Daily Photo – The Bustling Mong Kok Street in Hong Kong

Here’s a statistic for you: in Hong Kong, there are roughly 2,100 kilometres of paved road and over 800,000 licensed vehicles. If we do the maths, that means there are around 380 vehicles for every kilometre of road. Consequently, Hong Kong has the second-highest vehicle density in the world (behind Monaco), yet 90% of all daily passenger journeys are made by public transport.

Looking at those statistics, you’d think that when the motor vehicle first came on the scene, Hong Kong would have wholeheartedly embraced it – but no! Initially, early cars were widely disliked by the general public and viewed as noisy, smoky, unreliable nuisances that terrified horses. That didn’t stop the wealthy from getting their hands on these new “toys,” which is exactly how they were viewed: as novelties. Although completely useless on Hong Kong’s steep hills, the very first cars were imported by wealthy merchants who had made fortunes through international trade. They bought them for the exact same reason billionaires buy hypercars today: conspicuous consumption and bragging rights.