Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Advisor(s)
Author(s)
Ho, Kar-yin;
Citation
Issued Date
URL
Rights
2012
http://hdl.handle.net/10722/173877
by
Ho Kar Yin
B.A. H.K.
Declaration
I declare that the thesis and the research work thereof represents my own work,
except where due acknowledgement is made, and that it has not been previously
included in a thesis, dissertation or report submitted to this University or to any
other institution for a degree, diploma or other qualifications.
Signed .
Ho Kar Yin
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Mirana
May Szeto, for her care, guidance and inspiration, and not just on the academic
level but also in many aspects of my life as well.
I am indebted to my friends, colleagues and teachers in the Department of
Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong. To name a few Dr.
Esther Cheung, Mary Ann King (Gumgum), Desmond Sham, Clayton Lo,
Helena Wu, Fiona Law, Natalie Wong, Yan Tsui and Joseph Tang. I owe a debt of
gratitude to my academic fellows in Hong Kong and Taiwan for their
encouragement, help and constructive comments during the research, including
Yun-Chung Chen, Chloe Lai, Huang Shu-mei, Eric Cheng and Lung. My
gratitude also goes to Joanne Choi who generously helped me to edit the
Chinese-English translations in certain passages. Her expertise helped me to get
through the classical Chinese that is difficult to translate. During the final stage
of thesis-writing, Camille Lam taught me how to use Photoshop software to
show distribution of ground floor shop in the market.
My deepest appreciation and gratitude go to my informants in the flower
industry in Hong Kong, who spent their invaluable time with me, introduced me
to a fantastic industry and patiently responded to my tedious questions. They are
the flower cultivators, retailers, wholesalers and flower designers. Without their
support and generosity, I would not be able to carry out my interviews. All of my
informants deserve my special thanks for their interesting stories and wisdom.
Also, I also need to thanks the owner and the manager of the retail shop where I
did my ethnographic work before Valentines Day. Their patience in teaching me
how to deal with customers gave me a strong sense of what it is like to work in
the industry. Flowers are beautiful, but flowers are more than beauty. We should
acknowledge various parties who devote their efforts and hard work before the
flowers arrives to the end-consumers, which sometimes might be a painful
process for the workers.
I must show my heartfelt gratitude to my family, especially my grandmother
and my mother, for their support, tolerance and encouragement in these years.
ii
iii
Contents
Declaration
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Lists of Figures
Lists of Tables
Lists of Maps
Lists of Appendices
Abbreviations
i
ii
iv
x
xiv
xv
xvi
xvii
1
4
5
7
8
14
17
19
23
25
28
34
40
44
47
49
51
1.9
Subaltern Historiography
1.10
My Theoretical Approach
1.10.1
Type 1: Colonial Elites E(C)
1.10.2
Type 2: Local Elites E(L)
1.10.3
Type 3: Subaltern class (S)
1.11
Organisation of the Thesis
1.12
Methodology
1.13
Contribution of the Thesis
Chapter 2 THE FLOWER INDUSTRY AND THE FLOWER
MARKET
2.1
Chapter Introduction
2.2
The Culture of Flowers
2.3
Cultural Meanings of Flowers in Hong Kong
2.4
The Cultural Meaning of Flowers in Festivals
2.4.1
Chinese New Year
2.4.2
Religious Rituals: Ching Ming Festival, Chung
Yeung Festival and the first and fifteenth day of
each month
2.4.3
Valentines Day
2.4.4
Mothers Day
2.4.5
Christmas
2.5
Other Cultural Meanings of Flowers in a Persons
Important Dates
2.5.1
2.5.2
2.6
2.6.1
2.6.2
2.6.3
2.6.4
2.7
2.8
Weddings
Deaths
The Background of the Mong Kok Flower Market
The Flower Market as a Traditional Chinese
Market
Geographical Location
History of Mong Kok
The History of the Mong Kok Flower Market
The Hong Kong Tourism Board Version
Embedded Coloniality in Preserving Mong Kok
Flower Market
A Brief History of Mong Kok Flower Market in
Hong Kong
54
58
60
60
63
65
67
70
72
73
75
79
81
83
85
88
89
90
90
93
96
98
102
103
105
108
114
2.9
2.9.1
2.9.2
2.9.3
2.9.4
2.9.5
2.10
2.11
2.12
2.13
2.14
2.15
vi
120
120
120
122
126
128
129
133
142
147
153
156
158
160
162
169
173
178
185
188
192
204
vii
206
208
209
211
211
216
219
220
221
224
225
227
228
231
232
235
241
243
249
4.20
4.21
251
257
261
264
268
271
274
278
285
297
302
303
310
313
318
328
332
336
5.12
Chapter 6
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
Chapter Summary
340
CONCLUSION
The Necessities of Acknowledging Embedded
Coloniality
Negotiation between Government and Elites
Ignorance of the Needs of the Flower Industry
Public Policies as a Tool for Facilitating Economic
Progress
Complexity of an Agency
Geographical Names
Glossary
Appendices
Bibliography
345
346
347
349
350
352
354
356
386
ix
Figures
Figure 1.1
General configuration of power
29
Figure 1.2
Relational mapping of between Elite, Subaltern (in Guhas
sense) and Subaltern (in Spivaks sense)
59
Figure 2.1
Flower trading on Flower Market Road before Chinese New
Year in 2011
83
Figure 2.2
Backyard of a flower shop preparing Valentines Day flower
bouquets
86
Figure 2.3
Flower bouquets and floral gift for Valentines Day
87
Figure 2.4
Christmas tree, poinsettia, flower wreath and garlands
90
Figure 2.5
Venue decoration and bridal bouquets from a flower designer
92
Figure 2.6
Sympathy stands used in funerals
94
Figure 2.7
Sign introducing the flower market and bird garden
Figure 2.8
A picture illustrating the value of Tong Lau buildings in Mong
Kok in the conservation report. The picture is of a parade
celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II passing a
section of Nathan Road between Mong Kok Road and Argyle
Street, 1953
Figure 2.9
Customers selecting gladiolus and chrysanthemum in flower
market in the past
108
110
117
Figure 2.10
Fire hazard in the Fa Hui Village in 1955
121
Figure 2.11
A wide road outside Fa Hui Park to accommodate street traders
123
Figure 2.12
Flower trading inside the volleyball court of Fa Hui Park
Figure 2.13
Goods are unloaded directly on the road in front of the flower
shop occupying public space
127
134
Figure 2.14
Goods are unpacked and put in buckets directly in front of shops
134
Figure 2.15
Different kinds of leaf branches sold in the flower market
135
Figure 2.16
Staff members distribute flowers ordered to their customers
135
Figure 2.17
Flower shop occupies parking area and pedestrian pavement in
the flower market
139
Figure 2.18
Officers of Food and Environmental Hygiene Department to
clear the pavement along Flower Market Road and Sai Yee Street
140
Figure 3.1
A peach blossom grows for three years in a flower farm in Mui
Wo, Lantau Island
164
Figure 3.2
The flower cultivator in Mui Wo is cutting a peach blossom and
164
168
Figure 3.4
Gladiolus field in Yuen Long
169
Figure 3.5
Flower cultivation with the technological aids from the
Agriculture and Fisheries Department of irrigation sprinklers and
water pipe
Figure 3.6
Potted Plants in a greenhouse in Pat Heung, Yuen Long
Figure 3.7
Visual illustration by volunteers supporting the farmers clearly to
demonstrate glaring difference between the governments
extremely outdated compensation rate and the actual market
price of the same crops today
xi
171
172
177
Figure 3.8
Relational mapping of colonial government, ordinary indigenous
inhabitants and non-indigenous inhabitants
Figure 4.1
Commodity chain of cut-flower and potted plants
Figure 4.2
Banners of flower hawkers during the slow-drive protest in
1989. The slogans read The activity of the Flower Market will
not be stifled! and the History of the Flower Market must not
be ignored
204
218
221
Figure 4.3
Florists blocked the road of the FEHD vehicle and argued with
the officers who removed florists property in 2004
233
Figure 4.4
Tense atmosphere during a struggle between flower shop owners
and FEHD officers in 2010
234
Figure 4.5
A flower shop owner arguing about the selective enforcement of
FEHD officers in 2010
234
Figure 4.6
Hawkers protest against the action of hygiene officers
238
Figure 4.7
Hawkers protest against the action of hygiene officers
339
Figure 4.8
Newspaper describing the hawkers protest against the hygiene
officers
239
Figure 4.9
Local flower growers selling flowers along Prince Edward Road
West before Chinese New Year
250
Figure 4.10
Relocation of the temporary flower market for local flower
cultivators outside Boundary Street Sports Centre No. 1
256
Figure 4.11
Temporary Flower Market for local flower cultivators
Figure 4.12
Relational mapping of the law enforcement officers, flower
importers and flower farmers in the flower market
xii
256
257
Figure 5.1
Buildings (Modern Flat) along Prince Edward Road just
before Yuen Ngai Street in early 1930s
286
Figure 5.2
Contemporary verandah-type shophouses before the Urban
Renewal Authoritys preservation plan
287
Figure 5.3
Illustration of the future verandah-type shophouses after the
Urban Renewal Authoritys implementation of preservation plan
290
Figure 5.4
Potted plants hanging along a pole suspended between two
columns
298
Figure 5.5
Florists tied wires along Tong Laus column to expand area of
goods display
298
Figure 5.6
Plastic bags are hanging on the column of Tong Lau for sale of
goods
299
Figure 5.7
Tong Lau veranda forms a covered arcade
299
Figure 5.8
Proposed revitalisation work by the Associated Architects
Limited, an officially appointed consultancy firm
322
Figure 5.9
Mong Kok street-based revitalisation scheme (First Draft)
produced by the URA and Associated Architects Limited
323
Figure 5.10
Illustration of the proposed flower market after the
implementation of the Urban Renewal Authoritys revitalisation
scheme
323
Figure 5.11
Mechanism of the rent gap in gentrification
330
Figure 5.12
Honda display room before 2010
333
Figure 5.13
Market bazaar of No. 1 Flower Market Road
334
xiii
Figure 5.14
Middle-class shops behind the market bazaar of No. 1 Flower
Market Road
Figure 5.15
Existing Tong Lau building at No. 179 Prince Edward Road West
334
339
Figure 5.16
Illustrations for the future of No. 179 Prince Edward Road West
heritage preservation development
339
Figure 5.17
Relational mapping of the Urban Renewal Authority and flower
traders in the flower market
340
Tables
Table 1
The hierarchy of the understandings and meanings of flowers,
from high culture to everyday culture in Hong Kong
Table 2
Flower culture in Chinese and Western festivals in Hong Kong
78
81
Table 3
Estimated local production and importation of flowers in Hong
Kong in 1995-2001
165
Table 4
Ground floor commercial activities within the Urban Renewal
Authoritys Preservation Area
301
Table 5
Survey Result in the Urban Renewal Authority initiates
area-based revitalisation plan for Mong Kok conducted by
Associated Architects Limited, an officially sanctioned
consultancy firm
xiv
302
Maps
Map 1
Location of the Mong Kok Flower Market on a map of Hong
Kong
Map 2
Map of flower market and its neighbourhood
Map 3
Area of trading before Urban Council opened Fa Hui Park for
florists in 1982. The area lies on the boundary of three districts
Yau Tsim Mong district, Sham Shui Po district and Kowloon
City district
103
131
216
Map 4
Map of Cheung Sha Wan Vegetables Wholesale Market and Fa
Hui Park volleyball court
222
Map 5
Map of the old and new proposed flower market the Mong
Kok Flower Market and the Chai Wan Flower Market
246
Map 6
Map of proposed relocation of the temporary flower market by
the Home Affairs Bureau for flower cultivators in 2010 from the
Mong Kok Stadium to Jade Market
Map 7
Urban Renewal Authority Prince Edward Road West/Yuen Ngai
Street development scheme plan with a highlight of shophouses
253
288
xv
319
332
Appendices
Appendix 1
Semi-structured Interview Guidelines
356
Appendix 2
Interview List
360
Appendix 3
Timeline of Development of the Mong Kok Flower Market
364
Appendix 4
Ground Floor Distribution of the Mong Kok Flower Market
367
Appendix 5
Agricultural Land Utilisation
373
Appendix 6
Number of Members in Hong Kong & Kowloon Flower and
Plant Worker General Union
Appendix 7
Farm Working Population by Industry
375
376
Appendix 8
Summary of Agricultural Production Estimated Values (Crops
Only)
377
Appendix 9
Summary of Agricultural Production Estimated Quantities
(Crops Only)
379
Appendix 10
The Rise of Rural Elites
381
Appendix 11
The Number of Prosecutions Instituted by the FEHD Against
Illegal Occupation of Pedestrian Walkways or Obstruction of
Public Places by DC District
Appendix 12
The Strength of Health Inspectors, Cleansing Foremen and
Hawker Control Teams of the FEHD by DC Districts
xvi
384
385
Abbreviations
AAB
ADC
AFCD
AFD
AMO
CE
CNY
DC
DevB
DSP
FEHD
Flower Union
HKRS
HKTA
HKTB
HYK
LCSD
NT
NTO
OU
R(A)
TPB
UC
UNESCO
URA
URAO
USD
XRL
xvii
CHAPTER 1
CONTEXTUALISING EMBEDDED
COLONIALITY IN HONG KONG
1.1
other colony had economic growth comparable to Hong Kong during British
colonial rule. A smooth transition to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 is also
emphasised by the government, and surely economic prosperity is the most
important element to preserve in the transition from the colonial to postcolonial
era. However, as a result of this smooth transition to Chinese sovereignty, the
postcolonial government primarily adopted the power formation and political
structure from the colonial period. Thus, the present Hong Kong government is
still working out of a political structure embedded in the previous colonial set-up.
The underlying assumption in my research is that coloniality does not only exist
in the colonial era, but also continues to affect a region unless a true decolonising
process has taken place in a society. Complicating this assumption is that there
are many hierarchies within colonised people, in which collaboration between
British colonisers and Chinese business and community elites has been well
studied by scholars. Nonetheless, previous scholars present us with a puzzle that
has been repeatedly neglected: for example, what are the roles and contributions
of local people in terms of power formation? What is the reason for there being
so few occurrences of resistance despite the colonial governments short term
vision for solving problems, for instance in land policy, and lack of a
and Law Wing Sang. Chen Kuan Hsins theory on colonies in Asia is also useful
to understand in relation to this literature. My research fills a gap in the previous
scholarship by offering a detailed discussion of Hong Kong stories told from
ordinary peoples perspective. I will make use of Indian postcolonial subaltern
studies to fill the afore-mentioned research gap, and to offer a theoretical
framework to analyse the issue. I will discuss my methodology and limitations in
the later part of this chapter, and I move on from there to present several case
studies that illustrate how to use subaltern studies as a framework to understand
quotidian culture and a tool for the decolonisation process.
1.2
Research Question
This research is based on an integration of cultural studies and globalisation
studies, which is a necessary theoretical integration for the study of Hong Kong
as it is often seen as a global city that emerged in the passage from colonial to
postcolonial status. However, despite the political changes involved in becoming
sovereign, colonialism has never been challenged or seriously discussed in Hong
Kong. The internalisation of coloniality in Hong Kong is so ingrained, from the
level of governance down to mainstream cultural experience, that it remains
embedded in an overall way of life and in the operational logic of public
administration. The case studies of this research are focused on flower
cultivation and the Mong Kok Flower Market. Transformation of the flower
industry in Hong Kong is closely related to the flower market itself. My thesis
aims at answering the following questions:
1.3
and goods. But colonialism in this sense is not merely an expansion of various
European powers into Asia, Africa or the Americas from the sixteenth century
onwards; it has been a recurrent and widespread feature of human history
(Loomba 2). By coloniality, I am referring to colonial mentality. Following Law
Wing Sangs reminder, this dissertation believes that we should move beyond the
mere political and material dimension of understanding colonialism to cater also
to the socio-cultural aspects, whose effects are in fact far more long-lasting. As
coloniality is a network formation, we should use a concept of colonial cultural
formation to more fully understand it. Law argues:
I would also like to underscore the need to look further than revealing the
political dimension of colonial rule. As a political critique of colonialism is
premised on a narrow conception of power, which confines ones attention
to uncovering the changing strategies of colonial rule, it tends to treat
colonial power as no more than an instrument for the willful domination of
the colonisers over the colonised. What is missing is a perspective that can
reveal how colonial power exists and operates as an impersonal force
through a multiplicity of sites and channels, through which the impersonal
forces may still linger in the absence of a discernable coloniser. Failing to
conceive of colonial power as a network of relations, a political critique of
colonialism may run the risk of perpetuating a monolithic, universal
definition of colonialism that can account for neither related transformations
nor spaces of possible resistance (Law Wing Sang 3, emphasis added).
mentality is practiced in daily life, in the activities which people are habituated
to, and thus, they do not question its ramifications. This mentality is not just a set
of ideas, but occurs in daily life practices. Coloniality, as similar to other political
ideologies, is integrated into cultural practices that make people follow the logic
unconsciously.
1.4
structures of the ruling class. Arif Dirlik points out that postcolonial criticism has
not seriously considered the way in which postcoloniality today is necessarily
shaped by the operations of capitalism both the way in which capitalism
globalises, drawing various local cultures and economies into its vortex, and how
it weakens older boundaries and decentres production and consumption (Dirlik
cited in Loomba 250). In recent years, the awareness of postcoloniality as an
issue has been intensified in our daily life. Although ordinary people might not
use the language of postcolonialism to explain the phenomenon, embedded
coloniality imposes tremendous influence in the city, as was made apparent in
social movement articulations such as actions and slogan of the movement to
preserve Star Ferry Pier and Queens Pier (I will briefly discuss this in Section
5.6). As a result, these issues are now becoming more and more recognisable to
the public. The work of previous scholars ideas on Hong Kongs colonialism
provides a solid ground for this research and gives me an important set of tools
to investigate the meaning of colonialism in Hong Kong.
1.4.1
The Suez Crisis of 1956 was a war between Egypt on one side, and Britain, France and Israel
on the other. An underlying motive of the British government in the Suez Affair was its concern
with the decline of the British imperial power; it was an attempt to restore British authority in the
Near East (Gilbert, and Large 408).
8
[w]hen the home governments interests were at odds with Hong Kongs, to
its credit, the Hong Kong government stood up for Hong Kong. The
decolonisation process began from that time, with a great awareness that
Hong Kong had a position to defend and that Hong Kong people could be
effective within the Hong Kong government (ibid 5).
According to the original essay, Lau Siu Kais utilitarianistic familism theory exhibits how
locals, such as Lau Siu Kai himself, after being administratively absorbed into the ruling elite,
help the ruling elite to explain why Hong Kong could develop economically without democracy,
and thus, explain away the need to accelerate democratic development in Hong Kong. According
to Lau, this situation happens not because of colonial and local elite deterrence, but rather is a
result of the essential conservative character of the native Chinese culture, which considers
democracy as neither an urgent issue nor the best solution to effective colonial rule. Rather,
economic utilitarianism is more important to the natives. Lau Siu Kais overall argument on
utilitarianism familism is described in the following way: The thesis of the whole study, briefly
put here, is that in a society undergoing dramatic social change, the inability of that society to
generate a relatively high level of socio-cultural and political integration, together with the low
capacity of public institutions and organisations to cater to the needs of a majority of the people,
would foster the emergence of the ethos of utilitarianistic familism and other similar versions of
it. The emergence of utilitarianistic familism in Hong Kong signifies, in turn, the elasticity of the
Chinese family as a principle of human organisation, meaning that the interrelationship among
the constituent organisational components of such an ascriptive-particularistic group can be
transformed and their relative weightiness modified. This process of metamorphosis is largely
guided by changes in the larger social environment and proceeds in the direction of maximizing
the amount of resources that can be controlled and manipulated by the group and by the
individuals in it. Though this metamorphosis is not forged by any explicit consciousness among
the Hong Kong Chinese, the whole process can still be objectively interpreted as being rational in
nature (Lau 4).
10
reinforce the primacy of the familial group and the adoption of a suspicion
and somewhat hostile attitude towards society and the government (Lau
74-75 cited in ibid 12).
Faure also makes the assumption that colonialism is the empires decision to
help native people, and it was beneficial to the extent that the natives have come
to develop a dependency on the British civilising mission. His more revisionist
reading offers another explanation on how colonisation depended on the natives
dependency, and also how that dependency was imposed, institutionalised
and maintained. Developing this logic further, Faure explains how dependency
has been reduced due to decolonisation initiated even during the colonial period;
but this process of decolonisation is explained as an initiative of the colonial
government and not driven by the agency of the local population. This colonial
mentality described by Faure is true in a certain sense, since it explains the
11
In fact, of course, Patten could not have ignored the political realities of
Hong Kong even if he had been aware of the full contents of past
discussions between Chinese and British diplomats. He could not have
resisted the communitys insistence on its right to be heard, or its demands
that control of negotiations about its post-colonial arrangements should be
located in Hong Kong and not in London. This relocation of policy-making
Patten could achieve because of his special relationship with the British
There is a discrepancy about how to spell the word post-colonialism: with a hyphen (i.e.
post-colonialism) or without (i.e. postcolonialism). To be clear, I will use the single word without
a hyphen. There is a particular reason for this choice of spelling. The word post-colonialism
emphasises a particular historical period or epoch, which means after colonialism, after
independence or after the end of Empire. However, postcolonialism in my view is not just
about a strict historical periodisation, but about forms of representation, practice and values.
These forms could be passed on from the period between colonial rule and independence.
Postcolonialism is never a clear category of historical periods or dates. (McLeod 5).
4
Chris Patten is the last governor of colonial Hong Kong between 1992 and 1997.
12
Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. But he made this autonomy more
than his personal prerogative. He entrusted a great deal of the management
of relations with Beijing to his team of Hong Kong civil servants
(Goodstadt 87).
Indirect rule and the recruitment of the business elite into the political
system helped to minimise the conflict between the Chinese identity of the
local population and the alien character of its colonial rulers. But co-option
of the elite offered the colonial administration a further advantage. The
previous chapter explained how expatriate officials suffered from a
pervasive insecurity about the Chinese population fuelled by a profound
ignorance about its attitudes and aspirations. By acting as intermediaries for
the expatriates, the co-opted elite formed a boundary between the colonial
rulers and the Chinese community to keep the menacing majority at a safe
distance. Expatriate officials valued this reassuring barrier and were anxious
to retain it. The colonial administration fought hard to present the
13
1.4.2
Chinese were securing positions in order to survive during the colonial era.
Carroll describes his project:
the coloniser makes use of Chinese elites to indirectly manage rural areas, and
later incorporate them in governments administration as a way to reduce
oppositional voices towards its planned development. John Carroll further argues
that
I explore the fissures in British colonial rule that left room for local Chinese
elites. The gulf between government and governed, the governments failure
to provide adequate medical facilities for its Chinese subjects, and its ability
to provide a secure business environment that helped Chinese merchants
obtain recognition by providing services to the local Chinese population and
the government. Similarly, organizing festivities in honor of British royalty
and contributing to British imperial and war funds helped the same
merchants gain status from the colonial government. Colonies were not just
about exploitation; they were also about how people learned to work within
the cracks (ibid 9-10).
collaboration are not addressed in Carrolls analysis. I want to argue that colonial
dominance is very sophisticated, and these processes are only apparent through a
careful reading of events and practices. I will provide a more complex
understanding of hegemony through considering the Indian postcolonial scholar
Ranajit Guhas Dominance without Hegemony. I will offer Guhas insights in
Section 1.4.7 because his idea is useful to counter the arguments of other
scholars that I will introduce in the following sections.
1.4.3
This book makes the theoretical and political argument that decolonisation
and deimperialisation could not have unfolded until the emergence of an era
of globalisation. By decolonisation, I do not simply mean modes of
anticolonialism that are expressed mainly through the building of a
sovereign nation-state. Instead, decolonisation is the attempt of the
previously colonised to reflectively work out a historical relation with the
former coloniser, culturally, politically, and economically. This can be a
17
and historical forces, transforms its internal formation on the other hand,
and articulates the local to world history and the structure of global capital
on the other (ibid 65).
1.4.4
19
I describe this story as a myth not simply because I think that in many
important ways it is wrong, or at least inadequate, but also because it has a
mythical quality in the more positive sense: a narrative that effects
identification within the community that takes it seriously, endorsing shared
interests and confirming the given notion of order The Shek Kip Mei
story condenses, simplifies and intensifies a much more complicated history,
as do all good myths. It expresses an important truth, but the antagonist that
had to be responded to by the colonial culture hero was not a single fire, but
a whole series of large squatter fires that plagued Hong Kong throughout
the 1950s (Alan Smart 2).
research:
21
1.4.5
granted.
Guhas
understanding of
1.4.6
Thus far I have considered the way Chen Kuan Hsing underscores the need
for developing a historical perspective on decolonisation, and Alan Smarts
emphasis on concrete historical structure and how to use historical evidence to
explain practices that have been imposed on local people. I will further elaborate
the combination of cultural and historical perspectives in the work of Law Wing
Sang, a Hong Kong postcolonial and cultural studies scholar. Law argues that
collaboration is a key to finding an extended analytical framework for power
formations in Hong Kong. He advances a methodology for studying coloniality
by combining history and culture together to form an integrated historical
cultural study of colonial power which is able to further elaborate Chens
historical analysis of coloniality. Law suggests,
[t]o reject historicism, the binary schema in colonial study as well as the
25
Law stresses the importance of combining situated local culture and history
together to understand colonial logic. He rejects grand narratives and universal
arguments of historicism that reductively explain how Hong Kong transformed
from a small village to a metropolitan city. A re-examination of colonial power
can make the blind spots of previous scholarship evident, and offer a new
perspective to analyse the society. Local people, instead of having a passive role
in merely receiving the governments rule, have in fact challenged the rulers and
resisted the injustice that the government created. My research will adopt his
approach of integrated historical cultural study of colonial power to decentre
and disclose the colonial perspective on controlling the city.
China Mail was one of the leading English Hong Kong newspapers.
Panku was a new cultural magazine launched by a group of young writers and artists. They not
only focused the new magazine on cultural and political criticism, but also organised activities
among its readers by pushing the Campaign for Lifestyle Innovation. Their motto was Lets live
more like Chinese. They grouped together a number of college professors, artists, poets,
7
26
musicians, doctors, and journalists who were to design a whole new set of Chinese customs (Law
Wing Sang 142).
8
Frederick Lugard was appointed as Governor of Hong Kong between 1907 and 1912. He
established the University of Hong Kong in 1911 and became the first Chancellor.
27
glaring error not to consider how they bore the colonial imprints. For it is in
this early phase that we see how the development of an autonomous
bourgeoisie, like it happened in Europe, was both facilitated and thwarted in
Hong Kong because Hong Kongs development of collaborative power was
premised precisely on a colonial milieu. To get to the collaborative as well
as to the colonial nature of the power formation, I would argue, is the key
approach by which we can understand Hong Kongs political culture then
and now (ibid 29).
1.4.7
Many scholars, such as John Carroll and Law Wing Sang, explain
coloniality in Hong Kong in terms of collaboration between British colonisers
and Chinese elites. It is understandable because texts and materials produced by
the upper class are relatively easy to collect. It seems the closer to the centre of
decision making, the easier it is to collect information, which is reflected by the
fact that most historiography serves colonisers. However, coloniality not only
exists in the collaboration between the elites who affect decision making, but is
also embedded in daily life and institutional practices. As well, coloniality can
continue to exist in the post-colonial era if a decolonisation process has yet to
take place. Studying colonisers and the people around them, without paying
much attention to quotidian culture, might result in researchers entering into a
mentality that is deeply implanted in the colonial system. Collaboration does not
offer an explanation as to why common people accept and adopt the mentality
that may contradict their interests or accept situations which offer them little
benefit. Unlike what Carroll argues (as explained in Section 1.4.2), I would
counter-propose that coloniality exists within a hegemony in society, but we can
28
Figure 1.1
notion of the greater good, often couched in terms of social order, stability and
advancement, all of which are defined by the colonising power. Hegemony is
important because the capacity to influence the thought of the colonised is by far
the most sustained and potent operation of imperial power in colonised regions.
Indeed, an empire is distinct from a collection of subject states forcibly
controlled by a central power by virtue of the effectiveness of its cultural
hegemony (Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin a 95).
[p]ower simply stood for a series of inequalities between the rulers and the
ruled as well as between classes, strata, and individuals. These unequal
relationships may all be said to have derived from a general relation
that of Dominance (D) and Subordination (S). It permits us to conceptualise
the historical articulation of power in colonial India in all its institutional,
modal, and discursive aspects as the interaction of these two terms as D/S
in short (Figure 1.1) While these two terms (D and S), in their interaction,
give power its substance and form, each of them, in its own turn, is
determined and indeed constituted by a pair of interacting elements
31
Domination (D) by Coercion (C) and Persuasion (P), and Subordination (S)
by Collaboration (C*) and Resistance (R). However, the relation between
the terms of each of the constitutive pairs is not quite the same as that
between the terms of the parent pair. D and S imply each other just as do C
and P on the one hand, and C* and R on the other. But while D and S imply
each other logically and the implication applies to all cases where an
authority structure can be legitimately defined in those terms, the same is
not true of the other dyads. There the terms imply each other contingently.
In other words, the mutual implication of D and S has a universal validity
for all power relations informed by them, whereas that of C and P or of C*
and R is true only under given conditions (ibid 21).
colonial government, instead of using forceful means to resume land (the use of
coercion (C)), the coloniser instead collaborated with rural elites (C*) by giving
them material and non-material rewards so that they help the colonial
government to acquire land from small landowners (P). Although small
landowners and tenants raised sporadic resistance (R), since they were not
powerful enough to sustain it and faced the great power of the elites, the
resistance remained on a small scale. Therefore, the colonial government
deliberately used persuasion as a tactic to dominate the society, rather than using
coercion (C). Or it uses a combination of both, with coercion outsourced in some
cases to the collaborative local elite and their subsidiaries. This was done
because people accepted the dominant ideology of the general need for
development in Hong Kong and thus, offered less resistance (R), because they
were already unconsciously in agreement with the colonial position. In a later
section I will make frequent reference to the example of flower farm land
expropriation as an example of how a developmental logic has had a great
impact on society. This logic is not limited to discussing the Hong Kong flower
industry, but is applicable to other colonial practices which are presented as a
supposed benefit to society as a whole. These examples are used to demonstrate
how coloniality is embedded in power formations.
33
1.5
should be aware of the mentality that is entrenched in daily life, and in the
context of my research, I will argue that this mentality is a colonial mentality.
Fredric Jameson, a Marxist scholar, argues that all ideologies have strategies of
containment which allow society to provide an explanation of itself that
suppresses the underlying contradictions of history and society (Hornes 268). A
function of ideology is to repress social and cultural change. Jamesons
theoretical framework allows us to understand our unconscious. His opening
statement in The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act is
Always historicise! In this Jameson suggests,
as the traditional dialectic teaches us, the historicizing can follow two
distinct paths, which only ultimately meet in the same place: the path of the
object and the path of the subject, the historical origins of the things
themselves and that more intangible historicity of the concepts and
categories by which we attempt to understand those things. In the area of
culture, which is the central field of the present book, we are thus
confronted with a choice between study of the nature of the objective
structures of a given cultural text (the historicity of its forms and of its
content, the historical moment of emergence of its linguistic possibilities,
the siltation-specific function of its aesthetic) and something rather different
which would instead foreground the interpretive categories or codes through
which we read and receive the text in question. For better or for worse, it is
34
this second path 9 we have chosen to follow here: The Political Unconscious
accordingly turns on the dynamics of the act of interpretation and
presupposes, as its organisational fiction, that we never really confront a
text immediately, in all its freshness as a thing-in-itself (Jameson ix).
To change the world and to maintain it in its current state has indeed been
the dual functions of liberal historiography performed on behalf of the class
for which it speaks. A bourgeois discourse par excellence, it helped the
bourgeoisie to change or at least significantly to modify the world according
to its class interests in the period of its ascendancy, and since then to
consolidate and perpetuate its dominance. As such, this historiography may
be said not only to share, but actively to propagate, all the fundamental
ideas by which the bourgeoisie represents and explains the world both as it
is and as it was. The function of this complicity is, in short, to make liberal
historiography speak from within the bourgeois consciousness itself (Guha
a 7).
1.6
Subaltern Studies
In order to offer a structural and sophisticated understanding of ordinary
40
10
11
local culture and to stay away from the traditional, well-accepted views of the
colonial administration and education, and can help facilitate a true
decolonisation process. Postcolonialism, as described by Derek Gregory, is:
part of this optical shift. Its commitment to a future free of colonial power
and disposition is sustained in part by a critique of the continuities between
the colonial past and the colonial present. While they may be displaced,
distorted, and (most often) denied, the capacities that inhere within the
colonial past are routinely reaffirmed and reactivated in the colonial
present (Gregory 7).
43
1.6.1
44
subalterns into. Spivak uses a story (Devis story 12) to show how the ruling
classes react to the realisation that they are responsible for the plight of the
subaltern classes by mis-representation, denial, disavowal and retaliation.
Spivak concludes that the subaltern cannot speak and the dominant narratives
could never be written from the subalterns point of view (ibid). In other words,
Spivaks understanding of the subaltern implies that the dominant always
obtains power and has the last say over the interpretations and actions of the
subalterns. Thus, subalterns actual expressions are always already distorted
when understood by those holding positions of dominant power. In fact, it is
often found that the dispossessed people have voiced their opinions in public,
but their advice has been muted or distorted as it enters into public discourse,
such as in the official documents and the mass media. This thesis digs out the
dispossessed figures ignored by official discourse, such as flower hawkers,
flower traders and flower cultivators. The denial of subaltern peoples voice,
even in the post-1997 era, is a continuation of colonialism because a decolonised
government would listen sincerely to different classes of people and respond to
their demands, and balance the viewpoint of different classes in society. This
situation of muting and distorting subaltern voices happened in the request of a
permanent flower market by the flower traders (Section 4.9 and 4.18) and the
projection of the future of heritage preservation and revitalisation in the flower
market (Section 5.7).
12
Spivak suggested a case written about by the fiction of the writer Mahasweta Devi, who treads
new ground by raising the same question in the postcolonial perspective, that is in the period
after Indias political independence. Devis subaltern represents the people who have remained
untouched by western education. However, they are affected by it. Western beliefs and ideas on
what is good or bad, what is acceptable, what is not, and what is desirable and what is
undesirable is forced on Devis subaltern subjects without their consent. This forced subjugation
to western civilisation is met with constant resistance by the characters in Devis stories. Devi
insists that the stories are completely true.
45
1.6.2
class can choose to become the intermediaries of the colonial ruling class, who
help to create consensus among the colonised in favour of colonial policies that
can in fact put them at a disadvantage. Thus, in Guhas terms, there are
gradations of power among both the subalterns and the ruling class, and the
subaltern class in his terminology can sometimes refer to the relatively more
powerful elite among the colonised, who can choose to stand on the side of the
coloniser or of the colonised depending on different calculations, and is a very
slippery power player in Guhas analysis. By studying this flip-flop class of
relative elites among the subalterns, Guha is able to outline how colonial rule is
localised / embedded into the cultural, socio-economic and political operational
logic and institutions of the colonised. Guhas theorisation of the concepts of
elites and the subaltern can be used to explain the complex layers of postcolonial
power dynamics. Since I will borrow Guhas idea as my major theoretical
discussion, I will leave his idea for a while and discuss it in greater detail in
Section 1.10.
1.7
Why does Nietzsche challenge the pursuit of the origin First, because it
is an attempt to capture the exact essence of things, their purest possibilities,
and their carefully protected identities; because this search assumes the
existence of immobile forms that precede the external world of accident and
succession if the genealogist refuses to extend his faith in metaphysics, if
he listens to history, he finds that there is something altogether different
behind things: not a timeless and essential secret, but the secret that they
49
A few years ago, historians were very proud to discover that they could
write not only the history of battles, of kings and institutions but also of the
economy; now they are all amazed because the shrewdest among them have
learned that it was also possible to write the history of feelings, behaviour
and the body. Soon, they will understand that the history of the West cannot
be dissociated from the way its truth is produced and produces its effects
(Foucault 112 quoted in Barret 133).
the origin is of little meaning. At the same time, Foucault argues that historians
are now more aware of writing the history of feelings, behaviour and the body,
which implies an expanded notion of history, but they must understand history in
terms of the relation between truth and power. This understanding implies that
Foucault believes that historiography should not only serve the powerful leaders,
but should in fact undermine dominant power and open to the experience of
ordinary people. On a more practical level, the search for origins is more or less
impossible because of the lack of documentation, especially for quotidian culture
outside of eurocentric governance, such as the flower market and industry. In
this sense, my research draws upon Foucaults ideas of not tracing the origin,
and to return subjectivity to ordinary people in historiography. In my case
studies, I study the genealogy of ordinary people in relation to Hong Kongs
flower industry.
1.8
51
52
2. The tendency which, over a long period and throughout the West, has
steadily led towards the pre-eminence over all other forms (sovereignty,
discipline, etcetera.) of this type of power which may be termed
government, resulting, on the one hand, in the formation of a whole
series of specific governmental apparatuses, and, on the other, in the
development of a whole complex of saviors.
3. The process, or rather the result of the process, through which the state
of justice of the Middle Ages, transformed into the administrative state
during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, gradually becomes
governmentalised (Foucault a 102-103).
1.9
Subaltern Historiography
Subaltern historiography is a methodology of rediscovery of embedded
colonial power that provides an analytical tool and points of intervention for this
research so that I can deconstruct elite discourses. This method aims at rectifying
elite bias and investigating the framework of subaltern politics. In particular,
subaltern historiography helps to recover the experience, the distinctive cultures,
traditions, and identities of subaltern groups in a large span of settings, cultures
and practices which have been lost or hidden by the action of elite historiography.
In my studies, I will further explain the subaltern history of the Mong Kok
Flower Market in Section 2.9. The subaltern studies project is against the
universalist historiography produced by the elites. The history of ordinary people
is obscured in this discourse because of the partial and inadequate understanding
of elite historiography (OHanlon 78-79). Therefore, another part of my thesis is
to challenge the elitist conception and practice of history, and to explain what the
subaltern reading of a place could be. In particular, I want to show how heritage
preservation can be a process by which to discover the value of a place and
enable different stakeholders to share stories. However, in my case study of the
heritage preservation in the flower market a wholesale and retail hub
supplying cut-flowers, potted plants and other flower-related accessories I
will show blindspots in the official history described in the official heritage
preservation report and rediscover the value of the Mong Kok Flower Market
through a subaltern historiography.
54
However, the case might not be as clear as it seems. The Mong Kok Flower
Market is a district not totally dedicated to the trading of flowers; florists rent or
buy premises on the ground floor of residential buildings (usually 15 floors).
There is a micro-politics at work everyday between the hawker control officers
and the florists because residents complain that the flower traders obstruct the
street and create a nuisance. There are a series of present day issues affecting the
florists, and they generally do not realise that their situation has not much
improved since the days of hawking in the street. If florists, residents and the
government understood the market history better, a more favourable
transformation of the flower industry could be possible. It would also allow the
florists to have a stronger agency to fight for their benefits since the subaltern
history of the flower market recognises ordinary peoples efforts in contributing
to this vibrant industry in which they have contributed to for so many years.
They might have a better understanding of the governments mentality, and
perhaps from this have a better chance of winning the negotiation for a
permanent wholesale flower market (More details will be given in Chapter 2 and
4).
The situation of the florists might be seen lying within minority histories,
as coined by Dipesh Chakrabarty, a Bengali historian who has contributed to the
discourse of postcolonial theory and subaltern studies. He explains that the
meaning of subaltern as used by the Subaltern Studies Group was first
introduced in the 1960s to describe former slaves, working classes, convicts and
women; while the meaning of this word expanded in the 1970s and 1980s to
describe ethnic groups, indigenous peoples, children, the old and gays and
lesbians (Chakrabarty a 141). According to Chakrabarty,
55
[s]ometimes, you can be a larger group than the dominant one, but your
history could still qualify as minor/minority history. The problem of
minority histories 13 thus leads us to the question of what may be called
the minor-ity of some particular pasts, i.e. constructions and experiences
of the past that stay minor in the sense that their very incorporation into
historical narratives converts them into pasts of lesser importance vis--vis
dominant understandings of what constitutes fact and evidence in the
practices of professional history. Such minor pasts are those experiences
of the past which have to be always assigned as inferior or marginal
position as they are translated back into the historians language, that is to
say, as they are translated back into the phenomenal world of the historian
(ibid 146).
Dipesh Chakrabartys use of minor is different from Deleuze and Guattaris use of the term
in their interpretation on Kafka, which they take to mean a critique of narriatives of identity
and refuses to represent the attainment of autonomous subjectivity that is the ultimate aim of the
major narrative. The minor, according to Chakrabarty, is to cast doubt on the major. It
describes relationships to the past that the rationality of the historians methods necessarily
makes minor or inferior, as something nonrational in the course of, and as a result of, its
own operation. And yet these relations return, he argues, as an implicit element of the conditions
that make it possible for us to historicise (Chakrabarty b 101).
56
[t]hey are marginalised not because of any conscious intentions but because
they represent moments or points at which archive that the historian mines
develops a degree of intractability with respect to the aims of professional
history. In other words, these are pasts that resist historicisation, just as
there may be moments in ethnographic research that resist the doing of
ethnography (Chakrabarty b 101).
history that allows people to question the widely accepted version of history and
to treat minor history as a way to understand society through another
perspective.
1.10
My Theoretical Approach
My thesis adopts the work of two subaltern studies scholars, Ranajit Guha
and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and their idea of the subaltern to explain power
formation and power dynamics in the transformation of flower cultivation and
the Mong Kok Flower Market in Hong Kong. I will investigate how coloniality
forced or infused to shape the flower industrys historic and cultural background.
I will adopt the following model to explain how coloniality is manifested and
materialised in the well-accepted values active in daily life which have become
58
normalised and legitimised (Figure 1.2). The government turns injustice into
executive protocols, bureaucratic practices and laws that form governmental and
semi-governmental organisations. My case studies are related to land policy,
hawker control policy and the heritage preservation policy that shapes Hong
Kongs flower industry.
Figure 1.2.
59
14
I will give a brief description of the Lee Tung Street, Star Ferry and Queens Pier movements
in Section 5.5.
61
At the same time, impact of elites on the government has been well
considered by Goodstadt who argues that the business and professional elites
have had a significant impact on the colonial government. He explains:
In other words, the major force that keeps Hong Kong society stable is
having the indigenous group of business elites and professionals join the
governing elite. However, Goodstadt might have ignored the importance of the
rural gentry that stabilised the NT from the influence of older colonial rulers;
though, according to Ambrose King, the top rural gentry could be categorised as
62
At the regional and local levels they (the elites) represented such classes
and other elements as were either members of the dominant all-India groups
included in the previous category or if belonging to social strata
hierarchically inferior to those of the dominant all-India groups still acted in
the interests of the latter and not in conformity to interests corresponding
truly to their own social being (Guha b 44).
In other words, the regional and local levels elites, though their social strata
are relatively low, act according to their own interest but not in the interests of
their social class.
traders from the flower market, and different categories of indigenous inhabitants
in the rural areas. To help map the power relations among all these groups, I have
created a diagram (Figure 1.2). A triangular shape is used, in which the higher
the place in the hierarchy, the more powerful and elite are the groups. In some
cases, it is in relation to the lower sections of the hierarchy, with the larger the
population base. The bottom layer represents the truly dispossessed subaltern
people in Spivaks sense. In my handling of these concepts, Spivaks description
of subaltern is meant to supplement Guhas analysis of the coloniser and the
local elites.
64
1.11
I have organised this thesis according to the different functions of the flower
industry that occurred mainly from the 1950s until present day. I will offer a
historical background prior to the 1950s, but the main focus is after this point
because this period has more significance for the issues in the flower industry.
In the next chapter, I will put the remainder of the thesis into a broader
context by discussing the culture of flowers in Hong Kong, and I will give a
subaltern historiography of the Mong Kok Flower Market. Understanding Hong
Kongs flower culture illustrates the importance of the flower industry in Hong
Kong a place mixed with Chinese traditional usage and the more recent
emergence of Western flower usage. Subaltern historiography allows readers to
understand the local history and mundane life of ordinary people. This section
paves the way for understanding the short-comings and absences of the official
history described by the government.
In Chapter 3, I then proceed to discuss the rise and fall of flower cultivation
in the NT. A large influx of immigrants caused a drastic shift from traditional rice
cultivation to vegetable and flower cultivation. However, because of the drive for
economic progress, the government expropriated farmland. I want to reveal how
and why local flower cultivators survive in Hong Kong despite mainstream Hong
Kongs claim of the lack of land and thus, having inadequate land to allow
agriculture, a low economic return activity to survive. I will argue that this is a
reductive discourse. Some colonial government officials are pro-development,
but some officials actually tried to protect village life and argued otherwise.
65
1.12
Methodology
67
15
Appendix 1 is an interview list. I list out the details of each interview, including a pseudonym,
sex, occupation, brief background and date of interview of every interviewee.
68
I read historical documents held in the Hong Kong Public Records Office
that addressed agriculture and the flower market to collect evidence about
interaction. I analysed the corresponding letters between different colonisers in
the government. Biographies of various colonial officials, such as James Hayes
and Austin Coates were analysed to investigate colonial mentality. Books,
journal articles, unpublished theses and newspaper articles on the NT, the UC
and the URA are studied in y research. I used these methods because colonial
mentality could hardly be maintained in first hand information.
After collecting all the information, I did transcription or summary for the
interview so that I could reflect on interviewees content in detail. Tones, paces
and hiccups allow me to understand their concerns and hesitation to a greater
extent. In particular, ordinary people are often not very articulate. Patience is
needed to infer from the entire context the subalterns understanding of their
69
current and past situation, their memories of flower market history and their
imaginations on the future of this place.
1.13
70
71
CHAPTER 2
THE FLOWER INDUSTRY AND
THE FLOWER MARKET
Flower market is located at the playground of Boundary Street opposite to Creative
Kindergarten (). It is called Fa Hui Park () locally. There were no
flower shops here in Flower Market Road in the past. People here suddenly become rich
when flower shops start to cluster here. (Person C)
2.1
Chapter Introduction
This chapter mainly addresses the flower culture of Hong Kong, and
72
2.2
For example, Ikebana - a Japanese floral art unveils eternity by being thoroughly temporal.
It arises not out of the will to live, or the desire for the permanency of soul, or the false
immortality of progeny or reputation. Stripped down to its essential nature, it just is, but what it is,
is a creative embodiment of the divine, a sacred must to be cherished but not clung to, to be
sustained but not embalmed, and above all to be delighted in right now, in this place. The flower
lives without willfulness, is expressive of its nature just as it is, and does not pretend to be
everlasting (Carter 108). There is a philosophical foundation on the Principle of Three: heaven,
the earth, and human beings. It is a depiction of the order of the cosmos, and this order is
repeated in the inner nature of a human being: the microcosm imitates the macrocosm. The
73
Flowers are luxury goods. That means you only buy flowers when you
have time, money and space. If you dont have any money, who will buy
flowers? Especially in the context of Hong Kong, the house is so small.
Even you receive a potted plant as a gift, you dont have much space to
place your plant in such a tiny space 17.
Firstly, flowers are beautiful in one sense, but arranging flower baskets and
flower bouquets, especially in large amounts within a short period of time, put
pressure on the workers. Workers work for at least 12 hours per day. They may
even work overnight during peak season, such as Valentines Day. Also, because
of the Food and Environment Hygiene Department (FEHD) officers often
(always is too extreme) charging flower traders for street obstruction in the
flower market, their business has been made even tougher due to constant
checking by the FEHD officers. More aspects of the way flowers are used in
ordinary life, which distinguishes them from flowers used as an art form, will be
examined in Chapter 4.
longest stem, or branch, represents heaven, the shortest earth, and the stem or branch of
intermediate length represents human beings. Human beings occupy a mediating position
between heaven and earth, as participants in the heavenly or formless realm and in the material or
earthly realm of forms. (ibid 111).
17
Interview with Person C, 5/10/2010.
74
2.3
floriculture as the focus of their investigations. One of the most important works
is by Jack Goody, The Culture of Flowers. His exhaustive anthropological study
explores the meanings attached to flowers in cultures in various countries, such
as in Western Europe, America, Africa and China. He attempted to map out
culture areas with an emphasis on broadly different uses of flowers, rising
above the local characteristics of individual cultures (Goody 427). Another
similar attempt was made by another scholar Elizabeth Hyde Cultivated Power:
Flowers, Culture, and Politics in the Reign of Louis XIV. Hyde explores the
social and cultural context of flowers within early modern French culture. In the
reign of Louis XIV, flowers were incorporated into French formal gardens. Hyde
attempted to use flowers to explain nature, gender, art and politics in early
modern culture in France (Hyde xvii). Under this context, flowers are not only
about nature. Flowers are also part of culture since they have been brought under
cultivation by mankind and also they are broadly used in different social
practices, such as for decoration, for medicine, in cooking and for their scents;
but they also link with establishing, maintaining and even ending relationships,
from the living to the dead (Goody 2). China has a long tradition of flower
appreciation. Scholars and government officials enjoyed praising flowers and
had written much poetry in order to imply all sorts of ideas and sentiments (ibid
355-360 18). Some of them had even written more than a hundred poems for the
18
For example, Jack Goody quotes one of the earliest poems on the flower itself was composed
by the Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet Wang Wei:
The deep green foliage is quiet and reposeful,
The petals are clad in various shades of red;
The pistil drops with melancholy
Wondering if spring knows her intimate thoughts (Goody 356).
75
19
Choi Sung Hei, the thesis author, refers to Song Dynasty as Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127)
and Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).
76
Before explaining the rich cultural meaning of flowers and how they relate
to everyday habits, it has to be noted, contrary to my findings, that florists view
flowers as a commercial good without much appreciation for their cultural
meanings. According to my semi-structured interviews and informal chats with
florists who run flower shops, they believe that flowers are luxury goods and
not essential. The flower industry undergoes keen competition because flowers
of one shop and others are similar. Cultural meanings of flowers, for
businessmen, are not very important because businessmen treat the goods mainly
as commodities that they could make a living. Nonetheless flowers are full of
cultural meanings. Flowers are used in celebrating the opening of a business, or
even to celebrate the success of entertainment shows. Companies rent flowers to
decorate their offices. Hotels use flowers to decorate lobbies and even rooms to
make a luxurious impression.
77
Types
Examples
Floral Art
Flower arrangement
Culture
Religious / Ritual
Gardening
Flower cultivation
Arboriculture
Cultivation of
Chrysanthemum
Gladiolus
Peach blossom
Potted plants
(e.g. poinsettia, African violets, lucky bamboo)
Table 1.
Agriculture
From the table above, we can see that people use flowers widely in different
occasions, from various high culture occasions, such as in floral art, to festival
and religious use, decoration, and finally to greenery. Flowers, seemingly
unimportant or restricted to the domain of luxury goods, actually appear widely
in our daily life.
78
2.4
79
Nowadays, Hong Kong people still observe traditional CNY and Ching
Ming Festival, but pay increasing attention to a list of non-religious observances
and gift days. Mothers Day and Valentines Day grew in popularity. Floral gifts
confirm a gendered role such as mother, wife, secretary, or hostess and signal a
feminine aspect of identity such as sensitivity, creativity or desirability
(Ziegler 202). When these gifts are visibly consumed, it is a kind of information
communication about the giver and the receiver including social relation,
location and roles, group membership, taste and identity. The use of flowers as a
gift is increasing in Hong Kong, as other floral practices have declined
especially religious observations such as Ching Ming Festival, Chung Yeung
Festival and extended funeral rites.
During the same period, local farmers steadily disappeared since the 1980s.
Flower wholesalers throughout Hong Kong increasingly source flowers from
growers in China (Chu), Taiwan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan
etcetera., or invest in the mainland and other countries to establish flower
production in areas at cheaper cost. Globalisation of investment keeps production
cost at a minimum. For instance, Riyi Orchid Company Ltd. is a Hong
Kong-based company that collaborates with a Japanese company for technology
research and set a production area in Fujian Province in China (Wang). It implies
that the business scale of flower industry is increasing and it is becoming an
economic good. Peak sales in the retail florist business occur during the holidays.
The major sales periods occur during the holidays of CNY, Valentines Day,
Mothers Day, and Christmas in Hong Kong. During the holidays, retail florists
do the largest volume of business in a very short time. As is common in the retail
flower shop business, the florist must plan well and work long hours. The
80
industry depends heavily upon these peak sales to make up for slack periods
occurring particularly during the summer months (Griner 191).
Festival
Lunar Dates
Western Dates
Date in 2012
23 January
Valentines Day
14 February
14 February
th
4 April
Mothers Day
6 May
23 October
Christmas
25 December
Table 2.
2.4.1
25 December
CNY Year is the most important festival for flower consumption (Figure
2.1). According to Chinese tradition, there is a blessing called flowers, blossoms,
prosperity (). It means that when flowers bloom, prosperity will
occur (Goody 392). Flowers such as peach blossom, chrysanthemums, gladiolus
and tangerines are popular. People are willing to consume flowers during this
festival and therefore, around three months before Chinese festival 20, farmers
grow a lot of flowers even though they usually grow vegetables in order to earn
more money. Orchids have recently become a New Year favourite. Customers
like orchids because of their elegance and the way they signify good taste.
Orchids are a hardy plant which can last for months, and costs have been
decreased from hundreds of dollars a few years ago to one hundred dollars or
20
even less nowadays (DeWolf). An orchid can stay alive without watering for ten
days. Therefore it is also popular because people might travel during the New
Year holiday (Under the Sun).
Some florists choose to sell flowers at the Lunar New Year fair ()
in wet goods stalls five days before the Lunar New Year 21. This is a periodic
market which consists of wet goods stalls, dried goods stalls and fast food stalls.
The Chinese believe that buying flowers for the CNY can bring good luck. For
instance, peony is a metaphor of fortune and the mandarin has a symbolic
meaning of auspiciousness (Lam Wai Ping 27). There are fourteen fair stalls in
Hong Kong in total 22. The Lunar New Year fair stall in Fa Hui Park is the largest
one in the Kowloon district, and also the nearest to the Mong Kok Flower
Market. Flower traders are also the local flower cultivators. However, flower
cultivators running business in Lunar New Year Fairs will not be examined in
this thesis as my focus is solely on the flower traders and flower cultivators
selling flowers in the vicinity of the Mong Kok Flower Market.
21
After tuan nian fan (, family reunion dinner the day before CNY), people begin their
festive entertainments in order to pass time because it has been traditionally practiced that people
should not sleep during CNYs Eve and this act of passing a sleepless night is known shou sui
(). It has been a popular practice in Hong Kong that people will go to the cinema for special
mid-night screenings or the flower market (nian xiao shi chang ) during this night,
which is a temporary carnival-like market that is opened before the New Years Eve and closes
before the dawn of the New Years Day. In this market, many stalls are set up selling New
Year-related commodities like festive flowers (nian hua ), clothes, toys and home
decorations (Law Yuk Wa 21).
22
The fourteen Lunar New Year Fairs are located at Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, Fa Hui Park,
Sham Shui Po, Morse Park, Wong Tai Sin, Hong Ning Road Recreation Ground, Kwun Tong,
Kwai Chung Sports Ground, Kwai Tsing, Sha Tsui Road Playground, Tuen Mun, Tung Tau
Industrial Area Playground, Yuen Long, Shek Wu Hui Playground, North District, Tin Hau
Temple Fung Shui Square, Tai Po, Yuen Wo Playground, Sha Tin, Man Yee Playground, Sai
Kung and Po Hong Park, Tseung Kwan O (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Food and
Environmental Hygiene Department).
82
Figure 2.1.
2.4.2
flowers for their ancestors, such as chrysanthemums and carnations (Cheung Wai
Lung 158). People believe that chrysanthemums will stave off disaster and help
strengthen the body. Drinking chrysanthemum wine is a Chinese tradition. Tao
Yuan Ming, a famous Tang dynasty 23 poet, loved chrysanthemums deeply, and
the flower has become a unique symbol of the upright character and the hermit in
Chinese culture (Huang 89). Chrysanthemums, especially white, yellow and
purple ones, are also seen as the flower to remember ancestors.
Another similar festival is the Chung Yeung Festival which also involves
visiting ancestors graves. Nonetheless, as compared to Ching Ming Festival,
less people visit graves because this festival is conventionally a custom in which
people climb up the mountains to escape from evils and illness (Huang cited in
Cheung Wai Lung 32). Since trips to graves are less common, flowers are not
consumed as often.
At the same time, according to the Chinese lunar year calendar, the first and
the fifteenth day of each month are dedicated to religious rituals in the memory
of ancestors. Some people will also buy chrysanthemums and gladiolus for
religious rituals. These are colloquially know as shen tai hua () which
refers to the flowers place on the household shrine. This practice still continues
in contemporary society. Flower shops, mainly located in wet markets 24, cater to
the needs of traditional religious rites.
23
24
2.4.3
Valentines Day
Several theories attempt to explain the origin of Valentines Day. Some authorities trace the
origin to Lupercalia, an ancient Roman festival and feast connected with fertility rites held on 15
February. Others connect the events with one or more saints of the early Christian church, one of
whom was named Valentine. According to legend, he was imprisoned because he refused to
worship the gods of the Romans. He had made friends with many children who missed their
friend and expressed their love by tossing notes through the bars of his cell window. Another
theory believed by many is linked to an old English legend that says birds choose their mates on
14 February.
85
until well into the 1930s. Roses were desired, too, but their cultivation required
more costly heat and light. Production lagged behind demand in the early
twentieth century. Substantial growth in this flower holiday came in the 1980s
and 1990s with increased flower imports, declining prices, and the greater
visibility of flowers on streets.
In Hong Kong, bunches of flowers are available from flower shops and big
supermarkets, where bouquets of a dozen red roses are offered. Red roses are the
major gift to express love. Depending on the scale of a flower shop, large-scale
flower shops usually start preparing hundreds of bouquets in their workshops one
week before 14 February. Workers are divided into many procedures, such as
cutting flower stems, cutting thorns on roses, arranging flowers into bunches,
wrapping ribbons and other accessories (Figure 2.2).
Figure 2.2.
86
such as flowers with a teddy bear toy or a box of chocolate (Figure 2.3).
Customers might order flowers for delivery to their lovers office, in which van
delivery is needed. Delivery might also go to restaurants in the evening so that
customers could display the flowers when they are having dinner. Customers
might also pick up flowers by themselves. As roses are in an extremely high
demand during Valentines Day, and flower is in limited supply, flower prices
during Valentines Day are especially high. However, a lover sends flowers as a
gesture of love, regardless of costs. The roses sold in Hong Kong are imported
from mainland China or from Ecuador 26 in Latin America.
Although most of the time flowers are treated as a gift between lovers,
occasionally sons and daughters will send flowers to their mothers as gratitude
for their mothers love.
Figure 2.3.
26
Ecuador has roughly eight thousand acres under the production of cut flowers. Ecuador
exports 71 percent to the United States. The remainder are shipped to the rest of the world.
Three-fourths of Ecuadors production is in roses. Ecuador has the advantage of being a more
stable country in terms of its economy and safety when compared with Colombia, which is the
largest Latin American market and notoriously associated with drug smuggling (Stewart 143).
87
Roses are the most common symbol of love not only on Valentines Day,
but also during ordinary days when lovers show their affections for each other.
Some people observe specific meanings with respect to the number of roses.
There are also meanings hidden in the number of roses exchanged between
people. Some of these meanings have been derived from visual pleasure, while
some have caught on from popular stories and myths. For example, one rose
represents love at first sight and utmost devotion to a single person
(Meanings of the). Nonetheless, Person G who runs a flower shop in a wet
market tells me that those meanings are arbitrary and do not correspond to a
fixed set of meanings 27.
2.4.4
Mothers Day
88
2.4.5
Christmas
29
Christmas Day, 25 December, was probably influenced by early pagan festivals and adapted
from the Roman calendar in the fourth century. The word Christmas comes from the early
English phrase Cristes maesse meaning mass of Christ. The Christmas celebration centres on
the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ as told in the New Testament. For many
Christians, the Christmas season begins on the Sunday nearest 30 November, marking the first
day of Advent, which refers to the coming of Jesus on Christmas Day.
30
Preserved flower wreaths were made through careful dried flower and foliage. They are
individually then tied to the arrangements. With good care preserved flowers could last for years.
89
Figure 2.4.
2.5
discuss flower meanings in weddings and funerals because most people observe
these events at some point in their life. Other cultural meanings of flowers that I
will not discuss include the celebration of graduation and get-well gifts for the
sick. I will not discuss these flower usages because not all people observe these
practices in Hong Kong. Also, I will not discuss the use of flowers in opening
ceremonies of new enterprises, or even to celebrate the success of entertainment
shows because these experiences are not common practice for most people.
2.5.1
Weddings
Weddings, for most people, are the biggest day of ones life. A wedding is a
joyous occasion and a time to celebrate, and flowers are a particularly lovely way
to help create a beautiful setting for the perfect day (Monckton 7) and to increase
90
the enjoyment of the participants (ibid 15). Especially before 1980s, flowers
played a small part in traditional Chinese marriages in Hong Kong. Flower
decorations did not appear on tables, and only the groom had a red rose in his
lapel while the bride wore red and carried a bridal bouquet of gladiolus.
Currently, flowers are widely used in weddings. The usage is mainly divided into
bridal bouquets and venue decoration, especially wedding banquets held in
hotels and restaurants (Figure 2.5). Because of the increase in demand of flower
arrangement for weddings, various interviewees, who run flower shops ranging
from high-end to low-end, would decorate the settings. For instance, Person E, a
principle of a flower arrangement school, explains that there is a great demand of
flower arrangement because of an increasing usage of flowers in weddings and
banquets 31 . Most of her students are recruited to help in wedding banquet
decoration even before they finish her course. At the same time, wedding
planning is more popular in Hong Kong because Hong Kong follows both the
Chinese and Western traditions and rituals 32. According to another interviewee
who is a wedding planner, flowers are very important at weddings 33. Depending
on the price range that the couple can afford, a wedding planner would hire a
flower designer to plan for the decoration in wedding ceremony and banquet.
Part of a wedding planners role is to coordinate flower arrangements and
bouquets in order to make the whole ceremony harmonious and coherence. He
shares an incident that he encountered. He says,
31
91
Figure 2.5.
92
2.5.2
Deaths
In most funerals two flower baskets are used, and between them appears a
black banner on which an appropriate couplet is written (Goody 377). Or else,
the message is written on a cardboard panel which praises the goodness of the
deceased. The relationship between the mourner and the deceased is written in
the ancient Chinese format, which is rarely used in present day Hong Kong.
Flowers, and sympathy stands become a symbol of relation and status, which is a
social and ritualistic language (Figure 2.6).
34
35
93
Figure 2.6.
Nowadays flower shops in different districts and even the online ones
receive orders of funeral flower basket. Competition in the flower industry
is very keen. Besides, the running cost is getting higher. In the past, when
we received HK$300 to make a flower basket, HK$100 was the cost of
flowers, and the rest of the cost went to other operational cost and the
revenue. However, when we receive HK$300 now, the flowers alone cost
HK$200. We earn very little now. At the same time, the decline of the
94
funeral business also affects our business. Nowadays, people either choose
not to have a funeral or hold a standard small scale farewell ceremony in the
hospital. This is another obstacle in making funeral flowers when the
demand in funeral service and the demand for funeral flowers decrease.
Person K explains the difficulties in his operation because all flower shops
make flower baskets for similar purposes. It is difficult to keep a stable customer
source. Although Person Ks flower shop is adjacent to a funeral home, it does
not mean that he receives order only for the funeral services. During my
interview, he was making orders of flower basket serving other purposes as well.
The basket was for celebrating the success of a school performance. So it shows
that flower shop no longer specialises in making flower basket just for one
particular purpose.
To conclude, Section 2.4 and 2.5 examined the cultural meanings of flowers
in festivals and important dates in a persons life. I want to argue that flower
usage is embedded into everyday life in Hong Kong. Because flower usage is
common, the flower industry has expanded and demand for flowers is high. The
Mong Kok Flower Market is a hub of wholesale and retail trade. Because of a
prosperous flower business, people rely on the flower market for wholesale
trading. At the same time, retail business also grows in the flower market. As
well, flower cultivation in Hong Kong, though limited to chrysanthemums,
gladiolus, peach blossom and potted plants, has also increased because the
industry as a whole has expanded. The expansion of the flower industry also
demonstrates the transformation of Hong Kong society because it shows the
increase in strength of its economy. When people become richer, they are more
95
2.6
the flower industry. Flower market, as the official English translation of the
place, does not give enough attention to the origin of this Chinese marketplace.
This place, Fa Hui (hua xu , literally translated as flower marketplace),
means that the major goods are flowers and flower-related products. Appendix 3
is a timeline that lists out the transformation of the flower market in accordance
to chronological order. The current Mong Kok Flower Market is a mixture of
commercial and residential area, and ground shop of the residential buildings are
commercial firms specialised for flower wholesale and retail trading at the
present time. Other kind of business mixed in the market includes dancing,
music, fitness, well being, film studios and offices, private tutorial offices and
religious institutional use, which are related to ordinary peoples life. Nearly all
the ground shops in the vicinity of the flower market run flower businesses, but it
was not the case in the past. The market runs in a form of wholesale and retail
business with 105 flower shops. Their role as a wholesaler supply flower goods
to most retail shops all over Hong Kong. Nowadays, flower retailers are in
different forms, such as in shops on ground floor, on-street fixed pitch stall
hawkers in open market, or in wet market. Some of them run flower businesses
96
in shopping malls 36 and in supermarkets 37. Flower retail located in hotel lobbies
also provide services to the hotels. Person L runs his flower shop in a five-star
hotel 38. Hotel demands high quality of flower services, such as in lobby, hotel
rooms and even dining tables. He shares the difficulties of co-operating with the
hotel managers. He says,
the managers do not have much flower knowledge. They could only give
brief comments of either good or bad. It is difficult to guess what the
manager wants. We need to re-make the samples again and again.
Sometimes, two managers with contrasting comments about the flowers
create tough moments to me. I could not solve the problems but could only
leave the final decision with the managers.
36
Agns B florist is located in high end shopping malls such as Pacific Place in Admiralty, and
Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong, or Flannel Flowers in International Financial Centre (IFC) mall
in Central and Times Square in Causeway Bay.
37
Not all supermarkets in Hong Kong sell flower goods. Only big supermarkets targeting clients
with Western tastes and lifestyles would have flower stores. These big supermarkets are in
limited number.
38
Interview with Person L, 1/1/2011.
97
why both flower cultivation and import can increase at the same time, indicating
a healthily growing market, instead of one form of supply expanding at the
expense of the other, as would have happened in the case of stagnant growth.
Regardless of what retail form or flower distribution, most of the retailers depend
on flower wholesale suppliers in the Flower Market, 39 because their small
volume order is not economical to order directly from overseas brokers.
Nonetheless business environment in the flower market was hard due to frequent
patrolling from law enforcers in the past and also nowadays. I will offer a
detailed discussion in Chapter 4 with an argument that transformation of the
flower market reveals changes in the flower industry and indirectly shows the
life of ordinary people and their interaction with government policies. In the
following section, I will explain the background of Mong Kok Flower Market,
its transformation and daily operation in detail.
2.6.1
39
Some flower shops would import flowers directly from overseas suppliers without passing
through the Mong Kok Flower Market but their orders should be in bulk, otherwise the
transportation cost is too high. Therefore, only big flower shops, especially chain stores would
maintain this practice. Some flower designers also directly order flowers from overseas without
passing through the flower market because they could order special flower goods that
wholesalers in Mong Kok Flower Market do not provide. However, this practice is not common
because it remains a high-end flower design.
98
This standard market town describes the general situation of a market place.
The market town was virtually bigger to accommodate different needs of
villagers and a variety of necessary goods and services. It is also a place for the
horizontal exchange of peasant-produced goods. The flower market in the past
was similar to Skinners description, though it was not as big as a market town.
The flower market was a morning bazaar in which street vendors who were
farmers from villages in rural areas in the NT brought baskets and stalls of
flowers, vegetables, fruits, potted plants, goldfish and also snacks and imported
goods for sale (Hua) (more discussion will be in Section 2.8). The market
formed a kind of rural market place.
99
The periodic market place of the flower market in Hong Kong started on
Boundary Street, was then moved to Flower Market Road (), and in the
process, shows us the transformation of the Hong Kong flower industry. More
analysis of this change will be given in Section 2.9 when describing a subaltern
historiography of the flower market.
The concept of Chinese market is similar to a marketplace in the Western
40
41
100
context. The Western early usage of the word marketplace means a place for
meeting at a fixed time each day, or days of a week, for buying and selling
livestock and provisions. In the mid-thirteenth century, further meanings were
imposed such as a public building or space where markets are held (Harper b).
Later on, it meant an area or arena in which commercial dealings are
conducted (Stevenson b). The meaning of the word market was further
associated with commercial transactions due to exchange markets in financial
settings, such as the stock exchange, but my research is not related to this
meaning.
[b]ut for many, cultivating social ties with other vendors transcended
personal gain: these ties were part of the reason why they went to the
market weekend after weekend, no matter the weather or their business
success. Bundled up together, the sociability of friends, the petty jealousies,
the jokes and backbiting and intermittent waiting for customers, the rain and
cold and baking hot August afternoons, the implicit honor code to not poach
customers, the bargaining and talking and finally the sales, all of these
elements together constitute not the market or even a market but the
actually existing marketplace of Washingtons Eastern Market (Shepherd
101
160). In this sense, businessmen have personal reasons for running business
in a market, such as social bondage with other wholesalers, retailers and
customers.
2.6.2
Geographical Location
102
Map 1.
2.6.3
In the past many areas in Kowloon were used for agricultural purposes. It
was a low lying, swampy area suitable for cultivating wet crops such as
watercress and water spinach. Besides vegetable farming, the local economy
supported soy-sauce making, and there was a large soy-sauce factory in the area
(Cheng 91). Nowadays traces of agriculture and condiment production are
preserved in street names in the districts, such as Sai Yeung Choi Street
(Watercress Street ), Tung Choi Street (Water Spinach Street
) and Soy Street (). The government allocated land in Mong Kok to
dispossessed villagers building squatter huts there in 1893. In 1898, the
government reclaimed these land and adjacent farmlands for infrastructural
103
104
2.6.4
HKTB, a government-subvented body, was founded in 2001 under the HKTB Ordinance. It
was reconstituted from the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA), which was established by
Government Ordinance in 1957. Unlike the HKTA, which was an association of members, the
HKTB has no affiliation to any specific sector or organisation within the industry and is able to
support the interests of Hong Kong's tourism in its entirety (Hong Kong Tourism Board a).
105
rather inconsequential because tourists have only a limited attention and interest
in the past. It also implies the intention of increasing the cultural value of the
place through re-telling a different version of history. This version of history
seems to increase the cultural value of the place, but it is not an authentic history
of the Hong Kong people.
According to the HKTB, the flower markets history was relatively more
simple than what it is. A notice board set up by the HKTB in the flower market
(Figure 2.7) says,
flower and caged birds are part of an elegant home life for all cultured
Chinese. As a result, bird and flower sellers have been a part of Hong
Kongs urban scene since its earliest days. About a hundred years ago, a
106
flower market was established near the ancient village of Mong Kok where
flowers were cultivated. Today, the flower market is still in the same
location on Flower Market Road near Mong Kok Stadium.
Figure 2.7.
2.7
Tong Lau or shophouses consists of a row of four attached house units, each of which consists
of a shop on the ground floor and residential quarters on upper floors. The characteristic form of
the shophouse reflects a number of influences: from exposure to Western architectural aesthetics
108
in a British colony, to local building regulations, high land and property prices, and an
ever-increasing population. All these factors contribute to the characteristic of the narrow width
of the shophouse, typically of 13-16 feet, dictated by the most economic length of Chinese fir
poles used as floor and roof beams. Some flower shops use the fir poles to do business in the
Flower Market.
44
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) is a semi-government institution established in 2001. Its
primary aim is to address Hong Kongs acute urban decay problem and improve the living
conditions of residents in dilapidated urban areas. URA adopts Redevelopment and
Rehabilitation as its core activities, preserving buildings with heritage value, and revitalising
areas which are within URAs project sites. URA replaced the Land Development Corporation
with stronger executive and legal powers to acquire land.
109
Figure 2.8.
[o]riginally a continuous tenement row stretching from No. 190 to No. 220
Prince Edward Road West, this four-storey block was built in 1932 by a
company called the Credit Foncier DExtreme-Orient a company
registered in Shanghai in 1909. The blocks, called Modern Flats, were
built for the well-to-do families whose monthly income was above $400 at
110
that time. The Japanese used the building during the Occupation
(1941-1945), and the British Army rented it after the War until 1947 when it
was derequisitioned and returned to the developer.
Certain historical uses and cultural meanings are briefly mentioned in the
heritage report.
From the 1950s records provided by Public Records Office, most of the
blocks were once rented by the Government to provide accommodation for
civil servants working for the Police Force, Civil Aviation Department, and
Medical Department. On 31 March 1954, all civil servants moved out and
found accommodation elsewhere. The third floor of No. 212 was bought by
the Kowloon Mandarin Baptist Church and used as a Baptist parish since
then. The shop named Po Shing Shoes is the oldest shop amongst the
ground floor of Nos. 190-212. In the early days, the ground floor was
occupied by a variety of shops selling clothes, herb teahouses and food
houses. In recent years, a flock of florists shops have moved in. The whole
lot is surrounded by two well-known streets: Flower Market Road and Yuen
111
Ngai Street, which are crowded with florist shops for many years (Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region, Leisure and Cultural Services
Department, Antiquities and Monument Office a).
From the above descriptions, it is found that the changes in official uses of
the building are the main focus of the report. Similarly, the URA promotes the
preserved area as the Cultural-art Flower Market. But ironically, the historical
development of the area in relation to Tong Lau buildings, and the transformation
in the vicinity of the flower market that shapes the characteristics of this place
has been disregarded in the report. It is found in my research that this place is
rich in historical and social value of culture, which will be studied in detail in
Section 2.9.
The eliding of historical value is one way that embedded coloniality in the
post-1997 government functions. People lack historical perspective and this
makes them less aware of the importance of place, and consequently suppresses
resistance and hinders their ability to fight for their rights. Ordinary people in
present day might continue the same attempts that previous people made, unable
to learn from the past. This practice is ideal for colonisers because common
people lack an awareness of their situation. By showing a parade marking the
coronation of Queen Elizabeth II passing a section of Nathan Road between
Mong Kok Road () and Argyle Street, history is rendered from a colonial
perspective. However, the meaning and experience of this event for local people
is not mentioned, which implies a coloniality. Typically, colonial governments
undermine the importance of local culture, since embracing local culture might
consolidate the coloniseds recognition of self-identity towards a place, which
112
Nevertheless, the social and cultural values of the buildings are described
briefly in the conservation report. The document asserts that
the social value of the shophouses lies in the contribution they have made to
the development of this part of Mong Kok. As the ground floor shops have
now largely been taken over by florists, they have interest to the people
visiting the nearby Flower Market Road (ibid).
Social value is momentarily discussed in the historical report, yet the report
ignores the contextual meanings of the flower market. What is the formation of
the Mong Kong flower market? Why do florists choose Tong Lau for businesses
in the market? These questions have no mention in the conservation report. Also,
the proximity of the flower market is not only for flower trading. There are also
people living in the buildings nearby, and they are disregarded in the heritage
preservation account. In this way the long and complex history of the flower
market has been elided. A brief mentioning of flower market shows only that
113
2.8
and therefore this section will unfold the rich historical and cultural background
of the flower market that the postcolonial government has not mentioned in the
preservation project. This holds great significance in terms of planning for the
future development of the flower industry. However, local people who have been
running those businesses for many years might not understand fully the history
of the Mong Kok Flower Market in the way official history would.
Person C, who works in the industry for more than 10 years, says,
I dont know, when I start working in the flower industry, the street is as if
45
it is like that, that is full of flowers. The earliest history started at Flower
Market Road, then expanded to Sai Yee Street. But I really dont know the
reason for the increasing number of flower shops. I really dont know. 46
Person Cs reply shows that even industry workers working everyday in the
market might not know the history of the market. Thus, they come up with
different versions of histories. In general more experienced flower traders obtain
relatively more knowledge of the past than the new ones, but still, their versions
are not what I could trace from history books. I will suggest some reasons for
this discrepancy after I have introduced the version that I found in official
records.
remarkable colonial historical significance. Before China lost to the British again
during the Second Opium War of 1960, the northern part of Kowloon was not
part of the British colony. NT was not part of the colony until it was leased to
Britain for 99 years in 1989. This boundary between NT and Kowloon thus
demarcates the historical site of colonialisation of Hong Kong. After the British
took over Kowloon and NT, much of it was used as a buffer zone in terms of
military defense. Later, this boundary also became some what of a boundary
between urban and rural Hong Kong until 1937 when the government expands
urban area for development 47. Thus, it is a historically significant and appropriate
site for a market where rural products were sold to the urban population. It is
also the site of a major transport hub and junction of major roads. It is natural for
a market to approximate easy transport access.
Street vendors were also flower farmers in the past. According to Ng, there
are many villagers who grew vegetables and flowers in rural villages located in
the north of Boundary Street, and they brought their farm produce to the south of
Boundary Street for street trading. The market started to operate at seven oclock
in the evening because flowers were perishable goods, and selling flowers at
night made the flowers more durable. The market would only run for two hours
since the curfew started at nine oclock in the evening (Ng Ho 76). After the
order of curfew ended 48, the flower market continued to operate until ten oclock
at night. The closing time was not too late because the flower traders were also
flower farmers, and they need to prepare for work the next day.
47
Originally, the NT referred to the area north of Boundary Street. However, the British
expanded the area of Kowloon in 1937. The part of the NT lying north of Boundary Street and
south of the Kowloon Hills is now called New Kowloon. This area was administered from Hong
Kong as part of the urban area and enjoyed none of the special privileges and rights to follow
Chinese customary law enjoyed in the rural NT to the north (Nissim 18).
48
There is no exact year of the end of curfew along the Boundary Street in available sources.
116
Figure 2.9.
I was walking along Prince Edward Road in the morning the day before to
visit a friend at Kowloon City, and when I went pass the back of the police
117
training school, I discovered a morning bazaar ... On both sides of the road,
there were baskets and stalls of flowers, vegetables, fruits, potted plants,
goldfish, and also snacks and imported goods ... together they formed a kind
of rural market place. Vendors were farmers from villages in the NT.
Customers ranged from fashionable men and women to barefooted folks.
All sorts of people were seen together. The baskets and stalls lined up
Boundary Street in two long rows. In this bazaar, flowers were the major
goods of exchange 49 (Hua).
From the description of Hua, street trading was common in the market and
the street vendors were mainly farmers who came from the NT. A mix of
customers, such as modern men or bare feet folks came to visit the market.
This except clearly shows how vibrant the flower market was. Frank Leeming, a
historian and anthropologist in Hong Kong Studies in the 1970s generally
described the crowded open market in the past, where people destitute of other
work have started to cook and sell bits of food on the streets to passers-by, or
have started to cultivate fields on empty hillsides (Leeming 161).
This introduction to the flower market shows that the market is very
place-specific. It is located at the territory boundary between Kowloon and the
NT. Flower production and flower trading overlaps. Flower production was
self-sustainable and production was adequate to the size of the market in Hong
Kong since flower consumption in the past was not high. Currently, ground floor
49
118
shops have largely been taken over by florists in the flower market. It has
changed from informal trading (street trading) in the past to part of the formal
economy (renting/buying a premise for trade) at present. Shops are located
mainly on Flower Market Road, Yuen Po Street 50 (), Yuen Ngai Street51
() and Prince Edward Road West. Some shops are scattered around Sai
Yee Street () and Playground Field Road (), but these shops
occupy areas still very near to the core of the flower market (see Map 2 in
Section 2.10). Each street name tells a history of the changing land uses of the
district, and how colonial infrastructure gradually took over the space of
quotidian economy.
50
119
2.9
five stages, namely Stage 1: Flower Market on the Boundary between Kowloon
and the New Territories (NT), Stage 2: Squatter Fire in the Fa Hui Village, Stage
3: Street Trading along Boundary Street, Stage 4: The UC and the Flower Market
at the Volleyball Court at Fa Hui Park, and Stage 5: Development of Shops on
Flower Market Road and Enhanced Corporatisation.
2.9.1
The original Mong Kok Flower Market was located at Boundary Street, i.e.
the boundary between Kowloon and the NT before 1898 (Ng Ho 76; Leung To
50; Yi 179). Brief description in this period was given in Section 2.8 previously.
The government restricted the activities of hawkers to some selected open
spaces and side streets. These bazaar markets had pitches of equal size marked
out and a sliding scale of rents charged (Pang 24). The flower market in this
period was organically formed because of the geographical characteristics.
2.9.2
Figure 2.10.
The wooden huts in the Fa Hui Village were mostly two-storey. There was a
small wet market and some grocery stores. There were nearly a hundred small
handicraft workshops, such as those making rattan, grassware, brooms, clogs,
etcetera. There was a chicken feather factory, a small cinema, a primary school
and a few teahouses. But most of the shops were burnt. We can imagine the Fa
Hui Village as a small community. With not just flowers, but with everything
they needed, including culture and entertainment, and with produce they could
sell to the city for a living. The second squatter hut fire occurred in 1956. At the
same time, a public housing policy was emerging. People eventually moved to
Tai Hang Tung Estate for resettlement. The burnt area was covered with grass
and trees and became a public park called Fa Hui Park in 1957 (HKRS 53
156-1-4808).
This section looks at how the flower market was an unstable area. It follows
the cultural landscapes (not just the physical landscapes but also the changing
53
HKRS refers to Hong Kong Record Series Number. All HKRS sources are from Hong Kong
Records Office.
121
2.9.3
After the squatter fire in 1955, the market was moved outside Fa Hui Park.
The flower market remains as the major site for flower and gardening products
trading to this day. A wider road was designed for the market place at that time
(Figure 2.11, the two red lines are added for comparison). According to Person
Rs interview, the executive member of the Flower Union, he stated the
following:
We (the flower traders) were told to move to the pavement outside the
playground in 1957. We paid the rates until 1965. Also, two gateways were
established, namely flower market section of the Hong Kong and Kowloon
Flower and Plant Workers General Union () and the
Chinese-Hong Kong Cut-flower Industry Association flower market (
) 54, indicating its historical use for selling flowers.
54
The Hong Kong and Kowloon Flower and Plant Workers General Union is active nowadays
despite a trend of deteriorating membership since the 1980s (from 4,274 members in 1989 to
1,157 members in 2010. Appendix 4 shows the detailed figures). Discussion on the role of this
union to the flower industry will be given in Chapter 4. The Chinese-Hong Kong Cut-flower
Industry Association Flower Market is currently not active any more. However, this organisation
still constitute in voting for LegCo agricutlture functional constituency.
122
Figure 2.11.
In the 1960s, the florists changed their habit of selling at night time. They
sell flowers after midnight because it would cause less disruption to normal
traffic. Two hundred hawkers - some wholesalers, some retailers - sold flowers in
the flower market in the 1960s, and operated as a dawn market (). The
market operated from 3 a.m. till sunrise. Wholesales of local flowers including
cockscomb, celosia argentea plumosa [celosia], crepe myrtle, gladiolus,
chrysanthemum, white ginger lily and some others. Local production could
supply enough flowers for all of Hong Kong because of a lower population and
less demand at that time.
The flower market was a dawn market because of practice of the trade
union called the Hong Kong and Kowloon Flowers and Plant Workers General
Union for the provision of trucks. Person R explains the operation of flower
selling in the past. He says,
123
At that time, many flower growers did not have their own car. Therefore,
the union provided trucks and picked the flower traders up at several spots.
For instance, there were three medium sized trucks transporting flower
farmers and fresh flowers from Shatin () to Boundary Street flower
market. Flowers were arranged into two columns in the truck, and went
back and forth for at least two or three times everyday. This practice
disappeared eventually when the flower growers had higher incomes and
bought their own vehicles. 55
124
predecessor of the AFCD 57) in the colonial government encouraged wider usage
(Lui).
that time. In the evening he turned on a set of electric bulbs hung up over the fields. The flowers
grow in constant light day and night which increases their rate of growth. Ye got the idea for this
installation from his studies of floriculture in Japan (Aijmer 31).
57
AFD was transformed as AFCD in 2001.
125
2.9.4
In 1983 the market was moved inside the volleyball court of Fa Hui Park.
The flowers were subsequently transported from other parts of the NT to the
126
market. With the permission from the UC 58, flower hawkers used to have regular
trading sites inside the Fa Hui Playground. In those days, florists were hawkers
who sold flowers on the ground (Figure 2.12).
Figure 2.12.
Failing to provide a permanent premise for the market, the government was
not able to solve the conflicts of street use. The parking problem remained as the
main area of conflict for florists and pushing the business onto the volleyball
court of the Fa Hui Park failed to resolve the situaton and problems continued.
According to Leung Yuk Lam, Director of the Flower Union, the UC
experimented with a new form of counter-hawking practice in 1987. It sent out
the first few observation patrol teams to stay right at the site of illegal hawking
with the aim of reducing the cost of occasional raids by the law enforcement
58
Street traders were originally under the control of the Police. Stall licences were introduced in
1921. The Hawker Ordinance was passed in 1935. The control and licensing of the hawkers was
repealed in 1960 and its provisions were incorporated in the Public Health and Urban Services
Ordinance (Sujanani 18).
127
agency (Growers).
2.9.5
128
2.10
Hong Kongs flower market is not solely for wholesale purposes. Retail
activities are also vigorous. The ground floor shops are predominantly used by
florists and horticulture supply businesses, whilst the upper units accommodate
residents and various commercial and cultural uses, including dancing, music,
fitness, well being, film studios and offices, private tutorial offices and religious
institutional use. The florist shops form part of a larger concentration of flora and
horticulture businesses. Until March 2012, there are 105 flower and
horticulture-related shops established in the vicinity of the Mong Kong Flower
Market. Appendix 4 listed out the name, address and nature of business of those
shops. Map 2 illustrates the concentration of flower and horticulture shops on the
ground floor 59.
In the legend of Appendix 4 and Map 2, R refers to residential buildings, while C refers to
commercial-use. C1 refers to commercial premises selling cut-flowers. C2 refers to selling of
flower gift, including flower bouquets and flower baskets. C3 refers to orchid, including both
Chinese-style and Western-style. C4 refers to potted plants. C5 refers to silk flowers. C6 refers to
gardening, such as the shop selling product or services related to gardening. C7 refers to
commercial premises that are non-flower related.
60
Interview with Person O, 31/1/2011.
129
2.11
0500-0800
Most of the wholesale flower shops open at 5 a.m. every morning. Lorries
unload large boxes, and other plants in bulk since imported cut-flower are
delivered by lorries and vans to Flower Market Road, Prince Edward Road West
and Sai Yee Street. Goods are unloaded from the vehicles on the road directly in
front of the shop (Figure 2.13). Some boxes are marked with an abbreviation of
the retail shops in other districts if they are ordered by the shops; the rest of the
goods are unpacked and put in the plastic buckets by the flower shop assistants
133
(Figure 2.14 and 2.15). Accordingly, staff members distribute flower orders from
their customers (Figure 2.16). A few big wholesale flower shops, all located on
Yuen Ngai Street, run 24 hours per day since some goods arrive at night. The
procedures of unloading and unpacking goods are the same as described earlier
in this paragraph.
Figure 2.13.
Figure 2.14.
Figure 2.15.
Figure 2.16.
135
Some farmers who produce goods in the NT carry their local farm produce
to the flower market for street trading early in the morning. This kind of trading
is sporadic, but mainly concentrated on Flower Market Road. One shop in the
flower market is still specialised in selling local farm produce such as basil,
Chinese herbs, even eggs. The variety of goods depends on the season and the
climate. One particular flower shop located on Flower Market Road sells local
farm produce. Honey is even available in that shop as it is one of the farm
products in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, most of the local farm produce was sold by
farmers in a format of street selling as their supply is not large enough for a shop.
The practice of street trading is a continuation of the tradition of the flower
market as described in Section 2.9.3. One of my informants who runs a flower
retail shop in the Wanchai wet market buys farm produce from the street vendors
in the flower market, and then resells the goods in their shop 1. This kind of
distribution of farm produce facilitates buyers who are consuming goods in the
wet market.
Florists of retail flower shops from other districts arrive at the market and
select goods. Buyers carry their goods and leave the market either by taxis or on
their own vehicles. Flowers in plastic buckets are brought into rear parts of the
shops, or in the back lane for preparation before sale. Shop assistants cut the
stems of the cut-flowers to avoid air blockage in the stem cell during water
absorption. Then, bunches of flowers are wrapped in newspaper, plastic or white
papers for protection and counting. The processed flowers are put in cleaned
buckets for display in the front part of the shop for sale. Other goods are put in
storage or in refrigerator if they are installed. People are busy to fill their shops
1
with brilliant flowers for display before the opening of shop, mainly at 8 a.m.
Some flower shops which specialise in making flower baskets and bouquets
are busy arranging flowers. These flower baskets wrapped in the morning are
mainly for the grand opening of businesses, while flower bouquets are for
various uses, such as celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, or for showing best
wishes to the sick. Other bunches are for display. A commercial preservative 2 is
added to the water to prolong vase life by helping to open the vessels that
conduct water up the stem. This is especially the case with more expensive
flowers, both in terms of the species and place of origin.
Retail activity is dominant in this period of the day. Assistants from flower
arrangement schools buy goods to prepare for lessons. Household customers
select fresh cut-flowers in the market. Some of them might travel in their own
cars. Since the Mong Kok Stadium 3 (), the sport ground on Flower
2
Market Road, is in repair between 2009 and 2011, parking is not available. Some
people might park their cars in front of the flower shops if trucks are not
occupying the space. Otherwise, customers are just dropped off on the road
quickly and shop around. Parking space is very important for both customers and
flower shops and will be described in Chapter 4.
Because of the lack of space, nearly all flower shops occupy the pedestrian
road in front of their shops. Some shops even occupy parking space and extend
their shops, or use the empty pedestrian path opposite their shops for goods
display4 (Figure 2.17).
former Urban Council for management in 1961. It is now under the management of LCSD and is
the major venue used by the Hong Kong Football Association for First Division League football
matches, Cup competitions, International football matches such as Asian Football Confederation
Cup and training session for Hong Kong Football Representative Teams. Mong Kok Stadium is
one of the city's major venues for football matches and community events. The renovated Mong
Kok Stadium offers more than 6,600 individual seats, of which some 3,300 are covered. It is
suitable for staging high-level and international football matches and is conducive to the
promotion and long-term development of local football (Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region, Leisure and Cultural Services Department d).
4
The pedestrian path along Flower Market Road, opposite to the flower shops is empty because
it is outside the Mong Kok Stadium.
138
Figure 2.17.
1130-1230
Officers of the FEHD prowl the neighbourhood to ensure that goods can be
displayed no more than 3 feet in front of shops. They tell the shop keepers to
move their flowers away from the parking spaces and the pedestrian walkway
(Figure 2.18). They were instructed to maintain a passive attitude of avoidance of
pathway obstruction by surveillance and policing of the flower traders. The
officers usually give verbal warnings, but they will charge the flower sellers
sometimes. The large perceived space for flower shops demonstrates the business
environment of the industry. The constant conflict between florists and law
enforcement officers will be further discussed in Section 4.5 and 4.15.
139
Figure 2.18.
1230-1500
After government officials leave the market, shopkeepers move their goods
back to their perceived space, which includes the car parking space and both
sides of the pavement. Retail activities are foremost during this time.
1500-1600
FEHD officers come again to control the street activities, with the same
procedures as described in the above paragraph of 1130-1230 The Patrolling of
the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Officers.
140
1600-1800
Delivery of goods
Flowers and other plants are delivered to the flower market. Flower shops
repeat their work done in the morning. More retail customers arrive than in the
morning. The shops are crowded with customers and the unloading of goods.
Some people attend hobby classes conducted upstairs by flower arrangement
schools.
1800-2000
2.12
Government
Attitudes
Towards
the
Flower
Industry
Rather than providing long term policy and practice for the flower industry,
the current Hong Kong government has yet to contribute to this sector a
permanent wholesale market rather than mis-managing the industry as a leisure
activity. According to existing government effort and people within the flower
industry, all evidence shows that the governments attitude towards the industry
is either doubtful or negative. Person H, Chairman of Hong Kong Flower Club,
has a reserved attitude towards governments role in supporting flower industry 5.
He says,
You cannot say that the government does not support flower industry, as
the government does sponsor larger flower clubs and organisations. For
instance, we (The Hong Kong Flower Club) will soon hold a large-scale
installation at Hong Kong Park, which is sponsored by the government. But
it is debatable to say whether the government could systematically support
and develop the flower industry and make it become a prominent one. If the
government tends to develop an industry seriously, at least there should be a
5
The floriculture industry in the Netherlands is famous around the world. Aalsmeer, the city
with the main Dutch flower auction, is famous for its advanced technology and high-speed way
of selling flowers, but its beginning was modest. Some growers came up with an idea of holding
an auction to give more control over how their flowers were priced and sold in 1911. When the
auction ended, flowers were piled onto bicycles and boats to be delivered along Hollands narrow
canals and even narrower streets. Hawkers arrived by train. When trucks were finally introduced,
two auctions appeared in the Netherlands. Until 1968, the two auctions ran nearly side by side.
They become todays Blomenveiling Aalsmeer auction after a merger, and become the largest
major, year-round flower auction in the Netherlands (Stewart 210). The Aalsmeer auction was
also the first to adopt an electronic auction. Buyers and growers gathered. They brought flowers
together, anywhere in the world, so that they can be displayed, judged, picked over, and
purchased. Carts are paraded in front of the buyers. An auction employee pulled a single stem off
each cart and held it up high for the bidders to see. Buyers then start bidding. To an outsider, it is
difficult for bidders sitting in the auction room to get a good look at the flowers they are buying.
But the merchandising culture in auction is like a race. Buyers could not afford to lose even one
second figuring out what is for sale. Buyers look at the cart and knowing, at one glance, the
colours and variety, the number of stems on the carts, and who the grower was (ibid 221). Four or
five inspectors serve as one team to check each others work to make sure that the flower ratings
are consistent. The goal of the inspections is to provide accurate information to the buyer without
unfairly criticizing a growers product. Except for pest and disease infestation, most flowers with
flaws are not destroyed but are put up for auction with a lower quality rating or a note from the
inspector to alert the buyer about the problems they have discovered (ibid 223).
7
Interview with Person H, 23/11/2010.
143
In other area such as the Netherland, Taiwan and the mainland China, they
have a whole industry for flower cultivation. Hong Kong is so small, it is
impossible to cultivate flowers locally. It is not a viable option. The Hong
Kong Flower Market is not a centralised one. For instance, the centralised
mechanism of Japans Ota Floriculture Auction Co. Ltd (
) succeeds in securing guaranteed quality of their products, and even
promoting flowers in their market to foreign areas. Likewise, the flowers
that I use in this flower arrangement workshop today are sponsored by a
Japanese flower wholesale market. Actually, this kind of flower is seldom
exported, but I guess it is because of the decreasing demand of flowers in
Japan that they need to think of more channels to export their flowers. Hong
Kong is one of their destinations for experiment. Comparatively speaking,
Hong Kongs wholesale market is rather old-fashioned. Every shop sets
their own price according to their own needs and concerns, making the
industry more disperse in an old style of doing business. So, it is more
difficult to compare the case of Hong Kong to other countries. Yet, the
advantage of Hong Kong Flower Market is that it is very focused by
concentrating its business activity in one single area only. Although the area
is not very appealing, but dont look down on ityou can find flowers from
every part of the world here.
Person H further explains his view on the decline of Mong Kong Flower Market.
He says,
The business operator in the flower market (in Hong Kong) needs to pay
the market rent because the government does not subsidize any land price.
Business operators in the market import goods from overseas buyers. It is
similar to all other large-scale flower shops that directly trade with the
buyer-export agent without the need of wholesale florists. Florists in Mong
Kok Flower Market are similar to all other business operators. They need to
handle both wholesale and retail. If this is so, why does the retail flower
shop need to have a middleman in the Flower Market, if they could buy
flowers directly from the source of origin? Besides, floral design in business
operators of Mong Kok Flower Market is not as beautiful and as delicate as
that in flower designer school. They might not even hire a professional
floral designer to plan how to make flowers display more appealing. If they
dont have an appealing appearance, they cannot attract ordinary customers.
At the same time, they need to pay rent at market rate. And some retail
shops just skip the middleman and trade directly to the source. From the
perspective of a floral designer, I believe there is a decay in the Mong Kok
Flower Market.
In Hong Kong, flowers have been treated as a kind of commodity for trade
without a comprehensive policy recognising it as part of agriculture or
horticulture, neither in terms of agricultural policy nor industrial policy. For the
government, the management logic of the prosperous flower market is an
arbitrary decision. As explained by the Secretary for Food and Health,
2.13
From the colonial period to post-1997 Hong Kong, flowers, for the
government, are a way to provide people with a leisure activity and greening.
The UC organised the first Hong Kong Flower Show in 1968 (Urban Council).
Instead of assisting the development of the flower industry, it aimed at promoting
better city life. A. de O. Sales, Chairman of the Parks, Recreation and Amenities
Select Committee of the UC stated that the Council hopes that this modest
147
effort will stir up far more public interest in gardening so that more people would
be encouraged to help in beautifying Hong Kong by their own personal efforts
(ibid). From the governments point of view, improving the city image is more
important than using the flower show as a way to promote the flower industry as
an industry. The flower show is a promotion of privatised horticultural
consumption as a hobby and quality of life accessory rather than the
development of the flower industry as a whole.
After the UC was dissolved in 1999, the Leisure and Cultural Services
Department (LCSD) and FEHD replaced the UC. From then on, LCSD is
responsible for organising the flower show. The nature of the government
department responsible for organising the flower show indicates the
governments attitude towards the flower show as a leisure and entertainment
activity. It is under the LCSD under the Home Affairs Bureau. It is organised in
the form of a leisure activity and for the promotion of retail horticulture. For
instance, there are seminars on greening and horticulture, demonstrations of
different schools of floral art and trees, and other cultural activities such as music
performance, dance performance, magic show and face-painting (Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region, Leisure and Cultural Services Department b).
From the message of Tsang Tak Sing, Secretary for Home Affairs, we can
see that coloniality is embedded in the organisation of the flower show, and it
implies the governments attitude toward the flower industry. In the foreword of
Hong Kong Flower Show 2011, Tsang says,
148
the Hong Kong Flower Show has attracted over 500,000 local and
overseas visitors, with the number increasing every year. The amazing array
of flowers and plant presented in the Show by local horticulturists and
exhibitors from all over the world has added to the charisma of Hong
Kong Asias World City (Tsang 3 in ibid).
For the government, the flower show is a way to attract visitors to come and
exchange knowledge of horticulture through floral art demonstration and flower
competition. Without any mention of the hard work of the industry in
contributing to the society, the flower show could only be seen as a gathering of
local and overseas experts exchanging their knowledge, and contributing to the
image of Asias World City. Local industry and local culture has been ignored.
Person H, the Chairman of Hong Kong Flower Club, evaluates the degree
of success of Hong Kong Flower Show 9. He says,
Hong Kong Flower Show is launched by the government. It meets the aim
of greenery in Hong Kong. It enhances the awareness of greenery and is
able to inspire people to turn their house to be more greenery. However, the
show could become more diversified if it promotes more ideas other than
greenery alone, such as recycling, environmental protection and
preservation. Hong Kong Flower Show is relatively superficial. For instance,
in the Netherlands, there is a place where people can do flower auction.
Commercial firms and the government co-operate with one another to the
flower show a success. Thats why the show can be much larger in scale. In
contrast, the flower show in Hong Kong is government-led and always
invites commercial to join the show after. The show is similar every year.
You couldnt say that it is not successful because they could achieve the
listed objective, that is to enhance the awareness of greenery.
In other words, Person H agrees that Hong Kong Flower Show achieve its
objective of enhancing the awareness of greenery. However, there are other
things that the government could make more varieties to the show, such as
public-private partnership is a way allowing flexibility to the organisers, and also
embracing creativity. The current Hong Kong Flower Show contains mainly
three sections. The first one is the flower competition. One interviewee expresses
his dissatisfaction towards the floral art competition in Hong Kong Flower
Show 10 . Person D says the flower arrangement could be a visual art, and
therefore, he attempted to apply funding from Hong Kong Arts Development
Council 11 (ADC) and has been rejected. All he could do is to join the flower
10
150
show competition to display his artwork, but the aim of the show is mainly on
greening Hong Kong. He was disappointed to see that the organising quality of
this competition because he is dissatisfied with the quality of the judges, who
have a lower level of knowledge and skills than he has, but were nevertheless
judging all the works. Also, there is a rumour that the winners are either friends
or students of the judges. It is like a small insider game for a social gathering, but
not a fair game for the growth of the floral arts. He boycotted the competition
after participating once, even though he won some prizes. Person D shows his
anger towards the unprofessionalism of Hong Kong Flower Show,
I have already boycotted the Hong Kong Flower Show because it is very
unprofessional. Even the winners are obviously not following the rules of
the competition. For instance, there is a category specifically restricting the
use of processed flower as the materials, but one of the candidates still used
dried flowers, which exactly is a type of processed flower materials. Yet the
candidate told me that the judge said it is acceptable. When I discussed this
issue with the organisers of Taiwan Cup, a very big flower competition in
Taiwan which represents all the Asian masterpieces, they also agreed that
dried flowers are processed flowers. So I made a complaint to the Hong
Kong Flower Show, and they told me that, Because the judge has already
given marks on it, we would not change any more. Another example is that
there is a rule saying that the flowers for competition need to touch water,
but again the flowers that have violated this rule actually won the
competition. So one can see the competition was so badly managed. People
promotion and development, and programme planning. Its vision is to establish Hong Kong as a
dynamic and diverse cultural metropolis (The Hong Kong Arts Development Council).
151
should follow the rules. It is why the rules are there. I suggest something
very easy to be carried out in procedure. There should be a person screening
whether the art work follows the rules or not, and the judge should only
grade those candidates who strictly follow the rules. I have expected the
government to manage the work more closely because they have organised
the competition for so many years. However, they are so careless and
absent-minded in carrying out the flower competition. I think that they are
just running it with the aim of the interest group. The government should
eventually train new talents to join the industry. The judge of the flower
competition was so unprofessional. In my stream of flower art, there are a
number of levels recognized by every stream. It is so ridiculous when I
discovered that a judge in a stream that is lower than my level was judging
my work! How unprofessional it is!
The second section in the Hong Kong Flower Show is for flower display.
For example, among the hundreds of flower and gardening shops located in
flower market, only three shops went to display floral art in Hong Kong Flower
Show 2012 12. The show invited 200 organisations from local and twenty-two
12
Four flower shops located in the Mong Kok Flower Market have participated in Hong Kong
Flower Show 2011. They are Brighten Floriculture Ltd, Sum Kee Yuen, Wah Thai Luen (H.K.)
Trading Co. Ltd., and Connie Garden.
152
countries 13 to showcase exotic flowers, landscape and floral art displays. Major
participants are horticulture interest groups from local and foreign regions. This
section demonstrates the governments wish in enhancing flower appreciation
among the public, and to allow more flower experts to learn from each others.
[w]e (my company) do not know what to show in the flower show. Goods
sold in the Hong Kong Flower Show are the same in the flower market.
Also, the rental price of stalls is very high 15. Some shops in flower market
might go to the flower show, but it is mainly for brand promotion purposes.
Most booths for rent in the flower show are local flower producers who do
not have any shops in the flower market in Mong Kok, and therefore they treat
the Flower Show as a chance for them to do business promotion.
13
The twenty-two foreign countries who participated in the Flower Show 2012 were: mainland
China, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa,
Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom and the United States.
14
Interview with Person B, 5/10/2010.
15
Commercial stalls auction of Hong Kong Flower Show 2012 range between HK$22,100 and
HK$38,100 for 10 days (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Leisure and Cultural
Services Department c).
153
2.14
The future of Hong Kongs flower industry is positive and there are rooms
for development. For instance, flower culture could be promoted as a form of art.
According to Person D, Hong Kongs flower industry has a bright future and the
government worths to pay more attention to 16. Flower is not only a commodity
but a kind of art form with high aesthetic value and is able to allow people to
express themselves. He says,
I think the most important thing is to promote floral art to more people.
LCSD should help doing that. Unlike the Europeans who love displaying
flowers or potted plants in their house, Hong Kong people are not used to
live with flowers and plants. It is also the case of Japan. But when the
Japanese Flower Trade Union understands the inclination of the declining
flower usage in Japan, it starts to promote flower culture in kindergarten. It
aims at allowing students to get used to flower in their daily life since they
are young, so that the young people would consume more flowers when
they grow up. It is also a promotion of flower art as a way of expressing
ones emotion. I think the current flower industry is too short-sighted
because very few people do marketing work for the industry. The current
consumption of flower is mainly for wedding and funeral the usage is
way too narrow. If people think that flower is part of their everyday life,
they would buy flowers all the time.
16
there are only a few number of flowers in a vase, how can you make
money out of this? Flower arrangement courses are only for those rich
ladies who have too much time to kill. It is for leisure only and is not
practical.
In other words, some business operators think that flower art is a kind of
high culture, it is difficult to let ordinary people to enjoy. At the same time,
Person G focuses more on monetary return in this business. At the same time,
flower is a way of expressing oneself and could be used as a way of nature
appreciation. Floral art is with high artistic value. If floral art could be promoted
in the education system, as explained by Person Ds interview with reference of
Japanese system, people understand the value of flowers when they are young. It
could promote art and culture on one hand, and on the other hand, business of
flower industry could expand because people are used to have flowers since they
are young. On the other hand, there are many ways of appreciating floral art, and
the current objective of Hong Kong Flower Show and other events of flower
decorations mainly focuses on promoting greenery in the city and might not be
enough to enhance the ability of appreciating floral art. Both Person D and
17
Person H believe that the government could extend the concept of flowers to
broader social issues such as nature conservation and art and cultural values
among citizens.
2.15
Chapter Summary
To sum up, this chapter introduces the culture of flower in Hong Kong, the
general situation of flower plantation and the transformation of the flower
industry in Hong Kong through a subaltern historiography of the flower market.
To the government, floral activities are merely a matter of commercial activities
and a promotion of greenery and lifestyle. From the attitudes towards the floral
competition in the Hong Kong Flower Show, we could see that the government
maintains the view of greening Hong Kong and providing more leisure activities
for the public, and these attitudes hinder professional development of the flower
industry. Survival of individual florists is a market decision, not a public policy.
Floral design, which could be an art form that could enhance culture, is not
treasured by the government, not even by the ADC which is responsible for arts
development in Hong Kong. The limited scope promoted by the government on
the flower industry shows an embedded coloniality that is continuous from the
colonial period, which is comprised of providing superficial aids to help city
branding and image, but ignore the local cultural significance, economic network
and industrial livelihood of local communities. The government could not
respond to the needs of the industry. Also, the blessing from Tsang Tak Sing,
Secretary for Home Affairs, about allowing Flower Show to add to the charisma
of Hong Kong as an Asias World City, seems to be mere rhetoric without
action and policy in support, in contrast to the larger flower shows and
156
exhibitions in nearby region such as Taiwan 18. From the dissatisfaction of the
interviewee, embedded coloniality also exists in the lack of fairness in the annual
flower show. The flower show is supposed to promote greenery and the
enjoyment of flower culture for the public. However, from the complaints of the
interviewee about the flower competition, we could see that there was a lack of
professionalism in the show. At the same time, the government is increasingly
intolerant towards the public. They use a control and management mentality to
rule the flower market, and I would argue that such a stance does not give
enough attention to local culture. To emphasise hygiene and control reflects a
kind of embedded coloniality since it privileges corporate, real estate,
middle-class and car owners rights to space in the city as against the rights of
use for grassroots industries and small and medium businesses an sole
proprietors as well as ordinary quotidian livelihood. It also cares more about the
ease of control for the government official than the ease of business for a local
industry. This is a biased economic imagination and authority imposed on Hong
Kong, and it clearly ignores the needs and rights of quotidian culture and
livelihood.
18
For example, the Taipei International Flora Expo in 2010, it shows how floral art design could
enhance the image of Taipei of Taiwan. The Expo was an event allowing international exchange
of flower competition. 8.96 million visitors attended the 171-day exhibition, with an average of
52,398 people visiting the exhibition every day. The Expo organiser aims to combine horticulture,
technology and environmental protection in the planning process, and also allows an
enhancement of green life through cultural activities. Since this thesis is not a comparison studies,
I will not focus on the Taiwan Flora Expo.
157
CHAPTER 3
EMBEDDED COLONIALITY OF
FLOWER CULTIVATION IN
THE NEW TERRITORIES
Flower cultivation is important. Many primary and secondary schools and housing
estates order gardening service from me. Ive expanded my business even to China. It
provides enough money for my whole family. I have 3 children, huh! The flower
industry competition is keen, but everywhere is like that, isnt it? (Person I)
There is no flower cultivation in Hong Kong. Or I should say, there are so few, I have
very little chance to work on it.
3.1
(Person H)
Chapter Introduction
The Mong Kok Flower Market has a close relationship with flower
cultivation ever since farmers started to grow flowers in the NT and took their
produce to the flower market on Boundary Street. At the same time, the near
dissipation of flower cultivation has been closely related to Hong Kongs
reliance on real estate and infrastructure building as key drivers of economic
development. This results in government policies with strong demands for urban
land use. In this context, industries with relatively lower rates of economic return,
such as agriculture, were driven away to remote areas, while most of the land in
the NT was urbanised. Even flower cultivation, considered to be the most
economically viable farm produce, was forced to relocate or even disappear from
158
Hong Kong because the government appropriated arable land in order to develop
new towns or other public utilities. The dynamics between local cultivators,
florists and people working on flower arrangement shows that local flower
agriculture is segregated from high-end flower consumers. Local flower
cultivators, the original contributor to the industry, become more and more
marginalised. Their survival is increasingly difficult. Paradoxically, most of the
available arable land was owned by indigenous inhabitants of the territories, a
title which the government had dedicated to them 19 . Technically, their
indigeneity can sometimes be questionable. Those lands have a special
ownership status which makes it difficult to use for urban development. Flower
cultivators are however, mostly non-indigenous inhabitants immigrating from
China after 1949, renting land from the indigenous inhabitants and attempting to
survive in these scraps of land originally preserved for indigenous inhabitants.
The government did not respond to the requests from the local farmers because
its developmental attitude favours economic progress above all else. This chapter
argues that throughout the colonial and postcolonial era, government aids to local
agriculture has been limited to the supply of technological aid. However, what
concerns farmers is not only the availability of advanced technology but the
availability of arable land. The postcolonial government however, does not
19
directly respond to the farming populations requests for arable land. I will prove
how the postcolonial government continues the previous colonisers mentality
that see the government as the agent to assist global capital flow, whether it be
colonial global capital flow of the British empire and its trading partners, or the
global capital flow of neoliberalist capital accumulation today. Government land
use and land regulation policies continue from the colonial appropriation of local
rural land for urban forms of development to the more recent forms of
appropriation of local rural land to facilitate and accelerate global capital
accumulation through real estate and infrastructure build-up. This chapter will
investigate how and why this situation happens in the case of flower cultivation
and how the power dynamics happen among the government and the common
people.
3.2
and Chinese contexts. The first and earliest meaning of culture is found in
writing of the 15th century and is related to agriculture, when the word was used
to refer to the tending of crops (cultivation) or the husbandry of animals
(Williams a 87; Bocock 231). Terminologies such as agriculture, horticulture,
floriculture, and arboriculture retain this meaning. At the same time, the word
culture, according to older dictionaries such as Websters in the pre-1960
editions, refers to the cultivation of soil: the raising, improvement, or
development of a plant, animal or product, with the root of word coming from
the Latin cultura, cultivation or tending (Williams 87). Culture has extended
160
its meaning to describe more abstract beings since the 18th century, such as
describing a general process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development
and an indication of a particular way of life, whether of a people, a period, a
group, or humanity in general. It is also used to describe the works and practices
of intellectual and especially artistic activity. The widespread definition of
culture relates to music, literature, painting, sculpture, theatre and film (Williams
a 90; Bocock 231-232), i.e. high culture and the fine arts.
21
Pinyin romanisation system is used in this thesis for transcribing Chinese data.
22
The Rites of Zhou refers to ancient ritual texts listed among the classics of Confucianism
written in the middle of second century BC.
23
Eastern Han Dynasty () was between 25-220 BC.
24
Major edible grains refer to millet, sorghum, glutinous rice, paddy rice, flax, soya bean, beans,
peas, barley and wheat.
161
the state, it is now important to teach people to respect farm produce. Gao
You, a scholar in Eastern Han Dynasty, annotated, di chan means edible
grains (Chin, my translation).
From Chin Wans quotation, we can see that cultivation contributes heavily
to the Chinese economy and social life. However, cultivation faces decreasing
importance in Chinese culture because nowadays, the common-sense perception
of agriculture is about inefficient land use. Its socio-economic and cultural value
is under-valued.
3.3
162
Despite the fact that cultivated land has been tremendously downsized
(Appendix 5, from 32,990 hectares in 1970 to 6,760 hectare in 2001),
nonetheless flower cultivation and market gardening remains the most important
use of agricultural land because the monetary value is higher for flowers than
other crops. Major crops under cultivation are comprised by food crops,
including mainly brassica, compositae and various aquatic vegetables, and
ornamental crops such as gladiolus, lilium and chrysanthemum. By the end of
2010, the land used for vegetable, flower, field crops and orchard was 297 ha,
153 ha, 20 ha, and 276 ha respectively. However, the number of flower
cultivators has decreased drastically. The registered members of Hong Kong &
Kowloon Flower and Plant Worker General Union the only active flower
labour union in Hong Kong have decreased from 4,274 in 1989 to 1,157 in
2010 (Appendix 6). It echoes with the decline of farm working population in
general (Appendix 7). The agricultural industry is directed towards the
production of quality fresh food through intensive land use and modern farming
practices. Flower cultivation has gained importance in recent years. Orchids and
ornamental plants are now grown all year round. Dahlia, chrysanthemum, lily
and gladiolus are grown in winter, while ginger lily, lotus flower and sunflower
are grown in summer. Peach blossom is grown specifically for the CNY season
in the figure of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) in
2011 (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Agriculture, Fisheries and
Conservation Department b) (Figure 3.1 and 3.2).
163
Figure 3.1.
Figure 3.2.
Year
Import of flowers*
flowers*
Ratio (local
production: Import)
1995
206,000
195,278
0.947951
1996
186,800
157,709
0.844267
1997
175,924
160,769
0.913855
1998
283,780
124,724
0.439509
1999
278,626
129,993
0.46655
2000
302,370
168,264
0.556484
2001
225,147
153,704
0.682683
Table 3.
Recent figures in terms of local production quantity are absent from Agricultural and Fisheries
report.
26
Recent figures in terms of local production value are absent from Agricultural and Fisheries
report.
27
Recent figures in terms of the local production and export are absent from Hong Kong Year
Book.
165
farmers planted flowers in the early spring, and white cabbage and flowering
cabbage in the cooler season (Aijmer 21), while others continuously planted
flowers, mainly chrysanthemum and gladiolus during the cool season, and
celoria during the hot summer. In between the two flower seasons there was an
interlude of one crop of leaf mustard cabbage. Other farming practice included
mixed rice production with the cultivation of flowers and a few vegetables. A
farmer told Aijmer that he planted one summer crop of rice. The paddy fields
were later converted into flower land, mainly for gladiolus. During spring and
summer he planted chrysanthemum and celoria and a few loofah (ibid 22).
Another farmer specialised in flower cultivation. He had flower fields and a few
trees yielding flowers and fruit, like white orchid and purple thorn flower and
papaya trees.
166
Available arable farms were decreasing and at the same time as the
cultivation of flowers has decreased in Hong Kong. Farmers who wanted to stay
in the industry have attempted to source land in Shenzhen or in Yunnan (Di Si;
Wang).
There are still some flower farms in the NT. For example, the flower farm
that I visited was located in Mui Wo, a remote part of Lantau Island, the outlying
island located east of Hong Kong Island. This flower cultivator claims that he
grows peach blossom for his own satisfaction and leisure 29. His full time job is
working in a gold trading company in Sheung Wan (). He rents the farm
from the government and the long term contract was made because his father
worked in the AFD. He does not need to take care of his farmland intensively
since peach blossom trees require dry land. He mainly returns to the field two
months before the CNY to tighten the branches so as to make them grow
properly and to remove the green leaves so that the flowers blossom better. Some
28
29
customers go to his farm and choose the trees that they like. But he is also
prepared to sell his blossom trees to periodic flower markets before the CNY at
Cheung Chau, another outlying island.
Chinese people like good blessings in CNY. Flower names are also very
important. Another flower product that is commonly grown is lucky bamboo.
The lucky bamboo field that I visited is located at Pat Heung, Yuen Long (Figure
3.3). In contrast to blossom trees, lucky bamboo requires lots of water. Therefore,
the farmland was filled with water. Since too much sunlight would burn the
crops, a net layer covers the crops to avoid direct sunshine. It is found that
gladiolus is also a common flower especially grown to sell before the period of
CNY (Figure 3.4).
Figure 3.3.
168
Figure 3.4.
3.4
want to argue that, provision of technical support is important but not a key issue
that cultivators feel the most difficult. The most difficult part is the steady,
long-term availability of arable land and a fair treatment towards their farm
produce and land (i.e. without the fear of expropriation by the government).
However, because Hong Kong mainstream and dominant culture sees land for its
real estate value, according to the most obvious form of capitalist logic,
government officers feels no qualms in exploiting farmers and marginalizing
their agricultural practices as economic activities with very low economic values
and very inefficient land use. In terms of the land expropriation and other policy
injustice towards farmers, I see no difference between todays government
privileging and assisting the rich and powerful of our global capitalist world
169
today, and the previous colonial government privileging the rich and powerful of
the empire of old. I will establish this argument in a later part of my analysis.
According to the government, it has always been good to local farmers and
provided them with advanced technological aid. During the colonial period, there
was this case of two flower farmers, Poon Sap Yat and Li Leung Kwans farms
were located on a piece of infertile land where even weeds were thin, with a total
area of twenty dou () 30. They used to obtain water from a stream for irrigation.
With the help and guidance of the Agricultural and Fisheries Department,
irrigation sprinklers were installed, water pipes were built to transport water
from its source, and fixed disc nozzles were chosen to suit the need for watering
flowers. Both Poon and Li specialised in growing chrysanthemum. Poon also
grew peach blossoms and bananas. He built a small water tank on the hillside
near his farm, utilizing natural water pressure to save the costs of water pumps
and fuels. The total installation cost was around eight to nine thousand dollars. Li
Leung Kwan also grew tangerines. He built a water tank similar to Poons
because the sprinklers allowed his flowers to thrive and saved him manual labor
and time, as it was not easy to hire workers. Watering was an important but
mostly exhausting step. Now he could save time for fertilizing, levelling and pest
control. He also began to use weed-killer instead of weeding manually (Ho 23)
(Figure 3.5).
30
Dou is a unit of farmland area equivalent to 7,260 square feet. The unit is abbreviated from
dou chong (), which is the area required to plant the amount of grain seeds () of one
specific ladle ().
170
Figure 3.5.
development of farming, but leaves the industries to adjust to global trading and
market forces. Furthermore, AFCD was responsible for promoting an adaptive
new production method to help industries take advantage of new market
opportunities.
Figure 3.6.
Farmers claim that the AFD and AFCD have not provided them with
practical aids. Or in other words, AFD provides too little or negligible assistance
to farmers. Even if farmers have questions about agricultural knowledge,
governmental assistance and advice are not responsive enough. In this sense,
peoples response is not very positive towards the governments help. I will
demonstrate in Section 3.5 and 3.6 about the actual needs of the farmers that are
not met by the portfolio of the AFD/AFCD department.
3.5
arable land with high potential value is now developed or planned for urban
31
development. Only rare and sporadic pieces of arable land in remote areas can
still preserve their original features and most of these places are land with
ownership protected by Chinese customary law. Those areas continue to supply
arable land to farmers who want to make a living in agriculture. In this light, I
will explain how flower cultivation can still survive in modernised Hong Kong
in this section.
Flower cultivation could support a whole family and the business to grow.
For instance, Person J proudly says,
This is what the potted plant farmers mentioned in the previous section told
me. While there were not able to tell me what the governments AFD/AFCD
department were able to do for them, they want to strongly explain to me what
the postcolonial governments developmentalism has done to damage their
production
and
survival.
Due
to
the
construction
of
the
Hong
Kong-Shenzhen-Guangzhou Express Rail Link (XRL) 33, parts of the Tsoi Yuen
32
174
Tsuen 34 in Shek Kong, Yuen Long, was demolished. This village practiced
farming up until its demolition, and a large part of Person I and Js flower
plantation was on the resumed and demolished site. Among their 120,000 sq. feet
of land, 50,000 sq. feet were being resumed. The length of the Hong Kong
Section of this XRL runs from West Kowloon in Hong Kong to the boundary of
Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The XRL will connect with the 16,000-km National
High-speed Railway Network and will enhance Hong Kongs role as the
southern gateway to the mainland. Construction of the XRL commenced in
January 2010, with the completion targeted for 2015. A kind of
developmentalism is clearly shown in the governments construction of the XRL,
because developing the link between Hong Kong and mainland China is a part of
a globalised imagination of linking people together, expanding Chinese business
interaction with Hong Kong, and bring more tourists from China. This is in line
with the postcolonial governments developmentalist logic of governance.
34
Tsoi Yuen is a Cantonese word meaning vegetable, Tsuen is also a Cantonese word
meaning village.
175
ever allow them to do so again. No public housing relocation can allow them to
continue their means of livelihood, their way of life, their form of community
network.
176
Figure 3.7.
177
Figure 3.7 illustrates the extremely outdated compensation rate for famers
when the government needs to claim the land for constructing XRL. For instance,
the government compensate HK$0.7 dollars for a piece of sweet corn. But the
wholesale market price is HK$3, while the government compensation HK$0.11
per catty of organic tomato, but the market price is HK$25. The official
calculation of sweet corn is 4,000 pieces in a dou of arable land, but the actual
number of plantation is 12,000 pieces. The government claimed that they obtain
the compensation calculation according to experts advice. But when the
peasants invite the government to bring the evidence, the government refused to
do so. Many peasants feel being cheated and complained that the whole system
is too outdated. However, it is worth noting that not all famers sympathise with
each other as potential victims of the governments developmentalist logic. But
the discussion is out of the scope of my thesis.
3.6
178
35
Rice cultivation was an essential economic resource. Chinese farmers have good reputation for
growing crops in difficult conditions. They did not only cultivate at the bottom of valleys but
have also extended their activities by terracing lower slopes of many hills. Most of this land was
used for the growing of rice, which was the principal crop until the late 1950s. Over 80 per cent
of Hong Kongs agricultural land was under rice cultivation before the Japanese occupation
between 1941 and 1945. The quality of this product was said to be very high and a quantity of it
was exported to San Francisco each year for the use of the Chinese residents there. During
Japanese occupation between 1941 and 1945, Hong Kong was an acute shortage of food and a
lack of employment opportunities for the NT villagers. Importation of rice and other food supply
was disrupted, which caused a great demand of local farm produce. In consequence, most of the
irrigated land was used to grow rice. On drier land, vegetables, sweet potatoes and other field
crops were also extensively cultivated. In the post-Second World War period, British colonisers
written in Colonial Agricultural Report that in the period right after war period: paddy is the
most important grain crop of the Colony and every endeavour should be made to extend its
cultivation and improve yields on existing areas. It should not be supplemented by other crops.
The colonial agricultural report implies the importance of governments serious attitude on
agriculture. Bulk of Agriculture Departments resources were devoted to paddy experiments,
demonstrates and extension during this period.
36
In HKRS41-1-6-14, Colonial Agricultural Policy printed for the Colonial Office. January
1945, a ten-page agriculture policy was written by the government to state its importance:
Agriculture, including in this term both the production of crops and the raising of livestock,
large and small, is by far the most important industry in the Colonial Empire and upon it rests the
material well-being of Colonial peoples. The ability of a territory to provide a satisfactory
standard of living for its inhabitants therefore depends principally upon the prosperity of its
agriculture. Agriculture policy is an integral part of the general policy of Government and
within that field must be correlated and co-ordinated particularly with irrigation, forestry,
industrial and economic policy and more generally with health and education policy (HKRS
41-1-6-14 para 6).
179
increase of population after the Second World War intensified the pressure for
developing the NT, since many refugees fled from mainland China.
Non-indigenous inhabitants brought vegetable plantation skills to Hong Kong
and brought a vegetable revolution to Hong Kong. Less people cultivated rice
because it was less economical than growing vegetables (Chiu, and Hung a 237).
At the same time, indigenous inhabitants tended to rent their land to new comers
because renting land is easier than working the farmland. Also, indigenous
inhabitants were new to vegetable farming and lacked the competence of
non-indigenous people. At the same time, the large influx of refugees disrupted
the governments plan for Hong Kong. Because of increased pressure of
developmentalism, such as the building of new towns, roads and railways, the
government encouraged collaboration with the rural elites in the NT. Therefore,
all decisions made by the government favoured the development of the NT, even
if those measures and practices were short term. Arable land that was left
undeveloped became a valuable supply for the people who wanted to farm. Part
of the land reserved was dedicated to indigenous inhabitants in Chinese
Customary Law called tso and tong. Tso is for venerating a common ancestor,
and it is thus named after the common ancestor. It is a common practice that land
belongs to the son or sons as a matter of filial duty according to Confucian
tradition. They will either purchase land in the name of the tso or transfer part of
land inherited from their father in the name of the tso. The income from the land
was used to pay for the maintenance of ancestor worship, such as the upkeep of
graves and the costs of the rites of ancestral worship, including the provision of
food to be divided between the members of the tso after grave sweeping. The rest
of the money could be used to pay for education or provision of financial
assistance to the members of the tso upon the agreement of the tso members.
180
Tong is similar in nature to tso, but people may build a hall to house ancestral
tables 37. Tong may use a familys lucky name, but Tso always uses the name of
the common ancestor. Those lands are difficult to sell and develop because tso
and tong
are the intention of the founders that the parcel or parcels of land or
property must be perpetuated and not be disposed of Tsos and Tongs are
administered by managers and Section 15 of the NTO 38 requires that
these appointments be reported to, approved and recorded by the SHA. The
same session confers on managers the power to dispose of or in any way
deal with the said land as if he were the sole owner thereof, subject to the
consent of the SHA. The SHA must also be satisfied that the sale is for a
good purpose (undefined!) and that all the members have signified their
unanimous agreement to the transaction (Nissim 128).
In other words, tso and tong land is difficult to sell because this trading
needs to obtain unanimous agreement from all members of the tso or tong.
Therefore, this status allows a greater chance of indigenous inhabitants
preserving the land if the area is very remote and has little development potential,
because tso and tong managers need to make great efforts to obtain a unanimous
agreement for transaction, which may involve thousands or even tens of
37
A tong is a customary land trust for the worship of a named ancestor and the upkeep of his
grave. It is usually designed to provide funds for educational and welfare purposes of the
beneficiaries. It could also be extended to business ventures. A tong may also build a hall to
house ancestral tablets, and may use a familys lucky name. Tong land is intentional for the land
to be perpetuated and not be disposed of. The interests of the members of the tong begin when
the ancestor is born and ends when he dies. There are no problems of succession and no death
duties are levied. Business and religious matters of tong require the appointment of managers.
(Nissim 127-128)
38
Roger Nissim refers NTO as New Territories Ordinance.
181
39
Article 40 of the Basic Law: The lawful traditional rights and interests of the indigenous
inhabitants of the New Territories shall be protected by the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region.
40
Interview with Person S, 20/3/2011.
41
Sheung Shui is in northern part of Hong Kong, near to the border of mainland China.
182
inhabitant, but has a relative who is an indigenous inhabitant 42. Their garden was
originally located in Tsz Wan Shan 43 (). Their indigenous inhabitant
status did not protect them from being affected by urban development, but at
least their situation was relatively better because of the reserved land that they
have access to, thanks to a network with other indigenous inhabitants. Their
second move was to the lower part of Tates Cairn (), and not long after,
they need to move again to a remote area near the top of Tates Cairn. The
interviewee explained how remote it is by saying that even the taxi driver was
not willing to drive them to the garden, because the very steep slope makes
driving difficult. These two cases demonstrate that agriculture in Hong Kong
exists, but is limited to very remote areas. Also, those areas are available because
the government observes Chinese customary law that stipulates land for
indigenous inhabitants, which can only be sold after obtaining a unanimous
agreement, and thus makes development more difficult. This creates a space for
local agriculture to survive and not to be totally dissipated in an environment
where economic progress prevails. Regardless of the development potential of
tso land, coloniality exists in such a practice because of the unfair treatment
between indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants initiated since the colonial
days. This unjust policy continued in the same manner into the post-1997 era,
because of the protection of customary law in Hong Kongs mini-constitution
the Basic Law. This was of course, the result of the lobbying power of the
indigenous rural elite. Thus, a privileged class obtains land share once they are
born. Although people could rent farmland from indigenous inhabitants, the
problem is that non-indigenous inhabitants who wish to farm should know the
42
43
Despite farmers request brought forward by the district councillor, from the
AFCDs reply, we see that an embedded coloniality is hidden in the
governmentality towards agriculture. The bureaucratic measure towards
agriculture suggests governments tendency of privileging more profitable
economic activities to farming, and thus, privileges economic progress to the
preferred agricultural livelihood and way of life that farmers have engaged in for
long. The AFCDs reply reveals a market logic. Industry that is without high
184
economic return could hardly survive in a society where fast economic progress
prevails. Therefore, fragmented and limited land access will continue because of
the governments administrative practice. It is common for peoples
understanding that agriculture is declining in Hong Kong. However, I want to
emphasize that this has never been a natural process. My thesis is to question
this commonly accepted assumption. Rather, it is the result of policy and its
collaborative colonial execution. Thus, Hong Kong farming remains limited by
land resources, small farm size, high rent, competition for labour with other
industries, high wages, limited amount of capital, unfavourable weather
conditions, and acute fluctuation of prices, which are greatly affected by imports
(Airriess 764).
3.7
She elaborates, It may be because the shop needs to pay for commercial
premises, and they also need to pay protection fee to triad groups to keep their
shops safe, but flower growers run business on the road just for a few days. They
can avoid triad members collecting money from them. Therefore flower shops
never like flower growers who run business on lorries, and flower cultivators are
increasingly being driven away from the flower market. This differentiation
implies that people do not respect those who use the space traditionally. Money
is an important factor controlling who can stay in a place legally. In other words,
business operators in the market do not like the flower cultivators to take free
ride in running business in the market. Therefore, business operators become the
dominant players in the market.
Segmentation of the flower industry also increases over the years. For
instance, Person H, who is the Chairman of Hong Kong Flower Club and a
principal of a flower arrangement school, argues that there is no flower
cultivation in Hong Kong. I made several attempts to ask him about his
perception on flower cultivation in the NT nowadays before he corrected his
sentence, but he still remained sceptical.
to come into contact with the local growers at all. It seems that from the
perceptive of high-end flower consumers, local flowers, such as peach blossom,
chrysanthemums, gladiolus and tangerines are not elegant, exotic or expensive
enough. These flowers are too ordinary and may not reach the aesthetics sense
that flower arrangement schools would treasure. However, one wonders, minus
the transportation cost of imported plantation flowers, are they really that much
more unique, exquisite, expensive or rare in the world, as compared to the
rarity of locally grow flowers and species?
Local flower cultivators can hardly compete with imported flowers. The
only thing that we can compete on is about the freshness of our flowers. It is
relatively more long lasting than imported flowers. Hong Kong flowers
have thicker petals. It is not only because arable land is nearer to the market,
it is also because the method of plantation ensures that our flowers are more
long lasting. We dont use green house to accommodate the flowers. Our
flowers can receive sunlight directly. But overseas flowers might use green
house or use some transparent cover to control sunlight and temperature.
These are the only advantages that I can think of. 46
3.8
1.
was largely reduced due to a tremendous decrease in cultivated land (despite the
increase in productivity). Governmental developmentalism, for example, the
construction of railways, roads, expressway and new town development,
required land for development (Two Flower Cultivators). As a result, the
government appropriated the farmers arable land on a large scale. Because the
cultivation industry yields lower economic return in comparison with tertiary
188
industries now prevalent in Hong Kong, farmers are priced out of their original
land and must either move to more remote places in Hong Kong, open flower
businesses in mainland China, or shut down their business entirely.
2.
Because of economic prosperity since the 1980s, people have more money to
buy consumer goods or even luxury goods such as flowers to increase their
living standards. At the same time, flowers are no longer bought only by
individuals. Commercial clients also start to understand flower power to boost
sales or win new business. Commercial clients, such as property management
companies, design businesses and the visual merchandising departments of
retailers, use flowers and plants to add colour and style to their premises. Some
clients from design companies are likely to buy materials such as flowers and
decorative accessories for their own creative use (Flower Power). Thus, a
greater diversity of flowers was needed 47. Therefore, the flower wholesalers
sourced flowers from all over the world.
3.
buy flowers from Hong Kong and transport them to Macao. However, this
practice was terminated in the early 1990s, because Macao started to order
47
Local consumers buy different types of flowers. The most popular flowers are the traditional
species, such as roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, gypsophila and orchids. Freesias, statice,
gladioli, etcetera. are in considerable demand. The most popular colour in Hong Kong for roses is
red, followed by pink, yellow and white. Nearly half of the carnations bought from export are
pink, with red, dark pink, yellow and white sold in smaller quantities (Gunnerod 28).
189
flowers directly from Zhuhai, 48 where flower cultivation started to emerge. The
Macao flower industry lowers costs if they order directly from China. It
impacted the trade volume of flowers in Hong Kong.
4.
people believed that flowers could not bloom in refrigerated containers. However,
it was discovered that when flowers were unfrozen, they would bloom again.
People did not realise that the problem was caused by the dehumidifier which
extracted water from the flowers. The dry environment during refrigeration
prevented the flowers from blooming. Therefore, imported flowers were not very
welcome in the past (Law Zhen Tsz). However, improved technology encouraged
more imported flowers.
Firstly, long and wide corrugated paper boxes were used. Fresh cut-flowers
were placed inside horizontally to avoid being crushed. Besides, each
bundle of flowers was wrapped with damp cotton at the tip before being
packed into boxes, so that the flowers could draw water from the cotton
while in the box in order to remain fresh Before packing into boxes, a
thick layer of absorbent paper shreds, sprayed with water, was placed on top
of the flowers before the lid is replaced (ibid, my translation).
48
Zhuhai is in mainland China and is adjacent to the Macao Special Administrative Region of
the Peoples Republic of China.
190
5.
191
6.
the climate and Yunnans government support 49. However, the expense of air
freight increases the cost of the flowers. With the expanded transportation
network, flowers are now transported from Yunnan to Shenzhen by air, and from
Shenzhen to Hong Kong by lorry. The cost has therefore decreased tremendously.
Also, because of improved transportation, orders made from Hong Kong to a
foreign exporter, such as ones in Thailand, can be delivered for the next day
(Fresh Flower).
All these factors have contributed to the overall change in the flower
industry, and the transformation of the flower market from heavily relying on
flower cultivation to importation, created further competition and pressure for
change on local flower cultivation
3.9
attitude of the colonial government. The pressure for economic growth increased
the pressure on the colonial government to urbanise the NT. The history of macro
development of agriculture also explains the current situation from another
perspective.
49
Yunnan provincial government supported the growth of flower industry. A biological resources
development plan was established in 1995 to further diversify production away from stagnating
tobacco and low-margin vegetable crops (Hunt).
192
role of coloniser is never a single entity. The Hong Kong colonial government
went through a period of transition from colonial rule based on conserving
village life to one tied to development and progressive urbanization of the NT.
The earlier colonisers, before post-WWII intense industrialisation and
urbanisation, tended to minimise negative consequences brought by urbanisation
and industrialisation to the rural people as far as possible. Steve Tsang Yui Sang,
a local historian, describes how colonisers met the challenges of the Chinese
community:
Hong Kong was, in any event, developing very fast in the postwar era.
Urbanisation and industrialisation spread into the hitherto mainly rural NT
as the local population expanded. More than ever the work of a district
officer was related to land: applications to purchase Crown land for
building or agriculture, or to convert agricultural land to building status, or
annual permits to occupy Crown land for some purpose, or permits for
temporary structures, or permits for forestry lots on Crown land. Much as
he was devoted to his duties as a special magistrate, District Officer Austin
Coates 50 found himself spending the greater part of his time fighting a
rearguard action against urban encroachment, and to protect agriculture and
village life, wherever this was desirable and possible, in order that the
country people should not suffer by too rapid social and economic changes.
Within his area of responsibility was the town of Tsuen Wan, originally a
group of eight eighteenth-century stone-built villages, situated in a
50
Coates refers to Austin Coates, a colonial civil servant working as a Special Magistrate of the
NT between 1949-1956.
193
Coatess
understanding
of
the
colonial
attitude
reflects
that
In the end, looking after the welfare of the local residents was a matter of
achieving a balance between protecting their traditional life and helping
them improve their living conditions and life chances in the modern world.
51
In other words, flower cultivation, the focus of my research, was more popular after the 1950s.
People would grow flowers or have mixed vegetable agriculture with flower cultivation,
especially before CNY (Aijmer 12, 22).
195
Given
Hong
Kongs
shortage
of
water
following
196
(fengshui 52), and resolving the more thorny issue of relocating whole
villages whose ancestral lands were needed in the wider interest of
developing the colony. When Hayes first found himself in such a situation,
he sometimes felt hemmed in by the villagers on one side and by the
engineers on the other. Nevertheless, by adhering to the established policy
of seeking to achieve our objectives through agreement by patient
negotiations with all concerned and a preparedness to compromise in all
things, including requiring the district officers to act in line with
time-honoured Chinese notions of how to proceed in such matters, Hayes
was able to ensure that the major developments took place (Tsang Yui Sang
b 90-91).
Sir Henry Blake, Governor when the new territory was acquired in 1898,
made a point of reassuring the people that their ancient rights would be
respected and that Chinese law and custom would be followed. Land
required for public offices, fortifications, or the like official purposes would
be bought at a fair price. The official purposes were at first limited to the
52
Fengshui, which literally means wind and water, is an ancient Chinese philosophy that seeks
to guide people into achieving a harmonious balance with their surroundings. The belief is based
on the solar calendar and mathematical systems and incorporates astronomy, geography, the
environment, magnetic fields and physics (Nissim 133)
197
building of roads, public offices and reservoirs, and, generally speaking, the
payment of a fair price settled the matter. The owners of property in the
NT are inclined to take a wholly pragmatic view of things. If there is a more
comfortable living environment to be had than the lightless, waterless,
drainless, centuries-old ancestral home, they have little compunction about
knocking it down, unrestrained by sentiment for things old. If their land, too,
can yield a more profitable return than farming they will not be hindered by
having to turn their backs on a traditional way of life. This attitude was an
important factor when it came to the building of the new towns and
acquisition of ancestral land. (Akers-Jones 18)
The development programme was bound to bring the villagers into at times
potentially serious conflict with the Government. Unhappiness at what was
happening, and resentment tinged with fear, characterised the earlier stages
198
resistance from the public, the colonial government tried to recruit rural leaders
and village representatives to persuade the people to surrender their arable land
to the coloniser. In this sense, coloniality is embedded in this political structure,
in which there is a logic that land should be given up to the coloniser without
providing any other choice, because even the rural elites advised or forced
people to sell their land. Various layers of hierarchical and colonial relations are
embedded in this process. I will explain the background of the new town
development in Section 3.4, and explain the coloniality embedded in the political
structure that made it happen in Section 3.9.
in 2001 (Appendix 9), which is due to urban development in the NT. Yet even
though new town development was a part of the governments plans, it was not a
top priority; and farming areas still remained. However, the strategy of focusing
on the area around the Victoria Harbour changed and new town development
started in the beginning of the 1970s. This was in accordance with a
recommendation from the Special Committee of Housing based on a projected
population forecast.
In fact the Committee had been strongly influenced in its deliberations and
conclusions by a review produced by the planning staff within the Public
Works Department entitled Proposed Measures for the Accommodation of
Surplus Population 54. The review suggested that about 650,000 might be
accommodated on maximum densities within Hong Kong Island and
Kowloon, with a further 1.5 million on various new-town sites in the NT
(Bristow 65-66).
According to Roger Bristow, the whole report is: Town Planning Office, Planning
Memorandum No. 1: Proposed Measures for the Accommodation of Surplus Population,
February 1956. A copy was published as Appendix E to the Final Report of the Special
Committee on Housing 1956-1958. The memorandum was one of a series prepared by the Town
Planning Office as preparatory work for regional planning in the Territory (Bristow 75).
201
For the British new towns the administrative machine needed to be planner,
financier, developer, and manager all rolled into one. The Hong Kong
government has never really aspired to that all-embracing, interventionist,
paternalistic role, and some of the new-town failings can be placed at its
door for just such a reason. As Scott and Cheek-Milby comment in another
context:
These are terms that we have seen before, yet reactive planning largely
accounts for the fact that the nature and form of the Hong Kong new towns are
born out of short-term thinking and policy-making with limited horizons. Even
though they are creations with major long-term consequences, formative
decisions have proceeded on an incremental, pragmatic basis, as with much else
in Hong Kong planning (ibid 307).
This government logic led to a limited scope of future planning in the NT.
Bristow further explains:
It is notable in most of the British new towns, for example, that the
Development Corporations set up a detailed monitoring mechanism for
understanding the community and economic development of their towns.
This enabled them to adjust housing and industrial policies rapidly as
circumstances changed and experience grew. Because of the organisational
arrangements for the Hong Kong new towns, such monitoring is currently
largely absent, with the expected result that policy-makers react slowly to
problems as they arise, and information about the new towns in terms of
social and economic issues is sparse and uncoordinated. Without some
improvement problems will not be foreseen and policy will remain reactive.
It would seem likely also that as the towns rapidly grow larger, the
problems will multiply, thus undermining the governments ultimate
objectives of social order in the Territory. Clearly, present evidence is
already beginning to suggest deficiencies in information about the towns
which require remedying (ibid 308).
203
3.10
Chapter Summary
Chapter 3 has discussed the rise and fall of flower cultivation in the NT. A
large influx of immigrants caused a drastic shift from traditional rice cultivation
to vegetable and flower cultivation. However, because of the tendency of
economic progress, the government expropriated farmland. The following
diagram (Figure 3.8) demonstrates a power relation between the government,
ordinary indigenous inhabitants and non-indigenous inhabitants through the NT
structural management.
Government
Indigenous Inhabitants
Non-indigenous Inhabitants
Figure 3.8.
204
will
of
economic
development
might
intentionally
and
205
CHAPTER 4
EMBEDDED COLONIALITY IN
THE FLOWER MARKET:
A STUDY IN THE CONTROL OF
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
FEHD officers always chase us away from street obstruction. They make us bad temper
people to release our anger and frustration to tourists. (Person C)
4.1
Chapter Introduction
Hawking and Mong Kok Flower Market are interlinked, as demonstrated in
Chapter 2, the market was first derived as street vending along Boundary Street.
However, because the government imposes stricter control on hawkers, more
regulations are imposed on hawkers in the flower market, and eventually
contribute to the change of flower market industry as described in Section 3.8. At
the same time, shops in the market, mainly located on ground floor, would also
do retail business and display flower goods in their shops. The business
environment in the flower market was difficult due to the frequent patrols of law
enforcement officers from the UC in the past and the FEHD nowadays (who
replaced the UC during government restructuring). They enforce the law and act
on the complaints they receive from residents living above the flower shops 55.
55
In the vicinity of the Mong Kok Flower Market, above flower shops on ground floor are
residential buildings ranging from six to twenty storeys, which also contain other commercial
uses, such as shoe company, school uniforms company, film production studio, dancing academy,
tutorial school, church, all mixed use space in the vicinity of the market.
206
This chapter mainly addresses the issue of the tension between flower traders
and law enforcement officers and investigates the mentality of both parties. I will
demonstrate that flower traders should have more sovereignty over their use of
space. However, frequent patrolling and tension between law enforcement
officers and florists discourages florists from further developing the flower
industry. This chapter explores the genealogy of urban discipline in colonial and
post-1997 Hong Kong with respect to hawker-control and street obstructions in
the front of rented shops in the flower market. Abundant research has been
conducted on the development of the hawker communities and the hawker
policies in Hong Kong (Tse F. Y. a; Tse F. Y. b; McGee; Smart Josephine a;
Smart Josephine b; Leung Chi Yuen). Previous scholars also mention specific
hawker communities, such as in Tung Choi Street, but their perspective is more
about the spatial use (Chan Fung Ping). My research focuses on filling the gap
about the transformation of a hawker community from the colonial to the
postcolonial era. I want to argue that the mentality of not addressing the
provision of a permanent flower market with an agreement between flower
traders and the government manifests a colonial mentality embedded in daily
practice. This mentality of control is structurally designed by the government in
the interest of effective management to reduce street culture and keeping the
street clean and tidy for traffic flow. Although florists have proposed new ways
of solving problems related to the use of space, the government blocked their
ideas due to the governments understanding of city space governance as merely
an issue of surveillance and control, which continues to this day. My chapter
implies that the government should play the role of the facilitator rather than the
police to foster a prosperous flower market by respecting local business and
industry culture, rather than perpetuating a mentality of space regulation that
207
4.2
organic formation, which means it was not overtly planned by the government.
Frequent disputes and conflicts between the florists and the control officers have
been raised in the market. Stephen Legg advances the concept of
governmentality, first developed by Michel Foucault, as a way to understand
disciplinary power formations within the police. To explain the concept Legg
references Colin Gordon:
Operating without the liberal checks of Europe, the use of violence was
208
Leggs understanding of colonialism and the use of space imply that the
coloniser imposes excessive surveillance and ordering in order to control the
colonised peoples use of city space. Excessive colonial government regulations
and law enforcement in the name of keeping social order and improving urban
environment are forms of political control in the colony. My chapter adopts
Leggs understanding of colonialism and space management to analyse the
surveillance practices and the mentality of law enforcement officers in the Mong
Kok Flower Market, which continues even into the contemporary postcolonial
era.
4.3
FEHD are the major law enforcement agencies in the flower market. USD was
209
the executive arm of UC. UC was first established as the Sanitary Board in 1883,
and changed its name to the Urban Council in 1946. Its aim was to make city
life in Hong Kong as clean and safe as possible in terms of public health, and
is made as enjoyable and rewarding as possible in terms of cultural and
leisure-time amenities (Cheung Wa On Derek 14). Managing hawkers is one of
their duties in making the city clean and safe. The government understands
hawking activity as traffic obstruction, and the health and environmental
problems that street trading poses as social costs (Sujanani 76). Therefore,
USDs management of flower hawkers implies a rationality of keeping Hong
Kong clean and tidy, which is premised on the colonial government perceiving
Hong Kong, the racial other, as unhygienic. UC was dissolved in 31 December
1999. The Provision of Municipal Services (Re-organisation) Bill recommended
the setting up of the FEHD and LCSD, and was presented to the LegCo. After
deliberation, the Bill was passed in December 1999 and the FEHD and the
LCSD came into being on 1 January 2000 to replace the USD. Hawkers control
is now under the FEHD, which is generally a continuation of the USD (Li Tin
Yiu 24).
Although the police force is responsible for law and order in Hong Kong,
they are not the major law enforcement agency for handling hawkers. In most
cases, a few policemen physically appear and stay further away from the hawker
control team. The police force serves as a backup for the USD or FEHD officers
and intervenes only when disputes and confrontations happened between the
officers and florists.
210
4.4
4.5
selling on the ground which was managed by the USD. Flower hawkers were
56
This claim was made by Wong Ting Kwok, Legislative Council member from Import and
Export Sector (Functional Constituency) (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Legislative
Council b 6487).
211
selling along Boundary Street outside Fa Hui Park between 1957 and 1982 (as
explained in Chapter 1). Since 15 December 1982, from the encouragement of
USD, flower hawkers were relocate from inside the volleyball court of Fa Hui
Playground. The flowers were subsequently transported from other parts of the
NT to the market. In those days, florists were hawkers who sold flowers on the
street. Failing to provide a permanent premise for the market, the government
was not able to solve the conflicts over street use. The parking problem remained
as the main conflicting issue for florists, and pushing the business to the
volleyball court of the Fa Hui Park failed as a solution and therefore the problem
continued. Person R mentioned at that time USD and the Flower Union
cooperated to run an experimental operation by running the flower market in the
volleyball court of Fa Hui Park between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m 57. The Flower Union
and USD reached an agreement: the Flower Union was responsible for
management inside the park by providing clear instructions about the area and
size of each flower business operator, while USD is responsible for the
management outside the park. However, some flower traders received overseas
flower goods earlier than the official opening hours of the flower market because
of early flights 58. Since the Fa Hui Park had not yet opened for trading, some
flower wholesalers unloaded the goods and carried them to the area of Duke
Street (), Knight Street () and Embankment Road () (Map
3) to prepare and pack flower orders. When flower retailers came earlier,
wholesalers gave them the order which created a nuisance for residents nearby
and other vehicle drivers. Illegal parking by the wholesalers during the day has
57
58
212
seriously disrupted normal traffic flow. At the same time, the new usage had
created serious problems of obstruction of pavements, which has forced
pedestrians onto the road (Kowloon Flower Market). USD officers therefore
treated them as illegal hawkers because nearby residents complained of the noise
and nuisance to traffic produced by about fifty trucks which parked around the
site (Growers Warn). This also happened during hours when most residents
were supposed to be sleeping. USD law enforcement officers continuously
issued penalties to flowers hawkers and the lorries that were loading and
unloading goods. In addition to the penalties, goods and even lorries were
confiscated.
Yau Tsim Mong DC covers Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok.
213
police and USD officers, could not manage the affairs in this area, because the
three administrative zones allowed the law breakers to escape 60. This area
created troubles for the USD and the police, and as a result, the co-operation
between the Flower Union and USD was terminated.
parties stopped the plan. At the same time, USDs proposal was to extend their
existing planning of temporarily lending governments sport facilities to the
florists when they were unused. Therefore, the proposed timing was at mid-night,
but this could not cater to the florists changing needs of expanding their
business to have more day-time activities. Coloniality is embedded in the law
enforcement of the flower market, because the USD management logic is
oriented toward only hygiene a result of the perception of the colonial city as
an unhygienic and less civilised culture, made from a loaded and racially
informed idea of the coloniser about the coloniseds local culture. This is a
residual mentality the colonisers, developed from their early colonial experience
of epidemics in the tropics, a climate and ecology the colonisers were not
indigenous to and therefore, not prepared for through localizing their diet and
ways of life. This situation reveals the governments lack of patience in dealing
with difficulties, its inability to understand local culture (that is, flower culture
and its operation needs), and a lack of long term planning for what would be best
for the industry. Instead, in neglect of a valid and vibrant local industry, the
government merely created piecemeal solutions that made use of unutilised
resources, that is, the sport facilities that nobody uses at midnight, to plan for the
flower industry in an ad hoc manner. In the entire history of the market, the
government has failed to respond to the industrys request for a permanent
wholesale flower market where florists can operate in a stable, hassle free and
legal environment conducive to the development of their industry.
215
Map 3.
4.6
the flower market in Fa Hui Parks volleyball court terminated. At the same time,
the government attempted to run the Lunar New Year Fair in Fa Hui Park and
eliminate all flower trading on Boundary Street. The Flower Union strongly
opposed this and requested USD to find a place for flower trading. Since the
conflict occurred close to CNY (the peak season for trading), flower traders, who
are mainly local flower growers doing wholesale trading, were forced to
61
The boundary of DC remained the same from 1982 until 2011. Therefore, I used a new DC
map to illustrate the idea. http://www.elections.gov.hk/dc2011/maps/dc2011f.pdf
216
temporarily trade on Flower Market Road. The government did not respond to
the florists requests for finding a place for them. Therefore, flower traders
continued to trade on Flower Market Road between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. with lorry
and vans (Yau 40). At the same time, some flower wholesalers who imported
flowers from overseas rented or bought commercial premises on Flower Market
Road and ran formal businesses. They started to complain about the flower
traders doing business on the road without having to pay for commercial
premises. Therefore, flower traders made complaints to the USD about the
flower growers illegal hawking activities. According to Leung Yuk Lam,
Director of the Flower Union, UC experimented with a new form of
counter-hawking practice in 1988 and 1989. It sent out the first few observation
teams to stay right at the site of illegal hawking with the aim of reducing the cost
of occasional raids and law enforcement. Since then, the USDs general duties
team began to interfere and give penalties to some flower growers (Historic
Origin). Later, USD even prohibited car parking on one area of Flower Market
Road, while another part of Flower Market Road prohibited parking from 7 a.m.
to 10 a.m., and from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. (Yau 40).
This situation created a turning point in the flower industry. Before 1980s,
flower traders are the same as flower growers since they produced and hawked
on the street at the same time. However, as explained in Chapter 2, when I
addressed the reasons for the changes in the flower industry in Hong Kong
(Section 3.8), traders in the flower market were mainly businessmen doing
import trading. I will summarise the cut-flower and potted plant trading in Figure
4.1.
217
Figure 4.1.
4.7
and the number of hawkers must be minimised. It appears that UC policies were
primarily directed towards reducing the social costs of the lower circuit or
informal sector activity of hawking. The social costs of hawking are traffic
obstruction, health, sanitary and hygiene problems, and environmental problems
that street trading poses (Sujanani 76). UC policies were directed primarily
toward reducing the social costs of street trading and not so much on the social
benefits of hawking (ibid 28). As a result, a loss of trust and social dissatisfaction
were created without mutual understanding between the coloniser and the
colonised.
4.8
in 1989 against the alleged unfair treatment of the UC, which regarded them as
unlicensed hawkers. Florists argued that the vicinity of the flower market area
(Yuen Po Street, Prince Edward Road West, Flower Market Road) had only
limited legal parking space. However lorries had to occupy the space for a long
time because of the loading and unloading of goods, and sometimes they parked
while waiting for another batch of goods to be loaded. Florists complained that
the inflexibility of government management made the situation worse. They
complained to UC, AFCD, USD and DC, but florists requests were declined.
Sixty-three vehicles, including lorries and vans, went for a slow-drive protest
along Yuen Po Street, Prince Edward Road West, Embankment Road, Duke Road,
Knight Street and Flower Market Road. Banners were hung outside of the lorries
and vans to demonstrate against the governments strict control of flower
220
hawkers. Banner slogans included: The activity of the Flower Market will not
be stifled! () and history of the Flower Market must not
be ignored
(
) (Figure 4.2). This slogan called for a respect
for history and the formation of local cultural and economic networks. They
demanded the government to make a flower wholesale market as a long-term
solution to the problem of illegal hawking (Urban Council Repeated;
Growers Warn).
Figure 4.2.
4.9
the government shirked the responsibility of offering a suitable site to the flower
industry. For example, even six months after the protest, another government
221
department, the AFCD, suggested that the florists should move the whole flower
market to the Cheung Sha Wan Vegetables Wholesale Market because vegetables
and flowers, to AFCD officers, have a similar nature (Map 4). Such a plan was
the governments attempt at having better administration. However, both the
florists and the police strongly opposed this suggestion (Flower Farmers).
According to an interview with Person R, the Transport Department also
opposed this because of the possibility of affecting transportation 62. At that time,
transportation in Cheung Sha Wan was poor due to the lack of roads and highway.
But as florists depended heavily on vans and lorries for transportation. They also
opposed the proposed area because it lacked adequate facilities.
Map 4.
The florists protest and the AFCDs proposal to Cheung Sha Wan revealed
that the government lacked a comprehensive plan. The suggested move was
62
infeasible owing to the lack of facilities, such as roads and highways. The
colonial government lacked a long term, comprehensive industry policy for
improving flower business in Hong Kong and it treated hawking activities as
issues that they must deal with. Therefore, the government believed that they
must tackle the hawking problems but not focused on dealing with the needs of
finding a suitable place for flower hawkers. Hawkers, as to remain a status of
subaltern, remained to be insecure for the future. They could only find a suitable
way to survive with minimal disturbance from the USD officers.
which might only be across the street in another jurisdiction. Heavy surveillance
and punishment directed at the flower traders destroyed morale and reduced their
income because of the penalty fees. The government did not understand or refuse
to understand the industry, and its control mentality, operating under the guise of
public health and hygiene, shows to what extent colonialism was embedded in
administrative measures. This lack of understanding of flower culture and the
needs of traders created tension. It resulted in the florists slow-drive protest
requesting the government to respect the industrys history. The AFCDs
proposal was not feasible because of a lack of transportation infrastructure,
which represented a lack of comprehensive planning to accommodate local
business needs. The lack of action on these matters was the result of the
governments indifference to local culture, which is indicative of a colonial
attitude that disregards the everyday culture of ordinary people and the
specificities of place.
4.10
in the flower market are being treated in a similar way to the flower hawkers of
the past, because the logic of management and control is nearly the same. FEHD
officers and florists reached an agreement that flower traders can occupy a
maximum of 3 feet in front of their shops, with no allowance to occupy parking
spaces. However, as clearly shown in Figure 2.23 in Chapter 2, 3 feet outside a
shop front is not enough for the florists.
4.11
1.
Inadequate Space
Rents in the flower market are high, thus florists need to maximise their
space for goods display. They require space particularly in peak seasons, such as
the period around CNY and Christmas. Peak season allows them to earn nearly
half of their entire yearly revenue. Therefore florists work very hard in the peak
season. All space, either on the ground or on shelves, is filled with goods.
Nonetheless they still do not have enough space, and the only way for the florists
to operate their businesses is to put goods outside their shops.
225
2.
CNY, but street obstruction occurs in the flower market every day. One florist
told me that they needed to display goods in their shop front, even outside of
CNY, because displaying flowers on the street attracts peoples attention. It
implies that there is large variety of goods to select in that shop. Until March
2012, there are 105 flower and horticulture shops established in the vicinity of
the flower market selling similar products. Not surprisingly, competition is very
keen. When other florists display goods on the street, all must follow suit.
Otherwise, customers would think that their shops have a limited choice and the
florists chance of doing business might be lost. In this sense, goods display is
important for the florists. It is not only a storage problem, but about how the
sellers perceive consumer behaviour.
3.
They need to occupy the space with flower goods. Otherwise, their space might
be occupied by other vehicle users, most probably customers who drive their cars
to buy flowers. This might create trouble for loading and unloading of goods,
because parking space is limited, and also workers might spend more time and
effort in moving flower goods if lorries are parked further away from their shops.
Therefore, they need to use the goods to reserve a parking space for their own
lorry.
226
4.12
Local
Community
Leaders
Misunderstood
Florists Needs
District councillors are local community leaders representing the area and
acting as a communication channel between stakeholders of the community
(both residents and businessmen) and the government. However, district
councillors do not understand florists needs. Law Wing Cheung, the Yau Tsim
Mong district councillor who represents the area of the flower market, firmly
supports the upper floor residents opinion and strongly opposes florists
occupying parking spaces and the pavement. He saw the practice of the flower
market as the cause of the deterioration of the environment and hygiene
standards of the area. He suggested that the florists create a multi-level storage
area inside their shops to enlarge storage space so that they did not need to
occupy the street (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Yau Tsim Mong a).
The district councillor challenged FEHDs efforts in not paying enough efforts in
managing the place. He urges FEHD to seriously consider relocating the flower
market so that residents would not clash directly with florists (Law Wing
Cheung). I attempted to address Law Wing Cheungs ideas, in November 2010,
but his assistant replied that Law is very busy and he refused my interview
request.
Law Wing Cheungs suggestions imply that even district councillors do not
understand the florists actions. As discussed in the previous section, florists need
to place goods outside their shops because of inadequate space and the
perception of customers behaviour. Laws understanding implies that he did not
understand florists needs. His attitude toward the florists encourages FEHD
227
officers to be even more severe with the florists, and shows that he supports strict
street management. Law did not attempt to create mutual trust and a platform for
residents and businessmen to communicate. This situation would drive florists to
an even worse situation because they could only stand for their own individual
rights without their community leaders support.
4.13
FEHD is organised into three branches: the Food and Public Health Branch, the
Environmental Hygiene Branch and the Administration and Development Branch. The
Environmental Hygiene Branch of the FEHD has been formed by combining the Environmental
Health Branches of the former USD and Regional Service Department. Management of the
flower market is related to the Environmental Hygiene Branch of the FEHD, which is responsible
for implementation and coordination of environmental hygiene services, management of public
markets, hawker control and licensing matters, and for directing environmental hygiene services
of the territory (Li Tin Yiu 25).
64
The Secretary for Food and Health is the head of Food and Health Bureau. This Bureau takes
charge of FEHD, AFCD, Department of Health and Government Laboratory (Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region).
228
obstruct the public, the FEHD officers may institute prosecutions under section
4A of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228), and offenders are liable to a
maximum fine of HK$5,000 or imprisonment for three months upon conviction.
If shops have placed any article in a public place and caused obstruction to
sanitation operations, the FEHD officers may issue a notice to the owner of the
article under section 22 of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance
(Cap. 132), requiring him to remove the article within a specified period of time,
failing which the FEHD may seize the article. The maximum penalty for
contravention of the above provision is a fine of HK$5,000 and a daily fine of
HK$50 (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Legislative Council c).
The legislation and penalty imposed to the flower traders implies that the
government is committed to maintain street order. Public cleanliness is
considered by the government as of utmost importance to the city. I do not intend
to argue that the action of street obstruction should be encouraged in town.
However, I want to argue that the existing management logic understate the
importance of having reasonable spatial and material provisions for the
sustenance of quotidian flower culture in everyday life. The frequent law
enforcement officer patrols make a hard life to the flower traders and hinder the
development of flower industry. Flower traders are used to the government
ignoring their fundamental need for a permanent wholesale market. Florists are
busy in facing the everyday struggle with FEHD officers and their own business.
In this light, oppositional voice to the government is kept at a minimal.
At the same time, among all the other districts, Yau Tsim Mong districts
obtain the highest number of prosecutions instituted by the FEHD against illegal
229
In fact, most consumers and sellers and even some residents, who have
moved in with the knowledge of the conditions below on the streets as part of the
bargain, and have negotiated an acceptable space sharing culture and are fine
with the conditions. However, the government and local district council elites
maintain a controlling mentality of street management emphasizing legislation of
hygiene and street obstruction. To them, streets are for the use of the public and
the extension of goods display in the street is generally not acceptable in hygiene
terms. FEHD officers will prosecute efficiently to manage the control of the
street once they receive complaints. Law enforcement officers use a mentality of
control for street management. The society rarely understands why and how
traders need to extend goods display.
65
Open markets in the Yau Tsim Mong district includes the Ladies Market in Tung Choi Street,
the Fa Yuen Street open market bazaar, Temple Street Night Market, etcetera.
230
4.14
The flower industry has a hard time developing further, both in terms of
business objectives and also to expand the markets flower culture, because of
the FEHDs law enforcement. One florist told me that business was very difficult
because she needed to display goods outside her shop, but she also had to move
the goods away from the street when the FEHD officers arrive, therefore, she
needed to observe the street carefully and be aware when the officers come. In
this light, her workload increased. The florist said many tourists visit her shop
and want to take pictures of the flowers. However, she does not have time and
effort to cater to tourists request. Also, when the visitors are around, they may
distract the shop keepers awareness on the arrival of FEHD officers, especially
when the visitors takes pictures, the camera flash disturbs the florists
observation on the street. Person C explains an embarrassing situation that she
encountered when FEHD officers arrived 66. She says angrily,
FEHD officers always chase us away from street obstruction. They make
us bad temper people to release our anger and frustration to tourists.
Tourists like to come to my shop and take pictures with the cameras flash
on. This is private property. I have the right not allowing anyone to take
pictures. There was this occasion that FEHD officers and tourists came at
the same time, therefore I had to remove my goods from the street
immediately to avoid committing any offense. I could only drive away the
tourists because they blocked my way. FEHD officers saw the whole
66
situation since they were standing in front of my shop. The officers saw that,
but what could I do except driving away the tourists? When I was being
treated badly by the FEHD officers, I would vent off my anger to the
tourists because I dislike them for affecting my business. This situation
might create bad image to the tourists.
In other words, Person C complained against on the FEHD officers and the
possibility of creating a negative image about Hong Kong. However, there is
very little florists can do. Florists would rather prohibit people to take pictures,
because it is not their primary duty to welcome visitors. Florists cannot indulge
the tourists because they are afraid of law enforcement. This situation is also not
good for tourism, because it gives a bad impression to foreigners. Nonetheless,
florists need to minimise the risk of being charged of street obstruction.
4.15
Verbal warnings are given to the florists if they seriously obstruct roads.
Sometimes FEHD officers issue fines to the florists who violate the rules
232
seriously and repetitively. Conflicts constantly arise, for instance one day in 2004
(FEHD Raiding). FEHD officers issued forty penalty tickets to florists in the
whole area. The officers also removed HK$40,000 of goods totally from the
florists. Some florists along Sai Yee Street blocked FEHD vehicles and did not
allow them to remove their property (Figure 4.3).
Figure 4.3.
Florists blocked the road of the FEHD vehicle and argued with
the officers who removed florists property in 2004 (Source: ibid)
Figure 4.4.
Figure 4.5.
requests for space on the pavement and the use of parking spaces in front of their
shops results in street obstructions and FEHD officers issuing penalties to florists.
This action increases florists operating costs and discourages florists from fully
embracing flower culture and developing the art of flower display. FEHD
officers inherited the UCs controlling mentality of street management. When
enforcement officers charge florists for unhygienic practices and obstructing the
streets, a strict control of street is imposed. This reflects an inflexibility of the
government administration in not understanding the business culture and
requests of the local industry.
4.16
As described previously, the period before big festivals, such as CNY and
Christmas, are the peak seasons for the flower industry. Florists stock up more
goods before CNY (especially one week before CNY), because they hope to
boost their sales during this important festival for the flower industry. The lack of
space inside their shops forces the florists to store extra flowers outside their
shops. One of the businessmen, Martin Tsoi, owner of Hung Fat Wholesales
Flower, expressed his anxieties when he heard that landlords had raised rents by
50 percent or even double in some cases. Shop owners complain that they are
unable to afford renting larger spaces. FEHD officers issued verbal warnings for
a breach of hygiene regulations. 60 fixed-penalty fines were handed out within 2
days after the officers received complaints about obstructions of the pavement.
Some businessmen received repeated penalty tickets, with each ticket costing
HK$1,500. A final compromise has been reached as the shops agreed to clean up
235
and stop storing flowers in public areas, while inspectors issued only verbal
warnings for offenders (Lam, Agnes).
In other words, FEHD officers adopted the UCs mentality, which reflects
how a postcolonial government adopts a colonial mentality in controlling people
in the name of hygiene without paying attention to the industrys needs. CNY is
the peak season for florists. Therefore, they need to stock more goods in order to
sell to more customers. At the same time, many customers visit the flower
market during this time of the year because it is a tradition to buy and display
flowers before and during CNY. This creates a disturbance for residents who are
living above the flower shops, and their complaints alert law enforcement
officers, who may issue repetitive penalties to a single flower shop in order to
67
In this context, boxes means long and wide corrugated paper packing flower goods.
236
stop florists from blocking the road. However, we should question this governing
mentality. Are florists blocking the road because they are greedy and want to
make money? Or is it that the business environment is not good enough to cater
to their needs? Is street obstruction due to the florists unreasonable blocking of
the street, or just because the pavement is too narrow to accommodate both the
goods and the customers as they stand on the pavement and choose their flowers?
Why is a feasible, permanent market not planned and instituted for decades when
a culturally necessary and vibrant industry has proved itself indispensable to the
local community and culture? All the florists are asking for is a modest, not too
big, accessible and legal place to do business, just like other wholesale
businesses in the city. Why is that so very impossible for the Hong Kong
government?
FEHD is too strict, shops will go out of business soon. Without business, all will
be jobless and go for CSSA 68. FEHD gets rich, but shops go out of business
(
) (Figure 4.7 and
4.8). The usual practice was to have a mutual understanding between the
government and the businesses concerning the practice of displaying more goods
on the pavement before CNY. However, one florist claimed that since the FEHD
hawker control team changed their head of management, the hawkers believed,
the of new boss have asked officers to enforce more severe punishments to
intimidate the florists from street obstruction. After that, twenty protestors and
FEHD officers had a meeting in the Mong Kok police station to negotiate a
settlement, and the rest of the florists stopped blocking the roads. In the meeting,
FEHD officers agreed to be flexible when enforcing the law during CNY, but
they warned florists to be self-disciplined (CNY Flower; Traders in).
Figure 4.6.
68
CSSA refers to the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme launched by the
Social Welfare Department of the government. It is a safety net for those who cannot support
themselves financially. It is designed to bring their income up to a prescribed level to meet their
basic needs. http://www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_comprehens/
238
Figure 4.7.
Figure 4.8.
Since the florists would like to reach an agreement about CNY arrangement
with the officers, the florists submitted a written request on 27 January 2007, one
year after the protest, demanding the FEHD to further relax restrictions on flower
vendors to trade on the pavement. In the meeting, FEHD panel members, police
and district councillors supported the FEHDs actions taken and their continued
enforcement efforts. Members commended the departmental officers for their
appropriate and restrained action during the above operations and the members
endorsed that the departments should tolerate pavement encroachment by the
flower vendors up to 3 feet outside their shop fronts, that is, the limit reached at
the meeting with the vendors on 29 December 2006 (Hong Kong Special
239
240
4.17
The florists suggestions were blocked by the FEHD. Another florist put
forward a scheme that would allow the sidewalk, and one-third of parking spaces,
to be used for the selling of goods and flower displays. But FEHD members
expressed their worries about street tidiness and the hindering of pedestrian and
other road-users. Besides, some impatient drivers would honk when hindered
and disturb residents. Government officials therefore, asserted that florists should
neither unpack, sell nor display goods in the parking areas; and that special
requests during CNY could be negotiated between the FEHD, police and florists
representatives.
241
4.18
the government does not allocate enough land to flower cultivators to grow
flowers. It seems that the government has a lot of arable land and vacant
land. But in fact, usable land is very little. Most of the land has already been
turned to car parks and open storage area. At the same time, those people
who run business as open storage pay rent monthly. In this sense, return rate
is higher for the landlords. In contrast, the rent of vegetable fields is yearly
and therefore the return rate is slower. Landlord like converting arable land
to non-agricultural use There are lots of flyovers in Hong Kong, could
the government allow us to cultivate flowers under flyovers? Some plants,
such as orchid, dont need much sunshine. We need very little space to
survive. Our union has suggested to the government that we only need one
container to store farming tools and fertiliser, and a small piece of land. It is
more than enough. We could beautify Hong Kong and could also solve the
problem of land shortage. It is better than what the government is currently
practising by making putting rocks in irregular shapes under the flyover to
avoid homeless people to stay there. But the government did not respond to
69
our requests.
Map 5.
Map of the old and new proposed flower market the Mong Kok
Flower Market (top left) and the Chai Wan Flower Market
(bottom right) (Source: Google Map)
Secretary for Food and Health is the head of Food and Health Bureau. This Bureau takes
charge of Food and Environment Hygiene Department (FEHD), AFCD, Department of Health
and Government Laboratory (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region).
246
congestion and road obstruction in the vicinity of Flower Market Road. The
Food and Health Bureau, the bureau responsible for the FEHD, considers that
The governments response after all this years clearly sounds no better than
their usual hollow rhetoric and lip-service throughout the decades of struggles on
the part of the florists. This cynical repetition of government bad faith implies a
refusal to take responsibility for the future of the flower market. Chow expresses
that demolition or relocation of flower market is not possible, but did not give an
explicit reason nor provide a feasible alternative. The government as always
rhetorically invites the business sector or residents living in that area to
contribute some feasible suggestions to solve the existing problem. The
government also highlights that residents nearby complain of street obstruction
by the florist. The government wishes that the florists could communicate with
the government directly or through their representatives more frequently. The
government would adopt a positive attitude in handling specific suggestions and
where necessary, undertake more planning work (ibid). However, the
government did not offer any proactive solutions to solve the current situation.
247
This irresponsible reply shows that the government does not recognise the
culture and industry of flowers as a legitimate and long-established business and
industry. It is assumed merely as an arbitrary obstruction in the area, without any
appreciation of its historical and socio-economic value to the society as a whole
and to the community in particular.
72
Please refer to Section 1.6.1 for a detailed discussion of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivaks use of
the subaltern class.
248
4.19
As mentioned earlier, before the 1980s, flower cultivators were also flower
traders who sold flowers along Boundary Street and the agglomeration formed
the flower market. However, this situation has been totally changed nowadays,
partly intensified by the hawker control measures of the USD and FEHD.
Florists renting or buying commercial premises view flower hawkers as illegal.
Nonetheless, flower traders think their use of public space for goods display is
legal. This shows that the industry environment has totally changed. The
discrepancy between the flower businesses and flower hawkers is large. Flower
importers remain the major stakeholder in the vicinity of the flower market, and
flower farmers in the NT can only return to the flower market annually before
CNY. However, both parties have become business competitors nowadays.
After the separation between flower wholesaler and flower growers in the
flower market, flower growers rarely trade personally in the market. They
become suppliers to flower shops in the market. However, the growers can
continue their tradition of selling flowers in the market during the period before
CNY under the organisation of the union. At the very beginning, the flower
farmers did business by trading on their goods on vehicles parked along Flower
Market Road and Prince Edward Road West to sell flowers five days before the
CNY (Figure 4.9). The Hong Kong Flowers Wholesale Association enlisted
members complaints since flower traders doing business in shops need to pay
249
rent and rates to operate, while the hawkers only pay for temporary licenses. As
explained in Section 3.7, Person O explains that beside paying money for
commercial premises, flower shops also seems to be required to for a protection
fee to triad groups to keep their shop safe, but flower growers doing business on
the road just for a few days could avoid triad members collecting money 73.
Therefore flower shops did not like flower growers who run business on lorries,
and flower cultivators are increasingly being driven away from the flower market.
This differentiation implies that people did not respect those who use the space
traditionally. Money is an important factor controlling who can stay in a place
legally.
Figure 4.9.
73
4.20
The Flower Union suggested the Home Affairs Bureau to relocate them, and
the union suggested three places: the nursery area in the Flower Market Road, Fa
Yuen Street (from Sportfield Road to Boundary Street) and Prince Edward Road
251
West (from Yuen Ngai Street to Yuen Po Street). All these areas were very near to
the Flower Market Road. However, the government turned down all suggestions
because FEHD and the police were concerned about crowd control and
transportation arrangements (No Area). Wan Chong Ping, Chairman of the
Union, claims that the government only turned down their suggestions but did
not offer them any good alternatives (SUN Side Story: No). One week later,
the Home Affairs Bureau suggested them to use a piece of Government land
beside Jade Market 74 () at Yau Ma Tei for flower selling (Map 6). The
proposed location was very far away from the flower consumption and trading
cluster along Flower Market Road. No buyer would realise that they were there
in this new place. As a result, flower cultivators strongly objected to the
suggestion, because the proposed place was too far away and would have
increased the chance of losing money. Also, flower cultivators complained that
the rent of the proposed venue was too high. The suggestion was rejected by the
Union. The Union negotiated with the government for selling along the sidewalk
of the Mong Kok Stadium (Feature: Flower), but the government declined this
request because the road was too narrow.
74
Jade Market is located on Kansu Street () and Battery Street (). It is a collection
of around 400 stalls selling a wide range of jade pendants, rings, bracelets, carvings and
ornaments. The market opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is the main gathering place for buyers of
this fine stone who today still communicate with secret hand signals when making a purchase
(Hong Kong Tourism Board b).
252
Map 6.
not tend to buy perishables like flowers and potted plants, which are also
restricted by most immigration offices in the world. This proposed venue would
cause the industry to suffer great loss. This is another good example of how
culturally insensitive the government can become and how incapable they are in
considering the consumption practices of customers. At the same time, flower
goods are highly competitive, because they do not vary greatly from shop to
shop, stall to stall. The governments suggestion might be successful if great
promotional efforts were spent on the new premises, but it was foreseeable that
the government would not do so. All in all, the persistent denial of the industrys
needs implies an intractable, embedded coloniality in the governments
administration practice, so much so that it has become a kind of bureaucratic
reflex, even when faced suggestions that were most practical for the government,
as the proposed new permanent wholesale market on government property and
land. The government did not pay attention to the historical and socio-economic
value of the industry. The officials seem not to consider the importance of the
proximity of the flower cultivators to the vicinity of the flower market as an
issue. This implies a complete failure to see a historical industrial cluster as an
industrial cluster, pure and simple.
The flower industry needed to pay large efforts to fight for a suitable place
because the government did not make a decision that could minimise disturbance
created by the renovation of a public facility (the Mong Kok Stadium). After a
long process of negotiation, the flower cultivators spent approximately
HK$10,000 to rent an open area outside Boundary Street Sports Centre No. 1 (
) for six days (Figure 4.10 and 4.11). The sports centre is nearer to
Mong Kok Stadium, the usual place that they ran business. However, the flower
254
75
255
Figure 4.10.
Figure 4.11.
77
4.21
Chapter Summary
This chapter illustrates the tension between flower traders and law
enforcement officers as an argument about how coloniality is embedded in
administrative and street management practices. The following diagram
demonstrates the power relations between law enforcement officers, flower
importers and flower farmers who are also occasional flower sellers (Figure
4.12).
Law Enforcement
Officers
Flower Importers
Flower Farmers
Figure 4.12.
257
not respond proactively to this request. However, the current situation of the
flower market is not satisfactory because the market is located very close to
residential buildings, with residents complaining about how the florists obstruct
the street and make the area unhygienic. Law enforcement officers use an
anti-hawking mentality to control the street, regardless of the fact that hawking
has a long history in this area, and that the traders have already moved into
commercial premises and are just extending their shop fronts to display flowers.
Arguments between the florists and the USD officers, and the florists and the
FEHD officers are similar in nature traders must not obstruct the street. For the
government, spaces must be used according to the law, they do not allow any
other activities, and the law privileges certain uses of public space as against
others. Enforcement officers treat florists as barbaric and uncivilised people, who
disturb activities on the street in order to maximise their profits. The government,
district councillors and residents do not understand why florists need to display
goods outside their shops. At the same, hardly anyone recognises and appreciates
flower culture and the industrys willing to develop a sustainable plan for their
industry. Because of the stringent street management mentality, the flower
industry could hardly expand because of limited space and the continuous
conflicts with law enforcement officers. The way the flower industry could
expand legally is to either rent or buy larger premises, which would imply higher
costs and the need to make even more money to sustain their businesses.
Constant surveillance of law enforce officers in the market was an unreflective
extension of previous colonial assumptions and mentalities. It shows distrust
toward the florists, irrespective of the fact that some florists have suggested
systematic and community organized self-management themselves, so that
problems can be reported to law enforcement officers only when the situation
258
undesirable as a market venue for local farmers. From the case study of the
proposed relocation of flower farmers to Jade Market, we saw that the
government did not understand the needs of the farmers nor do they have any
idea about economies of industrial clustering. Flower farmers remain at the
bottom of this power relation. In contrast, flower traders on Flower Market Road
are mainly comprised of importers; yet in their attempt to extend their shop
fronts, they also entered into conflict with FEHD officers. The tension between
flower traders and law enforcement officers demonstrates the controlling
mentality of the government, and the lack of a long term vision to help the local
industry grow. This controlling mentality in daily practices embeds colonial
assumptions detrimental to the survival of local street culture. To conclude, this
chapter develops the case that the government should create a prosperous flower
market by respecting local business culture, whilst the mentality of regulating
space continues to hinder the development of a good cultural environment.
260
CHAPTER 5
EMBEDDED COLONIALITY IN
THE FLOWER MAREKT:
THE CASE OF HERITAGE PRESERVATION
AND REVITALISATION
Is the new plan just for the purposes of flower selling? Why should the URA decide
the local characteristics of this district?
(A forum participant of URAs Mong Kok Flower Market preservation project)
5.1
Chapter Introduction
Due to keen global competition, cities increasingly value their local culture
79
actively involved in the promotion and retention of cultural heritage within the
region. Heritage preservation could be a way to improve economic performance
and to embrace local culture. The government commissioned the URA to
conduct a preservation-cum-revitalisation project in the Mong Kok Flower
Market. However, the major problem mentioned by residents, florists and
passers-by remains unsolved: heritage preservation and revitalisation conducted
by the government over-emphasises the architectural value of buildings, and
neglects to pay enough attention to local people, their culture and way of life.
Evidence shows that coloniality is embedded in this process because planning
decisions are made from the top down, relying on assumptions and values long
held by the colonial government. Limited consultation was held with the local
residents. My research found that the Planning Department, the executive arm of
the TPB, twisted the district councillors negative comments about the URA plan
in the TPBs report in order to facilitate the process of heritage preservation. This
chapter mainly argues that the traditional consultation procedure on planning for
the area did not give enough voice to businessmen and residents being affected
by the governments plan. Embedded coloniality is hidden in the structure of this
heritage preservation-cum-revitalisation process. I want to argue that what is
necessary in this situation is to respect peoples voices and to empower them to
do the planning in a participatory manner, which is part of the overall process of
decolonisation and democratisation.
social development and the value of culture in its policies and projects. He argues that every
stage in the World Banks project cycle engages a different set of socio-cultural variables and
issues that must be addressed, there are values, attitudes and expectations to be known and taken
into account. And that at every such stage of the project cycle, a good social specialists would
have specific, and distinct, functional tasks to perform (Cernea 8). He argues for providing
financial investment support to the cultural sector itself and at integrating it with economys
mainstream sectors, particularly financial support for better management of a countrys cultural
endowments and physical cultural patrimony (ibid 16).
262
263
5.2
history a chance is the latest trend in heritage studies. In other words, buildings
of ordinary people should be treasured for their social value. David C. Harvey
argues that the history of heritage tends to inevitably focus upon the larger
identity politics of heritage control at an official level. However, Harvey reminds
us that we should not neglect the importance of personal and local heritage, or
what he called small heritage 82 (Harvey 20). This means that heritage
preservation is not just about grand narratives, and that buildings of ordinary
people have their own value and should be preserved. Heritage preservation
could therefore be treated as a chance to review how different stakeholders
interpret heritage differently. According to Holtorf cited in Harvey, Holtorf (ibid
20) argues that heritage is often a vehicle, rather than merely a site, where
cultural memory and various phenomena of cultural history reside. Cultural
memory comprises the collective understanding of the past as they are held by a
people in any given social and historical context (ibid 21). Ideas of cultural
memory are, therefore, laden with politics and power relationships as statements
about the past become meaningful through becoming embedded within the
cultural and material context of a particular time. Harvey further argues that the
sense of purpose with which people remember the past serves to underline the
importance of understanding how people situate themselves with respect to the
future. In this respect, heritage may be understood in terms of a prospective
memory, as tokens that represent a desired future. Heritage provides a sense of
82
Although some judgments might be associated with the terminology small heritage, small
in this case refers to heritage of ordinary people and is opposed to big heritage, that is, the
heritage of the elites; but it does not mean it is insignificant. The value of personal and local
heritage also tells the history of the building, the class of the people, the place and the cultural
memory that will be discussed in the next paragraph.
264
purpose, and this purpose changes over time. Harvey further argues that the
history of heritage is a history of the present, or a historical narrative of endless
succession of presents, in which the heritage can have no terminal point. The
recognition of heritage as malleable, present-centred and future-oriented appears
to be the central issue in Harveys project. Harvey attempts to sketch a historical
narrative of how the heritage process has been deployed, articulated and
consumed through time 83. He quotes from Holtorf:
Harvey uses an example of Avebury in England to explain the important transitions in how
official heritage is carried out, from obsession over site, or over art factual integrity, to viewing
emotion and embodied practice as legitimate and valuable vehicles through which the history
cultures is practiced. At the same time, developments and control of technology went hand in
hand with developments over how heritage was produced and consumed. Harvey describes that
there were great changes in the politics of production and consumption, engaging with questions
of access to the means to promote, display and enjoy heritage.
84
George Orwell (1903-1950) is an English novelist and journalist.
265
Tong Lau consists of a row of four attached house units, each of which
consists of a shop on the ground floor and residential quarters on upper floors.
The characteristic form of the shophouse reflects a number of influencing factors:
from exposure to Western architectural aesthetics in a British colony, to local
building regulations, high land and property prices, and an ever-increasing
population. All these factors contribute to the characteristics of the narrow width
of the shophouse, typically of 13-16 feet, employing a Chinese-style column for
the floor and roof beams (University of Hong Kong, Department of Architecture
3). According to Hong Kongs Building Regulations, a building that is used for
tenement housing refers to any building in the domestic part of which any living
room is intended or adapted for the use of more than one tenant or sub-tenant. In
this regulation, living room means any room intended or adapted as a place for
267
5.3
its culture and social context should also be preserved. A government could
embrace local culture in a well-designed heritage preservation project. Ron Van
Oers, Programme Specialist for Culture for UNESCO in the World Heritage
Centre, provides another angle on preserving urban historical landscape. He
argues that in the case of threats to the values and integrity of historic urban
landscapes, and as opposed to uncontrolled urban development or large-scale
planned development, a clear emphasis on targeted urban regeneration projects
that use the projects locations in or around the heritage site to attract attention,
investment and visitors might create negative effects. He has argued that there is
nothing wrong with this situation, as long as the sites are not jeopardised or
destroyed in the process of urban regeneration (van Oers 44). Nonetheless, in the
example of Hong Kongs urban regeneration, the flow of tourists and
investments on a scale and nature inappropriate to the context, ironically in the
name of preservation, intensifies the destruction of the urban fabric and social
life of the local people.
Van Oers argues that heritage preservation allows people to revisit the
85
This definition is written in Hong Kong Law Chapter 123F Building (Planning) Regulations,
Section 46 called Tenement House.
268
importance of the city. In this sense, it is the community and lifestyle that should
be studied and revisited. It ought to be a way to recognise the value of the whole
community first, before thinking of what can be preserved. Also, conservationists
should think of how the local community could adapt to the intervention of
heritage preservation (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Development
Bureau b). In this sense, Van Oers urges people to revisit local culture first,
before thinking of what to be preserved and how. However, how to involve the
community and to incorporate local knowledge into the plan is the key issue for
a holistic approach to heritage preservation. I argue that heritage preservation
should not only stand at the management level, but that we must think further of
how consensus could be reached among different parties in the community. In
Section 5.9, I will challenge the validity of the public consultation in the heritage
preservation process in the flower market, and examine how the government
might not be able to fully address the needs of ordinary people. At the same time,
the traditional role of consultation by the DC has loopholes because, as shown in
the flower market preservation project, the district councillors opinion was
distorted during the discussion process. The role of public consultation through
the DC is questionable. In this light, a limited role for public consultation
contributes to the destruction of the culture of the place to a certain degree
because there is limited public voices and contribution, not to mention the lack
of community consensus (More discussion will be held in Section 5.9.2). The
conservation and development procedures seem to be very sophisticated, but
they could not incorporate the voices of ordinary people. More investigation is
conducted in the following sections on heritage preservation in the flower
market.
269
5.4
Polemical
Relations
of
Development
and
stop and ask: Have we gone too far? Have we done too much? Have
we lost some part of the soul of our city? A progressive city treasures its
own culture and history along with its unique character and living
experience. In recent years there have been higher public expectations on
the Government to preserve our built heritage. This has made us think hard
about how we can best balance the development needs of a modern
metropolis such as Hong Kong with the demands - and need - to conserve
our heritage Hong Kong is a dynamic city, and it has always been my
view that historic buildings here should not be just preserved as if they were
antiquities or a museum exhibit. We believe they should be given a new
lease of life which will benefit the public. In 2008 we launched the
Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme. This allows
non-profit-making organisations to submit proposals for the adaptive re-use
of Government-owned historic buildings in the mode of social enterprise,
and to transform these historic buildings into unique cultural landmarks
(Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Information Services
Department h).
beautifying the area and increasing the value of property, and thus making it
harder for businesses to operate in the market.
5.5
interlinked. Therefore, when the government preserves Tong Lau buildings in the
Mong Kok Flower Market, the government should also preserve its culture and
social context, and treat the preservation project as a chance to enhance the
physical and business environment of all people living and working in the area.
Therefore, the next section will identify the reasons supporting the conservation
of flower trading heritage along with the flower market, and it aims to contrast
the governments current practice of heritage preservation.
1.
Hong Kong. Because of the organic formation of the market involving primarily
working class people, no official record could be found about the establishment
of the market. Nevertheless, various sources indicate that the flower market has
been established in the 1890s 86. The original Mong Kok Flower Market was
located at Boundary Street, on the boundary between Kowloon peninsula and the
NT before 1898. The market had moved several times because of squatter fire
(Section 2.9.2), first to an area outside of Fa Hui Park (Section 2.9.3), then into
the Fa Hui Park volleyball court (Section 2.9.4), and then to the Flower Market
86
The sources that indicate that the market has been established in the 1890s include: Ng Ho 76;
Leung To 50; Yi 179 as described in Section 2.7.
274
2.
quotidian activities. Not only imported flower wholesalers are located in the
market, but other related flower vendors, such as stores selling accessories and
bouquets, wrapping papers, vases, glasses and plastic flowers are located on the
ground floor. The flower market is full of people who are buying flowers or who
want to just wander around and enjoy the beauty of flowers. At the same time,
flower arrangement schools have been set up in the vicinity of the flower market,
which embrace a range of cultural activities. Stores that are related to the flower
industry, such as selling organic farm produce, are located on second floors of
the commercial buildings in the market. Upper floors might also rent space for
storage purposes. Therefore, the flower market is a place that embraces many
cultural activities and small businesses.
3.
figures, such as Bill Clinton, the former U.S. president, and Leung Chun Ying,
the candidate in the 2012 CE election and the winner of the election, went to the
market to buy flowers as a way to share local culture of ordinary Hong Kong
people (Button; Politics). Clinton also attempted to enjoy local culture and to
275
4.
Therefore this kind of building has been conducive to the organic growth of
grassroots communities and ways of life. The unique cultural value and artistic
importance of Tong Lau can be seen in the way the film industry has set so many
film about Hong Kong in these buildings 87. The Tong Lau form has made a
valuable contribution to the success of the film industry in Hong Kong since the
mid-1950s. Some film production offices remain in the vicinity until now. Woo
Yu Sen (know as John Woo for English speaking audiences) 88 and Chan Gor
(know as Fruit Chan for English speaking audiences) 89 set up their offices in the
URAs planned area for heritage preservation (Town Planning Board b 90). At the
same time, the flower market is not restricted to flower trading only. Many
87
Many of which are either award-winning films (such as the Hong Kong Film Awards) or
box-office successes in Hong Kong, Asia and even North America. For instance, Cinema City
Enterprises Ltd, a film studio jointly managed by Mak Kar, Shek Dean and Wong Bak Ming, was
one of the leading production houses in the 1980s, and produced films such as A Better
Tomorrow. Cinema City ceased production in the early 1990s, but it remains historically as one
of the most influential film studios in Hong Kong.
88
John Wu Yu Sen is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. His direction in A Better
Tomorrow earned him the Best Picture of Hong Kong Film Award in 1986.
89
Fruit Chan Gor is an independent Second Wave screenwriter, filmmaker and producer based in
Hong Kong. He is an award-winning director, honoured by the Hong Kong Film Awards and the
Golden Horse Awards.
90
Transcription of 946th Meeting of the TPB held on 30/10/2009. The meeting was conducted in
Cantonese. I did the translation of relevant transcription. The whole audio tape could be found in
TPBs webpage (Town Planning Board b).
276
residential buildings are in the vicinity of the flower market. As a result of this
dynamic mixture, the district can be seen as offering an incredible diversity.
However, some residents complain about street obstruction and unhygienic
conditions caused by the florists daily operations. However, are not these
problems a matter of flower trading itself, or the governments inability to
facilitate a dedicated wholesale market as described in Chapter 4? How can
heritage preservation alone resolve the struggles between the flower industry and
residents?
277
5.6
and the Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) 91. However, as early as 1999,
the first CE Tung Chee Hwa announced in his policy address the importance of
heritage preservation:
91
The AAB is a statutory body set up under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance in 1976
to advise the Antiquities Authority on the matters relating to antiquities and monuments. Under
the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance (Cap 53), the [Antiquities] Authority may, after
consultation with the AAB and with the approval of the CE, declare any place, building, site or
structure, which the [Antiquities] Authority considers to be of public interest by reason of its
historical, archaeological or paleontological site or structure (Antiquities and Monuments
Ordinance (Cap. 53), Section 3(1)).
278
The Lee Tung Street social movement occurred between 2003 and 2007. Lee Tung Street in
Wan Chai is also named Wedding Card Street. The original government plan was to demolish
the old buildings and to build three high-rise residential towers with four-storey podiums
reserved for shops and underground car park. Some residents and businessmen protested against
the governments bulldoser planning and challenged the government against demolishing the
buildings without submitting the required documents justifying its redevelopment proposals. The
H15 Concern Group (a group of people who concerns for the development of Wan Chai, some of
them living, working or doing business in Lee Tung Street) and a group of professionals
submitted an alternative plan for Lee Tung Street to the government. The Hong Kong Institute of
Planners has awarded a silver medal for the alternative plan but the government turned it down,
and demolished the buildings in 2007 (Chan Felix City 4).
93
Star Ferry Pier social movement occurred in 2006. The Star Ferry Pier in Central District was
demolished as the government carried out the Central District Reclamation Phase III as a
provision of land for transport infrastructures, such as the Central-Wan Chai Bypass and P2 Road
network, the Airport Railway Extended Overrun Tunnel and the North Hong Kong Island Line.
On 11 November, 2006, thousands of people gathered around at the Star Ferry Pier in Central
District, some of them were taking photos and some were treasuring their final opportunity to
collectively remember the pier. A few days later, on 19 November 2006, groups of protesters
concerned over the dismantlement of the Star Ferry Pier sat quietly outside the closed pier
showing their dissatisfaction. Their actions escalated in December 2006 with a series of protests.
Some people even barged into the closed pier and occupied it in order to restrict or delay the
schedule to demolish the pier. Although people began to realise the importance of the cultural
heritage, the pier was finally dismantled in 15 December 2006 (Tang 1).
94
Queens Pier social movement occurred in 2007. The Queens Pier in Central was demolished
because the government carried out the Central Reclamation Phase III. Some activists attempted
to save the Queens Pier and filed for a judicial review on 7 August 2007, but the court dismissed
the request. The Queens Pier was completely demolished in February 2008 (ibid).
279
campaigns as the Two Pier Incident, and argues that the incident helped to
change peoples values on heritage preservation. Kwan argues,
Kwan also argues that the Two Pier Incident embraces the rising
aspirations for democracy and a social inclusive participation in policy. He
explains,
Central District values refers to the emphasis on development, efficiency and economic
values which are prevailing in Hong Kong. This terminology was coined by Lung Ying Tai in
2006 (Lung 21-22).
281
282
The government has decided for the time being to develop a general policy
direction rather than pursue a legislative route to enhance heritage conservation.
The government promised to implement a range of initiatives on heritage
conservation (ibid 1-2). In the 2007 Policy Address, the government invited
URA to extend its conservation work to cover pre-war shophouses 96. The Urban
Renewal Authority Ordinance (URAO) empowers the URA to acquire or hold
land for development and to alter, construct, demolish, maintain, repair,
preserve or restore the building, premises or structure 97. The CE says,
96
97
At the same time, the CEs speech implies that economic viability in
heritage preservation is the governments major, if not only concern. Therefore,
regardless of what kind of heritage is preserved, heritage financial
self-sustainability is important. However, I want to argue that too much emphasis
on economic viability would limit the local characteristics of the preserved
heritage, and would also limit the future use of heritage leading to cultural
homogenisation. Lyndel V. Prott 98 argues that uncontrolled development can lead
to intense homogenisation, such as the tourist infrastructures of international
hotel chains, fast food and fashion chains and tourist agencies, which would
decrease the uniqueness of each heritage experience whilst increasing sameness
(Prott 7). Globalisation has considerable potential for benefit, as increased tourist
numbers can generate increased income for the heritage sites concerned, and
indirectly through raising the economic base of the surrounding community.
However, a sound management plan should be made in order to protect the
heritage against the negative effects of tourism and ensures that the funds it
generates go directly to the protection of the heritage concerned. Protts findings
suggest that tourist and other high-end consumer culture could make use of
heritage to create revenue, but the heritage management team should formulate a
plan in order to avoid destroying the original culture and avoid irreversible
effects. This understanding is important for us to judge whether the URAs
proposal for the flower market is sustainable in all aspects, including the
98
Lyndel V. Prott is the Chief International Standards Division, Cultural Heritage Division of the
UNESCO.
284
5.7
The
Urban
Renewal
Authority
Heritage
The URA decided to implement Prince Edward Road West/Yuen Ngai Street
preservation and revitalisation project (MK/02) by way of a development
scheme 101 in accordance with section 25 of the URA Ordinance. URA proposed
99
The URA had commissioned a consultant team, on the advice of Tiong Kian Boon, an
experienced Malaysian conservation architect. The study looked into the need and feasibility of
preserving the shophouses. The study was supervised by a Steering Committee chaired by
Professor David Lung. The study categorises the shophouses into four levels, taking into
consideration their historical value, architectural merit, as well as cultural significance (Urban
Renewal Authority a).
100
For a Grade 2 building AMO views that the buildings should be preserved in such a way
which is commensurate with the merits of the buildings concerned. Demolition works or building
works such as alternation/renovation works which may affect the heritage value of the building
are not encouraged. Other definitions of the Gradings of Historical Buildings include Grade 1,
which refers to buildings of outstanding merit in which every effort should be made to preserve
if possible. Grade 3 means buildings of some merit in which preservation in some form would
be desirable and alternative means could be considered if preservation is not practicable Website of Antiquities and Monument Office (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,
Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Antiquities and Monuments Office b).
101
The development scheme means that the URA has the right to decide what portion of the land
is owned or leased by the URA, and about the acquisition of any land not owned or leased. It also
285
Figure 5.1.
contains an assessment by the URA, and how it is likely in effect of the implementation of the
development scheme, including the how the existing residents are displaced, and how the future
residents could be accommodated.
102
These 10 shophouses were part of a single development which originally covered Nos.
190-220A Prince Edward Road West. After the Second World War, the buildings were sold over
time to different owners and the shophouses at Nos. 206-208 and Nos. 214-220A were
demolished and redeveloped to three 15-storey residential blocks as currently witnessed on the
site. The remaining 10 shophouses at Nos. 190-204 and 210-212 Prince Edward Road West,
which are the subject of the Development Scheme, form a unique cluster with a uniform faade
of one building typology along Prince Edward Road West and is the largest cluster of this type of
shophouses in the urban area.
286
Figure 5.2.
The boundary of the development scheme plan 103 (DSP), which is shown in
the map (Map 7), covers a total area of about 1,440 m2. It is located at the
junction of Prince Edward Road West and Yuen Ngai Street. The area is
separated by two buildings at Nos. 206-108 Prince Edward Road West, which are
both 15 storey buildings completed in 1966, and are in a relatively good physical
condition. These buildings are not included in the plan.
103
The Urban Renewal Authoritys DSP are special plans relating to the re-development of old
areas. These plans are considered by the TPB under the URA Ordinance, and if found suitable are
published under the Town Planning Ordinance for public comment. Each DSP includes a Land
Use Diagram and a set of Notes. A Land Use Diagram indicates broadly the types of planned uses
and form of development; the Notes set out the permitted uses and the requirements for
submitting a Master Layout Plan to the TPB (Loh 13).
287
Map 7.
104
Road (public footpath) before the exhibition of the Plan. On the DSP, the area is
zoned as Other Specified Uses (OU) annotated Shophouses for Commercial
and/or Cultural Uses.
existing businesses on street level as possible. There are only thirteen residents
living in the buildings in the DSP, because the DSP is mostly for commercial
purpose. Most of the occupants are running cultural businesses, such as a
dancing academy, a film production studio and a tutorial school. The URAs
initial idea was to introduce some art and culture-related shops, such as a
bookstore and dancing studio 105 in the future site (Figure 5.3).
Figure 5.3.
105
[i]n view of the local characteristics of the Prince Edward Road West
project, the URA is considering introducing a local flower and school shop
arrangement () for existing operators
in the businesses who are interested to re-establish their operations upon
restoration of the premises. Subject to meeting the eligibility criteria, they
will be given priority to lease ground floor shops of shophouses within the
project area at the prevailing market rents (ibid).
According to the URA, upper floors of the buildings are intended for arts
and culture as well as food and beverage uses. This proposal is in line with the
Urban Renewal Strategy that the preserved heritage buildings should be put to
proper public use, as well as private and residential, to allow maximum
accessibility106. The restored buildings are expected to revitalise the area and be
more vibrant and attractive to visitors and the public.
Although the official plan suggests to have a culture-led flower market, the
URA ignores the existing quotidian culture. The URAs scheme does not address
the business operation of flower traders who are operating in the DSP. URAs
DSP assumes that the flower industry is merely a number of isolated commercial
retail businesses. Accordingly, existing operators should work within a market
logic, and therefore URA offers them current market rents in return for the
106
In the Urban Renewal Strategy Review conducted by the Development Bureau (DevB)
between July 2008 to May 2011, heritage preservation should be part of urban renewal, and the
URA should preserve heritage buildings if such preservation forms part of its urban renewal
projects. Preservation should include
(a) preservation and restoration of buildings, sites and structures of historical, cultural or
architectural interest; and (b) retention of the local colour of the community and the historical
characteristics of different districts. The URA will only undertake self-standing heritage
preservation projects which are outside its redevelopment project boundaries if there is policy
support or a request from the Administration. (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,
Development Bureau c 11)
291
renewed heritage development. This involves the current owners being first
forced to sell their premises to the URA, and the tenants to first be evicted, with
the possibility of them returning after years of disruption to their businesses, to
rent the venue again according to premium market rent in the future gentrified
premises, way above the level they are paying now. We should challenge this
URA logic because heritage preservation is not merely a commercial decision,
but a matter of benefit for the community at large. The URA promised to offer a
compensation package for acquisition of affected properties (for example an
eligible owner-occupier of a domestic property will receive an acquisition price
that is comparable to the value of a seven-year-old flat of similar size in a similar
locality) and rehousing arrangements for affected tenants. However, in the
example of the relocation of business operators in the flower market, reality has
already proven that the amount of money is inadequate to buy and/or rent a
similar premise seven-years-old or more in the vicinity. Such premises are either
non-existent or very limited in availability in the actual housing stock, and, due
to the large number of evicted businesses fighting for relocation nearby as can be
projected for the renovation period, we can forsee that the costs of relevant
premises will be pushed sky high to levels way above the amount the business
got in compensation. Not to mention the lost to businesses losing income due to
the permanent or temporary termination of business and the loss of the well
known industrial cluster, and with it, the economic network of buyers and
suppliers as a result of relocation. Moreover, there is a time lag between the
agreement on compensation and the actual date the victims got the compensation
and can look for alternative premises, leading to significant market changes
meanwhile, which almost always price the evicted victims out of options
previously available and affordable.
292
Until January 2012, two ground floor shops in the DSP have moved away.
For instance, a shop doing landscape design and selling bonsai, had to relocate to
the third floor of an industrial building located at Kwun Tong 107. Another ground
floor shop, which is a shoe company, relocated to a ground floor shop in Sham
Shui Po108. With the evidence of the relocation of ground floor shop, my research
finds that URAs promised compensation level could hardly be actualised. Future
research direction could be on tracing study about the economic income,
business network and psychological damage suffered by comparing the condition
of the businesses, business operators and residents before and after relocation
due to urban renewal projects.
107
The shop is called Art Mount (). The new address is Podium, 3/F, East Sun
Industrial Centre, 16 Shing Yip Street, Kwun Tong. Kwun Tong is an area situated in the eastern
part of Kowloon and is a major industrial area (Art Mount).
108
The shop is called Po Shing Shoe Company (). The new address is 165 Un
Chau Street, Sham Shui Po. Sham Shui Po is located at northwestern part of Kowloon. It is an old
developed area with a mixture of commercial, industrial and residential land use.
293
I want to argue that place marketing in this market should be based instead
on concrete local and sustainable industrial development, together with plans to
sustain and enhance the existing strong social, cultural and economic network.
Otherwise, it would easily fall into the trap of a superficial culture branding. The
URA proposed to establish flower shops and flower arrangement schools, but
this plan would not enhance the current practices nor resolve the conflict
between the law enforcement officers and florists, if policy changes are not in
place. Another proposed usage is to have a bookstore and a dance studio in the
future site. However, this arrangement would homogenize the cultural content of
294
the place, and any site could develop this kind of imposed culture. There is no
organic necessity to having such cultural content in a flower market. The existing
URA plan does not attempt to strengthen the social and cultural network of the
flower industry and other existing cultural-related business operations. This place
branding mentality shows that the government does not value the specific social
fabric of the place, but treats it merely as a place to attract tourists. However,
developing the market with the tourist gaze in mind might not be able to create a
sustainable and positive environment for the industry, and might even be
adversarial to local development. John Urry and Jonas Larsen argue,
[t]here is no simple relationship between what is directly seen and what this
signifies. We do not literally see things. Particularly as tourists, we see
objects and especially buildings in part constituted as signs. They stand for
something else. When we gaze as tourist what we see are various signs or
tourist clichs. The notion of the tourist gaze is not meant to account for
why specific individuals are motivated to travel. Rather we emphasise the
systematic and regularised nature of various gazes, each of which depends
upon social discourses and practices, as well as aspects of buildings, design
and restoration that foster the necessary look of a place or an environment.
Such gazes implicate both the gazer and the gazee in an ongoing and
systematic set of social and physical relations (Urry, and Larsen 17)
of heritage preservation with its over-emphasis on aesthetic value and its neglect
of community life and social relations. In contrast, local culture might be small
and mundane, without spectacular content, but it expresses the culture of
ordinary people. As described by a British scholar Raymond Williams famous
quotation on culture:
[c]ulture is ordinary that is the first fact. Every human society has its
own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society
expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and learning. The making of a
society is the finding of common meanings and directions, and its growth is
an active debate and amendment under the pressures of experiences,
contacts, and discover, writing themselves into the land. The growing
society is there yet it is also made and remade in every individual mind. The
making of a mind is, first, the slow learning of shapes, purposes, and
meanings, so that work, observation and communication are possible
(Williams a 93).
5.8
Tong Lau and the flower market in the heritage preservation project. Space,
which has no pre-existing meaning, becomes a meaningful place as it is
constructed by users during cultural-social interactions. However, in the planning
of the URAs heritage preservation and revitalisation projects, the social
interaction between florists, residents, and other commercial users were absent in
the governments discussion. The official explanation ignores the social
interactions and the specific quotidian use of space. In the following section, I
attempt to reveal how florists make use of the space of Tong Lau for their goods
display area, which is ignored in the governments analysis of the flower market.
Tong Lau structures along Prince Edward Road West, in the preserved area
stipulated by the URA, are four storeys high and set back from the street. The
veranda supported by bricks over the whole width of the pavement to form a
covered arcade at street level. Strings were tightened among two pillars so that
some hanging plants, like orchids, could be displayed (Figure 5.4 and 5.5). Also,
plastic bags of goods are hanged on the wall for the convenience of selling
(Figure 5.6). Some workers even hang their gloves for loading and unloading of
goods at convenient spaces. The flower market is an organic and local industry,
integrated into the tempo and pattern the communitys ordinary way of life. At
the same time, flower traders place plants on the ground along the road. This use
of space is unique because only the ground-floor shops in Tong Lau buildings
297
along Prince Edward Road West can take advantage of using Tong Lau columns
in such a way, as support and protection, as a site of display and an anchor for
work. All flower shops along Flower Market Road, Sai Yee Street and Playing
Field Road cannot do so because the modern building structure does not have the
pillars outside the shops. Another important feature is the veranda that forms a
covered arcade (Figure 5.7), which protects flower traders doing business in
adverse weather, so that customers can shop under protection from the weather,
while ordinary flower shops use awnings. These interactions in the space form a
unique business environment.
Figure 5.4.
Figure 5.5.
Potted plants hanging along a pole Florists tied wires along Tong Laus
suspended between two columns
column to expand area of goods display
298
Figure 5.6.
Figure 5.7.
Plastic bags are hanging on the column of Tong Lau veranda forms a covered arcade
Tong Lau for sale of goods
However, the social context of using Tong Lau space in flower trading and
other kinds of businesses was not mentioned in the governments heritage
preservation report, nor was enough attention given to it in the social impact
assessment (Stage 1) report 109 . In the official report, under the section of
Cultural and Local Characteristics, Characteristics of Local Business Activities,
the government explains,
Mong Kok is a district with mixed residential and commercial use. Many
aged residential buildings in dilapidated conditions are witness. The
location in which the Scheme Area is situated is characterised by the
109
The URA Social Impact Assessment is done in two stages Stage 1 and 2. Stage 1 is
non-obtrusive SIA, whilst Stage 2 SIA is a detailed SIA using data collected as part of the
freezing survey () conducted immediately after the publication of the commencement
notice of the project in the Government Gazette. The freezing survey determines a persons
compensation in URAs projects. The URA has been using the occupation status of the property
as at the date of the freezing survey to determine whether the owner is entitled to a House
Purchase Allowance or a Supplementary Allowance. The change in the occupation status of the
property after the freezing survey will not affect the amount of allowance payable to the owner.
(Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Information Services Department b)
299
proliferation of ground floor flower shops. These shops form part of the
larger Flower Market business cluster bounded by Flower Market Road in
the north, Yuen Po Street in the east and Yuen Ngai Street and Sai Yee Street
to the west.
There are 10 retail shops on the ground floor of the buildings within the
Scheme Area. They are listed in the Table 4 below. Seven of these shops are
flower retailers. Two sell other goods shoes and school uniforms, whereas
one is currently vacant.
300
Address
Current Use
Details
Retail
Florist
Retail
Florist
Retail
Retail
Florist
Retail
Florist
(vacant)
(vacant)
Retail
Florist
Retail
Florist
Retail
Shoe retail
Retail
Florist
301
5.9
Non-transparent
Consultative
Procedures
in
Government
In one sense, the URA preservation of Tong Lau might be seen as a good
attempt at embracing local culture. However, as described earlier (Section 2.7
and 5.2), Tong Lau is a mixture of commercial and residential use. It is not
confined to any particular purpose. Therefore, the existing Tong Lau usage is an
organic agglomeration of art and cultural activities, including the flower shops, a
shoe company, a school uniforms company, a film production studio, a dance
academy, a tutorial school, a church, a godown and residential flats. After the
URAs proposed renovation work, the premises would belong to the URA, who
would be responsible for its management. Therefore, the URA has a large say in
the future usage. However, as described in Section 5.7, URAs plan is to embrace
art and culture that fits their theme, and this involves restoring flower shops, the
bookstore and the dance studio. However, all the decisions are finalised by the
URA. Public consultation might not be able to incorporate peoples suggestions
very well into the URAs and the governments preferred plan. In the following
section, I will elaborate how coloniality was embedded in the governments
decision making process with an underlying assumption that peoples opinions
are not valuable and that the authoritative voice of governance is the most
important for decision making.
302
5.9.1
Public consultation launched by the URA and TPB aims at allowing people
to participate in the process and voice their concerns to the decision makers, but
in the following sections, I will demonstrate how the mechanism could not only
incorporate peoples voices, but also how the government even played some
tricks to reduce negative views. I argue that this mentality of diminishing
peoples voices reveals the governments paternalistic and condescending belief
that people are barbaric, backwards and uncivilised, and not capable of making
decisions best for themselves and society at large. The lack of ordinary peoples
agency emphasises the governments authority embedded in the decision making
procedure. This mentality is shown in the governments insincere public
consultation.
Before the URA launched the proposed DSP, the URA held a public
consultation session which they called as a brainstorming session on 4 October
2008. Some 100 people from the community attended, including owners,
residents, academics, professionals, Yau Tsim Mong DC members and the Yau
Tsim Mong District Advisory Committee of the URA (Vartisvist a). The
official-stated objective was to explore the appropriate and viable adaptive
re-uses for the 10 shophouses at Prince Edward Road West. The discussion was
divided into six groups and was facilitated by an architect. The director of
Planning and Design for the URA, Michel Ma, said
[w]e want to stress that we do not have any preconceived idea of how the
shophouses should be revitalised. We are completely open to any sensible
303
and practicable theme and activities that may be proposed, as long as they
are deemed sustainable and compatible with the goals of preserving these
shophouse buildings and enhancing local characteristics (Urban Renewal
Authority d).
from
the
arrangement
of
the
brainstorming
session,
this
[t]he first point is related to the future use of this site. Is the new plan just
for the purposes of flower selling? The URA proposed to have a dance
studio. But we have many dance studios already. Those studios run very
well. Why should the URA arrange a new dance studio? Why is it better
than the original ones? There is a very historical school uniform company
and a very old shoe company. These two are characteristics of Prince
Edward Road. Does it mean that they are not in the heritage preservation
plan and just flower shops and businesses related to art and culture can stay?
Why should the URA decide the local characteristics of this district?
110
The participant does mention her identity, that means either she is an owner or tenant of this
site. But according to her suggestions, she is very familiar with the district and other peoples
suggestions. From her speech, she emphasises on the business of ground floor shops. I deduce
that she has worked, or even run a business in the district for a long time (Vartisvist b). Watch
from 1 minute 22 seconds to 4 minutes 28 seconds in the video.
304
The participants first concern shows that ordinary people do not understand
the URAs concept of the project. They question why a place could not develop
organically without the URAs intervention. People challenge the appropriateness
of the URA as the decision-maker for the planning. This implies the participants
view that the government lacks a citizen empowerment approach to planning,
because it rarely involves people proactively in designing a plan. The
government usually solely designs the future of a district. Therefore, people
worried about why the URA decided on the theme of flowers, art and culture,
and why it did not involve other organically pre-existing and culturally rich and
unique operations. This question is legitimate because it involves an imbalance
of power between the government and people on designing the future of the
place.
The second point is about the inadequacy of facilities. If you want to plan
the site for flower shops, there are insufficient parking spaces and no taxi
stands. Flowers are placed 3 feet in front of the shops. Florists also place
objects another 3 feet onto the pavement. Florists only allow 2 feet for
people to walk around. If you want the future purpose as a flower market,
the management team should manage it well.
facilities and disturbance created for the other businesses, people and residents is
the common concern of the whole district. A comprehensive plan is required, but
I will demonstrate in Section 5.10 that, even though the URA has the mandate to
plan for the future of the whole district in this revitalisation project, the URA did
not work to improve the business environment and facilities, which is of the
highest priority for the local community. Instead they just focused merely on
improving the physical landscape for tourists and consumers.
The third concern raised by this participant mainly refers to the URAs
arrangement for consultation.
The third point is that some property owners did not attend this brainstorm
meeting. Will you ask for their opinion? Although the URA conducted a
freezing survey and opinion survey 111 to relevant owners and tenants on 19
September 2008, the same day as the publication of this project. But the
survey was done in the morning, and the whole procedure was so rushed.
The URA consulted the people all of a sudden and people did not have any
psychological preparation before. How could people offer thoughtful advice
to the government? Wouldnt it be nicer if the URA conducted the opinion
survey again, either through conducting meetings or surveys, so that people
could digest URAs planning before they give advice? Otherwise, the
peoples opinion will not have been represented.
111
This opinion survey refers to URAs Social Impact Assessment Stage 2. Detailed
explanation could be found in footnote 169.
306
The last point that the participant made was about a specific situation of a
church. This situation is not applicable to all people, but it nevertheless helps to
show how a standard procedure might not be applicable to all cases.
The last point is related to the church located in the URAs plan. The church
307
said they would not sell their property because it is their church. Would the
URA be able to relocate them in the same district so that they could serve
Mong Kok people and spread the gospel?
compensation
arrangement, in which the URA would help stakeholders find a place in the same
district for relocation. A shop-for-shop compensation should be an option for
people if they want to continue to do business in the same district. People might
challenge that it is difficult to find a suitable site in the same district, with similar
shop size and customer flow. Monetary compensation provides flexibility in the
arrangement. However, people need to bear the responsibility of searching for a
site, and negotiating a price and moreover, bear the negative externalities and
costs caused by the relocation. Would it be possible for the URA to help the
people? The URA has carried out a number of urban renewal projects in the same
district 112. Could they hold on to some properties from the older projects to
accommodate people who have been recently affected? Some people might argue
that flexible arrangements might create inequality among people because
different sites and locations might get different treatment under various situations.
This problem could be solved if the arrangement for each case is openly
discussed and different people know the others arrangements. When the
procedure is transparent and people are given enough options to choose, people
would choose the one which is best for them, and also respect others choices.
However, at the moment, the URA only offers one choice for people: monetary
compensation. The limited choice and inflexible of the arrangement is the easiest
112
Other URA projects in Mong Kok include Sai Yee Street Project, Argyle Street/ Shanghai
Street Project (Langham Place), Waterloo Road/Yunnan Lane Project (8 Waterloo Road),
Reclamation Street Project (MOD595).
308
309
5.9.2
The non-transparent consultative procedures were held not only by the URA
itself, but also by the Planning Department 113. This section will examine how the
Planning Department manipulated the district councillors negative comments on
the flower market heritage preservation project through the politics of translation,
in order to allow the URA to have a smooth consultation process. The DC is
supposed to represent the opinion of different stakeholders in the district. Law
Wing Cheung, the Yau Tsim Mong district councillor who is responsible for the
area of flower market originally, wrote:
redevelopment
results
in
many
The Planning Department is the executive arm of the TPB. This department is responsible for
creating, monitoring and reviewing town plans, planning policies and associated programmes for
the physical development of Hong Kong. It deals with all types of planning at the territorial,
sub-regional and district levels. It provides technical services to the TPB and serves as its
Secretariat. It also carries out enforcement actions if someone carries out an illegal land use, such
as open storage on agricultural land. Other government departments provide technical advice to
the TPB on matters such as transport, environment, engineering and land administration (Loh 9).
310
[t]he
URA
does
not
have
comprehensive
plan
for
translated comments, and in so doing, was able to ignore comments not in their
favour by distorting the cultural imagination of the society and twisting ideas.
The original letter of Law Wing Cheung challenges the URA by having a
piecemeal
redevelopment
in
Mong
Kok
and
no
comprehensive
5.9.3
There are a total of 40 flat units in the whole URAs plan. That means there
are 40 land ownership agreements. Six people hold 26 units. My company
owns 4 units. Wong Pak Ming, the boss of Mandarin Film Company (
), own 3 units. Tso Tong Company () owns 7 units. In
addition, Golden Dragon School Uniforms () and Po Shing Shoe
Company (), said they absolutely dont want to move. They really
want to stay! They are willing to join this renovation work. Also, 8 owners
of No. 210 and 212 own more than 20 units. Actually URA has a very good
chance for negotiation because of a limited number of owners. I propose
taking one year to decide the future of these Tong Lau. If it is unsuccessful
after one year, that means the URA failed to persuade the 40 owners to
313
participate and sell to the URA, and in such a case, the government could
then use the DSP at that moment (Town Planning Board b 114).
Chius comment criticises the URA for its narrow view on culture and its
ignorance of other kinds of cultural activities that have long existed in the area.
Tong Lau is by nature, a mixed use building. Chius understanding implies that
culture should not only be limited to flower activities, but includes film
production, housed on the upper floor, which is also another cultural industry
that contributes to the culture of the area. Film-making workshops and film
production houses have been operating in the DSP for over 50 years. They
remain as a unique, peculiar but invisible feature of the Scheme Area. After the
1990s, florists started moving into the DSP and eventually transformed the area
into an integral part of the flower market. However, only the cultural value of the
flower as an industry cluster has been preserved in the plan. Nevertheless, the
usage of the film studio is excluded from the intended uses despite the fact that
they are still actively operating in the area.
The URA plan fails to embrace the diversity of various existing cultural
values and cultural industries as part of the organic changes of the place. URA
uses public money to revitalise the area and is bound by the imperative of
financial self-sustainability packaged into the concept of adaptive re-use. Local
characteristics are embraced for the purpose of developing and marketing the
place. In this way ordinary peoples practices start to be treasured and valued by
114
Transcription of 946th Meeting of the TPB held on 30/10/2009. The meeting was conducted in
Cantonese. I did the translation of relevant transcription. The whole audio tape could be found in
TPBs webpage (Town Planning Board b). Chinese version of the meeting minutes is more
detailed (Town Planning Board c). The message of Chiu was not recorded in the minute. English
version of the minutes is even very brief (Town Planning Board d).
314
the government only when it fits into their place-making and marketing plan.
However, culture, from the point of view of the institution, is in practice, not as
inclusive and tolerant as its initial rhetoric would claim initially. Tong Lau
building is originally a public asset, but in the URAs plan, will now become
privatised, commodified and gentrified in the name of heritage preservation.
317
5.10
The revitalisation project the second URA project held in Mong Kok
Flower Market also demonstrates the URAs plan not being able to address
peoples needs. It merely attempts to beautify the place by placing installations
and street furniture 115 in the area. Along with other urban landscape elements,
such as architecture and urban space, street furniture plays a role in determining
the quality of an urban environment and urban life, and in representing the image
of a city (Wan 2). However, placing installation and street furniture in the market
might be appealing to local and foreign visitors, but it is irrelevant to the
improvement of business and living conditions for the existing flower traders and
residents. I want to argue that the practice of addressing merely the physical
environment from the perspective of the tourist and middle-class, gentrified
consumers, while neglecting the needs of the community, is a kind of embedded
coloniality. This understanding implies the focus on hardware facilities and
cosmetic beautification of a place for the imposed consumption of the other with
disregard to the welfare and livelihood of the local community and culture.
However, is the character of a place revealed through upscale street furniture? Or
does it lie more in the authentic culture and social life of the people actually
living and making a living there? I will explain more about the URAs
revitalisation project in relation to their street management mentality in the next
section.
Street furniture refers to the objects and facilities located in urban public spaces that provide
various services and functions to the public (Wan 2).
318
Map 8.
116
The URA intends to adopt themed plans that feature cheerful scenes of birds and flowers,
ideal fish environments, leisurely shopping and the sports world (
).
117
The official name of Goldfish Street is Tung Choi Street which has an abundant supply of
aquarium products.
118
The official name of Sportwear Street is Fa Yuen Street where many trendy sportswear and
equipment shops agglomerate.
319
Average 119
Pedestrian
Resident
Shop
1. Environmental Improvement
86%
90%
76%
84.0%
2. Resurfacing Roads
82%
90%
72%
81.3%
72%
70%
66.0%
4. Widening pavements
92%
93%
92%
92.3%
5. Greenery
83%
88%
72%
81.0%
and 56%
73%
47%
58.6%
80%
55%
66.7%
85%
81%
86.0%
Table 5.
I add this Average column to have an easier comparison among all items. The calculation
of average refers to the addition of the percentage of pedestrian, resident and shop along the same
row and then divides the sum by three.
320
(Figure 5.8 and 5.9), the revitalisation project focuses on beautifying the place
and enhancing the image of the flower market, for instance, by resurfacing the
pavement with granite, using coloured materials to repaint the road, installing
potted plants to decorate the area, etcetera. However, requests to resurface roads
(81.3%) and provide greenery (81.0%) in the survey, garnersa relatively lower
priority among the respondents. The project proceeds with the aim of enhancing
the characteristics of the place, which benefits the physical environment and
creates a pleasant shopping atmosphere for customers and tourists who come
occasionally (Figure 5.10). However, the needs of the industry and the residents
are ignored without any reason. In this sense, according to the existing plan, the
problems of florists street obstruction would not solved (as described in Chapter
4); conflicts with the law enforcement officers is expected to continue, and the
local industry would still suffer. It further proves that the revitalisation project is
oriented to the physical appearance of the street for the benefit of the imagined
tourist and consumer, and will not create a better business environment for the
actually existing businesses in the flower market and the district because the root
problems remain unsolved.
321
Figure 5.8.
120
Figure 5.9.
Figure 5.10.
121
the URA has drawn up a plan in this regard and the successful
implementation of the plan can further promote the development of that
area. Apart from this, flowers also have their artistic side. As Members
(LegCo members) are aware, flower arrangement is a form of art. For that
reason, the cultivation of a better environment can serve to attract more
investment and people seeking development in this field. I believe this can
further develop the Mong Kok Flower Market into a better tourist attraction
(Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Legislative Council a 6847).
122
Secretary for Food and Health is in charge of FEHD that raised frequent conflicts to florists
as described in Section 4.15.
324
Cultural-art Flower Market are both gestures that imply the governments
cultural assumptions. This understanding of cultural tourism is the continuation
of a colonial, orientalist desire to fetishise the culture and identity of the exotic
other for enjoyment and consumption of the cosmopolitan tourist.
the way in which urban spaces are being transformed through cultural
regeneration, often resulting in the creation of international tourism arenas
for mass consumption has arguably led to an encroaching standardisation
or placelessness, manifesting itself in the kind of could-be-any-where
feeling experienced by tourists in many global cities (Smith 91).
[p]lace matters in a very practical sense, not just to the residents for
whom a place is home, but also to those who are visiting that place,
and to those who are marketing and selling it. [T]he current lack of
planning regulations and control that allow placeless environments to
proliferate indicates that there is perhaps a need for place to be given
some priority on government agendas (Richards 108).
327
5.11
Gentrification:
The
Consequence
of
Urban
to put it bluntly and simply, involves both the exploitation of the economic
328
value of real estate and the treatment of local residents as objects rather than
the subjects of upgrading. Even though population movement is a common
feature of cities, gentrification is specifically the replacement of a less
affluent group by a wealthier social group a definition which relates
gentrification to class. Whether a result of city council policies or real estate
pressures, gentrification stands in contrast to earlier attempts to improve
deprived neighbourhoods by addressing the built environment, the central
objective of urban renewal up until the 1970s. More recently, the betterment
of deprived neighbourhoods has taken a completely different form as the
improvement of living conditions is no longer considered the task of the
state (to enlighten the masses), but rather a side effect of the development
and emancipation of the higher and middle classes. The state seems to have
acknowledged its inability to influence the welfare of its residents directly
and has left that task to the workings of the supposedly objective agency of
the market. Gentrification has become a means of solving social malaise,
not by providing solutions to unemployment, poverty, or broken homes, but
by transferring the problem elsewhere, out of sight, and consequently also
geographically marginalizing the urban poor and ensuring their economic
location and political irrelevance (Berg, Kaminer, Schoondrbeek and
Zonneveld cited in Lees, Slater, and Wyly xv).
can afford the renovated place, and is accomplished at the cost of lower income
people being further marginalised. The preservation and revitalisation of the
flower market is such a form of gentrification, of state intervention that allows
capital to reinvest in the urban core at the expense of the relatively subaltern
traditional industry and its urban small proprietors and home owners. Hackworth
suggests that
The deterioration of the urban centre provides a rent gap for private
investors to renovate or rebuild properties to increase ground rent (Figure 5.11).
The neoliberal turn of the government is biased in favour of developer interest at
the expense of community interest. Thus, the government intervenes heavily on
capital reinvestment issues but minimally on community issues.
Figure 5.11.
Hackworths rent gap theory shows how ground rent gradually decline in
the deteriorating old urban area where there is no development. However, after
urban renewal, investment sharply boosts up the potential ground rent. This kind
of revitalisation is however, only an ephemeral spatial fix in favour of capital
but is one which serves only to displace negative externalities and accumulate
problems and social cost for future governance. Thus, under such neoliberal
forms of developmentalism, both the vitality of community culture and economy
suffer long term in return for the short term benefit of real estate speculation and
global consumption.
331
Map 9.
Map of No. 1 Flower Market Road (top circle) and No. 179
Prince Edward Road West (bottom circle) (Source: Google Map)
5.11.1
The One Flower Market has operated for one year since October, 2010 by offering
temporary stalls for people to rent. The format is like running a hawker pitch. However, this flea
market has terminated because of some contract disputes. The area allocated to parking space has
been changed to temporary hawker stalls. Rents starts from HK$10,000 to HK$15,000 per month,
but the area has stopped running as hawker stalls now (Mui A08).
332
Coffee 124, an oyster bar, a grill restaurant and a flower shop (Figure 5.14). The
entry of middle-class shops into this part of the city, such as the coffee shop and
the oyster bar, and different kinds of rented street stalls represent the gentrified
middle class enterprise and lifestyle welcomed by URA. The landscape of these
new shops clearly targets middle class customers. The bazaar functions as a
buffer between up-scale development and the remaining, more grassroot
residential area, with its occasional flower market customers.
Figure 5.12.
124
Pacific Coffee is a chain of coffeehouses first founded in Seattle, in the United States. The
corporation first established a store in Hong Kong in 1992. It aims at providing world-class
coffee, food and comfortable surroundings with in-store internet facilities. As of 2011 in has
opened 102 stores in Hong Kong.
333
Figure 5.13.
Figure 5.14.
However, what makes this kind of gentrified urban renewal harmful to the
local community is that, although the shops are relatively welcoming to the local
people, rent is driven up quickly to levels no longer affordable to the original
community and existing flower businesses. There is already signs of rent
pressure and displacement of original businesses. Urban renewal as such might
appear to be aesthetically pleasing to the passer-by and the consumer, but it is
334
done at the cost of much hidden and violent destruction and displacement of
ordinary culture and quotidian livelihood.
335
5.11.2
The URA project also increases the development potential in the nearby
area. The government attempts to preserve a nearby Grade 3 Tong Lau
buildings 125 listed by AMO by offering incentives to private property efforts. The
Tai Hung Fai Enterprise Company () successfully bid for the
ownership of a 74-year-old shophouse at 179 Prince Edward Road West, Mong
Kok (Ng, Joyce b; Qiao Si 69) (Figure 5.15). The shophouse, and one next door,
were built by Wong Yiu Nam, whose father Wong Wong Choi was a co-founder
of China Motor Bus Company. Leong Siu Hung, chairman of developer Tai
Hung Fai Enterprise Company said that he has been considering a demolition of
this site since 2007, but changed his mind after the DevB approached him with
the incentive of relaxing the plot ratio restrictions on the site. The faade of the
grade-three historical building will remain, whilst a 13-storey hotel rises behind
it (Figure 5.16). Preserving only the faade appears to have become the norm for
grade-three buildings, which have no legal protection from demolition. This is an
Art Deco building with features such as the veranda, balconies, curved corners,
pediments and timber staircases. The construction of a 13-storey hotel would
cost tens of millions, but the preservation work would double the sum to about
HK$120 million. Leong plans to preserve the faade and the front garden as the
hotel lobby. The second floor of the shophouse will be open to the public for free
as an exhibition gallery, featuring old photographs of the building and Prince
Edward Road. The other two floors will be restaurants.
125
Grade 3 means buildings of some merits in which preservation in some form would be
desirable and alternative means could be considered if preservation is not practicable. More
details of AMO grading could be found in footnote 160.
336
How can heritage revitalisation become really viable for the existing
community? The answer seems to be viable forms of reusing vernacular culture
in ways that are gently and positively transformative but not violently disruptive.
Heritage and tradition are unstable concepts. With reference to Chang and
Teo discussed in Section 5.3, heritage preservation ought to be a way for
improving quality of life, but not only the quality of place. Preservation should
not over-emphasise the architectures aesthetic value, and should also value local
needs.
338
Figure 5.15.
Existing Tong Lau building at No. 179 Prince Edward Road West
(Source: Google Earth)
Figure 5.16.
Illustrations for the future of No. 179 Prince Edward Road West
heritage preservation development
(Source: Singtao Daily - Old Western)
339
5.12
Chapter Summary
URA
Business Operators in
Flower Market
Figure 5.17.
process even allowed the government to twist the DCs negative comments and
misled people so that the URA could avoid directly addressing the issues. This
manipulation implies that the government departments are co-operating with
each other by reducing negative opinion so that the planning process could run
smoothly. On the other hand, people might not fully understand governments
reasoning of heritage preservation and how to improve the business environment.
Public consultation remains a standard procedure of planning process without
considering peoples opinion. It implies that the government believes that
ordinary people are unworthy of genuine consultation and not sophisticated and
knowledgeable enough to give relevant advice. Government officials believe that
ordinary people do not understand the governments complicated, long term
planning. What we can observe in this urban renewal process is how he
government distrust ordinary people and treat them condescendingly and
paternatlistically, not unlike the way early colonisers used to assume the
colonised as petty, sly and untrustworthy rabbles only aiming to maximise their
profits or seek compensation. Therefore, the government avoids dealing with real
measures to improve the business environment and solve the daily struggles
between law enforcement and florists once and for all (as described in Chapter 4),
but instead, attempts merely to enhance the physical environment of the place,
hoping to embrace local characteristics in the branding. Therefore, as shown in
Figure 5.17, government officials, such as the URA, are located at the top of the
power play foreseeing the general picture of how the project should run and the
power of having an authoritative decision making power. Ordinary people
however, regardless of how knowledgeable they are about the place, and how
strong their arguments, are not as credible and trusted as the professionals. At the
same time, for the government, too many view points from the public creates a
341
chaotic situation and an unfairness might result since certain peoples opinion
could be adopted while others opinions are not. The government would rather
hold the final decision and not consider all view points. This mentality implies
that the government believes the people to be by and largely incapable of
understanding the reasoning of their decisions. Therefore, embedded colonial
arrogance and elitism is hidden in the public consultation measures operating
through an underlying principle that is undemocratic and non-transparent.
343
Chapter 6
CONCLUSION
Throughout the thesis I have defined subaltern studies and subaltern
historiography as involving the whole process that colonised people go through
to re-discover and reflect on their historical and current relationship with the
colonisers in terms of governmentality. In this light, I regard postcolonial
theories as a way to help in a process of decolonisation. The British
government implanted coloniality firmly in Hong Kong society through a
sophisticated network of colonial relations in daily operational logic and in the
practice of the city. This coloniality is hard to be conscious of but affects all
manner of everyday life. Therefore, this research studied Hong Kongs flower
industry as a demonstration of the effects of coloniality on society. Embedded
coloniality is a process in which injustices are institutionalised into societys
accepted values and into the logic of daily experience, and thus normalises and
legitimates these injustices. These inequities are also integrated into executive
protocols, bureaucratic practices and laws directly governing the government and
semi-governmental bodies, and indirectly shaping the general public. Such
practices imply that colonial mentality is practiced in daily life, in routines and
familiar circuits, and therefore its unfairness remains unquestioned. This
mentality lies not just in ideology, but has also been shown in daily life practices.
Coloniality, similar to other political ideologies, integrates cultural practices as a
way to make people follow its logic unconsciously. I will conclude my thesis in
five sections: (1) The necessities of acknowledging embedded coloniality, (2)
Negotiation between government and elites, (3) Ignorance of the needs of the
344
flower industry, (4) Public policies as a tool for facilitating economic progress
and (5) Complexity of an agency.
6.1
6.2
346
6.3
without seriously considering the needs of the workers. For instance, a Tai Po
district councillor who was also a flower cultivator, as discussed in Chapter 3,
showed the need of expanding his farm by renting government land that was left
undeveloped, as an indigenous inhabitants tso tong land. However, the AFCD
rejected the district councillors suggestion with an explanation that the Lands
Department charges a normal price for the use of government land which costs a
lot of money. Therefore, the AFCD did not encourage farmers to use government
land next to their farm. The inflexibility of the government in land administration
discouraged farming activities because they generate relatively less income than
other industries.
347
In the revitalisation project, the URA had a chance to renew the vicinity of
the market. According to a feasibility study, various stakeholders, including
pedestrians, residents and flower traders were interviewed in order to ascertain
their priorities for improving the district. All of them listed the top priority as
widening the pavements in the market. But the URA did not respond to this
particular request. The focus of the revitalisation was to beautify the place. At the
same time, the URAs heritage preservation project in the market inclines toward
preserving architecture without paying enough attention to the socio-cultural
elements of the market. Public consultation has not been carried out thoroughly.
Peoples opinions were not included in a hegemonic decision-making process.
The enhancement of heritage buildings was not only unable to address peoples
request for greater participation in decision-making, the URAs heritage
preservation and revitalisation projects helped to improve the physical
appearance of the place, and thereby attracted investors to renovate the market
and its surrounding areas and thus opened the way for gentrification. As a result,
the URAs work created negative consequence for ordinary people, who are
supposedly within the URAs development plan.
348
6.4
6.5
Complexity of an Agency
Researchers should handle historical and social complexities with great care.
350
that sees itself as an agent to assist the accumulation and growth of capitalism,
whether it be the colonial brand of global capitalism or the postcolonial brand of
neoliberal global capitalism. In any case, the main thrust of its policies cannot in
any way claim to be one that consistently prioritizes the welfare and priorities of
the local subaltern population.
My thesis does not only add to the scholarship of subaltern studies which
generally has a more narrow focus on the agency of subalterns, but also
continues to disclose the unwritten power dynamics between the government, the
elites and ordinary people.
351
Geographical Names
English
Argyle Street
Chinese
Battery Street
Boundary Street
Chai Wan
Duke Street
Embankment Road
Fa Hui
Fa Hui Park
Fa Hui Village
Fa Yuen Street
Fanling
Goldfish Street
Jade Market
Kansu Street
Knight Street
Kowloon City
Nathan Road
Queens Pier
Sai Kung
San Ha Street
Sham Shui Po
Shanghai Street
352
English
Chinese
Shataukok
Shatin
Sheung Shui
Soy Street
Sportwears Street
Tai Po
Tates Cairn
Tsuen Wan
Yau Ma Tei
Yi Wah Avenue
Yingge
Yuen Long
Yuen Po Street
353
Glossary
English
Central District values
Chinese
Art Mount
blissful funeral
China Mail
dawn market
di chan
dou
dou chong
fengshui
grain seeds
ji
ladle
Panku
354
English
Chinese
san bu guan
Shiji
shou sui
Shunde district
Tai Hung Fai Enterprise Company
Tang dynasty
Tong land
Tong Lau
Tso land
xu
yin tat
355
Appendix 1
Semi-structured Interview Guidelines
A. Interview with Flower Shops in the Mong Kok Flower Market
(Translation)
History of the Flower Market
1. How did the Flower Market form?
2. Did it first start in Flower Market Road?
Network of Flower Shop
3. When did you move to the Flower Market? Why did you move here? Have
you changed your shop location among the market?
4. Do you have any partnership? If yes, how did you collaborate?
Probes: Among different flower shops, flower arrangement school, hotel
decoration, wedding banquet service, funeral service, etc.
5. Where do your goods originate?
Probes: Gardens/ farms in the NT, any other countries
6. What is the standard of FEHD officers they ask you to move away your
goods in your shop front?
7. What is the role of policeman in the market?
8. What do you think about infrastructure in the market? Is there enough
places, toilet and drainage system?
Customer Network
9. What are your customers (including individuals, companies and retail
flower shops)? Do they pick up your goods by themselves, or do you
deliver goods to your customers?
Future Development
10. What do you think the future Flower Market should be?
356
A.
1. ?
2. ?
3. ???
4. ?? ?
Probes: ,,,
5. ?
Probes: ,,?
6. ?
7. ?
8. ? ??
9. ()? ?
10. ?
357
358
B.
1. ?
2. ? ()
3. ? ?
?
4. ? ()
5. ? ?
6. ?
()
7. ??
8. ?
9. ??
10. ?
11. ???
12. ?
13. ?
?
14. ?
359
Appendix 2
Interview List
Pseudonym Sex
Occupation
Brief Background
Descriptions
Date of
Interview
1.
Person A
Employee in a
flower shop
located at the
Mong Kok
Flower Market
5/10/2010
2.
Person B
Employee in a
flower shop
located at the
Mong Kok
Flower Market
(inside the area of
heritage
preservation)
5/10/2010
3.
Person C
Business operator
in the flower
market
5/10/2010
4.
Person D
Principal of a
flower
arrangement
school
360
5.
Person E
Principal of a
flower
arrangement
school
6.
Person F
Online flower
shop operator
7.
Person G
Son of a flower
shop owner
8.
Person H
Chairman of
Hong Kong
Flower Club,
principal of a
flower
arrangement
school
He provides floral
consultation and design
services ranging from big
events, such as weddings
and corporate occasions, to
small couture items such
as bouquets and corsages.
9.
Person I
and J
M
&F
Flower cultivator
in Yuen Long
361
19/11/2010
23/11/2010
Flower shop
owner next to a
funeral home
9/12/2010
11. Person L
Flower shop
owner in a 5-star
hotel
1/1/2011
12. Person M
Wedding planner
13. Person N
Flower cultivator
in Mui Wo,
specialise in
peach blossom
He is a part-time flower
cultivator. He has a full
time job and return to the
field one month before
CNY. The field was
inherited from his father,
who is an AFCD
ex-officers.
14. Person O
Flower cultivator
in Shatin
362
28/1/2011
Flower cultivator
in Shatin
31/1/2011
16. Person Q
Flower cultivator
in Shatin
31/1/2011
17. Person R
Executive
member of Hong
Kong and
Kowloon Flower
and Plant Workers
General Union
He works as a flower
cultivator for 40 years. He
is also the chairman of
Hong Kong Florists
Association and a member
of AFCDs Advisory
Committee on Agriculture
and Fisheries.
31/1/2011
18. Person S
Employee in a
flower shop
located at the
Mong Kok
Flower Market.
She sold flowers
in a commercial
booth in Hong
Kong Flower
Show 2011.
20/3/2011
363
Appendix 3
Timeline of Development of the
Mong Kok Flower Market
Date
Before 1898
Descriptions
Flower Market at Boundary Street organically formed
1955
1957
1965
1982
8/4/1989
10/1989
27/8/1997
6/10/1997
8/1999
4/9/1999
27/4/2000
10/5/2001
3/3/2003
28/7/2003
21/8/2004
364
Date
15/1/2006
2/2006
29/12/2006
Descriptions
Protest in flower market about the intensive issuance of
penalty tickets before CNY
The Planning Department commissioned a consultancy firm,
Maunsell-EDAW Joint Venture, to conduct a feasibility study
the Area Improvement Plan for the Shopping Areas of Mong
Kok
Meeting between FEHD, DC members and flower shop
operators about the street obstruction
30/1/2007
19/9/2008
20/9/2008
4/10/2008
16/1/2009
29/4/2009
7/2009
31/8/2009
17/9/2009
9/2009
365
Date
9/2009
30/10/2009
Descriptions
The Flower Union suggested the Home Affairs Bureau to
relocate NT flower cultivators to three places: the nursery area
in the Flower Market Road, Fa Yu Street (from Sportfield
Road to Boundary Street) and Prince Edward Road West (from
Yuen Ngai Street to Yuen Po Street) but all suggestions were
turned down
Discussion of URAs plan in TPBs meeting
28/1/2010
2/2010
25/3/2010
6/7/2010
4/12/2010
2/2011
2/2011
16/10/2011
11/2011
7/11/2011
18/1/2012
366
Appendix 4
Ground Floor Distribution of the
Mong Kok Flower Market
(Updated on 17 March 2012)
Name (Chinese)
Name (English)*
Address
Types
At One Garden
(Closed down)
West
C7
C3
()
C3
Tong Lau
Sweet Blossoms
C3
Hyponex
C6
Tong Lau
C4
C4
Tong Lau
C7
C4
Japan Flowers
C4
Circle Garden
C4
Art Garden
C6
Donkey Gardening
C2
Sweet Talk
C2
C2
C2
C7
C4
C4
367
Name (Chinese)
Name (English)*
Address
Types
Honey's Flower
C4
C4
()
C7
C7
C3
C7
Fashion Boutique
(No Name)
Ltd.
C1
Te Flowers Ltd
C6
C7
()
C6
Ho Tat Building
C7
Ho Tin Tong
C4
C7
Wayfoong
Road West
C2
C2
Celebrity
C6
C6
Home Essence
C7
PALETTA
PALETTA
C5
C7
CIRCLE K
CIRCLE K
C7
The Supreme
C7
7 Eleven
7 Eleven
C7
C6
UNCLE FONG
UNCLE FONG
C7
Cambo House
C2
368
Name (Chinese)
Name (English)*
Address
Types
Wai Wai
Tong Lau
()
C4
C7
Eden Garden
C4
Tong Lau
Plant Ter
C4
C4
Tong Lau
()
C6
Tong Lau
C4
C4
Tong Lau
C4
(Closed down)
C7
Tong Lau
C4
C4
Pobjoy Court
C7
La Fontana
C7
C7
()
C6
C4
C2
Exland Nursery
C2
Flower Villa
()
C4
C4
369
Name (Chinese)
Name (English)*
Address
Types
Japan Trading
C4
King's Court
Connie Garden
C5
()
C2
()
C2
Vogue Court
Universal Trading
C1
Barry Florist
C2
Ever Court
()
C4
Mandarin Court
C4
Ltd.
C7
Sunlights Horticulture
C4
Sakura
C2
Coloured Thoughts
C2
Perfect Flowers
C2
Charming Florist
C2
C2
()
Sin Fa Hin
C2
Fu Kee Florist
C1
()
C1
Shun Hing
C1
Lun Li
C3
Tong Lau
C6
C1
Tong Lau
C3
Florilegium Florist
C1
Florilegium Florist
C3
C1
C7
370
Name (Chinese)
Name (English)*
Address
Types
Springfield Court
Shing Hills
C7
()
C1
()
C1
Tong Lau
C3
C2
Ka Hing Court
C4
Tong Lau
Flowerland
C4
New Kin Shung Flower Trading Co. Shop A, 68 Flower Market Road
C1
C4
C6
Nice Garden
C3
Tong Lau
3 Yuen Po Street
1 Yuen Po Street
C4
C4
Kingly House
C1
Tong Lau
C3
C6
C1
Ling's Flowershop
Yee On Building
West
C1
C1
Tong Lau
Prince Florist
C1
C1
C1
371
Name (English)*
Address
Types
C1
C3
C6
Yee Ka Flower
C2
C2
C5
Legends
Types
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
R
Nature of Business
Cut Flowers Commercial
Flower Gift Commercial
Orchid Commercial
Potted Plants Commercial
Silk Flowers Commercial
Gardening Commercial
Non-Flower/ Horticulture Commercial
Residential
Remarks
*
Name of the shop is based on their Chinese name. English name might be
missing since some shops have not shown in the public.
372
Appendix 5
Agricultural Land Utilisation
(including land outside rural Outline Zoning Plans)
Unit in hectares
Year
Field
Crops
Orchard
Fish Pond
Abandoned
fallow
Total
1970
11,288
10,015
1,978
1,584
2,470
5,655 32,990
1971
9,319
10,332
1,759
1,570
2,689
6,935 32,604
1972
7,360
10,370
1,550
1,540
2,880
8,190 31,890
1973
5,640
11,190
1,120
1,590
3,290
8,610 31,440
1974
3,710
12,190
1,080
1,590
3,550
8,810 30,930
1975
1,110 (2,750)
3,590 (8,860)
12260
1976
1,130 (2,780)
3,240 (8,010)
11900
1977
330 (820)
3,980 (9,830)
10920
1978
110 (280)
3,550 (8,760)
90 (220)
10390
1979
40
3,410
90
580
1,830
1,120 10,070
1980
30
3,180
80
620
1,820
4,240
9,970
1981
10
2,970
80
690
1,840
4,260
9,850
1982
10
2,930
70
680
1,890
4,220
9,800
1983
10
2,810
60
670
2,100
4,100
9,750
1984
10
2,760
60
600
2090^^^
4,110
9,630
1985
10
2,720
50
540
2,080
4,150
9,550
1986
2,660
50
540
2,130
4,070
9,450
1987
2,510
50
530
2,110
4,070
9,270
1988
2,400
50
540
1810^^
4,060
8,860
1989
2,230
50
560
1720#
4,060
8,620
1990
2,090
50
580
1,660
4,040
8,420
1991
1,980
60
620
1,650
4,030
8,340
1992
1,810
50
620
1,620
4,100
8,200
1993
1,740
50
620
1610^
1,110
8,130
1994
1,600
50
630
1,580
1,040
7,900
1995
1,350
50
670
1,560
4,200
7,830
1996
1,240
40
670
1,480
4,240
7,670
1997
1,080
40
670
1,410
4,290
7,490
373
Year
Field
Crops
Orchard
Fish Pond
Abandoned
fallow
Total
1998
1,050
40
680
1,370
4,290
7,430
1999
880
40
670
1,370
4,310
7,270
2000
800
40
590
1,280
4,250
6,960
2001
720
40
570
1,250
4,180
6,760
Remarks
( )
*
3
^
^^
^^^
374
Appendix 6
Number of Members in Hong Kong & Kowloon
Flower and Plant Worker General Union
Year
No. of Members
1989
4274
1990
4128
1991
4036
1992
3889
1993
3782
2000
2376
2001
2157
2002
1996
2003
1754
2004
1680
2005
1521
2006
1501
2007
1381
2008
1311
2009
1255
2010
1157
375
Appendix 7
Farm Working Population by Industry
Industry
1961
1971
1976
1981
1986
(Full
(Full
(By(Full
(ByCensus) Census) Census) Census) Census)
1.
Farming,
Principal Crop - Rice
14,266
2,004
940
116
2.
Farming,
Principal Crop Vegetable
16,414
16,245
13,210
13,224
3.
Farming,
Principal Crop Flower
885
1,342
1,230
1,329
4.
Farming, Principal
Crop Fruit
372
304
--
105
5.
Farming,
Principally Pig Keepers
6,297
4,798
4,920
4,267
6,104
6.
Farming,
Principally Poultry
Keepers
5,501
5,852
4,460
4,830
5,110
7.
Farming,
not elsewhere classified
2,127
2,732
1,110
793
756
8.
736
736
260
35
413
46,598
34,013
26,130
24,699
26,131
Total
(Excluding pond fish farmers)
13,748
Source: Figures listed in the Proposal Study of Agricultural Land Uses and
Development, prepared by Central Data Section, Planning Department
in August 1990
376
Appendix 8
Summary of Agricultural Production
Estimated Values (Crops Only)
Year Flowers* Fruits Vegetables
Rice
Rice
(Paddy) (Straw)
(Mush- Field
room) Crops
Total
$000
1969
15,650
5,030
115,786
16,280
2,840
6,230
161,816
1970
16,434
6,460
159,106
13,831
2,680
6,500
205,011
1971
15,969
6,944
149,180
9,082
1,329
6,462
188,966
1972
19,995
7,370
186,297
6,959
1,812
7,623
230,056
1973
24,501 10,719
224,608
12,399
2,812
6,718
281,757
1974
26,001 10,288
191,595
5,284
2,030
6,236
241,434
1975
23,577
5,427
251,257
4,525
1,160
4,821
290,767
1976
35,510
8,191
281,110
4,339
1,437
5,456
336,043
1977
37,509
7,812
292,405
1,711
713
2,236
342,386
1978
41,692
7,641
347,741
488
174
2,406
400,142
1979
45,623
3,403
429,120
198
48
3,445
481,837
1980
42,449 22,191
456,181
169
32
2,975
523,999
1981
55,547 19,334
477,766
73
18
2,753
555,491
1982
72,929 31,075
468,100
91
23
2,240
574,458
1983
76,383 26,268
472,770
38
10
2,174
577,643
1984
75,313 12,496
380,010
85
19
2,169
470,092
1985
82,500
5,603
356,360
39
11
2,037
446,550
1986
86,279
7,068
345,700
16,002
1,828
440,876
1987
67,854
9,841
359,450
15,157
2,103
439,248
1988
72,686 10,722
331,701
13,697
2,269
417,378
1989
112,552 11,898
359,362
6,857
2,152
485,964
1990
111,996 19,568
294,295
4,661
2,132
427,991
1991
134,974 23,488
256,158
5,124
1,774
416,394
1992
156,646 13,764
271,191
2,925
817
442,418
1993
117,369 20,428
273,148
1,073
412,018
1994
163,352 47,085
275,801
901
487,139
1995
205,956 48,998
309,475
1,521
565,950
377
Rice
Rice
(Paddy) (Straw)
(Mush- Field
room) Crops
Total
$000
1996
186,802 52,428
235,074
931
475,235
1997
175,924 41,927
206,704
2,240
426,795
1998
283,783 32,814
170,000
2,489
489,083
1999
278,626 40,027
123,000
1,190
442,843
2000
302,370 16,367
119,000
657
438,394
2001
255,147 11,868
95,420
600
363,035
378
Appendix 9
Summary of Agricultural Production
Estimated Quantities (Crops Only)
Items
Flowers*
dozens
Fruits
tonnes
Vegetables
tonnes
Rice (Paddy)
tonnes
Rice (Straw)
tonnes
Field Crops
tonnes
1969
2,628,000 44,000
3,047,000
315,500
315,500
288,900
1970
2,814,000 54,000
3,002,000
268,500
268,500
390,100
1971
2,599,000 56,000
2,925,000
176,100
176,100
255,200
1972
3,815,000 55,000
2,879,000
129,300
129,300
247,400
1973
3,826,000 41,000
2,809,000
115,800
115,800
181,800
1974
4,277,000 56,400
2,959,000
50,900
77,400
132,800
1975
3,615,000
2,120
170,550
3,550
4,010
6,960
1976
4,599,000
2,880
197,230
3,450
4,840
6,840
1977
4,032,000
2,800
186,880
1,390
1,600
2,870
1978
3,395,000
2,840
179,080
350
360
2,690
1979
3,535,000
550
183,620
100
110
2,760
1980
3,090
195,000
70
60
2,350
1981
4,980
176,000
30
30
2,500
1982
5,490
155,000
20
30
2,100
1983
4,920
153,000
10
15
1,800
1984
2,491
159,000
20
30
1,710
1985
1,150
151,000
15
20
1,480
1986
2,040
158,000
1,510
1987
2,350
141,000
1,540
1988
2,020
132,000
1,590
1989
3,050
131,000
1,440
1990
4,310
112,000
1,540
1991
3,950
105,000
1,260
1992
2,730
95,000
540
1993
4,150
91,000
670
1994
5,340
89,000
710
1995
4,820
88,000
880
1996
5,230
76,000
660
379
Items
Flowers*
dozens
Fruits
tonnes
Vegetables
tonnes
Rice (Paddy)
tonnes
Rice (Straw)
tonnes
Field Crops
tonnes
1997
4,611
6,400
799
1998
3,873
59,500
1,120
1999
3,770
48,000
540
2000
2,022
42,500
508
2001
1,506
35,900
510
380
Appendix 10
The Rise of Rural Elites
After the British leased the NT from the Chinese government, the colonial
government formed a structural monitoring system as a means of village
representation and indirect colonial rule. The administrative absorption of
politics is a process through which the British governing elites co-opt or
assimilate
the
local
non-British
socio-economic
elites
into
the
381
Arable land had a large development potential -- that is, along roads and
railways, and in the governments development plan -- as it became a commodity
with a high speculation value. The reduction of arable land in the NT was not
only because of a developmental mentality of the colonial government, but also
because the rural elites played a role in maximising benefits, and the interests of
the NT as a whole was not a factor in countering the colonial government. The
rural elites concentrated on negotiating and collaborating with the government
about their own interests and benefits, and agreed with governments planned
developments even if the plan was not for the benefit of the NT as a whole. This
situation indirectly leads to a reduction of flower cultivation farmland.
382
Future research and studies could focus on Akers-Jones 15, Bray 100-101,
Chan Ching Selina 41, Chau, and Lau 5, Cheung Yat Fung 147, Chiu, and Hung
b 22, Chiu, and Hung b 23, Chun b 141, Freedman cited in Chiu, and Hung b 19,
Hase 15, 190, Hayes a 83, 236, Hayes b 100, 106, HKRS 536-2-19, HKRS
536-2-31, HKRS 634-1-3, HKRS 935-1-12, Hong Kong Colonial Government a
J3, J4, Hong Kong Government Gazette Notification No. 15 of 1900 cited in
Wesley-Smith 125, Ip 52, 54, Kuan, and Lau 21, 25, Kwong 110, Lam Cheong
Yee Eric 3, Lee Ming Kwan 173, 611, Liu 55, 190, Sit, and Kwong 139, Tsang
Yui Sang a, Tsang Yui Sang b 88-89
383
Appendix 11
The Number of Prosecutions Instituted by the
FEHD Against Illegal Occupation of Pedestrian
Walkways or Obstruction of Public Places
by DC District
DC District
Central and Western
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
326
345
495
904
1041
Wan Chai
1163
1335
1059
1521
2352
Eastern
1675
1892
2261
2886
3475
175
222
476
559
543
17
34
37
53
25
2141
3398
3626
3043
3100
Sham Shui Po
1090
579
552
811
1400
Kowloon City
1091
1002
1121
1477
1440
316
303
517
671
578
Kwun Tong
411
539
298
563
532
Kwai Tsing
45
123
86
64
105
Tsuen Wan
49
198
167
260
340
Tuen Mun
410
716
794
702
670
Yuen Long
302
295
258
345
516
North
195
118
101
126
182
Tai Po
776
1547
1872
1563
1489
Shatin
794
1082
1082
1059
988
41
64
94
55
65
11017
13792
14896
16662
18841
Southern
Islands
Sai Kung
Total
Source: LegCo Paper 126
126
Appendix 12
The Strength of Health Inspectors, Cleansing
Foremen and Hawker Control Teams of the FEHD
by DC Districts
DC District
Number of
Health
Inspectors
Number of
Cleansing
Foremen
Number of Staff
in Hawker
Control Team
19
41
154
Wan Chai
21
29
110
Eastern
24
32
134
Southern
26
53
Islands
43
62
36
50
251
Sham Shui Po
18
25
122
Kowloon City
20
29
92
10
15
84
Kwun Tong
16
23
86
Kwai Tsing
13
28
73
Tsuen Wan
15
29
63
Tuen Mun
16
32
71
Yuen Long
17
42
83
North
10
46
69
Tai Po
11
35
67
Shatin
18
35
83
Sai Kung
10
37
73
Total
290
597
1730
127
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418