The examples of Lan Kwei Fong and Times Square in the article remind me of my hometown. My grandparents, who live in the countryside, just finished building their luxurious three-story villa a few years ago. It even has two chess and card rooms and a karaoke bar. The house is modern and comfortable enough to enjoy. However, outside the villa, there are no straight and smooth roads, no trash cans and no supermarkets. I saw the chicken coop turned into a basketball court and the lotus pond was replaced by a fishing field. Just like Lan Kwei Fong, the ‘vernacular’ part is disappearing. Gentrification has swept my hometown, and I can’t judge whether it is a good thing or not. After all, it means a better standard of living. But I’ll still be sorry for the disappearance of the “plain countryside”.
Chen Yi 3035638703
Reflecting on your hometown is a good way to make sense of the “appearance/disappearance”. Ackbar Abbas does so while situating Hong Kong on a much larger scale/magnitude: the (post-) colonialism history of Hong Kong (see p.65). He elaborates on how this appearance/disappearance reflected the politics and power-play between the British empire, Hong Kong, and China. In your case, it might be useful to also consider if your grandparents’ property is the only one “appearing” in the countryside as well as dig a little bit deeper into what might have been the cause for the transformation and how it actually affects your hometown (for example, its identity).