• Corporation
  • Project Period
  • Project Type
  • Approved Budget
  • C W Power
  • Completion on 30 April 2016
  • 1st Round Approved Project
  • Around HK$1,000,000
Objective The Central and Western District (C&W) was the earliest developed area in Hong Kong when the harbour was first opened to foreign trade. C&W was not only shaped to be a core political-business district of Hong Kong, but it was also the base where the earliest Chinese community was founded. Following the economic and social development of Hong Kong, C&W is now facing the problem of urban decay. While redevelopment can effectively rebuild the dilapidated living environment and better utilise the land, it may also bring about adverse impact to the relics and social network. How to balance redevelopment and conservation is a key issue to the community. Through this 2-year project, we aimed to introduce to the young generation the history and stories of the C&W, particularly Shek Tong Tsui.
Activities

A set of teaching material of over 10,000 words was developed, featuring activities of brothels at Shek Tong Tsui, gas-holder explosion in the old days, Tai Ping Theatre, the Yu Lan Ghost Festival at Hill Road, Lo Pan Temple, Belcher’s Fort, the old Hon Wah College, etc. In order to better document the history of C&W and Shek Tong Tsui, we completed 32 oral history interviews with people who live in the district. Contents of these interviews were combined with the teaching material to produce a research report. 10,000 copies of both teaching material and research report were distributed to offices of district councilor and 31 schools. Both have received positive reviews.

Students and the public were welcome to join our community guided tour to explore the history of Shek Tong Tsui. Thematic guided tour was also organised, such as guided tour on Yu Lan Ghost Festival that introduced its origin, customs and venue decoration. 30 tours in total were organized during the project period, involving over 600 participants. 98.21% of respondents reported being satisfied with the tour, 97.02% and 94.05%, respectively, thought the tour was able to enhance their understanding of the C&W and awareness of heritage preservation in Hong Kong.

In order to further reinforce students’ interest in C&W history, a primary school colouring competition was organised and attracted over 2,000 contestants. In addition, nostalgic elements were integrated into the project opening and closing ceremonies that attracted over 3,000 participants in total. These included features such as the exhibition of a series of priceless old photos related to C&W’s history, and handcraft stalls of chinese knotting, dough doll and face mask.