Reconfiguration of 'the Stars and the Queen'
A Quest for the Interrelationship between Architecture and Civic Awareness in Post-colonial Hong Kong
1st Edition
Published on 19. June 2015
190 pages
978-3-8452-5191-2 (ISBN)
Description
After 1997, the once symbolic infrastructures of the British Empire seemingly became eyesores to the new Hong Kong authority. In a post-colonial? era, is the transformation of former colonial structures an act of de-colonisation, or does it mark the beginning of neo-colonialism? Buried with the ruins of annihilated colonial heritage were their complicated and contradictory representations. The Queen?s and the Star Ferry Pier complex was the spot where colonial governors disembarked from the Royal yacht on reaching the colony and also hosted the city?s first wave of social movement directed towards colonial suppression in the 1970s.
The attempt by and success of the post-colonial authority in transforming colonial space, and the public who is aloof from taking action on losing their ?site of memory?, are seen as driven by different forms of ?colonial legacy?. This book inspects that legacy?s texture by disentangling the interrelationship between history, historiography, identity, architecture and civic awareness.
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Liza Wing Man Kam
Reconfiguration of 'the Stars and the Queen'
A Quest for the Interrelationship between Architecture and Civic Awareness in Post-colonial Hong Kong
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06/2015
1st Edition
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Content
- Cover
- What this book is not
- I Some terms and definitions
- Post-colonial Hong Kong and colonial legacy
- The broader field of post-colonial studies: geographical and temporal specification
- Temporal specification
- From a British territory to a Chinese territory- what about Hong Kong?
- Aspects of focus
- Colonial space and architecture as 'site of enunciation'
- 'Lieux de mémoire'
- Public Participation
- The Production of Space: three different spatial codes
- Narratives
- II Hypotheses
- III Main Research Questions
- IV Research Design, strategy and methodology
- V State-of-the-art and relevance
- VI Structure of the work - Chapter overview
- Introduction
- Prologue
- Background
- Obscurity along the timeline - the 'proclaimed' Hong Kong History
- The pier complex as 'lieux de mémoire'
- Public participation in Hong Kong: a novelty, a token, and a dream
- The Production of space: the different spatial codes embedded in the same pier complex
- Your (my) memory versus my (your) interpretation to the space
- Colonial legacy on public and post-colonial officials - the steady but ponderous public and the lethargic authority
- Colonial legacy: hindrance on the way to 'decolonisation'
- Chapter 1 Obscurities along the timeline
- 1.1 History versus Memory- the colonisers' history and the colonised populace's memory
- 1.2 'History'- political indoctrination to the Hong Kongers- colonial narration Vs Chinese Nationalism
- 1.2.1 The Ultimate Encouragement to Aloofness
- 1.3 The multi- faceted perspectives on connotations of colonial heritage
- 1.3.1 Colonial heritage- Is the concept equivalent to a celebration of colonialism?
- 1.3.2 'The core value' did not come out of nothing
- 1.4 Obscurities along the timeline
- 1.5 Whose history?
- 1.5.1 English language as a 'tool', not a medium of contemplation
- 1.5.2 Not British, not Chinese- a colony
- 1.6 The eradicated civic history
- 1.6.1 Come forward and say 'No'
- 1.6.2 Chinese language 'as worthless as mud on the ground'
- 1.6.3 Pinnacle Island- 'Defending Diayutai'
- 1.7 The eternally lost opportunity to learn from the past
- 1.7.1 Queen's Pier as backdrop- The shift in focus of social movements before and after 1970 s
- 1.7.2 Removal of the backdrop
- 1.8 Could that really be a 'definitive disenchantment'?
- Chapter 2 Inception Point- a belated awakening
- 2.1 A lesson should have been learned from 'an overturned car ahead'
- 2.2 Tamar as a buried bomb- Why Tamar? Why.?
- 2.3 Tamar Government Headquarters- from concept to realisation
- 2.3.1 A new government- A new headquarters?
- Do we really need a new headquarters?
- What does the public really think?
- How much do we know?
- Planning procedures in Hong Kong
- 2.3.2 The Sites- Tamar and the Government's Hill: 'HMS Tamar'
- 2.3.3 LEGCO building- wicked symbol of colonialism?
- 2.4 Public participation- where indeed are the 'world-class Hong Kongers'?
- 2.4.1 Along the 'Participation ladder': 'Citizen Participation is citizen power'
- 2.5 Conclusion
- Chapter 3 Yet it is too late again- The piers memories
- 3.1 From the Tamar silence to the bustling piers
- 3.2 The perceived site for power display - the conceived ceremonial backdrop - the lived social action space
- 3.3 Metamorphosing 'spatial practice' and the expanding 'representational space'
- 3.4 The plugged ears of the Hong Kong Government
- 3.4.1 Star Ferry Pier Clock Tower (15.12.1957- 12.12.2006)
- 3.4.2 The empowered: 'Sorry, it's too late'
- 3.4.3 Public's actions- 'we have tried our best'
- 3.4.4 'Our Pier'- Queen's Pier (1953-2007)
- 3.5 Conceptualisation of the two Piers- representations of space (Pg.43, Lefebvre, 1974) and its irritations to the 'post-colonial' empowered
- 3.5.1 Star Ferry Pier and the Clock Tower
- 3.5.2 'For whom the bell tolls'- memories with the Clock Tower
- 3.5.3 'God (couldn't) Save the Queen?!'
- 3.6 Conclusion
- Chapter 4 What is it if it was not about memories?
- 4.1 The struggle between sense of righteousness and powerlessness- the cases from the elder age group
- 4.1.1 'I am not the radical type'
- 4.2 Chow: 'the two piers are, to me, almost purely political'
- 4.2.1 Transforming the sense of 'powerlessness' to actual actions
- 4.2.2 No dismissal possible
- 4.2.3 Moving the base camp from Star Ferry Pier to Queen's Pier- innovative actions 'for' and 'in' the space
- 4.3 Colonial legacy- from interpretation to the space to behavior in the space
- 4.4 Conclusion- It's not about memory
- Chapter 5 Following the Stars and the Queen - the steady, ponderous public and the lethargic empowered
- 5.1 The emergence of the young 'radical' activists- what the Stars and the Queen are 'swapped for'
- 5.1.1 Cheng: From the sense of powerlessness to 'getting involved'- standing next to the minorities
- Sense of Powerlessness
- Turning point: everyone's conscience to '8964
- 'Ascetic parade' in the public's eyes
- Discussion shifted- from 'fear' to 'values'
- 5.1.2 So: Reflection on direct actions - jumping from being an 'enthusiastic spectator' to 'walking, kneeling and requesting a fair treatment to the suppressed group'
- 'Fighting for the right of being the public space users'
- Planning as 'the professional's business' in the past - the emergence of the 'participatory planning' concept
- Broadening the realm of knowledge and arousing the public's interest to discussions on urban development
- 5.2 Statistics on the trend: going on the street and speaking up for oneself
- 5.3 'Development as the absolute principle' - eradication of pluralism - the catalyst for the society to react
- 5.4 Fighting against the intangible violence: 'the table is tilted - we stand up for the minorities only to achieve a 'comparatively fairer state'
- 5.5 The lethargic empowered
- 5.5.1 'Tracking the trace of the old ruts' and play safe 'Policies do not emerge all of a sudden through 'eruption from a piece of rock''
- 5.6 Colonial legacy - the ultimate hindrance to develop the contributive tension between the authority and the public for contributive discussions
- Chapter 6 Colonial legacy - hindrance on the way to 'decolonisation'
- 6.1 Colonial legacy: history education - colonised populace 'dare to be angry but dare not to express'
- 6.2 Colonial legacy: manipulation of the notion of 'participation'
- 6.3 Colonial legacy: Imposition of spatial code: the ultimate dominant 'spatial practice' and the recessive 'representational space'
- 6.4 Colonial legacy(s) interplay: demonstrating the power of both the colonisers and the people - deciphering the colonial spatial code of the piers
- 6.5 Colonial legacy: the ponderous public and the post-colonial government- 'tracking the trace of the old ruts' and play safe
- 6.6 Final words: Colonial legacy as an ultimate hindrance to decolonisation
- Bibliography
