A competition between a pig and a wolf

 Hong Kong As It Was  1 Response »
Nov 272011
 

Hong Kong will have two candidates competing to be the next Chief Executive. One is Leung Chun-ying, former Convenor of the Executive Council, long suspected to be a Communist Party member and another is Henry Tang, former Chief Secretary, with a very rich family background, who is deemed as dumb due to repeated and multiple blunders and flip flops. The competition is therefore termed by some as one between a pig and a wolf.

There has been a series of high profile people coming out in support of Henry Tang recently, including movie star Stephen Chow who in defending Henry Tang, said he was actually “not stupid”. Can you see how “high quality” the candidates are? We just need them not to be dumb.

And don’t be misled by “election” or “competition”. All two candidates are okayed by the Beijing authority and are of course pro-Beijing. Who can “elect” them anyway? A 1200- strong election committee with representatives from different sectors, which is dominated by the influence of tycoons and major businesses. And these 1200 people represent about 0.01% of Hong Kong’s population.

A Beijing official in charge of Hong Kong affairs told the media in October that the election matter is “decided by Hong Kong people, not by me”. This is like black is white, white is black; or false is true, true is false. A shameless lie. A flagrant contempt for truth.

Hong Kong’s “election” of the next Chief Executive who will assume duty on 1 July, 2012, is a joke and a farce. The sweeping media reports on the two candidates disgust me – they lead the public to believe that there is a real “election” going on.

 Posted by Anna at 9:29 am

Yim Tin Tsai: an island village

 Hong Kong As It Was, Where to Visit  No Responses »
Oct 302011
 

Yim Tin Tsai pier

Yim Tin Tsai in Sai Kung is a village on a small island. It is about 15 minute boat ride from the pier of Sai Kung.

The village was originally built by a family surnamed Chen from Guangdong province who moved to the island in the 1740s. Its descendents made a living by operating a salt farm and sold salt to Sai Kung and neighboring areas. As mainland China and Vietnam exported cheaper salt to Hong Kong in the early 20th century, Hong Kong’s salt industry went into decline. So was the salt farm in Yim Tin Tsai, which was converted into land for agriculture in the 1930s and then into fishing ponds in the 1960s.

Due to limited farming land to sustain the village community and better work opportunity outside, villagers started to leave the island with some settling down overseas, particularly in  the UK. By 1990s, the village was no more inhabited. Today, the abandoned fishing ponds where the salt farm once stood remain.

The island is very tranquil, reflecting a sense of being deserted. Maybe it is feeling better that way? But the descendants of the villagers are determined not to let it be. They are trying to revive the island as a hiking and eco-tourism destination. Nowadays, there is regular boat service between Sai Kung pier and Yim Tin Tsai on weekends and public holidays to bring in visitors.

There is a leisure kiosk which was the village community centre near the pier. The kiosk sells Hakka sweet, a local delicacy, which comes in four different flavors, including pumpkin and almond. Don’t miss them.

It takes less than one hour to tour around the whole island. Somewhere along the route stands a pavilion from which you can have a bird’s view of the island and its surroundings.One of the main sightseeing points is St Jospeh’s Chapel. The missionaries came to the island in the late 19th century and since then the whole village was converted into a Christian village. The chapel built in 1890, after renovation, still stands today.

The boat ferrying between Sai Kung pier and Yim Tin Tsai pier:Here’s the boat service schedule:Here’s the island sightseeing map:

 Posted by Anna at 2:09 pm

Tree House

 Hong Kong As It Was  No Responses »
Jun 252011
 

There were five major clans which were instrumental in shaping the development and history of the New Territories in Hong Kong. The “Deng” clan in Kam Tin (錦田) area was one of them. The “Man” clan in San Tin （新田）I have written about was another.

In Kam Tin today, there remain quite a number of heritage sites which document the history of the “Deng” clan and hence a part of the history of the New Territories. “Kam Tin Tree House” is one of the sites.The big banyan tree wraps around a very old stone house, which was said to be a temple or a study hall. During the early time of Qing Dynasty, people living along the coast, including those in Kam Tin, were forced to abandon their homes due to an imperial edit on coastal evacuation. Allegedly, the owner of the stone house left and thereafter abandoned the house to the care of the big banyan tree, which has grown to have a crown spread of 38 meters wide. If the story stands, the tree must be more than 340 years old. For the edit was issued in 1666.

The tree was in 2004 put on the list of “Old and Valuable Trees” by Hong Kong’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department, for its large size, outstanding form, particularly old age and its cultural or historical significance.

When you are there, you will be struck by a sense of history as elicited by the tree and its form and its intertwining with the remains of the old stone house, which reminds me of the old trees wrapping the temples in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, though I must say perhaps not as majestic and breathtaking as the latter.

I was also struck by an odd feeling. A new playground has been put up just next to the tree house. Wouldn’t the concrete path rid the tree of soil and growth and breathing space it needs? Anyway, this has always been the management style of the authority here, putting up rails and concrete paths in the countryside where they are not really needed, and in fact, wreaking havoc on the nature. This is the photo provided by the government.

Address: by the playground of Shui Mei Tsuen(水尾村）

How to get there:
Get off at Kam Sheung Road MTR station; take exit C; take No. 601 mini bus; get off at Shui Mei Tsuen; or take taxi; only 5-10 min ride from the Kam Sheung Rd station, costing about HK$20.

 Posted by Anna at 12:14 pm

Glimpse of walled city

 Hong Kong As It Was  2 Responses »
May 112011
 

The Kowloon Walled City Park is probably the most historic park in Hong Kong. The park was built on a site which was first a military fort in Qing Dynasty and later became a walled city and an ungoverned enclave before its demolition in 1987.

You can read the rich history of the Walled City here.I don’t find the park particularly scenic, which is built in the southern China garden style of Qing Dynasty. Nor does it evoke memory of the past. It all looks too good and too neat to be history. Yet, the exhibition in the building “Yamen” (which has been declared a monument itself) featuring the history of the Walled City prior to its demolition is very interesting. It contains fascinating interviews of the former residents as well as photos.

Here are some of the photos:

Because of its unique history, the Walled City was effectively lawless. Taxation, as a result, was not required in the enclave. This had led to hundreds of factories established, especially the food processing factories. It was estimated that 80% of the fishballs in Hong Kong were manufactured in the Walled City.

Unlicensed dentists and doctors were many. Many of them were skilled dentists and doctors who came from mainland China and whose qualifications were not recognzed by the Hong Kong government.  They therefore turned to the Walled City. The photo below captured the dentist street full of signs advertising dental services. There was no freshwater supply. To supply water, people dug wells. But the water was hardly clean – it could only be used for washing clothes and showers. For cooking and drinking, the residents had to use the freshwater supplied by the Hong Kong government next to their enclave. Carrying freshwater to the households had thus become a business.

The houses were so packed that former residents in the interviews recalled that they just jumped from their houses’ windows to the roof of the next building. That was how they went out to the street.

Because of high density of the population and shoddiness of the buildings (no piles used for the foundation), the one thing that worried them most was fire hazards. Fortunately no big fires had ever been broken out. Nor had serious crimes been committed, although the Walled City, a maze of dirty alleys, was described as a hotbed of crimes. Former residents recalled how collegial their neigbourhood was.

“Oh, I could find where I lived,” a woman standing next to me told her friend excitedly, pointing to a map. “It was there. There, ” she said, trying to take a photo of the map, zooming in her former residence.

How to get there: take mini bus No. 39 from Lok Fu MTR station. Get off in front of the Park.

 Posted by Anna at 8:41 pm

Man Lun-fung Ancestral Hall

 Hong Kong As It Was  1 Response »
May 032011
 

I have written about the heritage site Tai Fu Tei Mansion in San Tin, Yuen Long. In fact, there is another  monument – Lun Fung Ancestral Hall, nearby. The two sites can be visited together.

Tai Fu Dei is in the Wing Ping Tsuen. After leaving Tai Fu Dei  and carrying forward, you will soon get to Fan Tin Tsuen. It is a mere five-minute walk. Man Lun-fung Ancestral Hall, built in the seventeenth century to commemorate the Man clan’s eighth ancestor Man Lun-fung, is located in the centre of the village.

Most impressive of the Hall is the shrine in the centre, with the Man clan’s ancestors’ names on tablets, solemn and dignified. The brick building has beams decorated with exquisite wood carvings, with a typical southern Chinese architectural style.When I visited the Hall, two Man’s clan men stopped by to pay homage to the shrine. It is amazing that the Hall is still in use today, as it was thousands of years ago, although it has been designated as a heritage site inviting visitors.

How to get to the Ancestral Hall:
Address: Fan Tin Tsuen, San Tin, Yuen Long
Transport: Take bus 76K or green minibus 76 at Yuen Long MTR station. Get off at San Tin Post Office.

Continue reading: Historical Monument: Tai Fu Tai

 Posted by Anna at 10:03 am
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