Nowadays, Tai O is a popular tourist spot. The stilt houses along the two sides of its unique waterways, and surrounded by mountains from its three sides – Tai O itself is a gorgeous landscape painting. The number of usual residents currently living in this small community is less than 3000. It was, however, once a market town which was home to more than 20000 people. The distinctive ecology and geographical location of Tai O fostered the development of the fishery, salt, agricultural and commercial industries in the early years, which had attracted people from different clans to settle down in the place. Over the years, Tai O has developed its own social and cultural traditions, which have linked together the residents of Tai O. The Tai O Dragon Boat Water Parade is a traditional religious activity, which has been passed on up until today, and helps unite the local community. The over-a-century old ritual is co-organised by three fishermen's associations. Yet, following the decline of the fishery industry with the moving out of the residents, it has become increasingly challenging to promote this activity. Fortunately, the Tai O people have never abandoned this tradition. Whether it is the older generation who has moved to other places, or the younger generation whose hearts are with Tai O, they will always come back for this grand occasion. Meanwhile, the Tai O Dragon Boat Water Parade was inscribed onto the national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2011, and this local tradition has obtained more subsidies and attention as a result.
Grey mullets and gei wai shrimps are common ingredients we find on the dining table of a Hong Kong household. Located at the northwest of the city, both Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay are nature reserves with freshwater fish ponds and gei wai (ponds enclosed by bunds). Back in the 1940’s, a large number of new immigrants from Mainland China came to Hong Kong with their technique of gei wai. As they cultured gei wai shrimps, the technique of gei wai also developed gradually in Hong Kong. In the 1960’s, pollution of watercourses prompted fishermen who operated gei wai to switch to selling freshwater fish, which was more lucrative. Currently, there is no gei wai run by fishermen. The 1970’s was the heyday of the fish culture industry, but local fish farmers faced various problems in the 1990’s, which was the time when the fish culture industry also started fading out. In fact, Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay not only provide food for human consumption, but also serve as key stopover points and wintering sites for the 50 million migratory waterbirds every year. This is exactly why World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong manages Mai Po Nature Reserve – to conserve this piece of wetland of significant ecological value. Now they still harvest gei wai shrimps at night in summer in the one and only operating gei wai in order to showcase this disappearing technique to the public. That both human and birds feed on fish may seemingly make them rivals. Not to mention that fishermen and bird watchers do not see eye to eye with each other. Yet, Hong Kong Bird Watching Society has been collaborating with fishermen in various ways and projects since 2012, with a view to enhancing fishermen’s knowledge of nature conservation as well as the public’s understanding of the current situation and history of local pond fish farmers. Gei wai operation technique and fish culture technique have been listed in “The Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory of Hong Kong”. Will fish ponds disappear st
To find out the origin of their martial art skills, Robert CHEN and his apprentice Diana come all the way from Australia to Hong Kong, just to learn more about the culture of Hakka kung fu. With the movement of population, the centries-old Hakka kung fu took root in Hong Kong before the 20th century and had been promoted in the local Hakka villages. Through celebration activities and social occasions of all kinds, the Hakka culture has been disseminated into every corner of the city. Due to political and geographical factors, Hong Kong has become a crucial place for the inheritance of Hakka kung fu. The Hakka people have strong consciousness of their own clan. Traditionally, Hakka kung fu techniques can only be passed on to male offsprings of the same clan but not female nor outsiders. However, with the change of times, the inheritance of Hakka fung fu is no longer limited to Hakka folks, but even non-Chinese people in foreign countries can learn the skills. Due to the lack of land supply and the prohibitively high rent, the culture of practicing martial arts at martial arts studios has gradually declined. Instead, places like parks, empty spaces, or even footbridges have turned into the main venues for learning Hakka kung fu. Yet, what exerts profound impact on the inheritance of Hakka kung fu is still the change of culture. When everybody is engrossed in the online world and nobody practices kung fu every day anymore, the techniques are in no way comparable to those in the past even though the kung fu can still be inherited.
Situated in the Southern District on the Hong Kong Island, Pokfulam Village is a village that has a history of over 200 years. Information about Pok Fu Lam could be found as early as in the “Xinan Gazetteer”, which was published during the Jiaqing reign in the Qing Dynasty (1819). Later, since the Dairy Farm built its farm in Pok Fu Lam and provided a myriad of job opportunities, together with the sanitorium and the printing house of the Missions Etrangères de Paris, the population of the village grew rapidly, and a unique way of life and culture was formed as a result. With the change of times and social developments, it seemed that land resumption by the Government was an inevitably fate of Pokfulam Village. Therefore, the villagers there joined forces to safeguard the oldest village on Hong Kong Island. Established in 2009, Pokfulam Village Cultural Landscape Conservation Group aims at fostering the conservation of the monuments of and around Pokfulam Village. Village head SIU Kwan-lun and WONG Kwong-cheung are the core members of the Conservation Group. By setting up the community archives, which was unprecedented in Hong Kong, and organising guided tours and various kinds of cultural events, people in Hong Kong can have a better understanding of Pokfulam Village and their awareness of the village can also be enhanced. Pokfulam Village had even been included in the 2014 World Monuments Watch list by the World Monuments Fund. In Pokfulam Village, all sorts of construction materials were used to build the houses, while the houses were not built in orderly rows, which happen to reflect the villagers’ wisdom of life. Architect Allen POON pointed out that, given a small land area and dense population, the villagers of Pokfulam Village had to exert their wisdom of life and make full use of the space and materials to build their own homes in order to cope with their needs, which gave birth to the distinctive architectural features of Pokfulam Village. In 20
People of different clans have their own singing cultures. Their unique types of songs were formed according to their living environments. Hakka folk songs are the better known ones while the boat dwellers’ laments are known to fewer people. The boat dwellers’ laments are also regarded as fishermen’s songs, “haam shui goh” (fishermen's ballads) or Tanka songs. However, both names of haam shui goh and Tanka songs have negative connotations. Fishermen’s songs are mainly sung in ritual ceremonies, including wedding ceremonies and funeral rites. Sometimes, improvisational elements are added to the contents to match the occasions. As the society changed, the boat dwellers moved ashore. The fishermen’s singing culture has therefore largely disappeared in Hong Kong. Ms LAI Tai-kam, who has become a land dweller for years, hopes to preserve this singing culture, and thus she teaches other people to sing the boat dwellers’ laments in the park. Those who come to learn are mostly white-haired elderly women. They learn to sing the laments for the deaths of their parents in future, in order to fulfill their filial obligations. Since most people of the previous generation are illiterate, the laments have long been taught and learnt orally. Meanwhile, there are only very few written records about the laments, so that singers can only pass them on by word of mouth, which has also led to the decline of this rich traditional culture.
It has now been over 70 years since the end of the World War II, yet traces of the war in Hong Kong remain unattended by the majority in town, examples are military in terms of onshore batteries, pillboxes, fotresses and trenches.