[Field-Homework 3] Disappearing City: The Earth God Temple, Wo On Lane, Central

Sole Author: Chen Xingcheng

(original photographs)

Description of the Theme and Subject Matter

Ancient buildings like the Sam Yee Kwan Shrine carry the culture and memories of the city, and I want to tell stories about the shrine so that more people will realize the importance of preserving these ancient buildings.

Wo On Lane is a street in Central Hong Kong Island, located in the northern part of Lan Kwai Fong, at the southern end of the street in the middle of D’Aguilar Street. Wo On Lane is a Central white-collar meeting place for lunch, but also the night of Lan Kwai Fong tourists spending place. Yet right next to such a lively and bustling area sits an ancient and severe shrine—the Wo On Lane Sam Yee Kwan Land God Shrine.

This small temple is probably the only “Sam Yee Kwan Temple” in Hong Kong. The three righteous lords are usually referred to as Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, who were the heroes of the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”. Although the three righteous kings are indeed placed on the altar, the couplet on the door of the temple reads, “Blessings come into the four seas, virtue accumulates into gold,” which is supposed to be a place for worshipping the God of the Earth.

According to the folklore sector and news reports, the temple was built in this area after a five-alarm fire in 1964. At that time, Lan Kwai Fong looked different from today, with tenement buildings everywhere, one of which was accidentally burned to the top and collapsed, probably contributing to the temple’s construction. To this day, visitors can see Filipinos coming to exchange incense regularly and Indians coming to worship here, making this tiny temple even more intriguing and a unique Hong Kong landscape.

The Sam Yee Kwan Shrine records the architectural pattern of Lan Kwai Fong sixty years ago and holds people’s expectations and aspirations for a better life. Visitors of various ethnicities and skin colors also manifest the cultural blend of this cosmopolitan city of Hong Kong, giving people a sense of peace of mind in the bustling Central and bringing a touch of solace in the fast-paced life.

Urban prosperity, however, gradually engulfs historic structures like the Sam Yee Kwan Shrine, which holds culture and memories. These old buildings are valuable cultural identities and heritage legacies, resources for education and learning, essential factors for tourism and economic development, and symbols of community cohesion and stability. Once lost, they are irreversible, and they need and deserve to be preserved.

Method of Conducting Research and Techniques in Producing the Video

The methodology of this research is to record the delicate structure, ancient history, and bustling urban environment of the surrounding Central District of the Sam Yee Kwan Shrine through prolonged field filming, adopting a combination of various filming perspectives and camera movements, and especially recording the images of the incense burners praying for blessings. In the video editing, Central’s busy environment is rendered first. Then, through the language of the camera, the viewer is led to visit the Sam Yee Kwan Temple up close, and finally, the incense burner’s prayers and the look back at the temple at the corner of Wo On Lane are used to reiterate the main point of the theme and express the author’s blessings, hoping to arouse the viewer’s empathy for the preservation of the ancient architecture and the importance of the temple.

Initially, a tilted camera captures the towering buildings around the temple, emphasizing the city’s prosperity. The constant flow of people and vehicles around the temple also gives the impression that Hong Kong is a modern city. This contrasts with the calmness and solemnity of the Sam Yee Kwan temple in the following image, which depicts the current state of Hong Kong’s ancient architecture: trying to find a pure land amidst the hectic urban life and rapid economic development while also implying that the ancient architecture serves as the spiritual support. It also means that urban prosperity engulfs ancient architecture, which serves as urban residents’ spiritual foundation and cultural center, due to economic advantages and other factors.

The use of the propulsion lens through the alleys leading to the temple of the Sam Yee Kwan reveals the theme of the video: the protection of ancient buildings; the lens to maintain a uniform and slow speed, the slow fall of the leaves can be seen, showing the Sam Yee Kwan temple in the middle of the quiet atmosphere, highlighting its role as a spiritual support for the people in the busy city life.

The combination of the zoom lens and multi-angle shooting presents in detail the delicacy and antiquity of the Sam Yee Kwan Temple; it also highlights the irreplaceable nature of the Sam Yee Kwan Temple: it is a rare temple of the God of Land in Central, the busiest district in Hong Kong, and the only temple in Hong Kong dedicated to the three righteous kings of the Four Great Chinese Novels “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”.

The image of incense worshippers shows people’s devotion and spiritual trust in this temple. Also, it symbolizes the author’s hope for preserving Hong Kong’s ancient architecture and developing the city’s civilization.

Finally, the landscape of Wo On Lane is zoomed in and out, starting from the temple of Sam Yee Kwan from near to far, and then looking back at the temple from the street corner with the last zoom-in, again pointing out the theme, hoping that I can contribute to the preservation of buildings of spiritual and cultural significance, and also hoping that people can pay attention to the conservation of ancient buildings so that the spirit of this modernized city and its history and culture can be inherited and carried on.

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