It's been a long and winding road for the guardians of Ping Shan's cultural legacy. Over the decades, self-interest and ignorance led to the destruction of many heritage buildings in the Yuen Long area. But the tide is turning.
The Ping Shan Tang Clan Gallery, which opens on April 15, is the result of years of hard work, battling bureaucracy and money-minded clansmen. A showcase of the clan's history and culture, it testifies to a group of indigenous residents' vision and commitment to heritage conservation.
Stalwarts include village elders Tang Shing-sze and Tang Kwan-chi, district councillor Tang Hing-ip and fashion designer William Tang Tat-chi. Although they come from different generations, all are passionate about 'keeping our roots', says Uncle Kwan-chi, as he's affectionately known.
Located on a hill behind the Tang Ancestral Hall, the gallery is housed in a two-storey structure built by the British in 1899 as the first police station in the New Territories. Plans to convert the building into an exhibition space arose as a way to compensate the clan, whose ancestral graves in Nim Wan were excavated to make way for a radio transmitter. Construction of the radio tower was later aborted and the site turned into a landfill, sparking outrage. 'Villagers were furious when the government did that,' recalls Uncle Kwan-chi, 72.
To placate the community, the government accepted Uncle Shing-sze's proposal 10 years ago to restore fung shui in Ping Shan by turning the station building into a Tang clan gallery. The colonial building was long likened to a large stone crushing a crab - an alignment detrimental to the community. Villagers believed that by changing its function, they would also alter its fortunes. 'In fung shui-speak, the building becomes like a grandchild riding on its grandfather's shoulders [an auspicious sign],' says Uncle Shing-sze, 83.
More importantly, the new use tallied with their drive to save local heritage as picturesque buildings were torn down across the New Territories to clear space for cargo containers, and fish ponds and vegetable farms were turned in to parking lots for cross-border trucks.