Last weekend I visited the Hong Kong Museum of History in Tsim Sha Tsui East. I love to look at old photos and try to imagine how things were back then.

Here is what the Hong Kong trade show looked like in the late 1960s (there were already nearly 2 million visitors!). It was in Hung Hom.

[Click to enlarge]

In the early 1970s, it moved to Wan Chai. It was still a far cry from what we see today:

Where was it in Wan Chai? On recently-reclaimed land. See the different stages of land reclamation on this map:

I am not exactly sure that the trade show looked in the 1980s and early 1990s. I guess at went indoor and in a more pre-formatted way. Wikipedia mentions that the building preceding the current HKCEC was built in Wan Chai in 1988.

In 1997, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) opened up. It now hosts mainly trade-related exhibitions that are organized by two organizations:

Hong Kong Trade Development Council (website) — the original organization that promotes Hong Kong companies.

http://www.hktdc.com/info/trade-events/EX/en/Exhibitions.htm

A second world-class facility, Asiaworld Expo, opened in 2005. It is next to Hong Kong airport.

It hosts mainly the “China Sourcing Fairs” put together by Global Sources (website).

In the age of the internet and “online showrooms”, it seems like meeting people face-to-face and touching samples is still important…