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Only a few days into my HK trip and I've already done my most amazing explore. The place in question is Ma Wan fishing village. It sits on the small island of Ma Wan sandwiched between Tsing Yi island to the North and the very large Lantau Island to the south. The island with an area of barely a square kilometre in total was very traditional and was famous for fish farming, producing shrimp paste and its many seafood restaurants that Hong Konger's flocked to.
Things changed, however, when the island found itself on the new expressway between the mainland part of HK and the new airport at Lantau, via the Tsing Ma bridge, in the mid 90s. By 2000 the island's population was around 800 but this rocketed with the completion of the Park Island high-rised residential complex, developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, in 2006 which housed 5,000 families. Displaced residents were offered traditional 3-storey houses on the south side of the island.
Things took a bit of a controversial turn around 2009 when Sun Hung Kai Properties built the Ma Wan theme park featuring a life-size copy of Noah's Arc next to the Park Island. This was used as a pretext for the government to then relocate all the residents in the fishing village elsewhere by compulsorily purchasing their homes, resulting in the ghost town we see today. Some observers saw this as an under-hand way of clearing the south side of the island for a second residential development along the same lines of the Park Island complex. This theory was further supported by the corruption trial of SHKP chairman Thomas Kwok and his brother and co-chairman Raymond Kwok, for allegedly bribing HK Government chief secretary and No.2 in charge, Rafael Hui Si-yan, following their arrest in March 2012. The Kwoks were alleged to have paid Hui tens of millions of dollars to be their "eyes and ears" in government. After a high-profile trail Hui was found guilty in December 2014 and jailed for 7 and a half years. Raymond Kwok was acquitted while his brother was found guilty and jailed for 5 years.
The explore itself was a relaxed one. I spent several hours wandering around the massive site. One miscalculation on my part was not to put on mosquito repellent so the local mozzies get themselves a right feast! There are loads of pictures so I’m going to split this up into two reports.
Welcome to Ma Wan!
img0134 by HughieDW, on Flickr
…and the many, many fenced-off houses:
img0135 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0148 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The first thing you come to is a number of decaying wooden fishermen’s stilt houses:
img0144 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0141 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0140 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0149 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0150 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The majority of the abandoned houses are three-storey houses though:
img0164 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0159 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Individually they aren’t so striking architecturally. It’s more about the sheer number of them:
img0174 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Inside most are pretty bare:
img0178 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0180 by HughieDW, on Flickr
But others are pretty much full of stuff:
img0185 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0186 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0187 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Some people, understandably, weren’t too happy about the government evictions:
img0179 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0182 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Part 2 to follow soon.
Things changed, however, when the island found itself on the new expressway between the mainland part of HK and the new airport at Lantau, via the Tsing Ma bridge, in the mid 90s. By 2000 the island's population was around 800 but this rocketed with the completion of the Park Island high-rised residential complex, developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, in 2006 which housed 5,000 families. Displaced residents were offered traditional 3-storey houses on the south side of the island.
Things took a bit of a controversial turn around 2009 when Sun Hung Kai Properties built the Ma Wan theme park featuring a life-size copy of Noah's Arc next to the Park Island. This was used as a pretext for the government to then relocate all the residents in the fishing village elsewhere by compulsorily purchasing their homes, resulting in the ghost town we see today. Some observers saw this as an under-hand way of clearing the south side of the island for a second residential development along the same lines of the Park Island complex. This theory was further supported by the corruption trial of SHKP chairman Thomas Kwok and his brother and co-chairman Raymond Kwok, for allegedly bribing HK Government chief secretary and No.2 in charge, Rafael Hui Si-yan, following their arrest in March 2012. The Kwoks were alleged to have paid Hui tens of millions of dollars to be their "eyes and ears" in government. After a high-profile trail Hui was found guilty in December 2014 and jailed for 7 and a half years. Raymond Kwok was acquitted while his brother was found guilty and jailed for 5 years.
The explore itself was a relaxed one. I spent several hours wandering around the massive site. One miscalculation on my part was not to put on mosquito repellent so the local mozzies get themselves a right feast! There are loads of pictures so I’m going to split this up into two reports.
Welcome to Ma Wan!
img0134 by HughieDW, on Flickr…and the many, many fenced-off houses:
img0135 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0148 by HughieDW, on FlickrThe first thing you come to is a number of decaying wooden fishermen’s stilt houses:
img0144 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0141 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0140 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0149 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0150 by HughieDW, on FlickrThe majority of the abandoned houses are three-storey houses though:
img0164 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0159 by HughieDW, on FlickrIndividually they aren’t so striking architecturally. It’s more about the sheer number of them:
img0174 by HughieDW, on FlickrInside most are pretty bare:
img0178 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0180 by HughieDW, on FlickrBut others are pretty much full of stuff:
img0185 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0186 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0187 by HughieDW, on FlickrSome people, understandably, weren’t too happy about the government evictions:
img0179 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg0182 by HughieDW, on FlickrPart 2 to follow soon.
