Hong Kong Stories

A Slit of Sky (35x4)

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By the coast between Yau Tong and Lam Tin in East Kowloon is a forgotten corner. It is the Cha Kwo Ling Village, which is more than a century old, located on the outskirts of the urban area. The main street in the village is now disorderly cramped with squatter huts and entangled cables among them. The partly overlapping rooftops leave only narrow slits of the sky to be seen. In addition, the lack of main sewers means that flushing water is not available in most of the huts; therefore, many villagers rely solely on the public toilet near the village’s entrance. Everything there gives an impression of a fringe community where time stands still. About a century ago, Cha Kwo Ling Village was a major producer of high-quality granite and the home of many miners. The village had a population of over 10,000 in its heyday. As the mining industry lost its importance later on, the mines no longer exist even though you can still see the small hills. With only over a thousand residents in Cha Kwo Ling Village currently, there are merely several shops left on the main street. Among them is a cafe with the history of half a century. The décor inside is the same as it was fifty years ago, so upon walking into the cafe you feel as if you have travelled back to the 1960’s. The reason that keeps owner Uncle Keng and his wife running the old-fashioned cafe is to provide a place for fellow villagers to meet up. WU Lai-shan’s family has been living in Cha Kwo Ling Village for four generations, she is witnessing the village’s decline. According to her, the government has been speaking of developing the village ever since she was a child but it has been all talk and no action. Lai-shan feels there is nothing she can do about it. Although the village seems deserted now, she is still devoted to working as a tour guide in the village, introducing visitors to the past days of glory in great details. Having grown up in the village, the 18-year-old TUNG Kam-hei well understands how uns