I loved those things. I remember seeing them in the movies and going all wide-eyed the first time I saw one in real life as a kid. So why’d they change them two years ago to the year-round blue ones? I always saw those things as iconic. And just as importantly, how can I get one as a Halloween costume before they disappear forever? eBay and a quick google isn’t turning anything up.
I just got back from Hong Kong. I saw police officers wearing green uniforms, all blue uniforms, and uniforms with blue trousers and white blouses. I gathered that those in green were some kind of traffic monitor and not members of the disciplined services (HK term for what I’d call a sworn officer back in California).
This link describes a bit on the why of the change you describe though.
The photo you provided also appears here. There’s a blurb about it and also about why the uniform no longer includes skirts.
Seems that they want to make the things more comfortable and functional.
Anyway, one of the cops posted near my hostel looked almost exactly like that model in the photo you linked above.
I was weirded out in Hong Kong when I saw a cop standing there with what looked like some huge, kick-arse semi-automatic rifle of some kind, slung on a strap. I did a double-take, and thought I must’ve stumbled into some sort of restricted zone, or tha maybe there was a foreign president’s motorcade about to go by. I was waiting for him to get heavy on me for some reason, but no, he was just standing about on the street, and looked straight through me.
Only ever saw one cop like that though.
What would be even crazier is if it wasn’t actually a cop 
Seriously, though, I saw that a lot in Beijing. The cops would come in armored trucks and be all Rambo’ed out as they went to pick up the money from the banks. Since your average Chinese citizen would have an incredibly difficult time even getting a gun, it just seemed hilariously like overkill.
And Monty, thanx for the links, I guess I didn’t check that site as in-depth as you did. According to wiki, though, they apparently phased out the green summer uniforms in 2004. Hopefully they’re wrong and the green ones you saw are still the current uniform. I dunno, I just thought the whole green-scheme and the tunic thing was so neat when I was a kid.
Actually the green uniform and the dark blue uniform are use form British Colonial Period to about 2005 or 2006, then they change the uniform to blue for most Non-Commissioned Officer such as Police Constable (PC), Senior Constable (SPC) and Sergeant (SGT). The white shirt is for Station Sergeant (SSGT), which is the highest ranking for Non-Commissioned Officer, and most commissioned officers such as Probationary Inspector of Police (PI), Inspector of Police (IP), Senior Inspector of Police (SIP), Chief Inspector of Police (CIP), Superintendent of Police (SP), Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SACP), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and Commissioner of Police (CP).
The green uniform is actually for summer and the dark blue uniform is for winter.
Those were not real policemen. Just armored personel rent-a-cop types…
I like the old Hong Kong Police Uniform instead of the new uniform.
I think the new uniform looks ugly and very similar to China’s Police Uniform. The new uniform also look like security guard’s uniform, because most of the security guard in Hong Kong wear blue uniform.
That female cop in the green summer uniform can arrest me anytime!
Seriously though watching Hong Kong produced movies featuring the police it always causes a slight cognitive dissonance watching Chinese people in British police uniforms and using English phrases. Is that close connection gone now that HK has been absorbed back into the Chinese mainstream?
btw the PSNI also wears green police uniforms:
http://img3.photographersdirect.com/img/13886/wm/pd1946110.jpg
Surprisingly hard to get a decent picture, the uniform is also a much darker green than that worn by the HK police.