January Newsletter
January will see further exploration of this vibrant city we call home. Kowloon City, Causeway Bay, Happy Valley Cemeteries, Wan Chai and north to Tai Po are all on the agenda.
The Kowloon Walled City, originally constructed in the 1820s, had degenerated into an internationally- notorious, crime-ridden slum by the 1970s. After finally being cleared and demolished in the mid-1990s, the new open space was transformed into a magnificent public park that still echoes the recent past for many local residents.
In Happy Valley's historic cemeteries we will explore the distinct contributions made by various ethnic communities to Hong Kong's social and economic development over the past century and a half. Embedded as so many of us are within modern Hong Kong's bustle and seeming cosmopolitanism, it is often easy to forget just how broad-rangingly significant these groups were in the formation of much that we take effortlessly for granted in our everyday lives.
And that's just the start of the New Year!
Forthcoming Walks:
Kowloon City - Wednesday 5th January - morning
Causeway Bay - Friday 7th January - morning
Happy Valley Cemeteries - Wednesday 12th January - afternoon
Wan Chai- Thursday 20th January - afternoon
Please visit our Event Calendar for more.
Forthcoming Lectures:
Opium - An Historical Overview
Opium has played a role in Hong Kong since before the colony was established.
In this lecture we will discuss and evaluate the role played by the opium trade in the establishment of the British colony, its economic importance in the nineteenth century, gradual moves towards control prohibition, and the striking economic, legal and moral parallels that exist between the nineteenth century opium trade and the tobacco industry in the twenty-first century.
Thursday 20th January 10:00 am - 12:00 pm at the YWCA
Recent Walks
Sha Kei Wan - November 29th
Shau Kei Wan, at the eastern end of Hong Kong Island, is an unfamiliar, out-of-the-way area to many who don't live there. Members of the AWA were intrigued to find that this part of the Island has a very varied mixed history,
with connections to quarrying, fisheries, century-old defence considerations, and one of Hong Kong's oldest village settlements.
Located at the eastern approaches to Victoria Harbour, Shau Kei Wan was vital for strategic military purposes from the early years of British settlement. From the 1860s onwards an extensive complex of barracks and gun batteries were built on the hillsides and cliffs overlooking the Lyemun Strait – the narrowest point of entrance into Victoria Harbour.
The weather was superb - and un-seasonably warm - during our steady climb up to the barracks and gun batteries.
Battlefields -December 5th
The weather pulled out all the stops for our day exploring the war sites in Hong Kong.
This full-day trip saw a full group visit the tunnels of the Inner Line (the so-called "Gin Drinker's Line") at Shing Mun in the hills above Kwai Chung, the gun battery and redoubt at Sai Wan Hill, above Shau Kei Wan, pillboxes and bunkers along the water catchment at Wong Nai Chung Gap, St. Stephen's College and the Military Cemetery at Stanley, finishing at the Sai Wan Bay Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery near Chai Wan.
Physically challenging, as well as intellectually and emotionally stimulating, this day was a memorable experience for all participants.