Sham Shui Po’s landmark, the kitchen knife-shaped sign of “Leung Tim Knife Factory” will be removed on January 11th. Many citizens took advantage of the sign’s last day to “check in” and take pictures, leaving this very particular sign in their photos and memories.
The knife factory is located at 221 Cheung Sha Wan Road and was opened as early as 1946. The giant kitchen knife-shaped sign of the factory extends above the road, about ten meters long, with the inscription “Liang Tim Knife Factory Special Steel Knives” written on the sign. Many citizens came to check in, took pictures with placards, and took selfies; some foreigners brought cameras, saying they wanted to catch up and take pictures on the last day of “chopper knife”.
Many people on site took pictures of the signs and the old shop window, some customers mistakenly assumed that the knife factory had closed and the saleswoman clarified that “they did not keep it, they simply removed the sign”. Some neighbors were reluctant to part with them, and feared that the diagonally opposite big cartel “Zhuangdaoyi Huoluo Oil” would suffer the same fate, which was a pity.
An employee of the Leung Tim Knife Factory at the site said the sign had been on display since the 1960s and was repaired every year, but the building department ultimately called for it to be demolished. to avoid the fate of being demolished, he only said, “No, they say it will be demolished.” However, he also revealed that the insignia was received from someone and will not be discarded, but didn’t reveal any further details.
Under new building department regulations in recent years, many signs that reach the landmark level must be demolished. These include the “happiest neon sign” Yau Ma Tei Koon Nam Wah, the half-century-old two-story neon sign of Yuen Long Datong Old Bakery, Tsim Heung restaurant, a celebrity restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui and a large-scale restaurant display of Chaofa white rice foodstuffs hung for nearly 70 years in Kowloon City. Signs, etc., have been dismantled.
