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Sherry Lee

The express rail link project has fended off concerns about costs, the environment and resettlement. Now it has to deal with fung shui. 
So numerous have been the complaints the controversial line will ruin fung shui along its route, the government has set up a special working group to adjudicate on them.
Since the project began, the Working Group on Fung Shui Claims and Removal of Graves/Urns has dealt with 14 objections, resulting in 16 claims for compensation. All but one have been accepted. But its approval of work to widen a bridge in Kap Lung village in Tai Lam Country Park has sparked a protest. 
Village chief Tsang Hin-keung wants to turn a footbridge into one that can take vehicles, in compensation for what he says is the disruption to fung shui caused by tunnelling work a kilometre away for the line.
The plan for the 'fung shui bridge' has come under fire from a pressure group and villagers, who say Tsang is planning to build a columbarium in the village, where just five people live, and the bridge could be used to transport the materials into the area. Villagers fear they could be forced out because of what they say are Tsang's powerful connections. 
The HK$69 billion line, to link up with the national high-speed-rail network at Panyu , near Guangzhou,  sparked some of the most rowdy demonstrations in recent Hong Kong history.
The geomancy claims have outraged rights activist Chu Hoi-dick,  who campaigns for compensation for residents of 14 old blocks in Tai Kok Tsui,  West Kowloon, where residents say tunnelling for the line could threaten the buildings' safety. The fung shui bridge is the first Chu has heard of compensation for tunnelling.
'In Tai Kok Tsui, the line will be [only] 30 metres underground. When they are drilling, homes will be affected by vibrations. Residents will feel a train passing each time. But in Kap Lung village it goes 100 metres below ground. It is deserted farmland. There are no safety concerns or other problems. But they can use such an odd trick to claim compensation,' said Chu, who will protest with some of the Tai Kok Tsui residents outside the Legislative Council tomorrow. 
Tsang, 53, who is chairman of the Pat Heung Rural Committee, said if the government did not listen to his demands, he might stop work on the line in Pat Heung, where it will pass under at least seven villages. 
Villagers say a Lands Department official told them the bridge was compensation for tunnelling under land at the edge of the village which belongs to the original village clan, and that it was being done at the request of villagers. They deny asking for it. 
'All of us rejected the bridge, so who will it be built for?' villager Elsa Wong said. Villager Wong Kwan-siu, 59, fears the bridge will be used to transport materials to build a columbarium. 'If he builds a columbarium, the village will be packed with grave sweepers and filled with rituals and incense smoke. It will disturb us so much. I am very worried,' she said.
Conservancy Association campaign manager Peter Li Siu-man  said the heavy traffic a vehicular bridge would bring would affect the country park and its fauna.  
A Water Supplies Department spokeswoman said such a bridge would bring more traffic to a nearby catch water road, which could threaten public safety. 
A department engineer, Ho Lai-wa, said: 'Widening the bridge may bring in some industries.'
Tsang requested the widening when the government consulted him about work on the rail line in Pat Heung, the Lands Department official told villagers. 
A spokeswoman for the Lands Department confirmed that the working group had approved the bridge widening in principle, but would not comment on the works' scale or cost.
According to the Home Affairs Department,  the village was founded by Tsang Wang-shing over 250 years ago. Tsang Hin-keung has never lived in Kap Lung but registered as the  head for the indigenous villagers in 1986. 
The Lands Department official told villagers: 'Tsang claims his clan originated from Kap Lung village. It is up to you to believe it or not.'
The Lands Department spokeswoman said villagers wanted the bridge widened so the 'dragon energy' caused by construction work could be guided back to the village.
The department did not answer directly when asked what had been done to prove Tsang's fung shui theory. Tsang said an astrologer had told him of the fung shui damage.
'My fung shui master said the line goes through the village's forest soil and is like piercing the offspring, so they will not come back. The village has few people, so we will use a bridge to bring people back,' Tsang said.
On another occasion, Tsang said the bridge would help fellow clansmen rebuild their ancestors' homes. When it was pointed out to him that records show he bought land in the village through a company, Tsang said he bought 'three or four' lots  to 'co-operate with his partners to build houses'. A land search shows he bought at least nine lots of land in the village. Tsang denies he is building a columbarium to store funerary urns.
But, Chu, the activist, believes indigenous villagers are trying to cash in on the rail project. He criticised the government for 'pleasing the rural bullies'. The government would build a bridge to help someone carry out property development, Chu said.
Eddie Tse Sai-kit,  of the Columbarium Concern Group,  also accused Tsang of using the rail for personal gain. 'His motivation for the bridge is questionable,' Tse said.
But the Lands Department spokeswoman said it was the government's practice to address indigenous villagers' fung shui concerns about public works projects.
The department also confirmed Tsang had applied for funding to stage a religious ritual 'to drive away evil spirits and appease the gods'.



Suspicions lurk under 'fung shui bridge'