Hong Kong's Forgotten Villages by omar degan

politecnico di torino Dipartimento di Architettura e Design II FacoltĂ di Architettura Corso di Laurea in Architettura per il Progetto Sostenibile-Ambiente Costruito Tesi di Laurea di II LIvello a.A. 2014/2015

HONG KONGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FORGOTTEN VILLAGES

Relatori:

Supervisor:

Prof. Arch. Daniele Regis

Prof. Arch. Chang Ping Hung Wallace

Arch. Roberto Olivero Candidato: Omar Degan

Settembre 2015

contents -Introduction -Hong Kong -The High Density -The Quality of Living -Hong Kongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Forgotten Villages -Walled Villages -Case studies - Lai Chi Wo -Tsang Tai Uk -Nga Tsin Wai -Conclusion -Thanksgivings -Bibliography 5

INTRODUCTION

The Asia has seen tremendous growth in the recent years in all sectors and particularly in the construction field. A growing city where before there were only villages, skyscrapers where before there were only splitlevel houses and finance centers where before they were not even thought.Hong Kong is exactly this, a reality where the contrasts are visible every day and in every part of the city. When we think about Hong Kong there are a few things that we always think , in particularly the skyscrapers, the banks and the shops. But this is only the face that Hong Kong offers to a passing tourist or a regular worker, in fact this great city offer more, there is a face of Hong Kong neglected and hidden that only few know. Hong Kong offers as mentioned above, many different shades, and one of these is represented by the architectural heritage hidden in the new territories or simply overshadowed by the huge city palaces. The forgotten villages of Hong Kong are one of these realities. They represent precisely the identity and the historical and cultural heritage, which was for a long time forgotten, only recently is becoming interesting for the local government and cultural authorities. Today the problem about the cultural heritage is the focus of the politics, of the media, the architecture. We are talking about the heritage every day and in every sector. Each individual tries to find an answer about the problem of the conservation and the future possibility of our heritage, for sure with different intention, but at the end is a topic which it involved every person directly or indirectly. The range of the heritage is really vast, it includes documents or landscapes, the habitat surrounding us the architecture, etc.

The cultural heritage is the set of all the changes that our predecessors that have left on the territory. Understand what they have created with their minds for know the past mean understand the present, our mistakes and our identities. In the answer of the social question about the identity there is one of the reason for the interesting a bout the cultural heritage of today. My research has dealt with this reality of second-rate and its possible future developments. In particular, I wanted to analyze three villages linked by a single thread. The study done by me arises precisely the goal of emphasizing the relationship between a megalopolis like hong kong towards its historical heritage. I considered three villages located respectively in three different zone; highly urbanized area, expansion area and rural area. This was done in order to give a general overview of the villages situated in Hong Kong, in fact these three case studies give an overview of the situation of all the villages. In particular, I focused on one of these three NGA TSIN WAI, which is located in the heart of Hong Kong inside a very complex system..

HONG KONG

“One Country, Two Systems” Deng Xiaoping

Rome

Beijing Shanghai

HONG KONG

IMAGE SOURCE GOOGLE

HISTORY Mention the recent history of Hong Kong I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an important key part of this work, in fact the current city is the direct result of the developments occurred over the past two centuries. On the following pages there are presented the main events from 1842 to the present day, from the coming of the British, to the recent occupancy of the Central district. These data were taken from the BBC website, and I think they are

perfect for their synthesis and clarity. The informations are under form of timeline, which was chosen for its synthesis and clearness.

chronology of events

1842 - China cedes Hong Kong island to Britain after the First Opium War. Over the decades, thousands of Chinese migrants fleeing domestic upheavals settle in the colony. 1898 - China leases the New Territories together with 235 islands to Britain for 99 years from 1 July. 1937 - With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Hong Kong becomes a refuge for thousands of mainland Chinese fleeing before the advancing Japanese. 1941 - Japan occupies Hong Kong. Food shortages impel many residents to flee to mainland China. The population drops from 1.6m in 1941 to 650,000 by the end of the Second World War. 1946 - Britain re-establishes civil government. Hundreds of thousands of former residents return, to be joined over next few years by refugees fleeing the civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists in China. 1950s - Hong Kong enjoys economic revival based on light industries such as textiles. 1960s - Social discontent and labour disputes become rife among poorly-paid workforce. 1967 - Severe riots break out, mainly instigated by followers of China’s Cultural Revolution. Late 1960s - Living conditions improve and social unrest subsides. 1970s - Hong Kong is established as an “Asian Tiger” - one of the region’s economic powerhouses - with a thriving economy based on high-technology industries. 1982 - Britain and China begin talks on the future of Hong Kong. 1984 - Britain and China sign Joint Declaration on the conditions under which Hong Kong will revert to Chinese rule in 1997. Under the “one country, two systems” formula, Hong Kong will become part of one communist-led country but retain its capitalist economic system and partially democratic political system for 50 years after the handover. 1989 - The massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square leads to calls for the introduction of further democratic safeguards in Hong Kong. 1990 - Beijing formally ratifies Hong Kong’s post-handover mini-constitution or Basic Law. 1992 April - Chris Patten becomes last British governor of Hong Kong, with a brief to oversee the colony’s handover to China. 1992 October - Chris Patten announces proposals for the democratic reform of Hong Kong’s institutions aimed at broadening the voting base in elections. China is outraged that it has not been consulted and threatens to tear up business contracts and overturn the reforms after it has taken control. 1992 December - Hong Kong stock market crashes. 1994 June - After nearly two years of bitter wrangling, Hong Kong’s legislature introduces a stripped-down version of Chris Patten’s democratic reform package. The new legislation widens the franchise but falls far short of providing for universal suffrage. 1995 - Elections held for new Legislative Council (LegCo). 20

1997 July - Hong Kong is handed back to the Chinese authorities after more than 150 years of British control. Tung Chee-hwa, a Shanghai-born former shipping tycoon with no political experience, is hand-picked by Beijing to rule the territory following the takeover. 1998 May - First post-handover elections held. 2001 February - Deputy Chief Executive Anson Chan, a former deputy to Chris Patten and one of the main figures in the Hong Kong administration to oppose Chinese interference in the territory’s affairs, resigns under pressure from Beijing and is replaced by Donald Tsang. 2002 June - Trial of 16 members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement arrested during a protest outside Beijing’s liaison office in the territory. Falun Gong remains legal in Hong Kong, despite having been banned in mainland China in 1999, and the trial is seen as a test of the freedoms Beijing guaranteed to respect after the handover. The 16 are found guilty of causing a public obstruction. 2002 September - Tung Chee-hwa’s administration releases proposals for controversial new anti-subversion law known as Article 23. 2003 March-April - Both China and Hong Kong are hit by the pneumonia-like Sars virus. Strict quarantine measures are enforced to stop the disease spreading. Hong Kong is declared free of Sars in June. 2003 July - A day after a visit to the territory by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, 500,000 people march against Article 23. Two Hong Kong government members resign. The bill is shelved indefinitely. 2004 April - China rules that its approval must be sought for any changes to Hong Kong’s election laws, giving Beijing the right to veto any moves towards more democracy, such as direct elections for the territory’s chief executive. 2004 July - Some 200,000 people mark the seventh anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to Chinese rule by taking part in a demonstration protesting Beijing’s ruling against electing the next chief executive by universal suffrage. Britain accuses China of interfering in Hong Kong’s constitutional reform process in a manner inconsistent with self-governance guarantees agreed before the handover. 2004 September - Pro-Beijing parties retain their majority in LegCo elections widely seen as a referendum on Hong Kong’s aspirations for greater democracy. In the run-up to the poll, human rights groups accuse Beijing of creating a “climate of fear” aimed at skewing the result. 2004 December - Chinese President Hu Jintao delivers public rebuke to Tung Chee-hwa, telling him to improve his administration’s performance. 2005 March - Amid mounting criticism of his rule, Tung Chee-hwa resigns, citing failing health. He is succeeded in June by Donald Tsang. 2005 May - Hong Kong’s highest court overturns the convictions of eight of the Falun Gong members who were found guilty of causing an obstruction in the territory in 2002.

2005 June - Tens of thousands of people commemorate sixteenth anniversary of crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Hong Kong is the only part of China where the 1989 events are marked. 2005 September - Pro-democracy members of LegCo make unprecented visit to Chinese mainland. Eleven members of the 25-strong pro-democracy group had been banned from the mainland for 16 years. 2005 December - Pro-democracy legislators block Mr Tsang’s plans for limited constitutional reforms, saying they do not go far enough. Mr Tsang said his plans - which would have changed electoral processes without introducing universal suffrage - went as far as Beijing would allow. 2006 March - Pope Benedict XVI elevates Bishop Joseph Zen, the leader of Hong Kong’s 300,000 Catholics and an outspoken advocate of democracy, to the post of cardinal. China warns Cardinal Zen to stay out of politics. 2006 July - Tens of thousands of people rally in support of full democracy. 2007 January - New rules aim to restrict the number of pregnant women from mainland China who come to Hong Kong to give birth. Many had been drawn by the prospect of gaining Hong Kong residency rights for their children and evading China’s one-child policy. 2007 April - Chief Executive Donald Tsang is appointed to a new five-year term after winning elections in March. 2007 July - Hong Kong marks 10th anniversary of handover to China. New government under Chief Executive Donald Tsang is sworn in. Plans for full democracy unveiled. 2007 December - Beijing says it will allow the people of Hong Kong to directly elect their own leader in 2017 and their legislators by 2020. Mr Tsang hails this as “a timetable for obtaining universal suffrage”, but prodemocracy campaigners express disappointment at the protracted timescale. 2008 September - Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp wins more than a third of seats in legislative elections, retaining a key veto over future bills. 2009 June - Tens of thousands of people attend a vigil in Hong Kong on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The territory is the only part of China to mark the anniversary. 2009 December - Hong Kong authorities unveil proposals for political reform in response to pressure for greater democracy, including an enlarged Legislative Council; critics say the moves do not go far enough. 2010 May - Five opposition MPs are returned to their seats, in by-elections they triggered by quitting - a move intended to pressure China to grant the territory full democracy. Opposition Democratic Party, traditionally hostile to Beijing, holds its first talks with a Chinese official since the 1997 handover. 2012 July - Leung Chun-ying takes office as chief executive, succeeding Donald Tsang whose last months in office were dogged by controversy over his links with wealthy businessmen. 2012 September - Pro-democracy parties retain their power of veto over new laws in Legislative Council elections, but perform less well than expected. Turnout, at over 50%, was higher than in 2008.

2013 June - Hundreds march in support of whistleblower Edward Snowden, who fled to Hong Kong after exposing secret US surveillance programmes. 2014 June - More than 90% of the nearly 800,000 people taking part in an unofficial referendum vote in favour of giving the public a say in short-listing candidates for future elections of the territory’s chief executive. Beijing condemns the vote as illegal. 2014 July - Tens of thousands of protesters take part in what organisers say could be Hong Kong’s largest prodemocracy rally in a decade. 2014 August - Chinese government rules out a fully democratic election for Hong Kong leader in 2017, by imposing tight rules on nominations of candidates who want to run in the poll. 2014 September-October - Pro-democracy demonstrators occupy the city centre for several weeks in protest at the Chinese government’s decision to limit voters’ choices in a 2017 Hong Kong leadership election.

Photograph CREDITS by ALEXANDRE BESSE

THE HIGH DENSITY The planet Earth is huge ..... This statement may be trivial, but contains within it a banality as great as important. About 70% of the planet earth is covered by water, but despite that the space available to man continues to be immense if proportionate to the number of inhabitants of our planet. Yet, despite the size of the globe, the population is concentrated mostly in small areas for several reasons; from

the most trivial (such as climate), to the most important (the proximity to primary resources). This has always led to the growth of villages in the past, and the birth of mega cities in the present. The metropolis has always been (more than ever) a theme alive and studied. The cities have been designed, thought and rethought. Many of the greatest architects of the past and present were interested in the subject of mega cities like Le Corbusier and Kenzo Tange.

There have been numerous experiments in this field, some more successful than others. But it remains a fact, today the problem of high density has not yet been solved. Asia has been over the last 50 years, breeding ground of architectural experiments. One of the most striking experiment appear to be the Utopian project of Kenzo Tange with the project of the bay in Tokyo. But many others were the experiments, as the most notorious Unitè d’Habitation of Le Corbusier. Japan was definitely one of the most active countries in this field but the Japanese Avant-Garde stopped after the Osaka’s expo, leaving incomplete the studies in this sector. However today we can

observe how this topic is more alive than ever. We can define this “architecture of necessity.” Especially in Asia we can observe constantly the birth of a new city where before there were only villages. The biggest problem is that, these cities are not anticipated by studies of the quality of living. . They were born just with the simple need to accommodate the highest number of people in less space possible. This involves not only in a speculation without control but also in the creation of buildings that do not allow a lifestyle suited to a person (although this is debatable). We must emphasize the fact that the perception of living spaces is

a very subjective matter, but the fact remains that the environments in which we live our daily life inevitably affect in our live.

One of the most emblematic cases of highly populated cities is certainly represented by Hong Kong with its 7 million inhabitants with a density of 22,000 people per km2 is unique. The landscape of Hong Kong is definitely one of the most fascinating and frightening that a person can probably see. Partly the cause of this high density can be attributed to three main factors: 1- The strong immigration from China, mainly after the proclamation of Hong Kong into (SAR) 2- The breadth of nature reserves that prevent a widening ur-

ban areas of the New Territories. think that, Mexico City has a density of 49,000 inhabitants per 3- The strong centralization of km2 in a wider area, we understand the city around the areas of Hong the uniqueness of Hong Kong. Kong Island and Kowloon . These components have resulted into a rapidly growing and expansion process really far from Utopian dreams of Le Corbusier and Tange. The landscape of Hong Kong does not consist into a low houses, but in extraordinarily high towers with different shapes that contain a multitude of constipated people in confined spaces and often not comfortable. More than 45% of the population lives in areas with a density of more than 50 000 inhabitants per km2, and if you

Photograph CREDITS by JOSE MIGUEL SERNA

towers typology in hong kong

The towers of Hong Kong are definitely the main feature of a city where buildings quality is absolutely not the strong point, but that is still a subject of great interest in the context of the high density. The shape of the towers is very varied, on the left page some examples that represent the most common cases of this building typology. The shape, changes considerably depending on the case, based on the arrangement of the scales, the common areas, elevators, etc. Often, however, as mentioned above these buildings have not been thoroughly investigated regarding many aspects of quality of life to benefit of the more practical goal to occupy as little space as possible.

“I spent five years photographing and taking familiar with the Walled City, its people, its organization. Apparently compromised and anarchic on the surface, actually it worked, and it worked well “ Greg Girard Photographer

walled The Kowloon city is one of the most emblematic symbol of the high density living in all the world. At one time, one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, Kowloon, was a walled city within Hong Kong. It was unregulated by the then-ruling British authorities, who reluctantly allowed it as the only Chinese settlement. However, during the occupation of Hong Kong by Japan, parts of it have been demolished and the material obtained was used for the construction of the airport. When Japan surrendered, the unauthorized population has increased dramatically. It was a no man’s land because of this; run by the Chinese mafia and filled

with brothels, sweat shops, illegal hospitals, and trashy eateries. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by Triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug use. In January 1987, the Hong Kong government announced plans to demolish the Walled City. After an arduous eviction process, demolition began in March 1993 and was completed in April 1994. The entire population at the date of the demolition was estimated around 33000. .

“Here, prostitutes installed themselves on one side of the street, while a priest preached and handed out powdered milk to the poor on the other; social workers gave guidance, while drug addicts squatted under the stairs getting high; what were children’s games centres by day became strip show venues by night. It was a very complex place, difficult to generalise about, a place that seemed frightening but where most people continued to lead normal lives. A place just like the rest of Hong Kong.” —Leung Ping Kwan, City of Darkness 32

credits by Greg Girard

SOURCE UNKNOWN

credits by Greg Girard

credits by china south china morning post

To the right page one of the emblematic painting from the Chinese artist YANG YONGLIANG, which I think expresses in a different way our cities with the high density problems. He gave a new point of view of this issue.

Photograph CREDITS by Society for Community Organization/Publicis Hong Kong

THE QUALITY OF LIVING The urban area of Hong Kong has the highest population and employment density in the world. Measured at the block level, we can have a density of more than 400000 people for km2. Most of the areas of Hong Kong are no-built-up areas, around 75% of the land. The high price of the land as also contributes to this kind of development. Despite with is density Hong Kong is considerate one of the most livable city in the world. One of the recurring topic is the association between

the high population density and the social pathologies and problems. This rest just a myth, in fact many are the factors affecting social pathology. Factor as the socioeconomic background, educational background and the health of the people considerate are more important. First of all is important to distinguish between DENSITY and CROWDING.

Photograph CREDITS by Benny Lam

Density is used to refer to the physical limitation of space, crowding is the psychological perception of the limitation of space. Studies claim that the Asian were found to have an high adaptation and tolerance to crowding. In Hong Kong itself the most of the people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see the high density as a problem, this can probably be explained by the background of most of the inhabitant of the city which are refugees and may have experienced worse living conditions prior to moving to Hong Kong. There are two faces of the high density, one positive and one negative. High density can maximizes the efficiency of the public transportation while minimizing the di-

stance between the daily activities inside the city, can also reduce energy and infrastructures costs. However there is also the negative part, which is probably the most effective in this issue also if this can be mitigated by the design, layout traffic facilities parks and green spaces which can really change the perception of the surrounding space, this have to be done for both external and personal spaces. The design study can really help with the perception of the space which can mitigate the sensation of crowded. Unfortunately most of the spaces in Hong Kong are not well designed, despite some case like Central district which was designed to

include public spaces and public passage-ways inside the buildings. Central in fact is interconnected by a large and studied pedestrian systems which are separated from the vehicle traffic. However, this is only one case, an exception that is not representative of the entire situation of Hong Kong. Most of the people however is living, as I said above, inside the tower-buildings which hide inside them an incredible situation and frightening. The dimension of the spaces inside the buildings are incredible small, seldom more than 20-30mq2.

Hong Kong has been ranked by the Economist as one of the most livable cities in the world, but more than 100,000 people live in cubicles. Small apartments divided into other small apartments where rooms are reduced to little more than 4 m2. With so little space a folding chair is used as a desk and a bed it is also a dining table . The privacy ceases to exist at the expense of the maximum use of space, which at the same time makes the livability to a minimum. The photo on the left side shows impressively that.

Photograph CREDITS by Benny Lam

The photography on the right side show the space where i have been during my days in Hong Kong. I lived in SHAM SHUI PO , kowloon area, one of the oldest and interesting district of Hong Kong.

Photograph CREDITS by BRIAN CASSEY

Hong Kong is the city of contrasts, and this is evident in its many nuances. Definitely one of the areas in which these differences are more obvious is without any doubt in the construction field. The buildings can pass from luxurious apartments with beautiful panoramic views to tiny apartments divided into several other apartments. About 100,000 people in the former British colony live in whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s known as inadequate housing, according to the Society for Community Organization, a social welfare group. The category also includes apartments subdivided into tiny cubicles or filled with coffin-sized wood and metal sleeping compartments

as well as rooftop shacks. One of the most and fortunately also one of the most uncommon situation is represented from the cage houses, also called the dog-houses.Cage homes started to appear in the 1950s and 1960s, during the Chinese Civil War.C age home apartments are usually located inside old buildings in urban are generally in the poorest areas of Hong Kong, like the Sham Shui Po district and Mong Kong district. With no doors, residents have to keep all of their personal belongings inside the confined space. Each bed space is very narrow, so an adult can barely lie down, stand, or sit straight. Since residents do not have room for any extra personal belongings inside the cage

home, such a bed space is deemed to be a place for sleeping only. Cage homes are dim, cramped, and hot. Cage homes also lack privacy because the cages are so close to each other. Even though some modern cage homes have partitions to separate different sections, these typically consist of only a thin piece of wood or paper board.

Photograph CREDITS by BRIAN CASSEY

However this is just a small part of the Hong Kong’s living. In fact there are a lot of interesting experiments of design about the living in the small spaces. Architect Gary Chang’s apartment is one of the examples of a good design in a small spaces in Hong Kong. The apartment is situated in downtown of Kowloon. With only 32 m2, Chang studied the different distribution possibilities to optimize his space called ‘Micro Apartment’ , the apartment is unique it was the apartment of the youth of the Architect that which think an innovative solution. The apartment in fact is equipped by several sliding doors that permit to have many

different functions inside it. find in this apartment one of the The architect spends almost most efficient and beautiful ca30 years to finish his adapta- ses and it can also answer at the ble apartment. The 32 square question “ How to improapartment contain inside itself a ve the quality of living large kitchen, guest bedroom, li- inside the tiny spaces?” brary, dining room, laundry room and, etc.Some sections of the apartment are quite luxurious, for example there is a SPA with the shower a room with color therapy and massage. From the outside, Gary Chang’s apartment looks different than the others just for the color of the only window of the apartment which is yellow, and this represent again the attitude of Hong Kong which is characterized by different faces inside the same medal. The global phenomenon of necessarily compact domestic space

EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE BUILDING Photograph CREDITS UNKNOWN

INTERIOR VIEW OF THE HOUSE Photograph CREDITS UNKNOWN

HONG KONG’S FORGOTTEN VILLAGES Hong Kong is one of the world’s most densely populated cities, despite this more of 70 percent of the rural territory is uninhabited. This is the direct consequence of the growth of the industrial centre that is now Hong Kong. In fact, many people had left the rural villages in search of richness and better living conditions. However, with the abandon of the rural areas many villages has left abandoned, leaving an architectural and histo-

rical heritage in decline. The Hong Kong’s f o r g o t t e n villages are the secret treasure of Hong Kong, the other side of the medal, which is not known from most of the people, citizen and tourist.

VIEW FROM THE HIKING FOR LAI CHI WO

Many of these villages are located into the rural areas, no doubt, this is caused by the fact that many of them were formed as a result of migration from CHINA, with all the consequences of the case, as the division into clans, which as obviously brought to a different conformation of the villages. This heritage is mainly hidden in the mountains of the NEW TERRITORIES places often isolated and difficult to reach. The isolation was the main cause of the abandonment of these realities for the benefit of the most vibrant and interesting city. This mass migration has obviously resulted in an exponential growth that has brought as is well known to a growing population of the city

of Hong Kong that has no equal in the world. The isolation can be seen as a negative factor against the livability of these areas, but this has enabled many of these villages to remain intact in their original conformation, or almost. In fact, we can divide the stages of life of these villages in four main phases; 1 their training at the time of migration 2 their expansion and growth 3 their abandonment in favor of the city 4 their little recovery during the new millennium. Obviously this division is very general and changes radically depending on the village considered and the area where it is located. It is not possible with a standard 100% correct synthesize the stages of life and death

of the villages in general for several reasons. First, there is precisely the location, though many of these villages are located in mountainous areas and isolated, many, following the expansions of the city have been gradually incorporated by it and are in fact inhabited (probably more today than they were original ly). Secondly, some of these villages have been subject to different layers over the years that have resulted in a change (in some cases minimum, but in other huge) of the appearance and conformation, while others gave their isolation remained perfectly conserved and unchanged in shape.

In general the villages can be considered based on their geographical location, which is the main consequence of their mutations , then we can divide the position of villages across three areas, the first one areas densely inhabited, the second one areas in expansion , the third one rural areas. Obviously the more you move away from the city and more uninhabited will be the areas, the abandonment will be greater as the conservation. Conversely the closer you get to the inhabited areas and more the abandonment will be lower as well as the preservation of the original shape (with some exceptions). The conservation and restora-

tion of these villages is one of the most topical issues in Hong Kong where they are realizing that you cannot leave a historical and architectural heritage in degradation. The first to bring new life into these abandoned villages were definitely the new inhabitants, in fact, in recent years some people, tired of the city life have begun to move into some of the most rural villages, such as Lai Chi Wo. The government is implementing policies to improve the viability of these places, increasing hiking and advertising in this area. Many non-profit organizations are working in the redevelopment of these villages, but architecturally very few (if not zero) are the initiatives in this area,

in fact, despite these small initiatives that are being born, these reality are not yet seen as a possible potential for a S OCI A L - ECONO M IC growth of Hong Kong.

ONE OF THE OLD BUILDING OF LAI CHI WO

On the following pages you will find some photographs and concise history of some of these forgotten villages that I visited during my stay in Hong Kong. Some of these are available from the website of the Hong Kong government and are part of the new tourist routes encouraged by the government, others are villages that I found casually during my tours. These villages have not been subject to any analysis, but were the key to understand the architecture of the historical heritage of Hong Kong. There are also some temples that I thought were important attach to understand that in some instances this heritage is literally suffocated from the city that never sleeps.

KAT HING WAI Kat Hing Wai is a Punti walled village in the Yuen Long District of Hong Kong. It is often mistakenly believed to be Hakka, whose people have similar traditions of walled villages like for example Tsang Tai Uk.Kat Hing Wai was established during the reign of the MingChenghua Emperor.The walls of this village was constructed by Tang Chue-yn during the early years of the Kâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ang Hsi reign to protect the inhabitants from marauding bandits and pirates. The village is a quasi-rectangular walled village, the walls made by the local grey bricks are about six metres high , the main street wich is in direct comunication with the insideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s temple is really narrow less then 2 metres, the walls of this village are considerated as one of the most preserved in all Hong Kong.Today, the village is still completely surrounded by walls, outside which are the remains of a moat. However, most houses within the walls have been rebuilt in recent years.

SAN WAI

SAN WAI is a walled village located in FANLING district in Hong Kong. The original name of the village was KAN LUNG WAI built about 400 years ago during the Châ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ing dynasty. One of the interesting things is that the main entrance has two gate towers. Within the walls most of the old houses were built by bricks, but now in the new century most of them are collapsed or demolished, and substituite by new buildings, which have nothing in common with the traditional buildings, despite this the village is still inhabited and recently advertised by the new politics of the government.

TUNG KOK WAI

TUNG KOK WAI is a walled village, also known as Ling Kok Wai. This particular village is located in an area called Lung Ling (“Mountain of Dragon”) in the district of Fanling, in the New Territories. Built by the 13th generation ancestor Tang Lung-Kong (1363-1421) was originally surrounded by a moat, which is now disappeared. Unfortunately i don’t have any information about this village, but I decide to put it here because it is sure a good example of a well conservatory walled village.

TIN HAU TEMPLE

Tin hau is a temple located in the area of YAU MA TEI in the kowloon side. Despite the position, which is densely inhabited the village is inside a small square surrounding by trees .The temple was originally built in 1800, when YAU MA TEI was developed the temple was enlarged. In 1876, the town was rebuilt and the temple was moved to a new square, the temple was extended in 1890 and was taken over by the WHA GROUP OF HOSPITALS in 1929. In the centre of the temple there is an altar to Tin Hau. This temple is now considerate a perfect example of a traditional Chinese temple.

MAN MO TEMPLE The MAN MO TEMPLE is a perfect example of how sometimes the city with its expansion can inglobe part of the heritage and at the same time, despite the surprise that can have a foreign watching this temple and the sense of oppression this situation is one of the most common in Hong Kong. Man Mo Temple or Man Mo Miu is a Cantonese transliteration of Wen Wu temple civil . There are several Man Mo Temples in Hong Kong, but the best known is the temple in Sheung Wan.It was built in 1847 as a part of a complex that comprises three adjacent blocks namely Man Mo Temple, Lit Shing Temple and Kung So. The Man Mo Temple, the main building of the complex, is dedicated to the civil god Man Cheong and the martial god Kwan Tai.

WALLED VILLAGES A chapter about the walled villages is obligatory, in fact, the case studies I have chosen belong to this category. Before the arrival of the British in Hong Kong the area was inhabited by two major clans: PUNTI and the the HAKKA. These two groups remained largely segregated until the mid 19th Century this for a lot of different reasons, in the case of the Hakka clan this can be attributed to their late

arriving to Hong Kong, which was previously occupied by the Punti. Hence the difference between the two groups in such aspect as dialect, customs, diet costume and last but not least the architecture traditions.

exclude something unwanted from -3 corner towers, erected at the more intimate inside part the the four corners of the wall a moat, which According with the Oxford English characteristic of a wall. Despite -4 dictionary if we search the word this a walled village is something surrounding the wall “wall” we will find this definition: more, but first of all it’s necessary with the sanctuary “A continuous vertical brick focus on some important points. -5 a main lane, which linls the gate tower with or stone structure that encloses or divides an area of land” PUNTI WALLED VILLAGES -6 a village shrine, located at the rear centre of the village -7 parallel rows of houses, which It ‘s interesting how the definition As I say above there were two clans are perpendicular to the main considered above emphasizes the in HONG KONG, the Punti and heaviness of the material of the lane and thus from a grid pattern. the Hakka, so it is necessary focus These characteristics can be wall, stones and bricks, and as in on each one separately. The Punti this definition there is the word divided into two groups, defensiwalled villages are chaenclose and not ve and not defensive. The defenracterized from some the word exclude. sive structures include the wall, characteristics which are: However, enclose and the gate tower, the corner towers -1 a gate tower, which is the exclude are certainly two words and the moat. The non defensive only entrance to the village that coexist into the same object, structures, on the other hand, are -2 a wall, which the walled village. In fact, it is not primarily for defence but are encloses the whole village precisely the ability to reject or also peculiar to the walled villages. WALLED VILLAGE

MAIN GATE OF SAN WAI VILLAGE

ONE OF THE WATCH TOWER OF KAT HING WAI

circle which it represent the haven Another important characteristic As we can imagine the wall can of the defensive structures are the be considerate the most impor- watch towers, which are usually on tant part of a defensive structures. the four corners of the walls there In a well preserved walled village are also storehouses for weapons the wall enriches all the houses and sometimes farm implements with only one entrance through inside the towers. Terraces are buthe gate tower. Hence the impor- ilt inside the towers for the villatance of the main entrance, most gers to stand on to inspect the surof the doors of the main entran- roundings. And in some case we ces are made of wood, but a few can also find some small passages, are made of metal demonstrating which lead to narrow platforms on the power of the village. The form the inner upper part of the wall.. of the walls are usually square or For the villages, which could rectangular in shape, displaying not afford the cost of a lofty freea harmonious relationship with standing wall , other forms of enthe house pattern wich are usual- closure which require less capital ly with the same form, in Chinese and labor input were erected. This tradition the square form is asso- kind of walls are formed by a paciate to the earth, opposite to the cked row of houses rimming the DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES

outskirts of the villages, with their entrances facing the inside. Only a few tiny windows pierced through . One example of this typee of walled village is TSANG TAI TUK. In comparison to a free-standing wall, the house-wall is lower in height and less protective. Based on different outlooks and functions, the house-wall can be subdivided into two categories, the first one as the continuous roof and outer wall, which indicates that the units were all built simultaneously. From ouside this kind of house-wall looks like a single elongated house stretching across the landscape as again like the case of the village Tsan Tai Uk.

In the second sub-category the houses were built at slightly different times. Instead of storerooms or pigsties, these units are usually peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dwelling. They are therefore larger in size than those of an elongated house-wall. Also in contrast to the elongated house-wall, this kind of wall does not appear as a single unit, but as a packed row of attached houses, as suggested by its discontinuous roofs. One example of this village is the Fan Ling Village in the district of Fanling, fanling doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the moat despite the presence of the watch towers in every corner. in general the importance of the moat was very high, in fact he moat defends a

village by blocking direct access to the wall from the outside, a narrow path, a stone bridge or sometimes a suspension bridge is built in front of the gate tower, as the only way where people can cross the moat to reach the village. The moat is also important in providing water in case of fire, when there is heavy rain, the moat would retain excessive water and take away the risk of flooding. A substitute to a moat, a thick layer of vegetation is sometimes planted around a walled village, bamboo is the most commonly grown species because it can develop into a dense cover quickly. The evidence is that the moat is not so prevalent as may be expected.

THE VILLAGTHE OLD MOAT OF KAT HING WAI

FAN LING WAI WALLED VILLAGE

NON DEFENSIVE VILLAGES The importance of the gate tower as the only entrance is not only practical, but also symbolic of the integrity and common identity of the village members. There are many examples of this symbolic importance, for example during a wedding ceremony, the bride from another village enters the walled village through the gate tower, as a gesture of her formal acceptance into the community. Hence, it is clear that the gate tower and the village shrine are the social centers of a walled village where individual units of the village core and forms the axis of the village. The distinction between defensive and non-defensive

structures is just an artificial one geared to a functional analysis. In reality, they are closely related and exhibit careful planning of the village layout. HAKKA WALLED VILLAGES The HAKKA villages are probably the most famous in Hong Kong. As late comers most Hakka were unable to build large scale walled villages, which are widespread in Northeast Guangdong and Fujian where this dialect group is more firmly established. Hakka walled villages are less divergent in form, and we can have two different types of walled village. The firs type is characterized

of an ancestral hall,, instead of a village shrine, at the rear centre of the village. The three chambers and two courtyards of the ancestral hall serve as the physical axis and social centre of the village, which is corresponding to the gate tower. The wall is exactly the same as the Punti elongated housewall both in construction and in outlook, they are mostly for residential purposes. They are called Heng Wu, literally meaning â&#x20AC;&#x153;side houseâ&#x20AC;?. The impressive village Tsang Tai Uk in Sha Tin is the only example in Hong Kong which is comparable in scale to the massive Hakka walled villages in Northeastern Guangdong and Fujian.

The other type of Hakka walled village as a simple layout. There are parallel rows of houses enclosed in a rectangular free-standing wall with a gate tower either on the left or the right wall, and in some cases, both. There is again no village shrine but a small ancestral hall is erected in the central lot of the first row of houses. Although both are of Hakka origin, there is indeed not much in common between these two types of walled villages. If we consider the configuration, the first type is more elaborate and complex in form and design, which finds many parallels with the Punti walled villages. The second type, on the contrary, is much simpler in layout and dimensions. Besides, its free-standing wall is

usually low and thin, built with stones and flaccid mud and is therefore only strong enough for defence against wild animals. The wall is often considerate as the determinant for the classification of this kind of structure because it is the most substantial part affecting the outlook and degree of the fortification of a walled village, and most explicitly distinguishes it from an un-walled one. Another point of relative importance is without doubts the awarding of the character wai added to the name of the village. There is a general agreement among many historians that the Chinese character wai would denote the existence of a wall opposite to the other word which is tsuen that mean un-walled .

However, despite this agreement which is can be considerate right form most of the villages there is some exception, many way villages in fact are not walled, while some other village which can be considerate walled by the morphology is never called wai. So at the end we can not considered reliable the association between the character wai and the walled characteristic.

In conclusion we can say that despite the differences between the clans and the geography of the region where the village is located, the wall is definitely the main feature, regardless of its shape and consistency, we can say that its function was anyway defensive, but not only, it was representative of a symbolic value given to the presence of the gate tower and the sanctuary, the wall is representative of a community, and of the traditions enclosed within it . In a more practical way the defensive aspect can be definitely considered the main aspect, at the end the survival of the villagers was strictly correlated to the strength of the wall especially during the different attacks, which in the case of Hong Kong were mostly operated by the pirates. Last but not least the walled villages are an extraordinary manifestation of a culture and a lifestyle that no longer belongs to our time, and for this reason their value is enormous. For this reason they must be protected and preserved.

case studies

The Hong Kongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forgotten villages are more than 200, and most of them are not mapped or within the normal hiking trails, this is the consequence of the fact that with the gradual abandon of these villages, no one was more interested to increase or restore the connections between them and the city. Given the large number of the villages, the choice I made was consequent to a simple, but complex question â&#x20AC;&#x153;How to enclose in a few case studies the essence of the villages and their relationship with the city?â&#x20AC;?. After spending one month to do research, trying to understand the shape of Hong Kong and the layout of the villages compared to the city, I decided to work in this way: I decided to divide Hong Kong into 3 hypothetical zones, which are , highly populated areas, areas in expansion and the rural areas. The division into these three areas is not random, but it represents the inclination of Hong Kong, in fact, depending on where you are, the number of villages change as well as their conservation conditions. The next step was to find 3 villages which were in some way connected to each other with the intent to make clearer the reading of their characteristics, to facilitate the analytical work. The choice fell on a categorization that would enclose them, so I decided to analyze, the walled villages.

That, because I thought that could be more interesting, given their close relationship with the Chinese villages and likewise given the interesting development that they have had over the years. Following I chose the three villages, which have in common the characteristics described above and also the same roots, in fact even if in a different way and in different times they were all 3 built from the clan HAKKA. The final choice was to analyze; LAI CHI WO, TAI TSANG UK and NGA TSIN WAI. For the first two villages I made only a preliminary analysis that in somehow give the overview of the villages and of their conformation. In the case of NGA TSIN WAI the concentration was greater, here in fact given its particular location, the strong socio-cultural and historical roots, I decided to deepen the analysis and suggest an urban regeneration project that could respond to the urgent needs of the villagers and at the same time to the government. The problems to address have been enormous, from the language to the acquisition of materials for the research. However, despite the apparent little research in some areas of the work, I tried as I was able, to be exhaustive and clear in all the field of the research.

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LAI CHI WO History, Analysis and Scenarios

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LAI CHI WO is the first village that I analyzed, and it is also the farthest away from the city center. It is located in the extreme north-east of the NEW TERRITORIES. The village was chosen for its extreme conservation of the buildings, also in the interior layout are clearly visible the stratifications occurred during the years that make it a perfect object of study. Its shape and location make it attractive for its possible future scenarios especially for the proximity to the sea and the agricultural land around it. In the case of LAI CHI WO the communication routes are certainly one of the major problems, in fact the village is only accessible by two ways; by land (with an hike of about three hours from the first subway station) or by sea (with a boat, which needs a reservation).However, despite that about ten people live in a stable manner into the village, and some project for the development of LAI CHI WO is on the way to be actualized.

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HISTORY Despite my extensive research and the time I spent on the site of LAI CHI WO, the information that I found respect the history, growth and development are not very wide. This is mainly due to language problems and lack information in English, as well as the general lack written sources. Talk to the villagers was to me almost impossible except for a few cases. What follows here is an extract from a few sources that I could find, thanks to

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the help that I received during my research: However, my work is enough to understand and appreciate the village that certainly provides points for reflection about the potential future scenarios.

The History of Lai Chi Wo dated back to 400 years ago. It was once the largest and most prosperous Hakka walled-village in the North-Eastern part of New Territories. In fact, despite the position were around 1,000 residents in the most prosperous period with also a school. Around a hundred years ago, Lai Chi Wo was once a poor village with just the only necessary for a subsistence agriculture. At that time, a feng shui master suggested building three feng shui walls for the village in order to get rid of the evil spirits and keep the property safe inside the village. After that, believing or not the village regained its prosperity as before. During the years most of the residents

have moved out for a better living in town areas like Fanling and Tai Po especially during the 1960-70, or emigrated overseas like in England. As i said before the Lai Chi Wo village is now vacated but in the past it was occupied by the Tsangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the Fans the Wongs and the Yips clan.However once every 10 years the old villagers come back for the traditional celebrations and rituals. One of the most interesting historical building is without doubt the Hip Tin Temple, the temple was erected for the worship of Kwan Tai who is also called Hip Tin Tai Tai (Emperor Assisting the Heaven) and so is the temple named Hip Tin Temple. The temple is a three-bay structure having two halls with a courtyard in between.

Two lower annexes were later added on each side where the left one is the Hok Shan Monastery. The annexes are both having twohall-one-courtyard plan. Over the years the green bricks of the walls have been either plastered or covered with concrete dressing.The temple was probably built in 1900 as its wall paintings indicated. Despite the clear decline of the village, today it has become one of the frequent Hiking sites in Hong Kong. Local associations have developed tours to Lai Chi Wo, and a group of people from a different no-profit associations working on the site for keep cleanly the route and some other activities like studies on agriculture etc.

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MAIN ENTRANCE OF LAI CHI WO

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ANALYSIS LAI CHI WO consists of about 211 homes, divided into buildings in good condition, in the state of degradation and collapsed buildings, 131 of these 211 homes are one-storey dwellings, 76 are two-storey and the remaining (the latest) are 3 storey buildings. It is clear as the high number of dwellings that constitute the village entail considerable difficulties of analysis, in fact, despite many of them have in common some characteristic, each

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house is differentiated by the state of conservation, a ccessibility, position, etc. A village of this dimensionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s need months of research that I have not done, not being the village my main case study. However, the documentation provides an overview of the current situation of LAI CHI WO highlighting the main features, configuration and possible developments.

SHENZEN

LAI CHI WO

TSANG TAI UK

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

NGA TSIN WAI

CENTRAL DISTRICT

TERRITORIAL FRAMEWORK OF TSANG TAI UK

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LAI CHI WO is located inside the NEW TERRITORIES in the North East of Hong Kong, almost on the border with China. The remoteness of the village compared to the busy city center of Hong Kong, does not encourage its revitalization, but at the same time is the direct consequence of its extreme conservation (despite the obvious problems caused by the prolonged abandonment). The quickest way to reach the village is through the use of three different means of transport, metro, minibus and walk or boat. The time required to arrive at the destination obviously depend on the case, but indicatively are needed from 2:30 to 3 hours. Despite the impression

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given by the map on the opposite page, from Central Station to Tai Po Market Station (the closest subway station to the village) takes approximately 40 minutes, which for a city of 7 million people it is certainly a very short time. From Tai Po it is then necessary, as mentioned above, to take a minibus leading up to the beginning of the hiking trail that is located in the village of Tin Sam. Lai Chi Wo is located within the protected areas of Hong Kong, which means that the only towns in its proximity are the FORGOTTEN VILLAGES OF HONG KONG which are widespread as previously explained, especially in the new territories. Another point of

interest certainly not negligible, is the obvious proximity to the sea, which shows the attitude of the old inhabitants of the village in the activities related to the sea, such as fishing and trade.

SO LO PAN KUK PO LO WAI KUK PO SAN UK

LAI CHI WO MUI TSU LAM

RURAL AREA

TIN SAM

TERRITORIAL FRAMEWORK OF LAI CHI WO ( RURAL AREAS)

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LAI CHI WO as discussed above, is located approximately at 2.30 hours from the first real town, TIN SAM, which is actually just an agglomeration of few houses, but with a stable number of inhabitants. From there start the long trail that takes the name of Wu Kau Tang. However, despite this, near the village of LAI CHI WO there are some centers that as for the case under study, centuries ago were consist of a vibrant community that fostered trade and communication routes. Definitely the biggest of these was Kuk Po, which is now is almost a ghost town where live only one person. Every village that surrounding Lai Chi Wo is far approximately one hour or less by walk, and

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every one of them is unite by a beautiful hiking trail that is kept in good condition by groups of volunteers. Before the junction that separates Kuk Po to Lai Chi Wo there is a landing strip for helicopters, which in case of emergency can be use, and this can be a major point of interest for a possible redevelopment of the area.

SATELLITE VIEW LAI CHI WO

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SATELLITE VIEW LAI CHI WO

Photograph ENTRANCE TO CREDITS THE VILLAGE by UNKNOWN FROM THE ROUTE

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DETAIL OF THE WALL

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I found the picture of the opposite page on a billboard posted on the wall near the main entrance of LAI CHI WO and I find it really interesting given the profound clarity of the figure. In fact, despite being a drawing (about which I do not know the source) it is certainly very reliable and was obviously done by a previous planimetric study. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible to understand if we pay attention to the imagine, the shape of the village. In fact, we can observe how behind LAI CHI WO is present the dense forest while in front of it there is a large ceremonial plaza surrounded by the school, the temples and the main entrance of the village itself. If we focus instead on the second entrance is clear that from that door it exten-

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ds the area used for agriculture, we can see near the site the path that winds through the agricultural fields. Looking at the roofs are evident the stratification of the entire village, this emerges from the different conformation of the buildings visible in the figure, is known in fact that some of them have a clear modern connotation, dictated by the presence of flat roofs that are definitely not part of the tradition of the village, those houses were probably built during the years 50/60. The houses in question have in fact a clear and modern features such as doors and windows. Another obvious thing is that you can see is that the wall does not extend along the

entire perimeter of the village. I do not know if during the works for its construction following the advice of the master of FENG SHUI mentioned in the historical part, was erected on each side, or only in some parts of it, this was not possible to verify it in the absence of a historical plan site. What is certain is that now the wall is present only in some parts of the village , combines the three gates of the village, the one that you can find coming from the trail, the one that overlooks the square, and the last that is close to the agricultural areas.

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view of the village from the cerimony square

scheme of the existing buildings WITH A GOOD STATE OF CONSERVATION inside the village

buildings school toilette

temples

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scheme of the ruins inside the village

ruins

main entrance

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scheme of the existing axis inside the village

main axis

secondary axis

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scheme of the entire village

all the buildings

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scheme of a typical house in lai chi wo

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bedroom

wood structure

storage/toilet

living room 127

The picture on the right side offer a view of one of the interior spaces of the houses in LAI CHI WO. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quite particular how the village is preserved, cups, tables and books are everywhere inside the houses as if everyone were simply disappeared..

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The pictures below are useful for better understand the housing typology within LAI CHI WO, from these photos, in fact, we can understand the conformation and the subdivision of the interior spaces. It is very impressive how the houses have retained much of the old identity, with photos and objects belonging to the old inhabitants.

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The picture was taken in one of the secondary axes and shows a set of row houses, which as we can observe are composed by GREY BRICKS facades.

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In the photo is possible to see how the historic buildings are largely characterized by parts of walls degraded, and in some cases by structural failure of the weaker parties, such the roof and the wooden parts. In the photo is possible to see how the historic buildings are largely characterized by parts of walls degraded, and in some cases by structural failure of the weaker parties, such the roof and the wooden parts. However in general the biggest problem of the structures is given by the structural failure of the interior parts and the roofs .

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In contrast to the historical buildings there are some new houses, dating from the period between 1950 and 1970 that are largely haracterized by flat roofs in contrast with the old buildings. As in many other villages of Hong Kong here, despite the distance from the center, the stratifications are evident.

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SCENARIOS LAI CHI WO certainly offers many suggestions for possible developments. Its location, condition and historical vocation make it a place of great interest, and this is certainly understandable by the fact that the inhabitants are returning and the tourists in the area are increasing, this shows that despite the isolated position there is an collective interest (direct and indirect) in resuming life in this place. The possibilities are many, but certainly the most plausible is the crea-

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tion of some didacticrecreational activities. Interesting is definitely the possibility to see arise in LAI CHI WO a diffuse hotel with inside educational and recreational workshops that can resume the ancient traditions of the place. Besides that Hong Kong is in a time of change and rediscovery of the traditions of the ancient, the green policies are countless , in fact many activities are directed for example to the incentivisation of the AGRICOLTURE .

As mentioned above the possible activities in related with the development of LAI CHI WO are mainly those directed to the agricultural development and environmentally sustainable. Indeed, there are ongoing initiatives in this sense, the revitalisation in Lai Chi Wo coincides with an initiative highlighted in the policy address early this year, under which the Environment Bureau was instructed to map out a plan to promote the conservation and traditional values of rural areas with local communities and non-governmental organisations. Right now the Hong Kong government is trying to create a new zoning of protected areas, but at the moment are still uncle-

ar and this puts in disagree different parts, from environmental a ctivists to the villagers who do not see clearly their future. One of the projects ongoing on Lai Chi Wo , started about two years ago, highlights the need to introduce flexibility on issues such as agricultural and guesthouse policies so that small rural businesses can survive and thrive. Initiated by a group of volunteers, retired villagers and academics, the Lai Chi Wo revitalisation recently gained financial support from HSBC, which will fund the project until 2017. The project, managed by the Kadoorie Institute of the University of Hong Kong, engages villagers retiring from overseas, volunteers and uni-

versity students to resume paddy rice production, grow vegetables like turnips and carrots, restore pig sheds and reoccupy vacation village houses for education, research and short stay over of visitors.

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one of the vegetable garden inside the village

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In conclusion, as you can see, some activities are in progress and developments seem to be interesting in several aspects. Surely what is lacking in these initiatives is an architectural development of the village, which is not yet been carried out by no one. What is certain is that careful planning related by closing cooperation with the ongoing projects could definitely lead to broad-based development and interesting that would provide ideas for future projects in the same field. The European cases of redevelopment of this kind of situation are numerous and offer excellent opportunities reflective, but LAI CHI WO is a case in itself, probably unique and deserves careful study. The unclear situation about the possibility to built inside the village and as well the unclear zoning can be a problem, but easy to solve. We must wait now and see in the coming years which will be the future, and how the events will change the village of LAI CHI WO. The basics are solid and also the people who keep us even. Only the future will give a clear idea of â&#x20AC;&#x2039;â&#x20AC;&#x2039;what will expect to our old Hakka village.

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TSANG TAI UK History, Analysis and Scenarios

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Tsang Tai Uk is the second village I decided to analyze and study and maybe the most interesting one for understanding the structure of the walled villages. There are many reasons for this choice and one of the most important is the uniqueness of this village, which it makes it a particular and interesting case study. One of the things really captivated me, was the state of conservation of the entire village, which it was really good, despite the general dreadful conservation of the other villages around Hong Kong. Tsang Tai Uk is a very fascinating place where although if you are into an expansion zone you can find there a peaceful and traditional place. In this village, the exterior wall and the towers as well are completely preserved. And, it is possible go inside the village. Unfortunately the area where the visitors can go is not that huge ,but enough to understand and see all the general conditions of the village and of the historical building from another perspective.

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HISTORY The Hakka vernacular villages are categorized into four types which are; in form of square, circle, semi-circular type, armchair shaped type and wei-long type. Despite the typological differences of these villages each of them with the typological structures remember the fortified city. The structure of the Hakka vernacular v illages itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the expression of cultural heritage and society of the Hakka people.

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We can consider Tsang Tai Uk like one of the best preserved Hakka Walled villages in all Hong Kong , especially because right now more than in the past the situation of the preservation of the historical heritage of the city is in a situation of deterioration and at the same time of a new revaluation.

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Tsang Tai Uk (the Big Mansion of the Tsang Family ) can be called also Shan Ha Wai ( a walled village at the foothil) We know the history of the village from the documentation of Tsang Koonman founder of the village. Tsang Tai Uk was built during the Quing Dynasty indicatively from 1848 to 1867. Tsang Koon-man to whom it owes the merit of the foundation of the village left for Hong Kong to work in the village area close to Lei Yue Mun and Chao Kwo Ling. Similar to the typical Hakka walled villages, Tsang Tai Uk being s quarely bounded by plain wall houses of 2 storey high with watch towers located in every corner of the village with the gable walls which giving a strong sense of fortification to the village. Like the others traditional Hakka walled villages the structure of Tsang Tai Uk is always pictured as a reflection of the social and cultural beliefs of the Hakka. The Hakka people is know like a group of Han people migrating a lot of time since the Han Dynasty for the purpose of escaping from both the continued invasion from the bandits and the communal conflicts that scourged the Mainland. The desidere of the Hakka people of the same clan to 151

find a place for both living together and find a place for the social and functional needs was very strong. The Hakka family adopted the traditional consanguineous way of living and built a mass housing in the form of a walled villages for put all the descendents in the same place. The morphology of the builtstructure of Hakka is perceived as having Hakka people’s wish of protection. Tsang Tai Uk is a settlement for the descendants of the rich merchant Tsang Koon-man. Tsang Koon-mon moved from Wuhua to Hong Kong at the age of 16 and he worked as a quarryman in Cha Kwo Ling. At a later date he ran a stone production business in Shaukeiwan that eventually brought him the wealth. Afterword he bought a piece of land next to Kak Tin Village at Lek Yuen which was a sterile land during that time. He employed the builders from Wuhua for building the Tsang Village. Tsang Tai Uk work as the Ancestral Hall of the Tsang’s family and this is evident if you read the Horizontal tablet over the main entrance of the village which It is labeled from a writing which mean literally “the place for all his

descendents to live”. That is the expression of the desire of the founder Tsang Koon-man of build a large scale of housing for live with all his family and descendents. He followed the Hakka’s practice to collocate the ancestral hall in a strategic position in the hart of the village. This way reflected inside the village are given to be no different from the other Hakka settlements in China and Hong Kong. One of this examples is the Fujian Tulos.

The picture shows very clearly the shape of the village, it is very obvious the division of spaces between public and private areas. Although if the photo is from the last century the village has retained its shape intact.

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ANALYSIS TSANG TAI UK as described above is the second village under analysis, is completely different from the other two considered, in many ways, first of all it has a completely different morphology of the wall, which makes it a unique case, it can be considered as a perfect example of an HAKKA village, in fact it remembers with his morphology the largest and magnificent TULOU of the FUJIAN region. Another characteristic point is the fact that the village is still belon-

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ging to the clan founders. The village appears located into an expansion area , but despite the density of the area there is more peace and less sense of oppression than the more problematic NGA TSIN WAI.

SHENZEN

LAI CHI WO

TSANG TAI UK HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

NGA TSIN WAI

CENTRAL DISTRICT

TERRITORIAL FRAMEWORK OF TSANG TAI UK

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Tsang Tai Uk is located in nearest Nga Tsin Wai is moderaKowloon, inside the district of tely easy to reach, indeed there is Sha Tin, more precisely the Sha Tin MTR, which is really near the Lion Rock Tunnel. close to the site. The walled village is located halfway between the furthest Lai Chi Wo and the closer Nga Tsin Wai , in fact this is the case study, which is in relation with the expansion areas of the city . Looking at the map on the right side is certainly interesting to note that the three villages under study are actually all situated on the eastern side Hong Kong, this is not a case but it is probably the direct consequence of the ancient settlement of the Hakka clan. However, even this village as the

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LOW DENSITY AREA

TSANG TAI UK

HIGH DENSITY AREA

TERRITORIAL FRAMEWORK OF TSANG TAI UK ( DENSITY AREAS)

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TSANG TAI UK is very close to the SHA TIN river ,in fact it needs only a few minutes to reach it. The site area is special in that it is located in a relatively densified but the village itself is positioned in a very quiet and green zone, in fact, behind the village there is a depression of hills which it make the background of the village really green, in addition to this the area is close to a cyclable path and to to the vegetable gardens. If we look at the map we can observe that the area around Sha Tin is visually (from the top view) detached from the area of Kowloon, this is derived from the simple fact that the area is growing and therefore is gradually

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enlarging. Is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;predictable what will happen over the years, this hole area will be densely populated .

TSANG TAI UK

SATELLITE VIEW OF TSANG TAI UK

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TSANG TAI UK TSANG TAI UK

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SATELLITE VIEW OF TSANG TAI UK

TSANG TAI UK

Shing Mun River (Sha Tin River)

SHA TIN RIVER AEREAL VIEW SOURCE GOOGLE

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Shing Mun River or Shing Mun River Channel was originally a cove, the Shing Mun River was converted into a straight river channel for the development of Sha Tin as a suburb in the 1970s. Running mainly through residential areas, the riverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outlet is now an Harbour. Both banks of the river are recreational zones with jogging trails and cycling tracks. The Shing Mun River was once heavily polluted from the indiscriminate discharges from livestock, industrial, commercial and domestic sources. The total organic pollution load from these 163

discharges amount to a population equivalent of 160,000 in the 1980s. At that time, hardly any living creatures were found in the river. The water quality of Shing Mun River has improved from bad to good in terms of the Water Quality since 1993

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VIEW OF TSANG TAI UK FROM THE CYCLABLE PATH

EXTERIOR COURTYARD VIEW

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EXTERIOR COURTYARD VIEW

PUBLIC COURTYARD VIEW

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PUBLIC COURTYARD VIEW

6 5

2 7

FORECOURT

UPPER HALL

WALL HOUSES WITH “RUN HORSE CORRIDOR “ AT THE TOP

ROW HOUSES

LOWER HALL

CORNER TOWERS

MIDDLE HALL

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WALL HOUSES

LOWER HOUSES

CENTRAL HALL

UPPER HALL ANCESTRAL HALL

The social hierarchy is representative of a situation inside the walled villages in general and also in Tsang Tai Uk. In this case this hierarchy itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s given by the distance from the exterior wall.

The configuration of the Hakka vernacular architecture symbolize the sentiment of the Hakka peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s devotion to the Chinese ethical and the philosophical way of the Confucian system. For the Hakka people the ancestral leadership is really important in fact it is well exemplified by the positioning of the hall inside the village. The Chinese feudal system organization is exemplify with the four functions .It is a place of Ancestral Worship, a meeting pla171

ce -administrative Hall- forum for family or clan affairs and agricultural or economic production. The ancestral hall can be also used by a ceremony and ritual place and the position of the ancestral hall ( centre of the village) is a philosophical way to represent the solidity of the clan. Everything was done for increment the sense of unity and solidarity inside the clan. The ancestral hall is not exactly l ocated in the centre of the

village but is located in front the main entrance following the central axis of the village that happen for the predominance of the central axis above the form of the vIllage. The hierarchy of the ancestral hall is also emphasize by the different level of the ground level, in this case upper than the others halls inside the village.

COURTYARDS ROOF PLANTS WITH THE LOCAZION OF THE COURTYARDS AND THE ENTRANCES

ENTRANCES 172

ANCESTRAL HALL

PRIVATE AREAS

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PUBLIC AREA

GROUND FLOOR PLANT WITH IN EVIDENCE PUBLIC SPACES AND PRIVATE COURTYARDS

ANCESTRAL HALL ( EXTERIOR DOOR )

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ANCESTRAL HALL ( iINTERIOR SPACE )

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

SECTION A-A’

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SECTION B-B’

DINNING ROOM

KITCHEN

LIVING ROOM

SKYLIGHT

BEDROOMS

PLANS AND SECTIONS OF AN HOUSE INSIDE THE VILLAGE

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PRIVATE COURTYARD VIEW

scheme of the principal problems of tsang tai uk

socio economics

structural

problems

materials 178

The biggest problem of Tsang Tai Uk is certainly represented by the difference of the materials used as a coverings, and this is what affect mainly on the overall view of the village. The photo above shows exactly this situation.

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SCENARIOS Reflecting on the research carried out on Tsang Tai Uk, it becomes difficult to think about future scenarios for different reasons, in fact, the morphology and the social and cultural development of the village does not allow much freedom . Surely the most important thing to do is to solve all major problems facing the village on the architectural side, this can be done with an appropriate archi-

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tectural restoration that will be TSANG TAI UK even more wonderful . We have to think about this, the village is inhabited almost entirely by families and this is a point of considerable importance . TSANG TAI UK is definitely one of those goods that need to be admired by the community, but without damaging those who live within it.

After this introduction, let us analyze what could be the real future scenarios of the village. First we have to remember one thing, TSANG TAI UK is one of the best preserved walled villages in HONG KONG and this own feature must be the focus of its future revitalization. However, is clear that how the lack a clear regulation has brought the accumulation of different materials on the facades with different colors and configurations. In addition, there is another big problem, which is the crazy use of the air conditioning on the facade ( this, is one of the biggest problem in all Hong Kong). In essence, the main problem is more aesthetics than functional. The future main

onnotation of the village I think Its beauty and charm are incredishould be mainly cultural and ble and I hope that someone could cognitive so as to encourage in somehow give him a new life.. the rediscovery of these old identity. I think TSANG TAI UK could be one of the best example of ancient architecture in Hong Kong with some attention. As for the side project, it would probably be interesting an agricultural development of the green area adjacent the entrance, could be probably interesting the development of a social vegetable garden for both villagers and neighbors. In conclusion Tsang Tai Uk should be the first village to be retrained, and should definitely be more advertised without harming the daily life of its inhabitants.

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the green space outside the village

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NGA TSIN WAI History, Analysis ,Project and Scenarios

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“ The biggest problem in China now is not the economy..... is that people have lost confidence in their culture....They don’t really know their culture” WANG SHU

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Nga Tsin Wai village was chosen by me as the main case study, a bit like Hong Kong again, behind the impression you can have there is a huge hidden treasure, a treasure of architecture history and people. I have chosen to work on this site mainly for the people who live there, who gather every day to face problems far from those who live in Central could have. The few villagers are living in a situation on the verge of absolute poverty, inside the village lacking all the major facilities necessary for everyday life. It also seems like no one is interested in these needs, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like if everyone is more interested in the possibility of using the area for new skyscrapers. Nga Tsin Wai offers a huge design challenge in fact, during my studies on the site I realized its complexity, intersecting social and cultural problems and conflicts enormous economic. Nga Tsin Wai is an excellent case study that offers the possibility for a huge development and also for the experimentation on the architecture field.

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HISTORY Nga Tsin Wai is the village with the oldest and most fascinating history of Hong Kong, but it is at the same time, unfortunately, the result of a past glory. The problems to find the historical sources are immense, especially as regards the photographs. We must therefore think that there have been many variations during the years which have led NGA TSIN WAI from a glorious village into a slums of today, and unfortunately, these changes were not always

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documented in detail, and for this reason most of the history is lost. A reflection point is surely the fact that over the last century the emphasis on conservation was minimal to benefit the most profitable building expansion. Besides this certainly the Japanese invasion before and the coming of the British later doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t helped . The following research is an excellent starting point for the analysis of one of the greatest heritage of Hong Kong.

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Discover historical information about the developments of NGA TSIN WAI it was really difficult to me and this complexity is given by different factors. First it is definitely the lack information in general about the village, second to make things even more complicated there were the language problems that have made impossible to me communicate with the locals and also read the few information. However, the following pages contain a summary of the history of Nga Tsin Wai, not in its entirety, but enough to understand the principal characteristics of the village. Everything that follows is entirely extrapolated without any changing, but taking different parts from the only source of information that I was able to find, an article of the ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY HONG KONG BRUNCH. This article is cited in the bibliography, but I consider important to point out at the beginning of chapter the importance of this source, I want to extend my thanks and my gratitude to those who have dedicated to the research and writing of this essay their time, without them I would not be able to understand almost nothing of the NGA TSIN WAI.

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The north-east part of the Kowloon Peninsula was, before it became developed as part of the city, well watered by a series of streams coming down from the hills, generally fertile. The area was closed in by hills on all sides except that facing the sea: these hills were high and steep to the north and east, more broken and lower to th west and south, but everywhere formed a clear boundary to the area. The first settlement of Han Chinese in this plain probably dates from the early second century BC. During this period ( 206-111 BC ), the K wangtung area formed a separate Empire, that of the Nanyueh centered on Canton. It is known that the nanyueh Emperors established a Salt Monopoly within their Empire, and it is very likely that a Salt Sub-Intendancy office was founded at Kowloon CIty shortly after 200 BC, to supervise salt-fields established along the shores of Kowloon Bay and in Mirs Bay, supervised by a Salt Intendant whose office was probably at Nam Tau, just outside the area of today’s New Territories, on Deep Bay. The Salt Intendants and their subordinates all had garrisons of soldiers, to stop salt-smuggling, and Kowloon City would have become military post from the date that it

became a Salt Monopoly centre. While there is no specific documentary evidence of salt-working in the Kowloon City area as early as the Nanyueh, a recird frin AD 265 specifically mentions salt-officials active in the general area east of the lower Pearl River Estuary. At some date between 331 and 1163 the Tung Kuan Salt Intendancy at Nam Tau was split into four, with one of the new Salt Intendants stationed at Kowloon City ( then called Kwun Fu Cheung “Rich Official Salt-fields”). The most likely period for this development is the tenth century, when again Kwangtung formed a separate Empire, that of the Nanhan considerable amounts of Nanhan pottery have been found in the general Kowloon City area, suggesting that this was a place of some significance then. By the date of this split of the Salt Intendancy there can be no doubt that Kowloon City was an important Salt Monopoly centre. In 1163 the Kwun Fu Cheung Salt Intendancy yamen ( official residence and office) was moved to Tip Fuk on Mirs Bay, where it stayed for a few decades , perhaps a Hundred years before returning to Kowloon City. In or shortly before 1293, the Kwan Fu Intendancy was amalgamated with the Salt Intendancy he-

adquartered at Wong Tin outside Sai Heung a little to the north of Nam Tau, and the old Kowloon City Salt Intendant’s yamen became the yamen for a new Country SubMagistracy then formed. This SubMagistracy was upgraded in 1370, and moved to Chek Mei Village outside Sham Chun ( Shenzhen) it was moved back to Kowloon City in 1841, together with the yamen of the local Military Commander. The walls of Kowloon City, which survived until the coming of the Japanese, were built after the return of the Sub-Magistracy to Kowloon: they were completed in 1847. They may have been rebuilt on older foundations: the walled compound of 1293 and before may have stood here. From 1370 to 1841, Kowloon City usually had only a small military post (from 1682 to 1811 it had a unit of 10 soldiers, increased to 43 in the latter year, when a new fort was built on the seacoast to guard the landing-place). It is conventionally useful to say “ Kowloon City” as the site of these early yamens, and there can be no doubt that the yamen was at all dates between 200 BC and 1811 AD close to Kowloon City, but there is no certainty that it was at all dates immediately under the site of the later Kowloon Walled City. 192

Between 1811 and 1847 the local garrison was, for instance, certainly centered on the fort by the sea-shore, not at the Kowloon City site some a quarter of a mile inland. The salt-marshes which blocked access to the Kowloon Bay shore from the sea except in the immediate kowloon City and Sacred Hill area make it certain that any yamen in the area must have been close to this vital landing-place, the only place where ships could come to land easly. Thus, there can be little doubt that the yamen, at all dates, was either at, or very close to, todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kowloon city. Thus, Kowloon City was a significant Imperial centre and garrison from, probably, about 200 BC, down to at least 1370, and continued to have a small garrison even after that date. The presence of a Salt Monopoly centre in or near Kowloon City from 200 BC did not, however, lead to civilian Han Chinese settlement in the area. In fact, it is likely that such settlement was banned for many cenuries. The Salt Monopoly, in the interest of controlling salt-smuggling, wanted to have the areas around its salt-fields made Restricted Districts, banned to ordinary citizen of the Empire except with passes issued by the 193

Salt Intendant. It is likely that, fir almost a thousand years after the establishment of the salt-fields at Kowloon City, the whole area remained a Restricted District, and closed to civilian settlement. The earliest civilian settlement in the area that we know of dates from the middle- late twelfth century. The Lam clan settled in this period at Po Kong, and the Chan clan settled in the Nga Tsin Wai area at about the same date. The most significant event in the early history of the area was the visit to Kowloon City of the Sung boy-Emperor Ching and is brother Ping in 1277. The boyEmperor and his remnant court were being pushed down to the south by the Mongol troops, and, from 1277 until the final destruction of their forces and the death of the Emperor Ping in 1279, they were unable to leave the area around the mouth of the Pearl River, which was all they were able to control. During this period they stayed at Kowloon for five months. It is likely that the Imperial family stayed in the Salt Intendantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s yamen. The presence of the Sung remnant Court for this period must have had major implications for the residents of the area, although it is difficult now to discover details.

Many villages in the area claim to have been foundend by remnants of the Sung Court left behind when the Court moved away in late 1277, but in many cases it can be shown that this is unlikely. At some date, an important market grew up in front of the yamen at Kowloon City. In the later nineteenth century this stretched from south-east gate of the Walled City down to the great stone pier that stretched out into the waters of the Kowloon Bay. There was one long main street, with a number of side streets. Around the Market there were a whole string of small suburban communities, mostly market gardening communities or else places doing business in offensive trades that were too unpleasant to occupy space within the Market area proper. The largest of these suburban communities was Sha Po Village. Branches of the Nga Tsin Wai clans were settled here, and it came to be regarded as settled here, and it came to be regarded as a settled village with permanently resident clans.

ORIGIN OF NGA TSIN WAI One point of considerable interest fits very neatly with the dates calThe Nga Tsin Wai villagers have a clear and precise traditional account of te foundation of their village. Three men, they claim, camel to the area with the court of the Sung boy-Emperors in 1277. One. Ng Shing-tat was a civil official, another, Chan Chiu-yin was a military official, and the third, Li Shing-kai was also attached to the remnant Sung court in some capacity no longer remembered. When the Emperor Ping fell, these three men jointly established the village. The Tin Hau Temple in the village was subsequently founded in 1354. Originally, the inhabitants lived scattered through the area. In 1724, the villagers built a walled village to defend themselves against bandit and pirate attack, and most of them came together to live inside the walls, although some preferred to settle in others places like Lamma Island or Tseung Kwan. Of the ancestors recorded from the Ming, the third is CHan CHiu yin. His date of birth is likely to have been about 1510-1530. The Tsuk Po claims that he was the first ancestor to settle in Nga Tsin Wai: the date must be close the middle of the sixteenth century.

in the Chan clan Tsuk Po to the history of Nga Tsin Wai is the reference to a village, in the Kowloon area, called Nga Pin Heung, as the residence of the clan from the middle twelfth to the middle sixteenth centuries, and the explicit reference to Chan Chiu-yin as being the first of the clan to settle in Nga Tsin Wai. Nga Tsin Wai ( The Walled Village in front of the Yamen) could not have taken this name before the walls were built. Nga Ping Heung ( The Unwalled Village beside the Yamen) sounds like the name of Nga Tsin Wai would have been before the walls were built. This is especially so since the village is not in front of the yamen but beside it. Another village, Tai Wai, have a date for the building of the walls of their village-1574. The tradition say that tradition that, the village was set out by Lai Po-yi a famous Fung Shui master. Since Tai Wai is almost a perfect copy of Nga Tsin Wai, and since these two walled villages differ in detail from most of the other New Territories walled villages, it is very likely that they were set out by the same Fung Shui master. This strongly suggests that the walls of Nga Tsin Wai were built about 1570-1574. This date

culated above for Chan Chiu-yin, the first ancestor of the Chans to live in Nga Tsin Wai. It is therefore, likely that Chan Chiu-yin was nit the first of his name to move to Nga Tsin Wai, but was the villager in whose lifetime the place changed its name from Nga Pin Heung to Nga Tsin Wai, and that he was the first of the clan to move inside the newly built walls from his earlier residence in the open fields. The reason given by the Tai Wai villagers for building their walls in 1574 was the ravanging of the area by bandits. Particularly active in the area during this period were the bandints under he command of Lam Fung. Lam Fung is credited in the Ming History with killing 20000 people in the general Hong Kong area, which he dominated from 1568-1574. Nga Tsin Wai, only a hundred km inland from the best landing place in Kowloon was for sure extremely exposed to the attacks of all these pirate bands. Pirates remained a problem here for many years. Some date in the middle of the fourteenth century is the most likely for the Ng clan to have settled in the Nga Tsin Wai area.

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The date remembered by the clan as the foundation date of the Tin Hau Temple, 1354, is almost exactly the period when the Ngs are most likely to have settled in the Nga Tsin Wai area, and the estabilishment of the temple, or whatever this date refers to, is probably to be considered the date when the settlement of the Ngs was complete. The Ngs today divide their caln int for Fong (branches) amd twelve descent lines. The four Fong are the descendants of the four eldest of the six grandson of Ng Shingtat. There are few descendants of the first three Fong, which each comprise only one descent line, stemming from the single sole survivor of that Fong still alive after the Coastal Evacuation. The fourth Fong comprises the remaining nine descent lines. Of these, three stem from the three eldest of the five descendants of the fourth grandson of Ng Shing-tat who remained alive after the Coastal Evacuation. The remaining six Fourth Fong descent lines all stem from the fourth eldest of the Coastal Evacuation survivors from the fourth Fong. Three stem from the three eldest great-grandsons of this man, and the final three from the three eldest great-grandsons of this man, and the final three from 195

the three sons of the fourth greatgrandson. It would seem likely that only eight males survived the Coastal evacuation from this clan, the stem ancestor of the first three Fong and the five survivors from the fourth Fong. Thus the present clan divisions reflect the post Coastal Evacuation history of the clan, in the period 1668-1750. Thus the first people to settle near Nga Tsin Wai seem to have been the Chans, who settled at Nga Pin Heung about 1150-1170, probably in a development associated with the removal of the Salt Intendancy to Tip Fuk in 1163. The Ngs Joined the Chans here about 1350: the foundation date for the temple of 1354 is probably connected with this. Chan Chiu-yin was not the first Chan to settle in the area, but he was the clan head when the village was walled about 1570. Ng Shing-tak was the second generation of his family to live in the area, about 1350: he lived two hundred years before Chan Chiu-yin, and two hundred years after Chan Mang-lung. The village would have been in ruins after the Costal Evacuation, and rebuilt probably around 1724. The villagers on their return to the village after the Evacuation must have lived in tem-

porary huts for some time before they could gather the funds needed for the repair of their walls, temple, and permanent houses. The Nga Tsin Wai villagers invite all their clan brethren from Nga Tsin Long, Siu Lek Yuen, Lamm, Tseung Kwan O, and other Kowloon villages for the Tin Hau Birthday celebrations each year. Most send representatives, to show that they still recognize their relationship with Nga Tsin Wai. This is even with the decennial Ta Tsiu ( The Great Sacrifice), which Nga Tsin Wai and its nearby villages have held every then years since 1726.

TOPOGRAPHY VILLAGE

THE cannon. Each corner tower had gatehouse was wider than the lane

The village as laid out in 1570, and as rebuilt and rehabilitated in 1724, consisted of a rectangular, almost square, walled enclosure ( about 60m per 70m) set in the middle of a wide moat which surrounded it on all sides, and which could be accessed only over a single narrow causeway landing to the single gate. This gate consisted of two leaves of stout planks, bearable from behind, and with provision for being reinforced across the front by iron bars or stout wooden bars let into housings cut into the jambs and lockable from within the gatehouse. The walls were of good brick, on stone foundations, and were enough, and high enough to be a real defense. The walls stood about 4m, since the village houses were all single-storied, with the eaves at about 3.8m above the ground level, only the roof-ridges of the houses could be seen from outside the walls . Each of the four corners of the walled enclosure were defended by towers. These towers stood some 7m high. They had flat roofs, reached by ladders from within the structure. The towers protruded into the moat on both sides. The village had six guns-small iron

one, and a gun chamber , the gun chamber had two round gun-ports for the cannon to fire through, and the cannon here were permanently mounted. Within the walled enclosure, six cross lines were set out along the width of the enclosure, and three transverse lanes, one just inside the north and south walls, and the third as a spinal line down the centre f the enclosure. The first and sixth cross lines run through to dead ends against the inner face of the walls. These lanes were very narrow, just wide enough for two people to pass in the centre line, and even narrower in the other lines. Off these lines there were, 1902, some 140 houses or house-sites plus the temple and village office. The original layout was probably formed by 130 houses. The houses were very tiny, totaling no more than 18mq. The houses were too small to have air-wells, and consisted each of only a single room, with a tiny cockloft over a small bedchamber at the back. few had windows , some had a tiny window at the back, lighting the cockloft, defended with iron bars and closed by shutters, and most were aired and lighted only through the house door. The village had no well or open space within the walls. The

landing to it inside the walls, and provided space for an worth god shrine, and a ladder giving access to the gun chamber above the gate. At the other end of the spinal centre lane was the Tin Hau Temple, occupying one house site, and facing the gate directly; the village office occupied the house immediately to its north. the features of the layout of Nga Tsin Wai which it shares with Tai Wai in Sha Tin are the almost square layout facing the optimum Fung Shui direction and not the cardinal points, narrow lanes, the tiny houses, the layout of six north-south and three east-west lanes with the first and sixth lanes running back ti dead ends against the inner faces of the walls, the existence of the premises backing onto the walls which are as big as the houses opening onto the lanes, and the temple occupying a house site opposite the gate house. Both villages used the house immediately to the north of the temple as the village office. Of these features, the narrowness of the lanes and the smallness of the houses are special to the two villages.

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In most of the New Territories walled villages the premises along the two side walls are very much smaller than the houses facing in the lanes, and were designed for use as cattle sheds, pigsties and latrines : to have houses here is unusual. Most untypical is the temple at the end of the central spinal lane in other walled villages this site is occupied at most by God House, since the villagers tended to feel that to have a full-scale community temple inside a walled village was improper, as access was thus reduced for non-villagers. The absence of a well is another uncommon feature of the two villages- most walled villages, for obvious reasons find space for one. Moats were quite common, and are not special to these two villages. the village was built to house far more people than can possibly have been Nga Tsin Wai villagers in 1570. 130 houses is a very large number, it is probable that it was always assumed that each village family would occupy several houses, some as residences, some as barns, some as pigsties or cattle sheds. It is likely that the large number of houses was designed to allow the other villages of the Kowloon plain to flee inside the walls when problems arose, and that at least those members of the

three clans of the village living outside the walls in the other villages of the area always assumed they could find shelter there at a pinch. A both Nga Tsin Wai and Tai Wai, the villagers started to build houses outside the walls. These houses were larger and airier than the houses within the walls, and were built by the wealthier villagers and residences. By 192 there were thirty house-lots just outside the walls at Nga Tsin Wai, mostly on the east of the village, between the moat and the river. As well as the residences outside the walls, the village had its latrines outside the walls, on the northern side of the moat, there was a wide footpath, which surrounded the moat on all sides.

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THE LEAGUE OF SEVEN Nga Tsin Wai was the head village of an inter-village union called the Kowloon Tsat Yeuk, the “Kowloon League of Seven”. This was a sworn alliance of villages for mutual defence against outside attack, and a vehicle to allow the elders of the several villages involved to meet to discuss matters of inter-village interest. This inter-village alliance is very similar to many others within the New Territories, and can be compared, for instance, with the Alliance of Nine in Sha Tin, or the Alliance of Six at Sai Kung. According to the Nga Tsin Wai villagers, the League of Seven in fact comprises some nine villages, not seven. The villages of the League of Seven were; Nga Tsin Wai itself, kak Hang, Tai Hom, Shek Kwu Lung, Ta Kwu Leng, Sha Po, Nga Tsin Long, Ma Tau Wai and Ma Tau Chung. It will be seen that Kowloon City, Kowloon Market, and the suburban villages around them, apart Sha Po, had no part in the League of Seven. These areas were considered to fall immediately under the control of the Sub-Magistrate in Kowloon City, or under the control of the Kowloon Market Kaifong. Apart from these places, the League of Seven covered all the

area around Kowloon City. The Ta Tsiu is the most important ritual event of the League of Seven. the Nga Tsin Wai villagers believe the Legue of Seven was established in 1726, when the Ta Tsiu was held for the first time. The 1726 celebration was held after the 1724 rehabilitation of the village was completed. The 1996 celebration was the 28th to be held. Before the other villages were cleared for development, the villages conducted an elaborate procession through all the villages of the League, carrying in procession not only their own Tin Hau, but other statues of Tin Hau as well, from other temples in the area, before the rituals conducted in front of the gateway of Nga Tsin Wai. Inter village alliance were first of defence alliances against bandits. The League of Seven was probably estabilished in 1726 when there was no yamen at Kowloon City, and at best only a very small group of soldiers there, so the risk of attack was real. This was particularly so since pirates were a notorious risk in the waters between Kowloon City and the Lei Yue Mun passage throughout the period from the middle eighteenth century to the late 1840, and Nga Tsin Wai was both relatively wealthy and only a few hundred km from the coast.

After 1841, when the Sub-Magistracy, and the local garrison command were moved back to Kowloon City, the number of soldiers posted near Nga Tsin Wai should have been enough to frighten off bandits in the most circumstances. In 1854 a group of Taiping rebels approcached Kowloon City,this was the major attack to the League of Seven. The villagers of Nga Tsin Wai velive that the garrison at Kowloon City all fled with the official . The League of Seven was thus left with no defence against the bandits except what they could muster themselves. The villagers of Nga Tsin Wai say that the elders of the League of Seven besought Tin Hau to help them with advice. The Gooddess told them to stay, and fight! The villagers of the undefended League of Seven villages fled inside the walls of Nga Tsin Wai, and the gate was heavily barred. Nga Tsin Wai villagers and the other members of the League fought them valiantly , and the bandits left leaving them untouched. The last time the Nga Tsin Wai villagers closed and barred their gates against attack was in 1907, during the Riots. Nga Tsin Wai’s position at the head of the League of Seven put it into a very important position in the traditional politics of the Kowloon area. 200

NGA TSIN WAI IN 1900 With the new century Nga Tsin Wai start to change; any villager owning a house in Nga Tsin Wai in 1900 is considered a villager of Nga Tsin Wai even if he owned other houses elsewhere. Any villager not recorded as owing any house is considered an Nga Tsin Wai villager if the bulk of his farmland was near the village. The village in 1900 consisted in about 140 houses within the walls ( not including the Tin Hau temple and the village office), and some 48 outside the walls, plus the Ng clan Ancestral Hall and School. Nga Tsin Wai was prosperous in 1900 it had well over two houses per house-owning household, and a reasonable piece of land per household. If the village had a total population of 400, that would imply a population equivalent to about 300 adults; that would have given every adult villager access to over a quarter of an acre of agricultural land, again, a sign of prosperity. At the end of the nineteenth century, a good deal of the land of Nga Tsin Wai was still used for growing rice. The lend here was extremely fertile: rich, deep soil with few stones, and well watered, eminently suitable for rice growing. The 201

present village elders remember hearing about rice-cultivation in the village from their grandparents, although pig-rearing and vegetable growing for the market was already very important in the late nineteenth century when those grandparents were active. It is likely that the percentage of the land devoted to vegetables and eve-stock for the market grew steadily from 1841 onward, until rice was, by the late nineteenth century, being grown only to meet the subsistence need of a minority villagers. Buyers from the new city of Hong Kong came to Kowloon City and Sham Shui Po and Tsuen Wan from 1841 on looking for vegetables and meat animals to meet this new, and insatiable, demand.

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Tsin Wai area the farmers were Prince Edward Road, Grampian CONTEMPORARY HISTORY OF NGA TSIN all small scale. the buyers from the Road and Sa Po Road was devecity had to buy from intermediate loped. All this area was develoWAI The prosperity of Nga Tsin Wai, which was so marked at the beginning of the 1900, slowly dissipated thereafter. From 1912 onward the village has suffered one disaster after another, until it faded from the early 1940s into today’s seedy and run down condition. The first disaster came in and after 1912, with the opening of the first phase of the new motor road around the New Territories. Both the road and the railway wan along the western side of the Kowloon Peninsula, far away from Kowloon City. Within a year or two the railway took almost all the traffic from the eastern New Territories away from Kowloon City. Villagers stopped carrying their goods over the mountain passes to Kowloon City, but instead carried them by rail to Yau Ma Tei. The Sha Tin villagers had always traditionally shopped at Kowloon City lost half their buisness. At the same time the buyers from the city found that it was easier and cheaper to buy vegetables by the truckload from Yuen Long than by sampanload from Kowloon City. In Yuen Long there were many large farms which could sell in bulk, in Nga

wholesalers in the Kowloon City, which raised the costs when compared with buying in Yuen Long. If in 1900 the Nga Tsin Wai market gardeners were n a seller’s market, this was emphatically not so twenty years later. Finally, the sudden stop ping of traffic over the passes lost to Nga Tsin Wai the business opportunities the village had previously enjoyed with the passing trade, from being an important cross-roads. According to today’s village elders, these economic reverses hit Nga Tsin Wai hard, but not disastrously hard. The contacts wih the shipping companies and the Whampoa Docks remained, and more of the village youths now found work there. the village also established excellent contacts with the Royal Air Force at Kai Tak, and enjoyed something close to a monopoly in providing servants and general laborers for the small garrison there. Many of today’s elders at Nga Tsin Wai worked at R.A.F Kai Tak as boys in the 1930. Redevelopment of Kowloon City itself began at about the same time. The land south of the City Wall was cleared, and the land between today’s Carpenter Road and

ped before the mid 1930. The old market disappeared in this date, it was cleared along with the villages nearby. By the middle of 1930, nothing at all was left of the old villages south of Kowloon City, with the exception of a few houses of Sai Tau near the Hau Wong Temple, and about a third of Sha Po, which remained, rather forlornly, on the eastern edge of this development area until the 1960. For the Nga Tsin Wai villagers, the problems this development caused were very great. For half a dozen years there was no market at Kowloon City, effectively, at all. Half of the League of Seven had disappeared within couple of years. The economy and society of the area had thus been very seriously damaged. The shops and workshops owned by the villagers had to close: rental income was cut off. In the later 1930 there was no further development in this area, because of fears caused by the steady growth of Japanese influence across the border. However, these years saw a huge number of refugees fleeing from the Japanese into Hong Kong. 204

The area north of Nga Tsin Wai village became full of squatter huts in this period. Squatters occupied many of the village fields, and the villagers were not usually able to get rent for them. These disaster stemmed from the coming of the Japanese. When the Japanese came, the squatters living of Nga Tsin Wai fields all fled, or were forded, back to China , and the villagers started the slow job of rehabilitating their fields. Many f the villagers, in their blazing hatred of the Japanese, however, joined the guerrillas who were active in the hills behind Kowloon. As a result there were several raids by the Japanese on the village. Several villagers were taken and executed for assisting the guerrillas. The villagers say that between a minimum of three and perhaps as many as seven village men were executed in this way. The present Temple Keeper of the Tin Hau Temple had her husband of less than a year beheaded in this way. At the end of the War, the village looked to an improvement. The returning British felt they had to keep the airfield as extended by the Japanese, but they paid solid compensation in cash to all the villagers whose land or houses had been taken by the Japanese. New 205

work opportunities began to open up. The village was able to find founds for full scale restoration of their Tin Hau Temple, in thanksgiving for the favors shown them by the goddess during the years of hardship. Before these improvements could bring about any major changes, however, the revolution in China sent another wave of refugees into Hong Kong. As in the late 1930, many of these settled around Nga Tsin Wai, on what was left of the villagers field. From Diamond Hill to Kowloon City there was, by the middle 1950, a solid mass of squatter housing interspersed with small patches of vegetable fields. Nga Tsin Wai was buried in this squatter area. Squatter huts were built up against the outer face of the old walls of 1724. The old moat area was not built over, however, because the ground there was too unsafe and damp. The Ng clan Ancestral Hall disappeared into the centre of the new Tung Tau squatter area, and the area north of the village was covered with a network of vegetable plots and squatter huts. As before, the villagers were, in most cases, quite unable to get any rent from the squatters, adjust lost control of their sole economic asset their fields. In Nga Tsin Wau as squatter structures the government made

difficult or even impossible repair the houses. As a result, the village, already very run down in the mid 1950 following the wartime emergency repairs to the houses, became slowly more and more shabby. . By the 1960, very little survived to remind visitors of the proud and prosperous village of half century before. The incident in 1967, when the villagers closed their gates and readied themselves for a possible defence of the village against the rioters in San Po Kong was the last flicker of the old village pride. Almost all Nga Tsin Wai clan ancestral graves have been cleared for development in the last 45 years. Resties have proved very difficult to find. The Ngs have re buried many of their disturbed graves in a single site near Shap Yi Wat village, high in the hills behind Kowloon. The clan have, however, been forced to store many other sets of the remains within their ancestral hall, a sad abuse forced on the clan because of these resite problems.

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ANALYSIS The part of the analysis ble find any kind of old is the most important photographic documenelement of the tation about the buildings. study of NGA TSIN WAI village, and it represents also the most complex topic, this difficulty was certainly given by the great confusion that there is within the village, as well as the ability to find useful information such as maps and data about the conformation of the missing buildings. Unfortunately I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to find that information, especially was impossi-

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SHENZEN

LAI CHI WO

TSANG TAI UK

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

NGA TSIN WAI

CENTRAL DISTRICT

TERRITORIAL FRAMEWORK OF TSANG TAI UK

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Nga Tsin Wai is located on the west of Hong Kong close to the metro station of Lok Fu in the district of Wong Tai Sin in Kowloon. The area where it is located is without a doubt one of the most populated, surely we are not in extremely densified areas such Sham Shui Po or Mong Kok, but we can certainly define this area as a zone highly densified. However the village is well located, infact it is relatively easy to reach , and it is also easily accessible from Central Station. From Central Wstation we need to reach the Kowloon Tong MTR , then itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s necessary take the green line and get off to Lock Fu station,

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the village is just 10 minutes far from the MTR. Probably one of the most important landmark of the area is given by the old airport of Hong Kong, which, before the opening of the new International Airport, rendered the area much more lively and rich in exchanges. In ancient times as i already explained the geographical position has greatly affected on Wthe quality of life within the village and this could certainly be feasible again.

EXPANSION AREA

NGA TSIN WAI

HIGH DENSITY AREA

TERRITORIAL FRAMEWORK OF NGA TSIN WAI ( DENSITY AREAS)

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From the map on the right side is evident how the whole area that surrounding the village is highly densified, if you look at the image, in fact is clear that the towns are mainly concentrated on the tip of Kowloon and on the Hong Kong Island, this is justifiable if it we thought that about 70% of all the land of â&#x20AC;&#x2039;â&#x20AC;&#x2039;Hong Kong is made up of protected areas that do not allow the building expansion, thus making the few available areas full of buildings and with less livability. Besides this if you sum the lack of a clear subdivision we understand the complexity of problem. The only area, which is free from building developments is the area of the old Hong Kong airport that you can easily spot

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from the map by looking at the track landing that is located relatively close to Nga Tsin Wai. Obviously this is already the subject of a redevelopment project, which is very interesting especially because it will be about the creation of a public space. However the location of the village makes it an extraordinary case study with enormous possibilities for the future development. Is definitely an unique case, I think it is really amazing how it was possible for this village in somehow keep its shape and morphology, which is a really big distinctive sign of importance of the site.

In addition, the geographic l ocation could make easy a future touristic development , which will help the small economy of the villagers.

SATELLITE VIEW OF NGA TSIN WAI

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SATELLITE VIEW OF NGA TSIN WAI

TUNG TAU CAR PARK

OLD PUBLIC SCHOOL

KAI TAK RIVER

TUNG KWONG ROAD

TUNG LUNG ROAD

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THE SURROUNDING OF THE VILLAGE

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MAIN ENTRANCE

TIN HAU TEMPLE

ANCESTRAL HALL

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the most important buildings OF THE VILLAGE

From the adjacent scheme we understand clearly, how the village is literally oppressed by the skyscrapers of the surrounding area, this makes it a unique case, it is amazing how he managed to survive ( despite the obvious problems) to the expansion of the city. The only side of the village; with a little less oppression is the one of the main entrance, which is close to the KAI TAK river

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PHOTOGRAPHY OF NGA TSIN WAI FROM ONE OF THE SKYSCRAPERS

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scheme of the existing buildings inside nga tsin wai

buildings and shacks

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scheme of the Free spaces inside the village of nga tsin wai

open spaces

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location of some of the important buildings of nga tsin wai

public toilet

Tin Hau Temple

Main entrance

Ancestral Hall 226

study of the axes of the village

secondary axes

main axis

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ANCESTRAL HALL

TIN HAU TEMPLE

MAIN ENTRANCE

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study of the viability public roads pedestrian area village main road

internal roads

public

village area pedestrian area

private of the village

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public roads

private spaces

The small shops of the village overlook the pedestrian area, we can observe how the structures are foremost formed by shacks and curtains that give a general idea of degradation very strong, obscuring the beauty of some parts of the village such as the beautiful ancestral hall present on the background of this photo.

PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE ANCESTRAL HALL

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The pedestrian area is currently divided into two parts, visually and urbanistically, one is owned by the village and the other is owned by the government. Hence it is clear why the different use of the two areas and the strong hierarchy. Despite this the area show possibility for a great transformation. PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE PUBLIC AREA IN FRONT THE ANCESTRAL HALL

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At the moment the cleaning of the pedestrian area is made by the dustmen of the government, despite the presence of this service, the cleaning is only of the area around the benches.

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current uses of the pedestrian area

shopping

work

pass

pedestrian area

social villagers

neighbors other users

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future uses of the pedestrian area

other users villagers

commercial activities

social

mixed use

design interactive use

pedestrian area

pass

comfort liveable

leisure

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other users

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6 5

9 2

1 11

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typologies of shops

tent

ground

shack

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All this has meant that from the 140 houses that were present at the beginning of the 20th century , today there remain only 32 of which many uninhabitable and close to collapse. Undoubtedly, given the advanced state of decay and neglect, the best action is proceeded with the demolition of all the existing shacks, and of a good part of the rest of the houses, with the excep2-lack investors gi- tion of the few historic builven from the lack interest dings survived during the years. Although this may seem a drastic 3- not many interest from the decision, it will lead be improved the government to keep the villa- quality of life of the inhabitants and ge in a good conservation state. it will give a new image of the area.

The main problem of NGA TSIN WAI is surely given from the general decline, which is given principally to the quality of the buildings that are mostly represented by shacks and buildings collapsed. The reasons for this bad situation are varied, but we can summarize them in three main reasons; 1- lack routine maintenance

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analysis of the existing buildings

REMAINING BUILDINGS

DEMOLISHED BUILDINGS

140

32 108 INITIAL NUMBER

COLLAPSED BUILDINGS

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problems

Hygienical

Quality of living

Social and economics

Structural

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future outlook

social

microeconomics

design response

quality of living

requalification

business new houses

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improvement of the paths

TYPES OF HOUSES OF the VILLAGE

SHACK

HISTORICAL

tent

SHEET METAL

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SKYSCRAPER

SHACK PLUS HISTORICAL BUILDING

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PROJECT The project developed by me is a rough draft, an alternative suggestion in contrast with the projects thought up to now. This design work want to give a new innovative and cultural perspective for the future interventions in a context like the one of this illage inside a megalopolis such Hong Kong and aims to solve the problems of the community that occupies the block being careful of the social, economics

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and cultural interests. This project gave particular attention to the history of the village and the identity of its inhabitants, without forgetting the quality of design and future developments.

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Having developed and deepened all the analysis about the village I considered important compare the current project proposals , I am not going to judge the real quality of the two projects that are presented on the following pages because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not important, but l want to give an overview of the two different points of view. The two projects in fact were made respectively from the government and from the villagers, the first project presented is the one made by the Hong Kong Government for the redevelopment of the area, while the second is the proposal of the villagers. However, it is evident, even from a non-expert the different connotations of the two projects, the first project aim to an usage of the area to create new living spaces without care of the history of the village, while the second aims to redevelop the area trying to keep the main identity or better the main needs of the people. This preliminary study allowed me to get an idea of what were the main interests of both parties at odds, in order to develop an interesting project for both.

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the drawings above, represent the dreamlike of the future NGA TSIN WAI.

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the drawings above, represent the dreamlike of the future NGA TSIN WAI.

masterplan of the site

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another image of the future project

On the opposite page we can see observe a model representative of the proposal for the future of NGA TSIN WAI done by the villagers..

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On this page the model that show the future intervention on the area made by the Government.

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As I anticipated, the two projects are completely different, and as already mentioned, come from completely different requirements. Despite this my project idea will consider more the thoughts of the villagers, I believe that is more important support and protect the needs and background of the inhabitants than the others things. I will try with my project to give an intermediate solution between these two ideas, my dea is based on the historical roots of the village and aims to emphasize these roots with a modern design. I think the two design ideas above have big problems for different reasons, in the first case I consider inappropriate oppress with two new skyscraper the village, while in the second case I think there is a very unclear organization of the spaces, given by the highly permeable urban frame. We have to consider, however, one important thing that is the fact that the villagers have made a proposal without having the least technical support.

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The analysis made in the study of the projects submitted for the redevelopment, plus of with my experience left by days spent exploring the area, has led me to reflect on what could be the best design vision, so I tried to understand what the people really need for the future of NGA TSIN WAI. From there I worked, trying to figure out how to put together their expectations with the design requirements of the area. This study has led me to figure my idea. The idea is to try to create a micro-economy, assuming you visit a village inhabited between five years from now, a micro-economy that could put together all the requirements, economic, social and cultural of the area. I want to emphasize once again the fact that this project is aimed at improving the quality of life of these people and is based a lot on what are the real needs of those who will live in the future inside NGA TSIN WAI.

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subsistance economy of the village

neighbors villagers amusement casual users

gardening

vegetable gardens work history

open spaces commerce

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HOW

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To create all social interaction, economic and cultural factors that I have set, I decided after carefully studying of the area to operate in a particular way. I decided to restore the old identity of the village, designing the walls and towers of the past, in order to restore the old order and majesty to the site. I restored the old size of the village that resulted be a rectangle of about 70 by 40 meters and I repositioned the shops where they were once (see floor plan in the paragraph of the story). I respected the original axes position in the interior organization and tried to keep the greatest number of possible buildings. I turned the whole area around the village in a pedestrian area well defined that forms a ring around the village, this to give a further hierarchy to the village area. Looking at the two masterplan it is evident the transformation within the area, priority was given to the residential buildings that I considered the priority. For the sake of clarity all the specific design drawings are in scale 1:100 except the masterplan which was adapted to the paper. The project is a rough draft in fact is not very detailed, this is due to several reasons, first of all a practical choice, the big part of the work was the research that led to the design of this rough draft. Much has been done but there would still be much to do, however this project provides a clear vision of my project idea.

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CURRENT STATE OF THE AREA

Tung Kwong Road

Tung Tau Car Park

H H H H

Old Public School

H H H

H H

Kai Tak River

Tung Lung Road TENT

BUILDINGS

HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

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project OF THE AREA

new residential buildings

small shops

Tung Kwong Road main axis

Tung Tau Car Park

Old Public School the historical building under stury

Kai Tak River

the greenhouse system

new benches

white concrete ground

Tung Lung Road

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The photography show from another point of view the pedestrian area that surrounding the village block.

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The idea of degradation given by the numerous shacks that with the facades on the public area,make it very unpleasant to the neighbors. This is the first problem of the village , which need a rapid solution.

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After analyzing the area, and understood the problems I decided to do the following, as the masterplan shows I have enclosed the village within a wall so as to diversify sharply the two identities (public and private). As for the problem at this time under study, namely the one concerning the stores, I decided to proceed as follows. I wanted to give uniformity to all the shops going and create small independent units overlooking the pedestrian area , so as to create a recreational and commercial area. Seeing the different shops of Hong Kong I realized how effectively are uneven , so I decided to design a closed casket formed by sliding doors with wood bamboo. With this simple system we will have a uniform commercial area in harmony with the rest of the village. The placement of the shops descend from the study of the shape of the old conformation of the village. These small shops will contribute broadly to the use of the area from neighbors and villagers with an increase of the social interactions and the growth of a micro-economy.

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SOUTH ELEVATION OF THE VILLAGE WITH THE SMALL SHOPS

TOWER GARDEN

SMALL SHOPS

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HOUSES INSIDE THE VILLAGE

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small shop design proposal

storage

aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

roof plan

ground floor

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west levation

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section a-aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

south elevation

rendering of the shops, one close and one open

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rendering of the public area by night

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The main problem of the buildings within the village is definitely the difference and the poor state of the houses. Following several situations, they overlap inside the block many different realities, which are mostly the result of the building speculation. However today the village consists mainly of shacks of different sizes that make NGA TSIN WAI degraded and unlivable. On the opposite page we can see clearly how the houses are different and in some cases not livable. In order to maintain the main axes and the original conformation of the village I found myself to face a complex problem, namely the very narrow streets which have led to act in a particular manner, by using transparent walls, in this case walls in polycarbonate so as to bring within the individual homes the natural light.

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The residential area was undoubtedly the most complex to manage. The intent was to try to preserve the identity of the original village, so I studied the distribution of internal axes to build the new residential buildings, so as not to change the original shape of the village. This has led, however, to a new and more complex problem, namely the size of the interior spaces, despite Hong Kong doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a well-defined building standards I tried to give the maximum livability with minimum consumption of the space . The choice of materials employees was crucial for several reasons, first of all, the lighting of theinterior spaces. Since I decided to respect the original distance between the houses I faced a big problem, the proximity between the facades of the buildings. Wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t possible to open many windows, to respect privacy the inhabitants, so I had to look for a material that was transparent enough to let it pass the light through the facade, but at the same time opaque enough to respect the privacy. The choice is then fallen on polycarbonate, which responded precisely to the features I needed. In addition, the climate zone in which is located in Hong Kong allows the use of this material. The bearing structure consists of beams and columns in steel and bricks closing, helped a lot with the idea to use the less space possible.

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CONCEPT

sunlight

narrow streets

CHANGE OF THE WALLS MATERIAL, FROM BRICKS TO POLYCARBONATE

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DIFFERENT HEIGHT

ALIGNMENT OF ROOFS

PRIVATE INTERIOR GARDENS

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PROJECT example of one of the residential building

roof plan

3 a

3 4

b’

c’

d’

e’

ground floor

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4 3

2 b’

1-LIVING ROOM 2-GARDEN 3-BEDROOM

c’

d’

e’

first floor

4-TOILET 5-STUDYING ROOM

west elevation

BRICKS

IRON

POLYCARBONATE

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east elevation

south elevation

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north elevation

section a-a’

section b-b’

section c-c’

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section d-d’

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section e-e’

family apartment

private garden

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single apartment

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private garden

couple apartment

tHE NEW ELEVATIONS OF THE FACADES CLOSE TO THE MAIN AXIS

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rendering of THE NEW ROOFS

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rendering of ONE OF THE NARROW AXIS INSIDE THE VILLAGE

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rendering of the smallest apartment with in evidence the main door and the facade in polycarbonate

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rendering of the interior stair

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RENDERING rendering OF of THE the SMALL smallMODULAR kitchen KITCHEN

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In Hong Kong one of the main problems is the lack subsistence agriculture, in fact the majority of the vegetable products are imported from neighboring states. My intent is to create a small subsistence economy within the village, and one of the key points to achieve this goal is certainly given by the creation of greenhouses and vegetable gardens within the village. These small gardens are for the exclusive use of the residents and may be used by them both for subsistence and for sale. Despite the area intended by me to this agricultural system is not very large it is certainly sufficient for the creation of a small business that would contribute to the creation of a small market. The structure of the vegetable gardens designed by me is substantially identical to that of residential, simply with less walls in polycarbonate, in fact the interesting point of the project realized by me is precisely the modularity.

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PROJECT example of one of the greenhouses

roof plan

vegetable garden

a greenhouse

a’ greenhouse

b’

ground floor

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east elevation

west elevation

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north and south elevation

section b-b’

section a-a’

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My project involves the demolition of the buildings remaining at around 90%, this is due to several issues, many of which have been previously exposed in a comprehensive way. Nevertheless I decided to keep the main and best preserved historical buildings, the project following provide the redevelopment of one of these, namely the first one that is coming into the village. I chose this building for several reasons, the first is precisely the fact that it is the closest to the entrance, the second is that it allows given its state of degradation, which it makes it able to integrate the use of the polycarbonate with the existing structure. The future use of this building will be to the exhibition hall and meeting room for the villages. The use of this building was chosen with the aim of giving an exhibition space for the history of the village and at the same time encourage a bit of tourism. The building is located near the main axis, and this makes it suitable for this future use because it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t harm the privacy of the villagers inside the residential buildings.

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current state of the building

a’

b’

roof plan

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ground floor

north elevation

sud elevation

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west elevation

east elevation

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section a-a’

section b-b’

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The picture show the current state of the building under studying , which as we can observe is in a bad state of conservation, however is important to preserve it.

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The project for the restoration of this historic building is basically very simple and consists mainly into the insertion of a cube in polycarbonate inside the existing building . This choice was made for several reasons, the insertion of this cube will increase the total area of the building, and it will restore the original shape, also with the transparency given by the polycarbonate we will increase the natural light inside the building, which does not have any window. In fact some buildings were originally used as a stable and this was the reason of the lack windows, this also applied to other residential buildings. Obviously the general situations of the building under study is really bad, but in any case regardless the costs of the future intervention I consider it a necessary action that will give a strong signal in this direction.

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project

a’

b’

roof plan

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ground floor

north elevation

sud elevation

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west elevation

east elevation

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section a-a’

section b-b’

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rendering of the exposition room with in evidence the new cube in polycarbonate

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rendering of the exposition room

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SCENARIOS Thinking about the future developments of nga tsin wai is quite difficult , we can mostly hope that something will change. We can only surmise and dream future scenarios, but the first thing to do, is absolutely change the quality of life of the villagers. My project involves a scenario in the medium term that aims to provide for first of all new houses to the villagers and then the creation of a cultural and social development, through interactions

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with the neighborhood and tourists. The intent is precisely to give a new life to the village, and making it an example of a good design made for the benefit of the inhabitants.

FUTURE INTERACTIONS

TOURIST

ECONOMIC

PUBLIC AREAS

VEGETABLE GARDEN

MUSEUM SHOPS

SHOPS

NGA TSIN WAI

WOLKS

TOWER

GARDEB

RECREATIONAL

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DEVELOPMENT DURING THE YEARS

POPULATION GROWTH

WORKS STARTING

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ECONOMY GROWTH

NEW HOUSES GROWTH

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND SALES GROWTH

END OF WORKS

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conclusionS

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In conclusion, after facing five months of research in Hong Kong where I had to face many problems, I can feel the work widely satisfactory from my point of view, in fact have been achieved all the expected results which consisted mainly in drafting a search effective that made clarity on these fantastic forgotten villages of Hong Kong, with this job I think I have hit all the key points. I was particularly fascinated to NGA TSIN WAI, village full of life and potential, a village that kidnapped me with smiles of its inhabitants and the deterioration of its historic building, it is terrible as the glory of the past will disappear with the passing of years. What is contained in this thesis I think it is unique, in fact, I have had many hardships in finding what appears to be present in this work, my hope is that it can be of help to someone in the future and that will facilitate those who will have some interest in this great cultural heritage. We must not forget W, leaving him to himself, but it is our duty preserve, maintain and innovate with functional projects, creative and efficient this situations. This projects want to be one of these examples. With the Nga Tsin Wai project was interested to see how many factors can coexist together, facing his recovery was exciting, fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Hoping to have made a valuable aid for research in this area, I conclude with this quote from Confucius that is perfectly suited to my thoughts.

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“Study the past if you would define the future.” Confucio

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THANKSGIVENS

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Thanks to you, that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve read, watched or simply dusted this thesis.

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bibliography

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BOOKS -Information Services Department., Rural Architecture in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Silver Offset Printing CO,1979 -Laurent Gutierrez and Valerie Portefaix., Mapping Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Map Book, 2000 -Virchow D., Von Braun., Villages in the future, Berlino, Springer-Verlag, 2001 -Chin Lin Nunnery., The Chin Lin Nunnery, Hong Kong, Chin Lin Nunnery, 2002 -Yuko Hasegawa, Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa. Sanaa, Mondadori Electa, 2005 -John M.Carrol., A concise history of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 2007 -Francesco Dal Co, Tadao Ando volume 1, Mondadori Electa,2008 -Joseph Grima., Instant Asia, Milano, Skira, 2008 -Luca Casonato., Francesca Frassoldati, Persistence and Transition, Guangzhou Sandu, 2010 -Shan Deqi., Chinese Vernacular Dwellings, Beijing, China Intercontinental Pres, 2010 -Hulshof Michiel & Roggeveen Daan ., How the cities moved to Mr.Sun, Amsterdam, Authors and SUN, 2011 -Hayes James., The Hong Kong Region 1850-1911, Istitutions and leadership in Town and Countryside, Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 2012 -Giancarlo Allen., Roberto Olivero., Daniele Regis, Atlante dei broghi rurali alpini libro 1, Cuneo, 2012

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THESIS - Hing Fong., An historical geography of the walled villages in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1995 - Wan Cheuk-Ting Jennifer., Protect or pull down-in search of planning and heritage conservation of walled villages in Hong Kong: cases study of Nga Tsin Wai and Kat Hing Wai, Hong Kong 1998 -Chan Yuen-Ming Mary., The known the imagined, and the recreating Lei Yue Mun Village: the making and remaking of Hakka, Hong Kong, 2012 -Kong Tak-Chun Andy., Cultural landscape architecture Fanling Wai (Walled Village), Hong Kong, 2000 articles P.H. HASE., Beside the yamen: Nga Tsin Wai village, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, RASHB and author, Vol. 39 (1999) ISNN1991.7295 WEBSITES -https://hongkongvillages.wordpress.com/nga-tsin-wai/ -http://habitatproject.it/ -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walled_villages_of_Hong_Kong -http://hongwrong.com/kuk-po-abandoned-village/ -http://www.discoverhongkong.com/us/see-do/culture-heritage/historical-sites/chinese/lai-chi-wo.jsp -http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.ura.org.hk/en/projects/redevelopment/ wong-tai-sin/nga-tsin-wai-village-project.aspx -http://www.rufwork.org/ -https://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/high-density-living-in-hong-kong/en-gb/ 345

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