Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [22]
Why is Hong Kong literature so ‘invisible’? We don’t have our own literary museum; our government does not promote literature through international cultural exchange. Our society and its representative media are commercially oriented and lack cultural vision. The Chinese government doesn’t recognise Hong Kong literature because it’s evolved for the most part under colonial rule, and words are ideology.
An interview with Hong Kong poet Leung Ping-kwan, aka ‘Ya Si’ (1948–).
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Impressive though it might be on first acquaintance, there are downsides. The bulk of building here is of uninspired office and apartment blocks sprouting cheek by jowl in towns throughout the territory.
The government’s risible record in preserving architecturally important buildings went almost entirely unregretted by the public at large until very recently. The destruction of the iconic Queen’s Pier in Central marked a surprising reversal in public apathy. Heartfelt protests greeted the wrecking balls in late 2006, not that they did any good.
But things are looking slightly better. Anxious to make up for the Queen’s Pier faux pas and to avoid another one, the government announced that the Wan Chai Market ( Click here) – a 70-year-old building in the Streamline Moderne architectural style and a conservation minefield – will be partially preserved. The Central District Police Station ( Click here) will also stay, but the debate now is whether the proposed design of a bamboo-scaffolding-like structure by the Swiss architect is ‘preservation’ or ‘stereotyping’, Suzie Wong–style.
In Kowloon the former Marine Police Headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui has been turned into a hotel, but the original landscape has been razed completely by the developer. In an unprecedented move, the government launched a scheme (www.heritage.gov.hk) for the ‘revitalisation’ of historic monuments, which allows nonprofit organisations to pitch for the use of these buildings.
Despite the shortcomings of its new policy, the government seems at last to be heeding, albeit clumsily, the rising calls for heritage preservation.
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TRADITIONAL CHINESE & COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE
About the only examples of precolonial Chinese architecture left in urban Hong Kong are Tin Hau temples that date back from the early to mid-19th century, including those at Tin Hau near Causeway Bay, Stanley, Aberdeen and Yau Ma Tei. Museums located in Chai Wan and Tsuen Wan have preserved a few Hakka village structures that predate the arrival of the British. For anything more substantial, however, you have to go to the New Territories or the Outlying Islands, where walled villages, fortresses and even a 15th-century pagoda can be seen.
Colonial architecture is also in short supply. Most of what is left is on Hong Kong Island, especially in Central, such as the Legislative Council building (formerly the Supreme Court; Click here), built in 1912, and Government House ( Click here), residence of all British governors from 1855 to 1997. In Sheung Wan there is Western Market (1906; Click here), and in the Mid-Levels the
Edwardian-style Old Pathological Institute, now the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences (1905; Click here). The Old Stanley Police Station (1859; Click here) and nearby Murray House (1848; Click here) are important colonial structures on the southern part of Hong Kong Island.
The interesting Hong Kong Antiquities & Monuments Office ( Map; 2721 2326; www.amo.gov.hk; 136 Nathan Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat), located in a British schoolhouse that dates from 1902, has information and exhibits on current preservation efforts.
CONTEMPORARY