In this article, the author explains his different views on the building in Hong Kong. The author made different points about the flaws of preservation in Hong Kong, such as replicas being mistaken as preservation and unintended irony. One of the point he made that interests me the most is “market erodes place”, which means that the value of a building is determined by the “value” of the building, and he used the example of Ritz Carlton Hotel which got torn down before it was opened and was turned into an office building just because the higher potential income an office building could produce. This shows that the Hong Kong building environment is based on the economic value, and that buildings can just disappear in one night. I think that this essay is trying to remind us that we need establish a local identity in Hong Kong to avoid the phenomenon of building on disappearance.
Yung Woon Ting
You have grasped how Abbas’ piece is trying to advocate the establishment of Hong Kong identity. In fact, the main points of the text are not just asking for identity finding, but further delves into how to build this identity. Ritz Carlton is an example to open this article, stating that the market is prioritized over the place in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, I would encourage you to further analyse other building examples raised in the piece to answer the question of ‘how to better preserve the Hong Kong identity’.