Hong Kong heritage policy a failure of historic proportions

Hong Kong's unique, 500-year-old walled village of Kat Hing Wai now features a concrete ditch rather than a moat and has only about 20 old houses left - three years after being given a grade-one historic status.

The sorry state of the Yuen Long village again illustrates the need for the government to consider more forceful measures for conservation, and it follows the failure of a report on conservation policy to address the issue.

The report, carried out for the government by consultancy GHK and released on Tuesday, does suggest setting up a HK$900 million heritage trust. However, it would not be expected to buy up privately owned heritage buildings, at least in its early years.

Because the Kat Hing Wai grading - given to sites of "outstanding merits of which every effort should be made to preserve if possible" - covers only the wall, the four watchtowers, the gates and a shrine, the village inside has lost much of its atmosphere.

And some villagers would like the grading removed as it stands in the way of redevelopment.

Most of the 150 houses left in the village are modern, redeveloped in the past few decades. Only 21 of the old grey-brick houses are intact.