RelicStories: Archaeological Heritage and the Reconstruction of Histories in Postcolonial Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper explores the narrative potentials of archaeological relics in the construction of competing cultural histories and territorial identities in postcolonial Hong Kong. It does so by tracing debates over the heritage value of several archaeological sites that were accidentally discovered in urban redevelopment projects in recent years. Since the transfer of its sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997, the Hong Kong SAR Government has devoted substantial resources towards conserving selective historical relics and heritage sites in the territory and reinterpreting them as symbols of its Chineseness, hearkening back to shared origins to argue for a common future of “Greater China.” Meanwhile, these very same sites have been interpreted by “localist” groups as cultural assets that underscore Hong Kong as a unique “historical-cultural place” that is connected to but may always lie outside the Chinese nation. Part of an ongoing research project that connects discussions of cultural heritage in Hong Kong to unfolding geopolitics in the region, this paper considers two cases from different historical periods that have generated significant public interest. The first case is a set of ancient household wells dating from the Song and Yuan dynasties in Kowloon. The second is several foundation stones of colonial-era shophouses owned by a wealthy but socially marginalized Chinese woman in the Central business district. By examining the contested cultural claims and historical significance associated with each site, this paper illustrates that despite being distant material remains unconnected with the contemporary city, these unearthed relics emerge as powerful sources for narrating Hong Kong’s layered histories and for constructing divergent spatial imaginaries of territoriality and sovereignty in the present.