The Hong Kong Museum of History is running a special exhibition of the banking development in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Both modern day financial centers get their start from mid 19th century. It was an interesting exhibition of the development of the industry, from small native banks to modern day institutions, from hand written bookkeeping to electronic systems.

There are a lot of artifacts on display, including old bank notes, commericals, as well as many old pictures. Of particular interest to me are some authentic reconstruction of bank counters. I stepped into a small reconstructed China bank. It has such a rough and provincial ambiance I feel like going back to a bygone era.

Then I discovered another gem on display, a Chinese newspaper dated July 24, 1942. The headline was used to tell the story of the Japanese military currency introduced during the 4 year of occupation. But what were the other front page news on that day? German troops were advancing to Stalingrad, major battle with the Russians was anticipated. Such a tense news during the war time! The rest of course, is already history.

2008.05.15 comments