Secrets of Nam Ku Terrace (2): Stepping Inside

It turns out that after the war, the mansion at Nam Ku Terrace was indeed lived in for a time.

The veteran media professional Mr Wai Kee‑shun, who passed away this year, was a schoolmate of Doo Jackman’s son. We were fortunate to interview him more than a decade ago. He recalled knowing Du Kwun‑yiu before the war, and during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong both families left the city. They met again in 1948 at Wah Yan College.

At the time, Wai Kee‑shun lived on Yuk Sau Street in Happy Valley. Each morning he would cycle to Wan Chai, meet Du Kwun‑yiu at Nam Ku Terrace, and head to school together. “Most of the houses in Wan Chai back then were four‑storey terraced houses—this was the only detached house,” he remembered. The ground floor was the living room, with studies at either end. The room was furnished in Western style, with wooden flooring. He wasn’t familiar with the other rooms: “In those days it wasn’t polite to wander through someone’s home, so I always waited in the living room. Each time the servant would bring me a cup of lychee tea—something you couldn’t find anywhere else. That taste left a deep impression on me.”

As for the widespread rumour that Nam Ku Terrace was used as a comfort station during the Japanese occupation, he said he had never heard of it. So what really happened there during those years?

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