Hong Kong - Tradition and Heritage

Saturday 4th Jan 

We begin our sail into the islands of Hong Kong before first light and stepping out onto the balcony I can just make out the shadowy outlines of land. It’s early, but it’s well worth getting showered and dressed ready to watch our sail into to this exciting city.  

Hong Kong is another place we last visited back in 1980 when we flew into Kai Tak airport along that notoriously terrifying approach seemingly in touching distance from the city skyscrapers! Of course, not only is there a new airport and massive new developments, but a whole new regime too. We’re eager to see the changes. 

I’m so busy looking west at the beginnings of the city proper, that I almost miss the sunrise. To the east the sun is rising - a beautiful clear orb casting pinkish light into the sky which reflects on the water between islands. I watch as it rises, eventually slipping behind the high rise forest of Hong Kong Island. 

In the early morning light we watch the shoreline as we sail along the channel separating Kowloon and the island, recognising little from four decades ago. We’re docking at The Ocean Terminal next to the Star Ferry  - and these little green boats are one of the few things that seem unchanged. The location is wonderfully central - ideal for exploring the city. 

The Ocean Terminal connects to a very glitzy shopping mall, but the actual dock side is cramped and rather dingy - but it’s here we’re treated to a Chinese dragon dance welcome which we watch from our balcony. The drums and cymbals are impressively loud and the performance of the dragons enthusiastic and highly entertaining. I particularly love watching the slightest boy who’s clearly  the one nominated to climb a pole to perform an aerial dragon dance! 

Exit through the terminal is surprisingly quick and trouble free with lots of officials just smiling  and welcoming us. We’re off on a tour of the New Territories looking at Heritage and Tradition. When we were last here we travelled through this area to the border with mainland China, and remember it as largely rural and agricultural with no high rise buildings. This was just after the border had opened to tourists and we walked over the railway bridge to Shenzhen - then a small ramshackle town. We were seen as curiosities by the locals, all dressed alike in Mao suits many of them on bikes; everyone just seemed to stop and stare. We were taken to the local reservoir and a very basic art gallery - clearly there was little in the form of tourist attractions - but the experience of just being there was more than worth the effort. 

Now we travel through the New Territories to see huge satellite towns full of high rise housing - mostly government built. Areas of agriculture seem to have been reduced to allotment type areas - though the greenery of the hills remains. Despite the pressure on land , 40 per cent of Hong Kong’s total land area is protected within the boundaries of 24 country parks.

Our first stop is just south of the border and we can see that Shenzhen is now a large city With a population of 17.5 million in 2020, Shenzhen is the third most populous city by urban population in China after Shanghai and Beijing. In 1980, Shenzhen had a population of 30,000 and was designated as the first Special Economic Zone in China as part of China's reform and opening-up. The changes on 40 years are phenomenal. 

Anyway, back to our tour. Much of New Territories land is owned by clans, and we’re visiting Tai Fu Tai Mansion, probably built in 1865 as a residence by Man Chung-luen whose ancestors had settled in San Tin since the C15th.

It’s a beautiful building in many ways quite austere, but richly decorated with paintings, carvings and ceramics - including an incredibly detailed ceramic border picturing aspects of contemporary life. It stands in its own grounds with an adjacent pool full of carp and turtles and is wonderfully peaceful despite being in the middle of the town of San Tin. 

We’re then off to another clan mansion - the Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall, one of the largest ancestral halls in Hong Kong. It is reputed to have been built around 1525 in honour of the founding ancestor, Tang Chung-ling (1302-1387), and became the main ancestral hall of the Tang clan at Lung Yeuk Tau. The Tangs are reputed to be the richest of the five main Hong Kong clans, and just beyond the hall is one of their walled villages - Lo Wai the oldest in the New Territories. It’s entirely enclosed by high thick walls of green brick with a narrow gated opening. Sadly - but understandably- visitors are not allowed to enter.  And just to emphasise the wealth - and importance - of the Tang leaders, parked outside is a gleaming SUV with the number plate TANG 18! 

Finally, we visit the market town of Tai Po and  the Man Mo temple. We’re immediately plunged into to a world of incense, burning offerings and silent worshipers. I find Chinese ‘religion’ very difficult to understand - it seems to be an amalgam of so many different things. Huge red and gold paper offerings are brought into the temple - many bought from the temple incense ‘shop’ which is part of the building - then handed to the staff in red overalls who feed the offerings into the ovens built into the temple walls. Others light bundles of incense sticks and sway back and forth, the smoke coiling into the darkness of the roof-space. Others purchase the large conical incense coils hanging from the ceiling, ensuring a long-lasting message will be sent to the gods. I just love the whole place, this magical temple of darkness and light, red lanterns glowing, the air heavy with the headiness of incense smoke. 

We spend some time exploring the busy narrow street adjacent to the temple, thronged with shoppers and lined with often unfamiliar goods. Hand carts are used to transport goods to shops, including one piled high with half carcasses of pigs. Each butchers shop arrived at sees a carcass thrown unceremoniously on the floor from where it’s dragged into the dark interior where I presume further butchery is performed. All fascinating sights. 

Our guide is excellent.  The best guides are those who provide you with clear information about the places you are visiting, but who also give something of themselves. We learn how her parents fled mainland China in the 1940s - along with many others. To gain asylum, they simply had to walk into the main police station in Hong Kong.  She still lived near the border in the family home - leased from one of the clans - and travelled into work every day. She’d tried city life, but wanted to be near nature, to hear birdsong every day. Housing is in short supply and you can be on the waiting list for subsidised government apartments for over 5 years. The world’s most unaffordable city has huge rents and people live in tiny spaces. This article is worth reading for more information https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/hongkong-property/

We were warned to stay off the subject of China and politics in general, but our guide seems quite openly unhappy about the current situation, feeling that each year there are more changes and they are losing more of their freedom.  Vestiges of previous times still exist - she points out an old ER post box that had been painted green immediately after following the handover. 

After a few hours back on the ship, we decide to venture out on our own. We want to revisit The Peninsula Hotel  having been there back in 1980. The walk takes us along the Kowloon shoreline and the new Cultural Centre - much of this on land that has been reclaimed from the sea. There’s a curving viewing platform that looks out  over Victoria Harbour and it’s packed with people out for a Saturday evening stroll. Many are already staking their claim to a prime location to watch the Laser show which will take place in around two hours. There are lots of examples of interesting architectural along our way, particularly attractive as the lights come up. 

The Peninsula is as grand and imposing as we remember - though it’s now connected to its own shopping mall. We sit in the atrium tea room and have a beautifully decorated cake each together with a pot of Earl Grey tea - and pay close to £60 for the privilege! Still, there is live jazz being played and the surroundings are stunning - and it is Hong Kong! 

We make our way back, deciding on a place which we feel will give us the best view of  the Symphony of Lights - or at least where we can find a space! The lights of Hong Kong island are already spectacular, made more so by their reflection in the harbour water - and I just love the orange sails of a junk sailing past. So how much more spectacular could the light show be? There’s an announcement, the music starts and we all wait with bated breath …….. 10 minutes later there is a general ‘is that it?’ Response from the disappointed audience. Yes there were a few lasers shining from the highest buildings, but it was distinctly underwhelming. 

And so it’s back to the ship, feeling pretty exhausted after a very full day.


There have been so many things happening today - so many photographs - that I’ve resorted to collages for my extras. The main is obviously a temple shot, as is the first extra. Then there’s Tai fu Tai Mansion, the dragon dancers, the Tang hall and finally Tai Po market.