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M+, Hong Kong. Gift of Vincent Au Yeung, 2016
On View
East Galleries, 216
Unknown (Hong Kong) 佚名（香港）
Watermelon ball 西瓜波
circa 1959
This ball sports a distinctive stripe pattern that results from an innovative manufacturing process. Plastic of two colours is blown into a mould using a method that prevents the colours from mixing. The ball is a by-product of a demonstration of the extrusion blow-mould machine invented by the Hong Kong engineer Chiang Chen. The development of the two-colour production technique is often attributed to Chiang as well. This process was inspired by his recollection of the confluence of the Yangtze River and its tributary, the Jialing, in mainland China: one was muddy and the other clear, but the two currents remained distinct rather than blending together. Despite the success of his manufacturing method, Chiang was never able to file a patent for it, and it was soon widely imitated to create other types of products.
An affordable and friendly design for children, the ‘watermelon’ ball was a widespread presence in Hong Kong childhoods from the late 1950s. The thin, hard plastic gave the ball a dull bounce—suited to the city’s compact spaces for play—and it also meant that the ball broke easily and often. Although the physical life of each ball was often short, its symbolic resonance endures through representations in mass media from Hong Kong.
An affordable and friendly design for children, the ‘watermelon’ ball was a widespread presence in Hong Kong childhoods from the late 1950s. The thin, hard plastic gave the ball a dull bounce—suited to the city’s compact spaces for play—and it also meant that the ball broke easily and often. Although the physical life of each ball was often short, its symbolic resonance endures through representations in mass media from Hong Kong.
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