Gloden Age Tour( Part 2)

Wow! The second attraction is Hollywood Road. This is near by Bonham Strand West. Hollywood Road is the first street in Hong Kong and more than 100 years old of the history. Why this street so famous in Hong Kong? You know about “The World of Suzie Wong”. The America actor was visit to Hong Kong to make the Hollywood movie .However, the name of street is not related in the Hollywood movie. This is the paint Iiex.

I walk in the street, it make me feel the tradition and western combination. First I saw Man Mo Temple, commonly sort of temple worshipping the Man Tai, Pau Kung and Mo Tai , Kwan Yu, to pray for good results in examinations in China. Is it special? Many parents bring their children visit the temple. They hope the good result or study in famous from their children. But finally, studies work hard is the important point to be success. I remind you one thing, it id unhealthy place because the dense smoke spread in there. Be careful!

In The next time , I will contnue to introdue about Hollywood Road. It is the long-long story. Don’t miss it!

How to go:

1. Bus 26 outside Pacific Place at Admiralty to Hollywood Road and get off near Man Mo Temple.

2. MTR Central Station Exit D2 and turn right to Theatre Lane. Walk along Queen's Road Central towards The Center. Then take the Central - Mid-Levels Escalator to Hollywood Road.

By Renee Lam

Cultural heritage - Cheung Chau Bun Festival

Did you ever think that Cheung Chau Bun Festival is a heritage?

It is a cultural heritage of Hong Kong. This activity has been practised for more than 100 years. We need to protect it, like we protect the real heritage!

This is one of those unique festivals that will leave you spellbound and provide lifelong memories – and it all happens on the tiny island of Cheung Chau, once home to some of the most notorious pirates in the South China Sea.

Jiao-festival of Cheung Chau:

Cheung Chau was devastated by a plague in the late Qing dynasty. Local residents set up a sacrificial altar in front of Pak Tai Temple to pray to the god, Pak Tai, to drive off evil spirits. The residents even paraded the deity statues through the village lanes. The plague ended after performance of the ritual. Since then, residents on Cheung Chau have organised a Bun Festival every year to express thanks to the god for blessing and protecting them.

The festival also provides a platform for residents to perform their folk craft, such as making paper-mache effigies of deities, setting up the bamboo scaffolding of the Bun Mountain, and making handmade buns in preparation for the Bun Festival. This is accompanied by folk performing arts like Taoist rituals and music, a parade, lion dances, qilin dances and drum beating. The elderly residents participate in this festive activity with their children, preserving it from one generation to the next.

The weeklong festival climaxes with a large, carnival-like street procession featuring costumed children on stilts held aloft above the crowd, lion dances and other colourful participants. The parade winds its way through the narrow streets to the grounds near the Pak Tai Temple, which are dominated by enormous bamboo towers studded with sweet white buns, and where the main festivities take place. At midnight, athletes scramble up one of the towers in a contest to grab the top-most 'luckiest' ones.

Sources:
http://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%AA%E5%B9%B3%E6%B8%85%E9%86%AE
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/tc/events/festival-cheung-chau-bun.html

LUNG YEUK TAU HERITAGE TRAIL

Here, i want to show you one of the famous heritage trail ,named Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage trail! Have Fun!!

Shek Lo
Located just outside Fanling in the North East New Territories, the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail was opened in 1999. The name Lung Yeuk Tau was derived from the nearby mountain range Lung Yeuk Ling whose name came from the legendary saying that there was once a dragon leaping in the area.

Shrine at Sin Shut Study Hall. The building, which is still occasionally used for holding banquets is private property, not normally open to the public

Lung Yeuk Tau still practice traditional village customs some of which include a Tin Hau Festival, a lantern lighting ceremony for new born baby boys on the fifteenth day of the first Lunar month. On the first day of the second Lunar month there is an ancestral worship ceremony and vegetarian feast. Once every decade the Tai Ping Ching Chiu Festival (meaning “the Purest Sacrifice Celebrated for Great Peace”) is held and celebrated by the whole Lung clan and people from surrounding villages. Many traditional Chinese buildings and structures such as temples and ancestral halls, walls and entrance gates of walled villages and residences still retain their original appearance and can be visited along the trail.

The 54K bus stop for the trail is clearly marked at Fanling Station Green Minibus Terminus

View Larger Map

Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum

Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum is located in the Kom Tong Hall. Dr Sun had not set foot at Kom Tong Hall throughout his life, but he was related to Ho Kom Tong, the original owner of the premises. They were both born in 1866 and were the graduates of the Central School, the present Queen's College, in 1886. Ho's elder brother, Sir Robert Ho Tung, even rendered support towards Dr Sun's revolutionary activities. Given the close relations between Ho's family and Dr Sun, Kom Tong Hall is the most suitable venues for the setting up of a Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum.








Kom Tong Hall was built by in 1914. At this three-storey building, the facade of the top two floors is supported by the Greek-style granite columns surrounding the curved balconies. Inside are two flights of staircases. Being a typical Edwardian classical building, Kom Tong Hall is majestic and magnificent, and is among the very few surviving structures in Hong Kong. The stained-glass windows, veranda wall tiles and staircase railings are all preserved intact.

There are now totally two permanent exhibition in the museum. They are“Dr Sun Yat-sen and Modern China”and “Hong Kong in Dr Sun Yat-sen's Time”. “Dr Sun Yat-sen and Modern China” aims at explaining how Dr Sun was transformed from an aspiring medical student into a renowned revolutionary leader. A scene setting and an array of historical photographs are provided, in order to help reconstruct the legendary life of this great Chinese statesman. Visitors will get a thorough understanding on his studies and revolutionary campaign, and understand how Dr Sun got his revolutionary ideas in Hong Kong. “Hong Kong in Dr Sun Yat-sen's Time” is themed with the inseparability between this great Chinese statesman and Hong Kong. After going through his activities in Hong Kong, visitors will be motivated to think about why and how did Hong Kong in the late 19th century nurture someone like Dr Sun Yat-sen who possessed such progressive revolutionary ideas. With the display of invaluable artifacts, this exhibition will illustrate explicitly the role of Hong Kong as a revolutionary pivot in the late Qing era.

Opening hour:

• Monday to Wednesday and Friday to Saturday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
• Sunday and Public Holidays: 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
• Closed at 5:00 pm on Christmas Eve and Lunar New Year's Eve
• Closed on Thursday (except Public Holidays, the anniversaries of Dr Sun's birth (12 November) and death (12 March)) and on the first two days of Lunar New Year

檢視較大的地圖

The Tiger Balm Garden

The Tiger Balm Garden was one of the most famous garden in Hong Kong in the 1940's and 1950's. It was built by Aw Boon Haw, who was known as "The King of Tiger Balm". The Garden was built in order to advertise their products and as a way to have contribution to the community.

Hong Kong Tigerbalm Garden 1949-60

The Tiger Balm Garden was open to the public for enjoyment without charging any admission fee. That attracted many local visitor as most of the Hong Konger at that time are quite poor and did not have much leisure activities. The Tiger Balm Garden is one of the collective memory of the middle-aged Hong Kong people.

The colorful murals statues in the Gardens are based on the ancient Buddhist stories and legends. They are all full of Chinese national features. Mr. Aw tried using these cautionary tales to advise the idea of 'one good turn deserves another'. There were totally 29 points of visit in the Garden, and the most famous are "Tiger Tower" and "eighteen layers of hell". "Tiger Tower" was a seventh floor pagoda and was the only one in Hong Kong. The "eighteen layers of hell" described the different situations in hell, such as cutting the tongue, cutting something in half, putting in hot oil, etc. These murals were certainly unforgettable for those visitors.

Next to the Tiger Balm Garden, there are a private garden and the Haw Par Mansion, which were also built by Aw Boon Haw. The Haw Par Mansion as well as its private garden were originally the private mansion for the Aw's family.

Architecturally, the Mansion was built in the Chinese Renaissance style with a blend of Western and Chinese construction methods and architectural theory. The plan is, however, more Western being roughly symmetrical with the adoption of porches, bay windows and fireplaces. Internally, there are beautiful painted glass windows from Italy, carvings and mouldings, gilded with gold and murals showing Indian and Burmese influence. Wihout many changes to the Mansion over the years, the Mansion retains its authentic appearance as before.The social value and local interest lie in the Mansion's image of a residence of a rich and powerful merchant family in the 1930s and a focal point of Chinese culture in Hong Kong.

However, in the late 1990's, both the Haw Par Mansion and the Tiger Balm Garden were sold to the Cheung Kong Group and stopped open to the publid. In 2004, The Tiger Balm Garden were even demolished to build new luxury houses. The famous "Tiger Tower" and "eighteen layers of hell" have all gone. Luckily, under the hard work of the government, the Haw Par Mansion is preserved and will be re-open to the public in 30/10, 31/10, 5-7/11, 13/11 and 14/11. Interested visitors can reminisce their old memories and provide their own opinion on revitalization of the Mansion.

The Garden under demolished









The Masion being preseved










Opening hour: 10am to 4pm in 30/10, 31/10, 5-7/11, 13/11 and 14/11


檢視較大的地圖

A heritage in Wanchai - Blue House

Since Wanchai is one of the important sites for urban renewal, what will be the fate of "Blue House" when facing large-scale redevelopment plan? How to attain a balance between economic development and urban conservation is a big issue that deserves our deep thoughts.

"Blue House" is a hot topic lately. If I ask you to think a heritage in Hong Kong, most of the people may not think "Blue House" first.
But "Blue House" is a heritage certainty. "Blue House" located at 72 Stone Nullah Lane in Wanchai. It is a pre-war building with more than seventy years of history that shows architectural characteristics of both Chinese and Western styles.

Where does the name of "Blue House" come from?
"Blue House" is named from the brilliant blue color painted on its external walls. The workers of the Lands Department only got blue paint during the period of repairing work, so it was used to renovate the external wall at the time.






Many of the internal structures like purlin, staircase, railing are still preserved in their authentic wooden fabric. There are still residents living inside and some of them have to share the kitchen. Since there is no flushing toilet facility inside the building, it still needs the service of "Tao Ye Heung" (somebody helps to remove the excrement from the building every night).

There are a video that is film a "Blue House" resident:




Sources:
Antiquities and Monuments Office, Leisure and Cultural Services Department
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tjELpF7cu0&feature=related
www.mingpao.com

Gloden Age Tour( Part 1)

Who said less heritages in Hong Kong? The Tourism Board has previous promotion the Golden age tour for tourist enjoyable. The Golden age tour included Western Market, Hollywood Road, Upper Lascar Row and Central Police Station. The tour almost spead your almost a half day. I believe you should prepare the bottle of water and insect repellent, because of it is you can do more exercise in this tour!


First station, Western Market, was declared a historical monument .This Edwardian-style building was built in 1906 as an extension of the then existing Western Market. It was the former site of Harbour Office that had been moved to a reclamation area in Central District for a larger space to cope with its increasing workload.


















Leaveing the Western Market, we could go to Bonham Street, the other name is Ginseng & Nest Street. It is special street is buy Chinese health food.Chinese people believe Ginseng could keep your body fit and healty;nest is woman favourable for keep beauty.
















Is it special? It is so differcult to see this in modern area. In 1950-1980, Chinese people go to this shop when they are buy the rice. Nowaday, current people go to supermarket to buy package.






How to go:
MTR –
Sheung Wan A2
Bus – 1,2,3A,4,5,7,10,18,26,37,43,71,88,90,,91,94,101,104,109,111,115,182,619,641,720

Downland the map::
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/things-to-do/artmap.html



By Renee Lam