[Field-Homework 3] Slow City: Piers in Hong Kong

Theme, Setting and Components:

Much discourse surrounded the debate over the demolition of the Queen’s Pier in 2006. 16 years since, we have seen other piers being pulled down, including Wan Chai Pier and Fenwick Pier. I read recently that the Kwun Tong to Sai Wan Ho ferry service will be relocated from the Kwun Tong Public Pier to the Kwun Tong Ferry Pier in 2023 June, suggesting the retirement of another pier. I have taken this route several times and the news struck me since the Public Pier has been home to some street sleepers. The wooden structures that make their home on the pier can be easily observed from ferry passengers and passer-bys. This led me to reflect on the use of piers other than merely as a point of transit. I conducted field trips to several small urban piers: Sai Wan Ho Pier, Kwun Tong Pier and Sam Ka Tsuen Pier. They have a much less passenger flow than the Central, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui urban piers. I also visited Blake Pier at Stanley, which was relocated from Central and has much historical significance, especially in terms of heritage conservation. It seems that although these piers were not located at a transport hub, their popularity as local tourist attractions or a place of leisure signifies their importance for locals. This video essay documents the investigation into the function of the pier and looks into the conservation of public space.

Background Research:

Hong Kong, a city surrounded by water, used to have a thriving network of ferry transport. Piers have been built along the waterfront as connecting points for water transport. However, with technological developments in the 1970s, seeing the opening of the Cross Harbour Tunnel and the Mass Transit Railway, water-based transport was eventually phased out, leading to the closure of slow and outdated ferry lines as well as the demolition of old piers (Leung et al., 2017, p.64).

A wave of preservation valuing history, culture and space began to act against the government’s ideology of developmentalism during the 21st century. In the 2006 and 2007 campaigns against the demolition of the Star Ferry pier and the Queen’s pier, local residents and activists sought to counter the city’s growing culture of disappearance by defending these places as lived spaces (Ku, 2012, p.5). Despite opposition, the Star Ferry pier was demolished whilst the Queen’s pier was relocated. On the other hand, the events raised people’s awareness towards the value of heritage and local culture. 

When travel restrictions were enforced due to Covid-19, country parks and outlying islands in Hong Kong became popular places for local residents to escape from the bustling city. The demand for ferry services surged and the ferry became an inseparable part of local tourism, in which the pier itself became a tourist attraction (Lee & Leung, 2022, p.77). Therefore, apart from being a point of transit, the pier became a place for leisure and living. Amidst the struggle between economic needs and cultural preservation, the function of the pier has again been redefined by the people who use them. However, with the world recovering from the pandemic, local tourists are returning to global travelling, once again leaving the fate of less popular piers at risk of being demolished.

Video Production:

Numerous visits to the piers provided a good sensation of the unique atmospheres and characteristics of each pier. The concept of mise en scene and the use of montage play major roles in displaying and contrasting the piers’ unique features. The idea that each pier tells stories of ordinary people’s lives, and the demolition of a pier marks the disappearance of these stories, stripping away pieces of the place’s history, culture and space, led to the film being a collection of 2-3 second shots —- pieces assembled to one piece. Several cinematography techniques were used in the filming, including camera movements (tilt, pan, zoom, tracking and rack focus) and angle shots (low/ high/ eye angle) to create focus into the subjects, connect the various elements of the pier and its participants, and enable the storytelling. The background audio is kept to allow viewers to immerse into the real-time experience, whilst the voice-over plus subtitles give the video a poetic rhythm to assist in its narration. 

Reflection:

I really enjoyed the ferry rides and pier-hopping experiences that I took for my fieldwork research. They allowed me to make fresh and intimate observations of the urban/suburban spaces that I normally take for granted. The contrasting structures and designs of the piers suggested their intended function. However, the users seem to dominate over such intentions, especially in the case of Kwun Tong Public Pier. The multiple ways that people enjoyed or used the piers also reminded me to be open-minded and creative in the function of public space. The relaxing atmosphere of the piers I targeted for my storyboard allowed me to capture the slow side of the city in their portrayal, as against the modern hustle that the city resembles. One need not look into the countryside, but appreciate the slowness, which is slowly being eroded by development, within the urban in everyday life. 

Several quotes from the references that guided me through the making of the video essay:

“The pier building is our landmark, it served ordinary Hong Kong people; it is one of the best representations of local culture” (Ho Loy; cited by Lai, 2006)

“Public discourse focused on its local, everyday relationships with the city as well as the people” (Ku, 2012, p.11)

“It is a historical product of the cumulative wisdom of our predecessors who made the natural and human environment into one integrated whole; it embodies the story of the city of Hong Kong being Hong Kong; and it is also a site where Hong Kong people have accumulated life experiences through bits and pieces. It bears the footprints of individuals having lived in this city and of an epoch” (Ming Pao 2 December 2006, translated by Ku, 2012, p.11)

“Space, it is said, is both socially produced and produces the social; but to this we will have to add that it has become so complex and enigmatic that it cannot be directly described. Urban spaces in particular are like black holes: we perceive them only in the effects they produce.” (Abbas, 2010)

“Every story is a travel story—a spatial practice.” (De Certeau, 1984, p.115)

“Space is a practiced place” (De Certeau, 1984, p.117) 

References:

Abbas, M. A. (1997). Hong Kong: Culture and the politics of disappearance (pp. 63-90). Hong Kong:  Hong Kong University Press.

Abbas, M. A. (2003). Cinema, Cities and the Cinematic. In Global cities: Cinema, architecture, and urbanism in a digital age (pp. 142-156), edited by Krause, L., and Petro, P. New Brunswick, NJ; London: Rutgers University Press.

Abbas, M. A. (2010). “Between the Visible and Intelligible in Asian Cinema,” In L. Chee & E. Lim (Eds.), Asian cinema and the use of space: interdisciplinary perspectives (Ch.2). Routledge.

De Certeau, M. (1984). Spatial Stories. In The Practice of Everyday Life (pp. 115-130), translated by Steven Randall. Berkeley: University of California Press.

De Certeau, M. (1984). Walking in the City. In The Practice of Everyday Life (pp. 91-110), translated by Steven Randall. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Huang, T. M. (2003). “Build it and they will come”: Transformation of Pudong Into A Copy of the Global City. Walking between slums and skyscrapers : Illusions of open space in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Shanghai. Hong Kong University Press.

Ku, A. S.-M. (2012). Remaking Places and Fashioning an Opposition Discourse: Struggle over the Star Ferry Pier and the Queen’s Pier in Hong Kong. Environment and Planning. D, Society & Space, 30(1), 5–22.

Lai C, (2006). “Protests to continue while there’s a pier” SCMP 17 November, page city5.

Lee, H. Y., & Leung, K. Y. K. (2022). Island ferry travel during COVID-19: charting the recovery of local tourism in Hong Kong. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(1), 76–93. 

Leung, A., Tanko, M., Burke, M., & Shui, C. S. (2017). Bridges, tunnels, and ferries: connectivity, transport, and the future of Hong Kong’s outlying islands. Island Studies Journal, 12(2), 61–82. 

Seng, E. (2021) “Cuts through Hong Kong.” Collage + New into Old, Architectural Review (Jul./Aug. 2021): 102-107.

Yoos, J. and V. James. (2016). The Multilevel Metropolis: On the radical origins — and mundane deployment — of the urban skyway. Places Journal (May).

Chan Hei Man Hayley Victoria 2010522587