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Q How should the former governor's summer residence on The Peak be preserved?

I believe the traditional role of the archaeologist was to dig up remains from the past so we could learn about life that was unknown to us, mainly due to natural disasters. It seems that the biggest disaster in post-20th-century Hong Kong is that we are destroying our own history so that we can dig it up in the future to find that we have made a gigantic mistake. This is a man-made catastrophe.

It would be quite interesting to see if new road signage on the new highway from Central to Wan Chai will read: 'Historic Queen's Pier District'. And when asked by visitors where it is, just point below your feet - the same fate as the former governor's summer residence residing underground.

Instead of asking the question of how the former governor's residence should be preserved, I agree with the conservationists that we should concentrate our efforts as a community on how we should preserve The Peak district for the future.

Instead of viewing the archaeological dig as a major find, we should take it as a wake-up call to preserve what is above the ground and to pay attention to the history we are currently making.

C.A. Lee, Wan Chai

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