Indigenous in Hong Kong: Chung Mei Village

I grew up in Tsing Yi, an island North West of Hong Kong Island. The indigenous community of Tsing Yi whose roots on the island date back to the late 16th century have created deep bonds with the island over the many hundred years and I had grown up with this deep history. Though my maternal lineage belongs to one of the main branches of the original inhabitants of the island I grew up always feeling a bit like an outsider.

Following Chinese traditions, what determined whether or not you were an insider or an outsider came down to who carried the family name. I did not. So I grew up participating, but not fully. I was an active observer who was involved but never too involved.

As an observer, I could see the culture and way of life was dying. It seemed to me it was only a matter of time before the uncles who carried traditions and had experiences living in the old village before the resettlement in the 1970’s would die out. So I took the task of trying to preserve the little things before they all disappeared with a camera and a lens.

The aim of this project is to preserve the village through a series of photographs and a few short films/documentaries of the elderly who lived through the old way of life.