FANNY W. Y. FUNGfanny.fung@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 27 August, 2015, 3:16am
UPDATED : Thursday, 27 August, 2015, 3:16am
The former police station and monastery. Photo: Felix Wong
The sole surviving building from Hong Kong's former Kuomintang enclave of Tiu Keng Leng has been nominated for historic grading, two months after its last residents were evicted amid a district council plan to convert it into a heritage centre.
The old Tiu Keng Leng police station was built in 1961. After the squatter area was cleared for new-town development in 1996, the white concrete house became the new home to Po Yin Fat Yuen, a monastery founded in the area in 1956.
In 2013, the Sai Kung District Council endorsed a proposal to convert the building into a public heritage centre, meaning monastery chief Lau Kin-kwok and his family would have to move out.
The Lands Department did not renew the monastery's short-term lease and offered two relocation sites for Lau, which he rejected. In June, it took back the building amid dramatic scenes as Lau set fire to his arm.
Timothy Chui Ting-pong, a Liberal Party community officer, said he had submitted a proposal to the Antiquities and Monuments Office, recommending that the building be given grade-three status along with the nearby Haven of Hope Chapel and a 1.3km road linking the two. The office indicated it would consider the proposal.
District councillor Jacky Chan Kwok-kai, who is spearheading the heritage project, welcomed the proposal. "The building is not of high artistic value but it's the last surviving building from old Tiu Keng Leng," he said.
Lau, who said he is now homeless, feared the move was to help the council justify his eviction, adding: "If you only talk about the building itself, it's not of high value. Is history only about architecture?"
Kuomintang supporters were settled in Tiu Keng Leng - also known as Rennie's Mill - shortly after the end of the civil war which led to the founding of the People's Republic. Residents were resettled elsewhere in Hong Kong after the site was cleared.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1852842/tiu-keng-lengs-old-police-station-nominated-hong
