Out and about

Much ink has been spilled in recent weeks over the forced temporary conservation order on Ho Tung Gardens. But amid the 'first Chinese to be allowed to live on The Peak' urban legend that surrounds Eurasian comprador Sir Robert Hotung, the woman whose home the property really was has been ignored.

Born Cheung Lin-kok, Lady Clara Hotung (1875-1938) was a second-generation Hong Kong Eurasian. Her grandfather, T.A. Lane, co-founded the eponymous Lane Crawford department store. Unable to bear children, Robert Hotung's first wife, Lady Margaret (also a Eurasian), introduced her cousin Clara as a ping-chai (equal status) wife. Contrary to the legend, Hotung himself spent little time in his Peak homes; he mostly lived at Idlewild (now demolished), on Seymour Road, from the 1890s until his death in 1956.

A fervent Buddhist, Clara Hotung was devoted to good works and made numerous contributions to the community. Her most lasting benefaction remains Tung Lin Kok Yuen, a Buddhist convent and school for girls established on Shan Kwong Road, Happy Valley. The name is an amalgam of her and her husband's given names. Thousands of girls have received a free education at the institution since it opened in 1935. A notable landmark, Tung Lin Kok Yuen is currently a grade-two-listed heritage site.

Clara Ho Tung: A Hong Kong Lady, Her Family and Her Times, written in the 1970s by her daughter Irene Cheng, absorbingly recounts this Hong Kong saga. The houses where Clara lived feature prominently.

Ho Tung Gardens was originally a complex of three houses. The most magnificent, known as The Falls, from the stream that winds through the gardens, was built in 1927 specifically for her. Currently threatened with redevelopment by her granddaughter, the complex was recently awarded a temporary heritage listing to allow further negotiations between government and owners.

Here's a possible win-win solution: our city does not have a 'stately home' open to the public, in the manner of those in Britain and elsewhere, and The Falls' original occupants are nothing if not significant early Hong Kong figures. A land swap with the government would allow the owners - reasonably - to capitalise on their asset. Fully restored to its original 1930s state - perhaps with mixed government-private sector funding - The Falls, along with the gardens, could be opened to the public for a nominal admission fee. Intermittent hire for banquets and receptions - the venue would be much more prestigious than yet another hotel ballroom - could help defray ongoing costs. Everyone benefits.