ma shi po: a recent history

When we moved to San Wai, a village about a mile east of Fanling, in 2008, it didn’t take us long to discover the area between Ma Sik Road, which at that time marked the northern boundary of Fanling, and the Ng Tung River. It wasn’t densely populated by Hong Kong standards, but there was a substantial population, mostly living in tin shacks, and the area was extensively cultivated:

The third photo shows a typical dwelling in the area at the time.

There was once a stone device for milling rice outside a house that, as I noted years later, hosted several meetings, I assume to discuss the many adverse things that were starting to happen in the neighbourhood—and, presumably, what to do about it. On this basis, I conjecture that the house was the home of the local tai fu (headman). The following photo, taken in October 2008, also shows the path that runs past the house:

This grinding machine disappeared many years ago, probably taken by someone as a souvenir as events progressed.

I think that we can be forgiven for regarding the area as a kind of bucolic idyll, but what we didn’t know at the time was that the area was scheduled for ‘development’. What follows is a series of hyperlinks to posts that I’ve published over the past 14 years that document the significant changes that have taken place during this period.

I first wrote about this area, which was known as Ma Shi Po (‘horseshit area’) at the start of 2010:

Hong Kong Country

This account also includes photos of the local river and images of the Wah Shan Military Road and the nearby hillside. In November 2010, I returned to Koon Garden, of which I’d photographed only the entrance gate. It had been abandoned, and I wanted to take a look inside:

Return to Koon Garden

This is a view of the entrance to Koon Garden that also shows the house, which wasn’t visible in the photo that I used in Hong Kong Country:

Things first began to take an unwelcome turn in 2011, when major property developer Henderson Land planted a large number of ‘keep off’ signs. This post focuses on the signs erected by protesters:

Turf Wars

Several of the huts in this area have had artwork painted on the external walls, including this one:

The Cat Man’s Hut

In the summer of 2017, a statue of the cat farmer appeared next to the site of the cat man’s hut while I was in the UK, and I included a photo in Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes. This photo was taken in March 2019, shortly after the cat had been given a new straw hat:

I wonder what happened to it.

By 2015, previously cultivated areas that had been fenced off by Henderson Land had become completely overgrown:

A Blot on the Landscape

The following year, artwork began to appear on footpaths and nearby buildings:

Art Promenade

The frogs were painted on a section of path that remains accessible, but there is now no trace of their existence. The next photo is a view of the left-hand hut, which I described in Art Promenade but did not provide a photo. The hut on the right had yet to be decorated when I took this photo in October 2011:

Painting of the right-hand hut did not get underway until December 2016:

A short distance to the left of these two huts, there was a large hut that had already been decorated when we moved into the area, although the following two photos were taken at the same time as the two previous photos:

This building extends away from the main path. And this is a closer view of the hen on the right, next to the path:

More protests erupted in October 2016, and this is an account (with photos):

Turf Wars Update

In April 2017, large numbers of terracotta figurines appeared next to the main footpath in what was clearly an organized display. They were meant to represent the people and traditions of the area, but like everything else here, they have now been bulldozed into the dirt (I did rescue a few before this happened):

Terracotta? Ah! Me

Although most of the land under cultivation when we moved to the area was fenced off more than a decade ago, some land was still being farmed in March 2020. Why? I’ve no idea:

A Farming Mystery

I wrote several posts towards the end of last year that described recently abandoned houses in Ma Shi Po. This is a particularly poignant example:

More Abandoned Houses

So what does the area look like now? I gained access to the area on a Sunday in October 2021, when no work was being done, and took the following photo:

Farewell Ma Shi Po!