Page 53 - JCAU-7-3

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Rural–urban village regeneration

Hau School), and the Shui Hau village office. However,
access to the ancestral hall and the village office is often
restricted to a few privileged parties, discouraging broader
community participation. Although some grocery stores
(commonly transliterated and referred to in Hong Kong
as 士多 [pinyin: shiduo] in Cantonese) serve as informal
community spaces, intense competition among them has
created unfriendly social dynamics, limiting interaction
among the stores. As a result, residents have become
increasingly individualistic and apathetic toward both
insiders and outsiders.

4. Underdeveloped legal framework for
Figure 1. Landscape characteristics of Shui Hau village
Source: Map redrawn by the authors, adapted from (WWFHK, 2021). village regeneration
Village development in Hong Kong, including conservation
3.2. From an agrarian community to a recreational and regeneration efforts, remains a controversial issue.
destination Land-related issues such as intergroup conflicts between
Shui Hau has undergone a significant transformation from original inhabitants and newcomers, competing priorities
an agrarian community into a coastal tourist destination. and unequal rights, lack of informational transparency,
The emergence of tourism can be traced back to the 1970s, ineffective bureaucracy, and issues with land surveys and
when the New Lantau Bus was established, carrying up resumptions have been widely discussed since the British
to 40,000 passengers on holidays to Shui Hau. The village colonial period (1841 – 1941 and 1945 – 1997) (Chau &
served as a transitional spot between Mui Wo (where the Lau, 1982).
public pier is) and Ngong Ping (where the famous Po Lin 4.1. Demarcation districts and land boundaries
Temple is). The completion of the South Lantau Road in
1978 and the development of the new airport and Tung After the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong
Chung town in the 1990s further increased the influx of Territory was signed between the United Kingdom of Great
tourists and foreign residents to this small village. Britain and China in 1898, the New Territories (N.T.) was
leased to Great Britain for 99 years. To determine private
At present, the coastal area of Shui Hau Bay is the focal land ownership and raise revenue through government
point of recreational tourism. The sandflat, often referred to rent, the British colonial government hired “trained staff”
as the “Mirror of the Sky,” is renowned for its water surface from the Indian government to conduct large-scale survey
blending seamlessly with the blue sky at high tide. Visitors work in the N.T., aimed at registering and (re)allocating
flock to the sandflat for clam digging and kitesurfing, with 41,000 acres of private land comprising approximately
most outsiders bypassing the inner village entirely. This has 350,000 holdings(Nissim, 2021).

narrowed the perception of Shui Hau village to its coastal
area, creating a physical, social, and cultural separation By 1903, the land survey was completed rapidly but
from the inner village fabric. The village’s identity, once with significant inaccuracies, which have caused ongoing
rooted in its “rural landscape at the local level” (Dragan issues (a similar problem also occurred in Victoria City
et al., 2024, p. 4369), has been markedly diminished. Unlike on the island side of Hong Kong). For example, claimants
the counter-urbanism movement in mainland China, to land lots were issued zhizai (纸仔; pronounced chi tsai
tourists to Shui Hau village show less interest in these in Cantonese) – small slips of paper with the lot number
aspects (Yu et al., 2024). This is evidenced by the adverse written on the front and the owner’s name and land
impact on the sandflat landscape caused by inappropriate description on the back. These slips were easily lost or
visitor etiquette and the misuse of tools. transferred (Nissim, 2021).
A Block Government Lease governed privately owned
3.3. Inaccessible communal facilities land lots across the N.T., dividing the region into 477
Despite its reputation as a recreation destination, Shui Demarcation Districts (Figure 2). These lots are now
Hau village lacks the infrastructural support needed regarded as Old Schedule Lots. Following the Sino-British
to maintain a strong sense of community. The existing Joint Declaration in 1984, these leases were extended
community spaces are limited to formal facilities, such as to 2047. Nonetheless, inaccuracies in the original land
the football court, Chan’s ancestral hall (the former Shui surveys have left unresolved issues, such as incompatible

Volume 7 Issue 3 (2025) 4 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.4992