The Neon Master
Bends light into letters · Keeper of the night streets
For decades Hong Kong's streets glowed with neon, every sign bent by hand from glass tubes over a flame. Only a few masters still do the work.
The legend
For decades Hong Kong's streets glowed with neon signs, each one made by hand. A sign-maker heats a glass tube over a flame, bends it into letters, then fills it with a gas that shines when electricity runs through it. Many signs have been taken down since the 2000s, and only a few masters still do the work.
“I'd ask him to spell my name.”
Where it comes from
The keeper is inspired by Hong Kong's neon tube benders. Neon became one of the defining sights of the city in the decades after the Second World War, as the economy grew on manufacturing. At the height of the trade about 200 people worked in the industry, and some benders worked almost without a break for a week to finish an order. The colour depends on the gas: neon glows red and argon blue, and other colours come from tinted glass or coatings.
From the 1990s, cheaper LED signs began to replace neon. Most of the old signs had been built without permission, and after 1997 the government stepped up its clearances. Around 2010 the Buildings Department counted more than 120,000 signs on the streets. By 2022 one conservation group estimated fewer than 500 outdoor neon signs were left.
Where to see it
M+, the museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District that opened in November 2021, keeps neon signs saved from removal. The first it collected was a giant Angus cow, about 3.6 metres high and 4.5 metres wide, made around 1978 for Sammy's Kitchen, a steak restaurant on Queen's Road West. It was built by the Fu Wah neon workshop, founded in 1969. M+ also runs NEONSIGNS.HK, an online archive drawn from more than 4,000 photos sent in by the public.
In the game
The Neon Master pushes up his goggles and holds a glowing tube up to the light. He jumps, and the tube in his hands twangs. He checks it for kinks. He lifts his goggles and puts a hand on his heart, and the sign behind him lights up THANK YOU.
