The young Hongkongers leading neighbourhood heritage walks
Several groups have sprung up to guide visitors and residents around historic parts of urban Hong Kong, evidence of a growing sense of identity and appreciation of neighbourhood culture
Credit a growing sense of identity and appreciation of local culture. Heritage buffs have been banding together to run guided walks introducing the charms of Hong Kong's most storied neighbourhoods.
Joining pioneers such as Wan Chai Livelihood Museum, which has been recruiting residents to recount personal and historical tales of the area, are newbies Hide & Seek, set up in January by four Sha Tin natives in their 20s and 30s. The four, Rosita Chan Hei-ming, George Wan, Chan Yee-tak and Tiffany Chan Hoi-ni, witnessed rapid changes growing up in Sha Tin over the past three decades and were keen to give the public an appreciation of the transformation that has taken place. So their earliest tours showed how urban planning was carried out in the New Territories new town.
Chan Yee-tak, a real-estate executive who studied urban planning in Britain, mapped out an itinerary in March which took in the Shing Mun River, Lek Yuen Estate and Shatin Town Plaza.
He says the route highlighted how public estates such as Lek Yuen, the first in Sha Tin, and amenities along Shing Mun River were built on reclaimed land, and showed how Sha Tin Town Plaza had evolved into what it is today.
"To dovetail with the new town development, Sun Hung Kai Properties built the large mall so that residents could live in a self-contained community. We shared stories of how the developer sent people to Japan to persuade the Yaohan retail group to open in the mall," Chan says.
Because all four hold full-time jobs, their tours are held only once a month. The initial events were offered for free but since May they began to charge HK$50 per head to cover operating costs.