It's a sunny afternoon in Tai O; Kwok Chi-kuen sits on a platform outside his pang uk, or stilt home, knotting a new fishing net. The 54-year-old Water Supplies Department worker relocated to Tin Shui Wai with his family in the 70s, when he gave up the fisherman's life as fish stocks dwindled in nearby waters. But on his days off, Kwok still returns to his old home for a bit of fishing. 'I love the quiet life here,' he says.
His stays may become less tranquil as officials roll out a scheme to develop the coastal village at the far end of Lantau as a tourist destination. And Kwok shudders at the thought of hordes of chattering day-trippers descending on the village. 'Every weekend they pass by our homes non-stop.'
Under a proposed HK$620 million Tai O revitalisation concept plan, the community will undergo a major facelift, most of it to be undertaken by the Civil Engineering and Development Department over an unspecified period.
The plan includes construction of two folk museums showcasing its past as a fishing village; boardwalks that will lead visitors to views of mangrove wetlands; an open-air salt-production exhibition at a disused salt pan; and an anchorage and entrance plaza. Tin Lee House, an under-used government housing block, will be converted into a youth hostel and streets are to be repaved to beautify shopping areas.
The Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation, an organisation set up by developer Sino Land, has also been awarded the right to turn the Victorian-era Old Tai O Police Station into a boutique hotel to attract high-end tourists. The refurbishment is expected to be completed by the third quarter in time for a December opening.
Many business owners and clan representatives hope the scheme will rejuvenate their village by attracting more visitors and related business. With young people moving out to urban centres and livelihoods vanishing in the traditional areas of fishing and farming, the village has shrunk to 3,000 people - a fraction of the 30,000 who lived there 50 years ago. The ageing community now derives much of its income catering to weekend visitors, selling souvenirs, home-made snacks, shrimp paste and other traditional foods.
Others are more sceptical, arguing that the exhibition centres and other beautification efforts will do little to attract tourists and instead obliterate much of the village's original charm.
