http://www.hkstories.net/fall2011backup/2011/12/01/the-last-ones-standing-walled-villages-in-hong-kong/

The Last Ones Standing-Walled Villages in Hong Kong

Kat Hing Wai Hong Kong’s Traditional Walled Village Washed Away in Time
Kat Hing Wai – Traditions Lost in History
Featured in Lonely Planet as the city’s most visited of the remaining traditional sites, Kat Hing Wai used to be foreign tourists’ favorite historic spots to visit. Once exclusive to the Tang clan,the village has changed its facade immensely over the years, and it now welcomes outsiders from other parts of town, or even expatriates. Some of the heritages that the village once boasted of have faded away in time, and many tourists no longer find themselves in too much excitement for its remaining traditions. As a family property, Kat Hing Wai has protected the Tangs against bandits, pirates and wild animals through the centuries. In its early planning, Kat Hing Wai’s walls were surrounded by a moat, but as families expand, the village rebuilt most houses and converted the moat to a sports filed and a parking lot.	Early Planning of Kat Hing Wai by SamWingKit for Wikipedia	Kat Hing Wai in the 1920s (Public File)
Kat Hing Wai’s Past and Present
		“It’s my first stop in Hong Kong…but it was not quite as I expected.” Albert, a Taiwanese American who lives in Shanghai, found Hat King Wai to be different from what he had expected. Albert talking about his impression of Kat Hing Wai / Interview by Xinyan Yu
		“There are very few (tourists) nowadays..There is nothing for people to see. People go back to the mainland.” Madam Lo, a senior resident of Hat King Wai,wife to one of the descendants of Tang family, said that a lot had changed at in her village. Madam Lo talking about her village
History	A Glimpse into Kat Hing Wai’s Remaining Heritage	People and Culture
Walled villages, or wais, are one of the oldest heritages in Hong Kong.Once common in southern China, walled villages were created by early immigrants to Hong Kong, the Punti and Hakka people, to fight againts pirates duringMing and Qing dynasties(approximately from the 13th to the 20th century). Kat Hing Wai is one of the most famous walled villages in Hong Kong with cultural heritages protected by law. According to government files, Kat Hing Wai was established by Tang Chue-yin and Tang Chik-kin in the early years of theKangxi reign(1661–1722) of the Qing Dynasty. Its original residents, the Tang Clan, are one of the “Five Great Clans” in the territory. The village is surrounded by other three, Wing Lung Wai, Tai Hong Wai, and Kam Hing Wai, which were built around the same time.		People who have lived in Kat Hing Wai through centuries call themselves “Punti” who come from the Guangdong province in southern China. Punti people used to be one of the two largestHan Chinese along with the Hakka.Located far away along coasts and on mountains, walled villages were once secluded and guarded with big dogs. In fact, they are usually thought of as hostile to outsiders. For example, although Kat Hing Wai was successfully developed into a heritage tourist spot protected by law, official documents show that the government’s proposal to do so was initially met with great resistance.
Location	Map
Walled villages in Hong Kong are mostly located in Yuen Long, Sha Tin,Tai Po, Tuen Mun, and North districts. The most famous ones include Kat Hing Wai, Tsang Tai Uk, Sheung Shui Wai, Fan Ling Wai, and Nga Tsin Wai Tsuen spreading across remote places in New Territories. These locations are mostly winding shores, hilly lands and islands that are particularly vulnerable to pirates’ attacks, so local residents build walls to protect themselves. Some villages are even equipped with cannons.	View The Walled Villages in Hong Kong in a larger map.
Kat Hing Wai Street Sign by Xinyan Yu

Cabinet of Curiosities

The Seven Curiosities of the City

1. Open Space: Between Building and Urban Area

2.Walkability: Urban Form

3. Flow: Movement of People

 

4. Network

5. Metabolism

6. Power of Nature

7. Sustainability

Nakagin Capsule Tower to be Demolished

Kisho Kurokawa’s famed Nakagin Capsule Tower is set to be demolised according to the NY Times.

A rare built example of Japanese Metabolism, a movement whose fantastic urban visions became emblems of the country’s postwar cultural resurgence, the 1972 Capsule Tower is in a decrepit state. Its residents, tired of living in squalid, cramped conditions, voted two years ago to demolish it and are now searching for a developer to replace it with a bigger, more modern tower. That the building is still standing has more to do with the current financial malaise than with an understanding of its historical worth.

TOUCHPUPPET will be in Tokyo next week to pay our respects to the building during our Japanese invasion, so stay tuned. More images and video after the jump.

http://www.touchpuppet.com/2009/07/27/nakagin-capsule-tower-to-be-demolished/

OMA/Progress_Barbican Art Gallery

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The building could survive socially, if not physically, only for 30 years. Then it would be obsolete. So he designed the room to contain dynamite, and after 30 years...

Glass Beach – Nature Corrects Another of Our Mistakes

Image Credit Flickr User Meganpru

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that a rubbish dump being created would, in the space of a century, become a protected area.  Yet that is exactly what happened to what has come to be known as Glass Beach, just outside Fort Bragg in California.

Image Credit Flickr User mlhradio

The residents there had no refuse collection so, with the sea so close by the solution seemed obvious – throw the garbage over the edge of the cliffs above their local beach.  The burgeoning population of the town proceeded, with abandon reckless if not gleeful (after all, it must have been more fun than the usual taking out of the garbage) to do just that.

Image Credit Flickr User Meganpru

They did it with relish and in great volume: glass, household appliances and even motor vehicles went over the edge until the place acquired a new name – The Dumps. It was not until the 1960s that city leaders and the local water board forced the closure of the beach as an illegal dump.

Image Credit Flickr User Mikka Skaffari

Image Credit Flickr User Teeping

Cleanups followed to remove the largest pieces of detritus, but decades of wear had done their work on much of the glass which had been thrown over the side of the cliffs.   The waves and the weather had smashed, pounded and ground the glass in to smooth, small, rounded objects – million upon million of them.

Image Credit Flickr User Mamojo

Image Credit Flickr User tofuart

It was not long until the name Glass Beach was adopted instead of the previous, less attractive appellation.  In the early years of this century the beach and the surrounding twenty acres were bought by the California State Park system with a view to incorporating it in to the surrounding MacKerricher State Park.  After a final cleanup exactly that happened.

Image Credit Flickr User thats

Image Credit Flickr User Bruces View

It is not the only glass beach created by human activity.  There is another in California (Benicia) and one in the Hawaiian bay of Hanapepe. Most curiously perhaps, there is one that exists at Guantanamo Bay. They are all testament to the power of nature to correct the mistakes made by humanity.




It seems that every color of glass can be found on the beach. Those original tippers would be suprised, perhaps, to see what had become of their garbage.

Image Credit Flickr User Meganpru

Image Credit Flickr User Meganpru

Glass Beach has become very popular with tourists, many of whom scour the beach for the most attractive pieces of glass they can find which they plan to take home as mementoes.  Ironically, where it had once been illegal to dump glass on the beach – now, it is against the law to remove it.

Image Credit Flickr User kara brugman

http://www.kuriositas.com/2011/08/glass-beach-nature-corrects-another-of.html