Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2000

H O N G KONG FROM AN ARCHITECTURAL PERSPECTIVE Architectural studies are often closely connected with the physical form of building structures. Yet Prof. Ho Puay Peng of the Department of Architecture believes it ismore interesting to study the relationship between architecture and lifestyle, because architecture loses its meaning when separated from living. His project on Ping Shan Village in Yuen Long isan example of studying architecture in its cultural context. Prof. Ho Puay Peng P i ng S h an The project's main informant wa s a 70-year-old elder of Ping Shan village, a descendant o f th e Tang clan who was a judge for many years in Guangzhou before returning to settle i n H o n g Ko n g . T h r o u g h t h e r e s e a r c h e r 's observation and interview with the informant, the project e x am i n e s t h e d e v e l o pm e n t of t he clan, t h e v i l l a g e architecture, the living, public, and ritual space in the village, the significance of the fengshui hill, the power structure of the village and its evolvement, and the village's relationship with the Ho ng Kong government and other villages. Ancestral halls of the Tang clan Ping Shan, home of the 800-year old Tang clan, one of the most influential and well-known among the big clans, was once a very strong anti-British base. When the British took over the New Territories an derected a mat-shed as a temporary police station on Ping Shan's fengshui hill, th evillagers pulled the structure down overnight Over the years, bickering between the villagers and the government continued, including one which arose over th e colourof the roof o fthe police station on th efengshui hill. Originally black, the roof of the police station was painted re dby the government. This angered the villagers who claimed that the fengshui reading of the hill and its surrounding landscape resembles that of a crab sprawled out in th ewhole region, with th ehill being it s body. A red structure would mean the crab is dead as crabs only turn red when they are cooked. In 1993, Hong Kong's first heritage trail was organized i n Ping Shan by th e Antiquities and Monuments Office. After 1997, the roof of the former police station was painted dark green in response to the villagers' request, and it will be handed over to the villagers to be turned into a district museum. The Ping Shan police station (top left) at the top of the local fengshui hill CHINES E UNIVERSIT Y BULLETI N Autumn .Winter 2000 16