Old teahouses like Lianxianglou are rare to buy in Hong Kong. I believe that traditional Hong Kong-style teahouses should disappear completely after ten years.
Hong Kong-style food was originally one of the biggest selling points of Hong Kong's tourism industry, but in recent years, the government's old district reconstruction policy has basically wiped out the original old Hong Kong.
The URA only knows how to demolish and build luxury houses, not what the URA should do.
Yau Tsim Mong and Kowloon City will be a catastrophe in the future, because of the lack of a normal conservation policy, the result will only be the demolition of mansions.
If property prices fall, what will happen to these newly built mansions?
The disappearance of Lian Heung Building is just a symbol, it represents the end of old Hong Kong, and this end has already begun because of the irresponsible old district reconstruction model of the URA.
But do legislators care?
Now the URA is basically demolishing luxury houses in a frenzy all the time.
Kwun Tong was demolished and nothing was left. The rich scenery of Hong Kong citizens that used to be in Yu Man Fang was completely disappeared, and replaced by large air-conditioned shopping malls and giant mansions.
Why can't we build air-conditioned shopping malls in newly developed areas to restore old areas to their original appearance and preserve Hong Kong's characteristics?
Why can't it be a win-win situation with only luxury houses and no old districts?
The reason for this abnormal situation is that the main leaders of the URA are not experts in the reconstruction planning of old districts, and lack knowledge of aesthetics and basic planning.
Reconstruction is a cultural issue that requires cultural and planning experts to do it together.
The disappearance of Lianxianglou represents the disappearance of old Hong Kong. In fact, old Hong Kong has disappeared. Now, how many young Hongkongers of the new generation will go to the teahouse for a cup or two?
After the epidemic subsides, even if the customs are cleared, how many free excursions will come back to Hong Kong?
When old Hong Kong disappears, what tourism resources will Hong Kong have?
The old districts were originally Hong Kong's tourism resources, but the URA is destroying Hong Kong's tourism resources. The Development Bureau seems to be unable to control the URA. The URA is like an outsourced property buyer who repossesses and demolishes luxury houses. It became the "Luxury Development Board".
Why does Hong Kong implement such a suicidal policy to wipe out Hong Kong's tourism resources?
This is a very strange problem, probably because of the cultural inferiority complex of the establishment, and always feel that the old area is dirty and unclean, so to eliminate it, large air-conditioned shopping malls are the best and advanced.
I have no self-confidence in Hong Kong culture, I don’t know the old Hong Kong, I just tear it apart. If I tear it down like this, there will really be nothing in Hong Kong, and I live in a world of air-conditioned shopping malls.
Air-conditioned malls are not a problem, but only air-conditioned malls without old districts is a symbol of the decline of a city.
The SAR Government should really ask the Development Bureau to supervise the URA. If the URA fails to do well, Hong Kong's tourism resources will disappear. Conserve the old urban areas.
Old teahouses like Lianxianglou should be preserved. In fact, the government can launch a cooperation plan between the old shops and the URA, find some places for them, and give them some discounts to allow them to survive and preserve the Hong Kong teahouse culture.
But it's not just the hardware that needs to be activated, but also the software.
Chief Executive Li Jiachao said that "results should be the basis". This result is to preserve the characteristics of Chinese and Western cultural tourism in Hong Kong. It is necessary to preserve the old districts and old teahouses of Hong Kong.
Hu Enwei
is a member of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association, a member of the Jiangsu Provincial Political Consultative Conference, and Zuni.
Icosahedron United Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer
(The article is purely the author's opinion and does not represent the position of Hong Kong 01)
