People in their 50s should be planning their retirement and moving onto the next stage of their lives. However, in the rapidly developing city of Hong Kong, does nearing retirement mean that one is able to grasp his or her own future? Or is it a time when one looks back only to realise that the good old days are gradually fading?
52-year-old Angela was born and raised in Tsiu Keng. As her parents are farmers, she has been helping out in the fields since childhood. Farmers lead a tough life, and she often asked herself why she was born a farmer’s daughter when she was young. It was only after she grew up that she discovered she had unconsciously developed an inseparable bond with the land. Nonetheless, it seems there are no longer any options for those who wish to be farmers in this day and age, because the government plans to develop Tsiu Keng into an agricultural park. A wide road will soon run through Angela’s plot, while her landlord has terminated the lease on the land where her home of 47 years stands.
53-year-old Mr. Wu is the owner of a garage in To Kwa Wan. With the construction of the Shatin to Central Link and the Urban Renewal Authority’s plans to redevelop the district, the commercial tenants of To Kwa Wan are facing substantial rent increases and the threat of eviction. Mr. Wu, who grew up in To Kwa Wan, has witnessed the changes in the area. Old shops are closing one after another, and the faces he sees on the streets are no longer familiar ones. When he lived in an old residential building during his childhood, the rooftop corridor was his playground. The mutual care and support between neighbours which existed back then are the perfect embodiment of the Lion Rock Spirit. However, the current development model has been monopolised by large corporations, and the warm atmosphere of the past is unlikely to resurface ever again.
Caught in the midst of rapid development, our two protagonists, who, according to Confucius, have reached the age at wh
