In a place where knock-it-down-and-rebuild has become the norm over the years, the emergence of a youthful movement dedicated to saving Hong Kong’s “collective memory” took the establishment by surprise.

This interest has become a rallying cry of an increasingly politicised section of the younger generation of Hong Kong people. Heritage has become part of a broader platform demanding greater representation.

One of these young activists is Wong Ho-ying: He explains his motivation:

The success of the battle to save the tong lau (Chinese tenements) of

is unusual.

Other conservation efforts came to naught: despite sit-ins and demonstrations, they failed to save the old Star Ferry Pier on the

in November 2006 or the adjacent Queen’s Pier the following year.

Nor did their efforts halt the demolition of “Wedding Card Street” — a row of tenements housing old-fashioned printers in a neighbourhood where generations have ordered not just wedding invitations, but letterheads, name cards, calendars, lai see (lucky money) packets and banners — in short the sort of printed goods required for rites of passage.

The tong lau of Wing Lee Street are an exception to the rule. The success of the award-winning (and publicly-funded) Hong Kong movie Echoes of the Rainbow is credited for the stay of execution.

But does this single victory signal a change in direction? Many activists are pessimistic The tong lau of

in the Sham Shui Po district of central Kowloon have not attracted much high-profile attention. Activists fear their demise.

Older structures are still being phased out and the heritage guardians are losing the “war” against the publicly-funded Urban Renewal Authority. One such setback was Tsoi Yuen Village demolished to make way for a controversial high-speed rail network.

“I think that urban redevelopment issues, like Lee Tung Street and Tsoi Yuen Village, are democracy issues,” Wong said. “In the midst of democratic reforms, we need more discussions as to how to put democratic ideals into people’s daily concerns.”

Right: Photo by Alex Hofford

Soundslide By Lily Lee, Monami Yui and Cleo Chen

The 26-kilometre rail spur will pass near by, requiring the approximately 500 inhabitants of the tsuen (village) to make way for an emergency station.

The government offered a compensation package to villagers — up to HK$600,000 in cash and the chance to get subsidised housing without being means-tested — but not all were happy.

While all registered for the government’s compensation package ahead of the March 1 deadline — including 90 households that had been adamantly opposed to moving — a number said they would refuse the offer of public housing and would move only if the government resettled them on farming land.

Produced by Rich Macauley and Andrea Fenn

Photo Right By Alex Hofford

Filed earlier:

RTHK’s The Pulse profiles the Post-80s Generation [External Report]

RTHK is a Hong Kong government-funded, editorially-independent radio and TV station broadcasting in Chinese and English.

The controversy has also injected new energy into campaigns for more democracy in the territory where only half the legislature is directly elected and the Chief Executive is selected by a hand-picked committee approved by Beijing.

Top Right: The siege of Legco. January 16, 2010. After a gruelling two day session, the bill giving the go-ahead to the high-speed Express Rail Link (XRL) was approved by a 31-21 vote, sparking off populist anger that resulted in scuffles with riot police on guard at the Legislative Council building. Photo by Alex Hofford.

Hong Kong’s new Express Rail Link (XRL) has been dubbed the most expensive railway in the world: HK$66.9 billion (US$8.6 billion) for 26 km of track. And that is part of the problem. Opponents argue the cost is too high in terms of both price and sacrifice — its construction requires the demolition of an entire village in the New Territories. Much of their anger is directed at what they perceive as government high-handedness and a lack of public discussion and accountability.

“There is no consensus in this society right now,” said activist Christina Chan, a student at The University of Hong Kong. “[The government] should do more consultation and should pull this back.”

The government argues the rail line — which was finally approved (opponents says railroaded through) – on January 16 after several marathon sittings in the Legislative Council — will allow passengers to travel from West Kowloon in Hong Kong to Guangzhou in 48 minutes.

Passengers will need to change once, because the rail link does not reach Guangzhou’s city centre, but instead stops in an outer suburb of the city, where it will connect to the rest of China’s ambitious high-speed rail network, currently under construction.

Critics argue the total travel time between the two cities will be only marginally shorter than the journey on the existing rail service and see Hong Kong’s determination to link to China’s new high-speed system as a result of political pressure from Beijing.

Many of the protesters were not against the prospect of constructing a rail link to Guangzhou, but were dissatisfied with the apparent inefficiency of the government’s decision-making.

“Actually we support the construction, but we oppose the high budget,” said City University student Alvin Tang.

“We have another proposal for around half the price. We’ve had many professional study analyses to prove our proposal is as good as [the government's], but they didn’t listen to us.”

Coming just days after a large rally for universal suffrage, on January 1, tensions ran high among protesters, spearheaded by young activists nicknamed the “Post-80s Generation” because many were born in the 1980s. They are a loose-knit organisation with no formal leadership who rely on social networking sites to organise their opposition.

Their indignation was fuelled when Christina Chan, a leading light among the Post-80s Generation, was subject to a high-profile arrest by plain-clothed police on 8 January, for allegedly assaulting a police officer at a rally several months earlier.