A characteristic street named Lee Tung Street, which traditionally was filled with wedding card shops, has faded out of Hong Kong’s landscape, due to the “vision” of the Hong Kong government. This government has the “vision” to demolish Star Ferry Pier and Street Market in Central already.
This is what Lee Tung Street, in Wan Chai, also called Wedding Card Street, is like, with all the shops closed down and sealed with labels from the Urban Renewal Authority, waiting to be redeveloped.
In their place will stand four high-rise buildings and one underground carpark, and new shops that together promote the image of the street as a “Wedding City”. That means the old shops here, which are mostly small businesses and family run, have to move to somewhere else to make business, facing high rent and losing old customers.
The Government said it was considering to give priority to these shops to move back to the “Wedding City” and also waive their rent for a short period of time, given that the rent in the “Wedding City” would not be cheap. But giving a short period of rent-exemption to the shops will not be a sustainable way to keep them afloat in the redeveloped area. I wonder how many old shops will choose to move back, and how many are dying already.
No wonder a shop owner in the area is staging a hunger strike to protest the redevelopment plan. Because for people like her, that basically means the loss of her and her family’s livelihood.
One reason the Government cited for demolition of the area is that the restoration fee will be too high. I wonder if the government ever calculated the social cost of demolishment and redevelopment.
Btw, what is this “Wedding City”? Do people prefer an artificially made Wedding City or a wedding card street that has been part of the city landscape for so many years? I would think few people will prefer the fake over the real. But the government seems to think otherwise.
One reply on “The Wedding Card Street in Hong Kong”
I think cultural conservation has been one of the biggest controversy in Hong Kong in recent decades. Since the development of economy and technology is so rapid, many customs and traditions are gradually being given up. Also, with the speedy population growth, Hong Kong is now highly densed and thus land becomes one of the most valuable properties to the government. Since land is so scarce and that endless reclamation from the sea is not possible to be a long lasting solution, the government decided to start reconstruction in different areas, especially on the Hong Kong Island side. Voices of opposition from various communities are exploded when the government decided to remove symbolic historical constructions such as the Star Ferry Pier.
In my opinion, cultural conservation is a really harsh dilemma. As a citizen who loves Hong Kong, I would never want to see the destruction of these historical symbols of Hong Kong. However, if we don’t follow the steps of modernization, perhaps one day Hong Kong will be eliminated from the toppest city and the economy and life quality of people will therefore decline.