1 & 2.
Couple of establishing shots of biggest "Communist Shop" in Des Veeux Rd. Central opp. Post Office. Long shots w/angle.


3.
Communist shop carries "Xmas Sale Banner" "all prices reduced 10% for festive season" (to compete with Exhibition)


4.
Ditto (5 seconds)


5.
Shot of interior from left of two main entrances showing towels, shirt etc. section. Of ground floor.


5a.
Inside shot of cross counters connecting left and right entrances.


6.
Shot of interior from right of two main entrances showing foodstuffs counters on right, always well patronized.


7.
From stairs leading to second floor, view of the food counters.


8.
Crowds upstairs at the cloth counters.


9 & 10.
Ditto


11.
Fixed prices down shown on tag (in HK dollars)


12.
Cheap sewing machines, under AGBP10 a piece.


13.
Well stocked electrical dept.


14.
More shoppers crowding clothing counters on other side of shop, salesmen standing up to survey mob.


15.
A modern Chinese Radio...


16.
Another shot of foodbuyers from above.


17.
Curious for sale attract tourists. (back on ground floor)


18.
Towels and bedding etc.


19.
Poor woman with child finds things cheap enough to buy.


20.
Show-window of Chinese products on main street.


21 & 22.
Big Hongkong department store nearby presents sharp contrast - is virtually empty!.


23.
Window of smaller (typical of some score of Red stores) establishment showing fixed low prices marked on goods.


24.
Some of the goods with price tags.


25.
Cheap mainland preserve meats make big show inside.


26.
OVER IN KOWLOON wide angle shot of HK Products Exhibition in which Hongkong Manufacturers try to arouse interest in their own products seriously threatened by Red dumping.


27.
Banner asks residents to BUY HK GOODS.


28.
Long shot of Exhibition which Reds have complained invited Taiwan delegation and tried to make Two China's official!


29, 30, 31 & 32.
Shots of show-windows full of cheap Chinese shoes at prices from 10/- upwards which undercut HK cheap footwear.


30 & 31.
An old time street bootmaker labours next door in an alley entrance a last exponent of rugged Chinese individualism fighting an unequal fight against the factories of Mao Tse-tung.




Initials


Note: Exposure in the Communist shop varied as mixture electric weak natural light no chance use exposure meter in haste shoot before being flung out on my neck!!!
Note: This roll, shot on Tri-X was intended to be the first of two to be edited down into a hundred foot "dumping" story - the second roll to be shot on Plus-X mostly outdoor stuff on animal and vegetable shipments coming in, factories closed up, etc and crowded factory areas - with a dumping storyline.
However as Xmas is so close, and in view of the novelty of the biggest Communist shop in Hongkong running an "Xmas sale" to spite the Chinese Manufacturers of Hongkong (because they invited Taiwan Nationalists to their current exhibition) I'm sending this down in advance of the other roll which will take some time to shoot as it covers a lot of ground.
The storyline is that despite Communist pretension to despise Christmas as a "Capitalist" idea they are quite capable of making the most of it commercially - especially to defeat the ends of their rivals - the HK Manufacturers who are being slowly ruined by their dumping. The crowds inside the Communist Shop show that human nature being what it is, even refugees from Communism who have fled to HK and HK people whose industries are being ruined, flock to buy from the people who seek only to eventually enslave them - because the dumping prices are so cheap!
This is a bit different from the original conception but many be more topical - for the moment - with the main dumping story a little later?

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Citizens of Hongkong were amazed as Christmas drew near to learn that the score or so of retail shops which handle Chinese Communist mainland products were all holding "Xmas sales" with "10% off" their already notoriously low "dumping prices."
By far the biggest of these establishments - the two storey large shop on Des Voeux Road, opposite the General Post Office on Hongkong's busiest city thoroughfare - had a big banner stretched across its upper storey shopfront proclaiming in English and Chinese the glad news of shoppers (see establishing shots).

Inside the Communist emporium was doing a bargain sale business (many shots interior) while only a few doors away an old established big department store stood virtually empty.

Smaller Communists shops throughout the city had wellstocked windows with attractively marked-down prices - and were full of choice preserved meats and sausages for the Christmas trade. Rolled oats - nicely packed and with a picture of Santa Claus himself as the trademark sold at half foreign prices, but the kids here asked for nothing else!
Across the Harbour in Kowloon the H.K. Manufacturers, hard hit by Communist dumping of products similar to theirs, but even cheaper, held their big annual products exhibition. Huge wall signs implored HK citizens to buy their own goods (instead of the Communist equivalents, it was implied).

But the Communist had introduced their 10% cut, out of displeasure at the Hongkong Chinese Manufacturers inviting a Taiwan Nationalist Trade Delegation to visit the fair - and several mysterious fires plagues its opening days causing temporary shutdowns and loss of valuable business. It was said the Reds, an attempt to pave the way to a Two-China policy for Hongkong.

In another part of Kowloon shops were filled with dumped Communist made footwear at some 20% lower than HK price ... shoes from AGBP0..10s a piece upwards. An oldtime Chinese shoemaker working at his last right alongside these sparkling modern establishments was going strong still - but fighting a losing battle it seemed.