Field Trips (9:30 am to 5:30 pm, Oct 16)

The field trips will start at 9:30 am (departing from CUHK) and end at 5:30 pm on Oct 16, 2023. All three routes include a self-paying lunch, which will cost around HK$100 per person. For those interested in “low-end globalization”, we are also having a dinner in Chungking Mansions after the field trips, and you are most welcome to join!

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Village Inhabitants/Urban Dwellers: Settlements in Hong Kong

This trip shows two different social and residential landscapes of Hong Kong. We begin by visiting the preserved monuments in the village settlement of Kam Tim in the morning. A lineage village in a relatively rural setting, the Kat Hing Wai Walled Village within Kam Tim is a rectangular-shaped village built mostly of brick walls. During the British colonial era, the villagers of Kam Tin resisted the British colonizers and took refuge behind the iron gates of their walled village. The morning session will give you a glimpse of the aesthetics and structure of a Chinese lineage village and give the participants a chance to re-imagine village in the past.

The second half of this route brings you back to urban Hong Kong, to Sham Shui Po, a district famous for street stalls and gadgets in cheap prices. We will walk to the heart of Sham Shui Po, in the meantime passing by local bakeries and a numbers of wholesalers of toys and textiles, as well as gadget stalls and wet markets. Through walking along the street alleys that full of peddlers and traders, this trip allows you to discover the petty cash economies, urban poverty and overcrowded housing problems happening in this ‘Asia’s world city’.

Adaptation and Renewal: Maritime Museum, Star Ferry and To Kwa Wan

Hong Kong has been a land of renewal and adaptation, and this happens on different scales. In the AM session of this trip, we will explore the larger narratives of Hong Kong’s maritime past and present by visiting the Maritime Museum, which illustrates how Hong Kong has been a hub of “globalizations” deeply connected with maritime trade routes since ancient times. Then, with a cross-harbour Star Ferry ride, we will appreciate the view of the famous Victoria Harbour and experience Hong Kong people’s daily encounter with the landscape.

In the PM session, we will look at how urban renewal impacts people living on the grassroots - their stories, adaptations and agency. We will walk around To Kwa Wan, a home to grass-root families of different ethnicity such as mainland Chinese, South Asian, Southeast Asian, etc. Being one of the old urban districts in Hong Kong, the community of To Kwa Wan is facing rapid and enormous changes due to redevelopment. We will visit Hoi Sham Park, which tells the history of the landscape and coastline of To Kwa Wan. Then we will visit To Kwa Wan House of Stories--jointly ran by 3 community organizations, St. James' Settlement, Community Cultural Concern (CCC) and Fixing Hong Kong, the To Kwa Wan House of Stories is trying to make itself a hub for the neighborhood and develop social resources for the better living of the people in the neighborhood. In the end, we will walk around the nearby urban renewal sites and try to learn more about urban renewal in Hong Kong. Overall, we hope you will enjoy the beauty of the coasts of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island and learn about how these places have been made meaningful by the people who call it home.

Lantau: Local Uniqueness Through Foreign Eyes

Lantau is the largest outlying island in Hong Kong. Although much less populated than Hong Kong Island, it has been witnessing the recent “developments” of Hong Kong and has become a focus of contestations related to cultural and environmental diversities. In the morning, we will visit Tai O in southwest of Lantau. We will walk around this small fishing village that has been protected and preserved against development plans and learn about how Tai O has come to represent “uniqueness” in Hong Kong.

Around 1pm, we will travel to Mui Wo, on the eastern side of Lantau. We will take a 15-min walk to the Silvermine Waterfall and Cave, where we will stop at a BBQ pit to have a late lunch. It will also be a party with refugees, asylum seekers and other interesting people living in Lantau, who will join us to share their view and life in Hong Kong. After lunch, we will hike through the villages back to Mui Wo Pier, where we will catch the ferry to Central.