What is Gwulo?

Updated

Gwulo is a community-built website about old Hong Kong, hosting over 60,000 pages of content and more than 40,000 photos. It is aimed at anyone researching Hong Kong's history, browsing historical photographs, or reading first-hand accounts such as wartime diaries. Content is added by a community of contributors, and a free weekly newsletter is available for updates.

What you'll find on the site

The site's own welcome page describes its scope directly:

  • Over 60,000 pages about old Hong Kong to explore
  • Over 40,000 photos
  • Content added by a community of people who enjoy sharing what they know about Hong Kong's history

Because the material is community-contributed rather than a single authored archive, expect a mix of photographs, written pages, and ongoing projects rather than one uniform format.

Ongoing projects and diaries

One example of the site's activity is a project to put Leo Landau's Prisoner of War diary online. According to the site's update notes, volunteers have processed the pages from 1942 and 1943 and are making progress on 1944. Volunteers are recruited by email, with "DIARY" in the subject line, to receive files for the next page in the queue.

The site also publishes entries from wartime diaries, including dated events such as:

  • 25 Aug 1942 — the MS Gripsholm repatriation ship sails into New York Harbour
  • 8 Sep 1942 — the Japanese release the Chinese members of the HKVDC from the Sham Shui Po POW camp
  • 30 Aug 1945 — the Allied fleet sails into Victoria Harbour; Admiral Harcourt visits Stanley Internment Camp
  • 11 Sep 1945 — internees in Hong Kong and POWs in Japan begin their journey home
  • 16 Sep 1945 — Japanese officials in Hong Kong sign their surrender at Government House

These entries show the kind of dated, source-based material the site carries alongside its photo collections.

Staying updated

Gwulo offers a free weekly newsletter for people who want more old Hong Kong photos and stories. The site's welcome message, signed by David, invites readers to sign up for it. The site also lists published volumes (Volume 1 through Volume 4) available for purchase, and the newsletter signup is described as free.

Who it's for

Gwulo suits you if you want to:

  • Browse historical Hong Kong photographs
  • Read diary-based accounts of wartime Hong Kong
  • Follow or contribute to community history projects
  • Receive periodic updates without committing to anything beyond a newsletter signup

If you need a single authoritative institutional archive with standardized cataloguing, this is a community site rather than that — its strength is breadth and shared contribution.