[READING RESPONSE] Ackbar Abbas
Abbas wrote, ‘preservation is selective and tends to exclude the dirt and pain’. When a tourist recognises Hong Kong as a new city, they will visit Central instead of the hyperdensity in Sham Shui Po. The architectures that represent Hong Kong in the tourist’s eye are the Bank of China Tower, the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, etc. However, these commercial buildings and so-called landmarks of Hong Kong can be put anywhere in the world. And what is hidden behind these flourishing pieces of stuff is the pain. For example, Kowloon Walled City was decided to be razed by the government