Heritage critics far from rapt over shopping bag stunt for clock tower

A Tourist Board initiative to wrap a giant shopping bag around the Tsim Sha Tsui clock tower has been branded a joke and an insult to the 94-year-old building.

The board wants to highlight the structure's heritage value during the Hong Kong Shopping Festival, which runs from June 26 to August 31.

Workers began placing planks around the 45-metre tower yesterday. An information counter will be placed inside the bag and a large television screen fixed to its walls.

Patrick Hase, president of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong), said it was an insult to the meaning of the site. 'History should be respected,' he said. 'If you do it over and over again, it will be destructive. Try to put the bag on the top of the Bank of China building and see if this is an insult. It's just an improper idea.'

Lister Cheung Lai-ping, chief executive of the Conservancy Association, said the campaign flew in the face of the government's heritage conservation initiatives.

'On the one hand, the government wants people to discuss their heritage conservation. On the other hand, they are wrapping a heritage site with a shopping bag,' she said.