[Field-Homework 3] Fast City: Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple, Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei

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Link: https://youtu.be/yeljY56V3bM?si=oweZcJq-Dw84sypq

Fast City: Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple, Temple Street, Yau Ma Tei

Description of the theme 

This video’s theme is investigating the disappearing historical building in Hong Kong, and the place that this video focusing on is Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple, which is a Grade I historic buildings in Hong Kong1 and the oldest and largest Tin Hau Temple complex in Kowloon2. In addition, there are a large number of precious historical relics are preserved in the temple3. The subject of the video is to investigate and look into the fate of Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple – should this temple be demolished as a victim of progress of the economic development of this fast city with limited space? The setting of the video is that the Tin Hau Temple is located in the centre of city with busy and heavy traffic and high-rise buildings surrounded. Tin Hau Temple is the only land that provide recreation area for citizens living with slower pace. 

Additionally, in terms of the components of the video, this video start from the background information of Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple so as to emphasize the long history of the Tin Hau Temple4 and huge collective memories and emotions of local people to the temple. Besides, murals inside the temple that are decorated with calligraphy and paintings of Chinese folk tales about fishermen5 are shown in the video. After that, the video suggested some activities that people, including locals and tourists, do in the Tin Hau Temple. For instance, there is Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Festival holding since 2018 by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals6 for inheriting local traditional culture7 as shown in the video that a huge flower board was being displayed in front of the Tin Hau Temple. In the end of the video, there is a bird standing on the wall of Tin Hau Temple and it flies away although there is enough space for the bird to stand on the wall. This implies that the Tin Hau Temple will disappear in the future despite the importance of Tin Hau Temple. 

Methods

First, the methods that I used to research for the background information of Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple is reading the official website of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, which is the management company of Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple6. I had also tried to search some academic essays which investigate Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple. However, on the website of searching academic essays, essay talking about Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple is unable to find. Therefore, some tourism websites1 and blogs8 are useful for me to understand the view of local and tourist towards the Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple. For detailed opinions, I interviewed visitors of the temple also to get the primary information. 

Additionally, in terms of the method of producing the video, the first skill I used in the video was a long shoot to show the real busy situation of Tin Hau Temple. 

Besides, zooming in and out of the subject that I was recording is another skill that I apply in the producing of video. Using this technique, I can emphasize the main subject that I am recording and forcing the audiences follow the sight that I preferred when zooming in the subject. Also, the conditions surrounding the main things can be shown clearly when the shot is zooming out. 

The other method that I utilized is shaky footage. This can create an atmosphere of fear and nervous regarding the demolition of Tin Hau Temple. Not only the method of shaking camera to shot this footage was used, but the way of utilizing the shaking feature of fire to let the object in the footage shake is also being applied in the video. 

Reflection 

Apart from economic perspective, in my opinion, social and cultural situations are also important to be considered in a development process of city. Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple is located in bustling and rushing urban area where economic activities and residential buildings are densely packed. However, is Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple having the responsibility to make compromise in order to get a larger area of land to develop the city?  

Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple is not only an important religious site for the local community, but also a mark of the district’s collective cultural identity8 . As suggested in the video, a tourist said that Tin Hau Temple is an important landmark of Hong Kong which witnessing and recording the historical changes of Hong Kong. Additionally, it provides a leisure place for local people to visit and social groups to hold events and social services activities for citizens to participate. Therefore, grassroots, especially those minorities living in Yau Ma Tei, have more opportunities to integrate into the society better and enrich their daily lives. As a result, the cohesion of the community can be increased. 

In other hand, Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple is the collective memories for local people as the history of the temple is very long. The original Tin Hau Temple had moved to Yau Ma Tei since 1878 9, which means that the temple had built in the community for over a whole century. Tin Hau Temple should be an important memory in local people’s childhood. Therefore, it contributes to social unity. Therefore, it is a pity that Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple will be demolished due to economic development of Hong Kong. 

 

References: 

  1. “油麻地天后廟攻略及週邊必遊景點推薦｜雄獅旅遊.” n.d. https://go.liontravel.com/zh-tw/attraction/hong_kong-tin_hau_temple_complex,_yau_ma_tei-q7807758.  
  2. “圖集 | 九龍區最古老的天后廟建築群——油麻地天后古廟-香港商報.” n.d. https://www.hkcd.com/content/2021-01/26/content_1245152.html. 
  3. “香港自遊樂在18區 – 油麻地天后廟.” n.d. https://www.gohk.gov.hk/tc/spots/spot_detail.php?spot=Tin+Hau+Temple%2C+Yau+Ma+Tei. 
  4. “Tin Hau Temple, Yaumatei – TWGHs Temple and Cultural Services Website.” n.d. https://temples.tungwahcsd.org/tin-hau-temple-yaumatei?_lang=en. 
  5. “古物諮詢委員會 – 公開會議 (87).” n.d. https://www.aab.gov.hk/tc/meetings/open-meetings/index_id_87.html?type=agenda&year=2020. 
  6. “東華三院「油麻地天后誕」 – Timable.” n.d. Timable. https://web.archive.org/web/20180504225430/http://timable.com/zh-hk/event/1633445. 
  7. “Tin Hau Temple, Yau Ma Tei – TWGHs Records and Heritage Office.” n.d. https://rho.tungwah.org.hk/en/built-heritage/4. 
  8. “Antiquities and Monuments Office – Declared Monuments in Hong Kong – Kowloon (235).” n.d. https://www.amo.gov.hk/en/historic-buildings/monuments/kowloon/monuments_126/index.html. 
  9. Discoverhkheritage. 2021. “【油麻地天后廟群（上）：難得一見的一連五廟】.” 尋 蹤 覓 蹟. June 5, 2021. https://hong-kong-heritage.com/ymttinhautemple2/. 

 

Name: Tse Pui Yi  

UID:3036231253 

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