Hong Kong’s historic Red House misses out on protection from possible demolition

Future of Tuen Mun building, thought to have served as Sun Yat-sen’s secret base before the 1911 revolution, remains uncertain

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The Red House is widely thought to have served as a base for republican revolutionaries in their plot to overthrow the Qing dynasty. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 7:32am, 8 Dec 2017Updated: 10:57am, 8 Dec 2017

The Hong Kong building believed to have been a secret base for the founding father of modern China, Sun Yat-sen, will not be upgraded to the status of a monument and therefore saved from possible demolition, a committee advising the government on historic buildings agreed on Thursday.

During a meeting, the Antiquities Advisory Board made the decision not to promote the Red House, or Hung Lau, to the highest protection status in the city after the heritage authorities said they had failed to find any new evidence to support the building’s alleged link with Sun.

The house is widely thought to have served as a base for Sun and other republican revolutionaries in their plot to overthrow the Qing dynasty.

The two-storey, red-brick house in Tuen Mun, which has come under threat of demolition by its owner before, is a grade one historic building, the highest in a three-tier grading system, which means every possible effort should be made to preserve the structure. But that status does not give the government the power to stop the owner from redeveloping it.

Upgrading historic buildings to monuments would give the government that power.

We can’t find any convincing information proving that the Red House is linked to [China’s 1911 revolution]

Andrew Lam, Antiquities Advisory Board

“We understand the public feel attached to the Red House,” board chairman Andrew Lam Siu-lo said after the meeting. “But from the historical point of view, we can’t find any convincing information proving that the Red House is linked to [China’s 1911 revolution].”

Sun led the revolution, which ended dynastic rule in China.

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Hong Kong’s historic Red House misses out on protection from possible demolition

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Future of Tuen Mun building, thought to have served as Sun Yat-sen’s secret base before the 1911 revolution, remains uncertain

Future of Tuen Mun building, thought to have served as Sun Yat-sen’s secret base before the 1911 revolution, remains uncertain