I have been living in To Kwa Wan for the last 20 years, I used to feel a certain shame in telling people that because it was seen as a really poor and unattractive district. How I regret that and thankfully I have grown to be proud and truly adore this unique district.

To Kwa Wan is a dynamic district, a place of immense history, an area that remains largely unspoiled, populated with folks from grassroots backgrounds. There are the working poor, ethnic minorities, immigrants, new arrivals, and in recent years, even tourists from the mainland.

To Kwa Wan in no way pretends to be fancy, trendy or modern like Tseung Kwan O. When you tell people you live here they immediately think you are a low-income earner living in a subdivided unit or a “tong lau” old tenement building.

In recent years, especially after 1998, when the old Kai Tak Airport ceased operation. The construction of tall residences and commercial buildings started to dramatically change the landscape which compromised and changed the social fabric of this unique district, which was initially a robust community network made up of newcomers and people who have lived in this neighbourhood for generations. Now, by the end of June, we will have an even more dramatic change with the opening of the MTR. In one way it will add more convenience to the area that is usually jammed with traffic in the morning rush hours, but at the same time as we see with many MTR districts it just gives many landlords an excuse to increase rent, and land developers to pressure building owners to sell up and demolish these older building at the expense of the poor working-class living in them, and in turn, build fancy high rise luxury apartments that most old-time residents could never afford.

To Kwa Wan is one of the last holdovers from an earlier, less commercial, less materialistic Hong Kong, it is a symbol of old Hong Kong. You don’t see the mega branded shops or big shopping malls around, you don’t see many fancy cars parked around unless it’s nearby garages. We need to embrace such unique and traditional working-class Hong Kong areas. We are losing district by district to developers and poor government planning where more protection, preservation and heritage conservation should be emphasised. We ought to be more community-oriented in starting initiatives like the many guided walking tours happening around Hong Kong. Community gatherings, talks, seminars, forums and many more grassroots and resident representations in the planning and development of our district. I hope that even with the inevitable modernisation of To Kwa Wan we can still create memories and spaces that we are able to share with the next generation the old days and ways of another great story of Hong Kong. That is our beloved To Kwa Wan.

(Jeffrey Andrews, social worker)

Jeffrey Andrews’s article can be found in our Columnist section.

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