The “ga gi nang” way of life : the Chiu Chau community and its culture on South Wall Road in Kowloon City, Hong Kong

Abstract

The Chiu Chau people are a prominent minority group in Hong Kong. They originated from a coastal region at North-East Guangdong Province, next to Fujian Province. Chiu Chau has been an administrative unit under China for over one thousand and four hundred years. It has developed and inherited its own rich local culture. They have brought Chiu Chau culture to Hong Kong and many of them live a “Chiu Chau” way of life. Kowloon City is one of the major enclaves for Chiu Chau people in Hong Kong. The author regards Kowloon City as the best place embodying the living culture of Chiu Chau people. To date, there are limited comprehensive and in-depth studies introducing the Chiu Chau community and their living culture in Hong Kong, Kowloon City in particular. Existing materials neglect certain aspects of Chiu Chau culture such as worshipping culture and the importance of Chiu Chau dialect. The research on food culture is not in-depth enough too. There are also few studies pinpointing how Chiu Chau culture is distinct from local culture. There is little attempt in analyzing Chiu Chau culture in the way of cultural mapping and from the perspective of spirit of place. Interviewees other than shop owners are uncommon and English materials are particularly rare. There is an urgent need to fill the gap. There is also rare research studying the importance of Tong Lau cluster in embodying everyday life culture. There is a need to reveal the streetscape of Kowloon City. A comprehensive and in-depth thematic study on the Chiu Chau culture on South Wall Road is needed. The scope of the dissertation is therefore to document Hong Kong’s Chiu Chau culture and the focus is to utilize a portion of South Wall Road in Kowloon City through cultural mapping. The northern stretch of South Wall Road in Kowloon City is the selected site for the cultural mapping documentation, as this area is the most representative with many varieties of Chiu Chau-related businesses and associations. The research for this dissertation will include Chiu Chau operated businesses on this street, documenting tangible elements, such as the locations, business types, facades, signboards, goods, and secondly, intangible elements relating to the businesses and the association as well as their relationships with Chiu Chau culture.