Of god and feng shui : assessing the heritage cultural landscape of Shung Him Tong Tsuen using the connection-based approach

Abstract

The focus site of this thesis is Shung Him Tong Tsuen (崇謙堂村, literally the “village of the Hall of Humble Worship”), Fanling, New Territories, a Hakka (客家, literally guest people) Christian village with over a hundred years of history. The cultural significance of the village lies on its identity as one of a few existing Christian villages in a Chinese context. Such East-meets-West religious identity gives rise to a rare connection between the tangible (both built and natural) and intangible elements of Shung Him Tong Tsuen. This connection helps us understand the assessment of cultural landscapes in a new narrative – the “connection-based approach.” The redevelopment of Kowloon Walled City was the first case inspired the author’s thought on the need of a new assessment approach in Hong Kong. Being a symbol of a lawless, ungoverned world unto its own, most of the buildings within its 2.6-hectare borders of the Walled City were demolished during the 1990s. However, it seems that the spirit of Kowloon Walled City could hardly be connected with its pre-colonial history. The Yamen might be considered as the oldest building of the mentioned historic urban landscape, but it was definitely not the most significant one. In fact, the significance of the Walled City was the living heritage that had been officially ignored in conservation: the illegal buildings (the tangible) and the way of life created from the socio-economic activities (the intangible) that together formed the signature image and spirit of place. The main research question for this dissertation is therefore: would it be possible to conduct a more comprehensive assessment in order to understand the unspoken spirit of the place and safeguard parts of its tangible and intangible significance? The proposed approach should be (1) a thorough assessment of both tangible and intangible significance of the cultural landscape, (2) as general as possible in order to apply to all kinds of cultural landscape in Hong Kong, and (3) a top-up on the current mechanism to enhance its feasibility. It is hope that, by using the case of Shung Him Tong Tsuen, a new approach in heritage assessment for cultural landscapes, termed by the author as the “connection-based approach,” can be developed – one that focuses on the connection between the tangible and intangible elements of a heritage place.