The cultural landscape of a living village : a documentation of the tangible and intangible cultural assets of Pak Sha O Village, Sai Kung, Hong Kong

Abstract

The research context is Pak Sha O (白沙澳), one of the few remaining villages in Hong Kong’s New Territories that has not been developed and considered one of the best-preserved villages with century old traditional village houses built by the Hakka, the indigenous people of Hong Kong. The scope is the village of Pak Sha O, and the focus is to document its tangible and intangible cultural heritage assets – the former in terms of the buildings and the latter in terms of the people. However, the pressure for development is threatening the survival of this village, and the significance of this research is therefore it could be the “last-chance documentation” opportunity for this cultural landscape. The interest in Pak Sha O as this dissertation’s research topic stems from the relatively intact and authentic quality of the village fabric. This is rare in Hong Kong, where the vast majority of village buildings in New Territories have been redeveloped, particularly for the residential buildings, which have mostly been redeveloped into the modern three-storey reinforced concrete “small houses.” By understanding the full-spectrum of the cultural heritage assets of Pak Sha O in terms of the tangible and the intangible, the emerging threats to Pak Sha O can be better recognised. The scope and focus of this research preclude possible solutions to counter the threats, but the objective of this research is to provide the essential ingredients for the formulation of conservation solutions, as understanding the place through research and documentation is the very first step for the formulation of conservation principles, policies and guidelines.