Hong Kong: Tradition, like ghosts in the mist

At a first glimpse from the air, Hong Kong is a sea of skyscrapers which easily competes with New York City. The air is filled with a thick smoggy haze that surrounds the high-rises and extends to the outlying islands. In downtown, masses of people push through the city's streets like blood through veins, keeping it alive and producing money, the necessary nutrient to keep it growing.

But Hong Kong, the modern economic mecca in Asia, still has hidden treasures for the culture hungry. Those who want to search for the old Hong Kong, find relief from the hectic business life in side street alleys, small villages in the New Territories and scattered temples throughout the city.

These often magical and fascinating places show glimpses of traditions that are hundreds, sometimes thousands of years old. Old men light huge snake-like incense sticks in temples. Women maneuver their sampans through the narrow channels of a fishing village. And young men learn the movements of the ancient lion dance.

However, in some cases these traditions are disappearing rapidly. Many of the thousands of Boat people, who used to populate the harbors of Aberdeen, Causeway Bay and the New Territories, have moved onto the land into government housing estates. Tai-O, an old fishing village on Lantau Island, will soon be demolished because it doesn't meet the government's sewage standards. And fewer and fewer shops in the Western district of Hong Kong sell handmade Chinese arts and crafts.

It might only be a matter of time until much of this is gone.

[ Prism Online November 1995 Homepage ]

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