Advertisement

Hong Kong family with decades of residential ties to statutory monument poses heritage dilemma for officials

Yuen Long building that was once a lookout for revolutionaries has been declared a monument, but long-term residents do not want to leave

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Chiu Ping-kan (left), elder brother of Chiu Ping-yin (right), poses for a photograph outside the fortified structure at No. 55 Ha Pak Nai Tsuen, Yuen Long. Photo: Bruce Yan

A family who has for decades been occupying an operational base of China’s 1911 revolution in Hong Kong is in dispute with local authorities over an order for them to move out – more than four years after the building was declared a statutory monument.

Advertisement
The fortified structure at No. 55 Ha Pak Nai in Yuen Long was built around 1910 by Tang Yam-nam, a core member of Hsing Chung Hui, or Revive China Society, and a comrade of Sun Yat-sen. It served as an operational base in addition to Castle Peak Farm in Tuen Mun for revolutionists to watch across the Shenzhen border in the aftermath of their failed mutiny of the New Army in Guangzhou.

In 2011 – the centenary of the revolution that toppled the monarchy in China – the Hong Kong government declared the building a legally protected monument and later erected four plaques outside marking its historical significance.

However, the building has all along been locked up by the Chiu family who reside in the village. Government staff have not been able to enter and conduct repairs and maintenance works on the monument. Last Tuesday, heritage officials met with the four brothers of the family to discuss the blocked access yet a consensus could not be reached.

A visit to the family at the building by the South China Morning Post found old furniture still remained inside. Cracks were visible in the ceiling, with old wires and cables dangling about the interior and spiderwebs everywhere. The floor on the third and top storey was unstable and shook when the reporter stepped onto it.

Advertisement
An exterior of the fortified structure at No. 55 Ha Pak Nai, Yuen Long. Photo: Bruce Yan
An exterior of the fortified structure at No. 55 Ha Pak Nai, Yuen Long. Photo: Bruce Yan
“I was born here and grew up in this house with my father, Chiu Shun, and my brothers and sisters. My old bed was still inside the building,” said Chiu Ping-kan, 68. “We moved out around 2005 because we felt the building’s structure had become unsafe. I wanted to repair it on many occasions but I couldn’t.”
loading
Advertisement