing to nowadays.

Walking on Sai Yeung Choi Street, you can see a large variety of performance, from singing to doing martial arts. Yet, here comes the problem. How many performers can a street accommodate?

On a Saturday night, Sai Yeung Choi Street is even more bustling than usual, and the space between performers is only around few meters. Ng mentioned that sometimes parties with more performers will occupy his performance space stealthily. ‘But these are just rare cases,’ he added, ‘the performers there are mostly very nice and respectful.’ In fact, it is unavoidable that individual performers like Ng may experience such situations yet it is difficult fight back due to the number of performers.

Siu Wai, a street performer who draws portraits on Sai Yeung Choi Street also mentioned such problem. He said that since the martial artists require a lot space, the performance of them will affect his drawing sometimes. ‘I know it is hard to avoid such situation due to their type of performance, so I understand them. They will apologize to me after that actually.’

No doubt that the lack of performance space in Sai Yeung Choi Street does affect the street performers, especially the individual ones, but luckily it is still a place where mutual respect of performers is shown. Nonetheless, there are not only street performers sharing the street, but also different shops and stores. Ho Wan Shing, the owner of a drug store complains there had been several times that the performers perform in front of his shop, which hugely affects his business.

With so many parties performing on a 900m street, noise pollution is a problem, especially to the Mong Kok residents living near the street. South China Morning Post reporter conducted an experiment in 2013 and found out that the sound level in Sai Yeung Choi Street were between 94.6 to 102 decibels, in which, the noise level in urban area should be lower than 70 decibels according to the Environmental Protection Department.

‘As I am now preparing for my HKDSE, the noise of the street really affects me, especially at the night time when I am about to study,’ said Lee Yat, a secondary school student living near Sai Yeung Choi Street who complains that the noise pollution of the street is becoming more and more severe.

In recent years, there is an increasing trend of numbers of complaints about noise nuisance in the Mong Kok Pedestrian Street. According to the official numbers from the Police, the Environmental Protection Department and Yau Tsim Mong District Office, the total number of complaints has increased from 636 in 2014 to 1232 in 2016, which is a double of cases.

Due to the frequent complaints of noise pollution, it is the police’s responsibility to handle the complaints and warn or even drive the performers away. Hence, there are always conflicts between the performers and the police. Facing the discontent of the residents and the warning from the police, both Ng and Siu Wai understand the reasons behind yet feeling helpless standing at their stance as street performers. They know this problem is affecting many people but since they need to continue to perform on the street, is is unavoidable for the loud noise.

Seeking help from the government seems to be to only way for them to deal with the challenges. However, what exactly has the government done to support them? Or, has the government done anything to support them?

Currently, there isn’t any law protecting the rights and freedom of the street performers. Street performers can have the chance to violate the Noise Control Ordinance and the Summary Offenses Ordinance due to noise pollution and illegal extensions on the street. Without legal protection, street performers become vulnerable when facing the warnings and charges of the police as they can do nothing to fight back.

Although the government has launched the West Kowloon Street Performance Scheme so as to scatter the street performers to other public areas, the scheme requires street performers to apply before performing there. The West Kowloon Street Performance Scheme is launched in 2015, in which performers can apply to perform in the park of the West Kowloon Cultural District. To Siu Wai, this scheme doesn’t help the Hong Kong street performers at all. ‘The essence of street performance is the mobility. If the government sets up a space for performance intentionally, it cannot be counted as street performance,’ he commented.

‘No doubt that Hong Kong as a business-based city, the government would rather put more emphasis and resources on economic development instead of cultural development,’ said Siu Wai. Anyhow, to many people, the culture of street performance in Hong Kong is still full of potential. A tourist from Japan mentioned that watching street performance in Sai Yeung Choi Street is one of their must-go spots in Hong Kong.

‘The road of street performing in Hong Kong is never easy,’ said Ng, but he is still hopeful, ‘I know there are still many challenges ahead, but as long as I know there are people supporting us, that’s enough.’