Guy Shirra
For the past 10 years, former police officer Guy Shirra has been personally excavating and researching ancient stone footpaths in the New Territories. He talks to Cynthia Chung about his mission to protect them.
HK Magazine: How did you learn about the stone pathways?
Guy Shirra: While I was working in the police force, I was put in charge of the village patrol unit in the New Territories back in 1973. We were patrolling on these old boulder trails, because there were no roads. I knew they were old Chinese roads, but I didn’t know much about them. When I moved to Sai Kung with my wife in 2006, I would go running on these ancient trails and so I started researching them.
HK: What exactly are these walkways?
GS: The ancient boulder trails are a part of Hong Kong’s ancient history, and are the oldest surviving man-made objects in Hong Kong. They were built before the British came. No one knows exactly how old they are, but we suspect 300-400 years. That’s when farming became more widespread and needed more efficient methods of moving produce between villages and towns and walled cities. It is fantastic that they have lasted for so long. If the networks are restored, they could become attractions for people who enjoy the outdoors—special walks with rich histories.
HK: What else have you found?
GS: The old bridges also need to be restored. They are also part of the network of boulder trackways—people back in the day bought in three heavy planks of granite or stone with buffalos. It was a very laborious job, and they should be protected.
HK: How are these boulder trails threatened, then?
GS: They’ve survived 300-400 years because they’re rocks—big boulders put together without cement or concrete, so rainwater won’t wash them away. The only real danger they face is from the government: sometimes the Agricultural Fisheries Conservation Department (AFCD) comes along with a contractor, and they put concrete on top or add railings. Repairing what they think is a damaged boulder trackway with concrete is actually destroying the trails’ uniqueness. If they want to improve a path, they should get boulders and fit them together to keep tradition alive. Don’t “modernize them” just to make them look like a normal Mong Kok pavement.
HK: What does the government say about it?
GS: I submitted my research to the Antiquities Monuments Office, and waited for more than a year for them to call me for a presentation. Then they got a company to redo my research. They produced a report, including things like “We weren’t able to check this path. For health and safety reasons, we did not go through.” That’s ridiculous. It’s been a long time since they’ve produced a report, and as far as I know, they’ve done nothing with it.