Typhoon Mangkhut clean-up efforts uncover 2001 Jackie Chan movie posters, road signs, and other Hong Kong memories

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As it turns out, echos of our history is buried just beneath the surface

Kelly Ho |
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Posters of a 2001 Jackie Chan film on the billboard near the Cross Harbour Tunnel.

As Hong Kong recovers from the devastation caused by super typhoon Mangkhut, various odd objects have turned up during the clean-up.

Local recycling and waste management company Chun Shing Recycle discovered a water bottle from more than 20 years ago in Heng Fa Chuen housing estate that was hit hard by the storm.

On its Facebook page, Chun Shing Recycle shared pictures of a plastic water bottle with a slightly tarnished label that says ‘best before 1998’. The rest of the bottle remains intact.

Mangkhut aftermath: Tai Po students clean up district after super typhoon closes school

The company also discovered documents stored in a plastic zipped-up folder which appears containing what seems to be a nursing studies timetable dated 1996.

Look closely, it says, 'best before 1998'.
Photo: Chun Shing Recycle/Facebook

While people are surprised by the kind of items being discovered in the clean-up, Chun Shing points out this is proof that plastic waste takes a very long time to decompose, and the public should be aware of the immense amount of waste produced and disposed into the ocean every year.

Meanwhile in Hung Hom on a billboard next to the Cross Harbour Tunnel entrance, posters of a 2001 film starring Jackie Chan reappeared after Mangkhut stripped away the posters layered on top of it.

In Siu Sai Wan, a government road sign for Tse Wan Shan Estate Service Reservoir was spotted in a park after the typhoon. While the sign says ‘Tse Wan Shan’, it is believed that the sign refers to Tsz Wan Shan, a residential area in Kowloon East. Tsz Wan Shan and Siu Sai Wan are approximately 18 km apart, and strong as Mangkhut was, it's unlikely the sign travelled that distance.

Still, some netizens believe the road sign was blown all the way to Siu Sai Wan by Mangkhut, but others are sceptical and suggest the sign was reused by the government for other purposes in or around Siu Sai Wan.

Edited by Heidi Yeung
 

 

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