How Much is Heritage Worth?

Doing some internet research by using the keywords "Hong Kong" and "heritage", I found these phrases on the website of the Hong Kong Tourism Board - "Hong Kong has a culture and heritage like none other on earth: brimming with tradition yet thriving on modernity..."

Really? It seems that our heritage can be easily wiped out by other things - the demand for housing to say the least.

The Sham Shui Po Yen Chow Street Bazaar was once a cradle for fashion designers and style makers. It was set up in the 1970s to accommodate street vendors and at its glorious heydays, had more than 100 textile vendors. Now this cradle is about to be bulldozed to make way for public housing, another story about the rise and fall of the Hong Kong textile industry.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Hong Kong does not have much of a garment manufacturing industry and if the fabric market only serves fashion students, they can be anywhere... It is true that the textile trading scene was much more hustling buzzling in its heydays - in the 80s busy vendors would juggle between factory customers and individual customers who were interested in making their own clothes, not to mention fashion designers who were not entertained by larger textile companies on Ki Lung Street.

The Financial Secretary announced in last year’s budget that the government would spend HK$500 million over three years to promote local fashion designers and brands. Certainly resources for marketing are crucial, but it seems policy makers have failed to see how this fabric market has nurtured and inspired generations of designers. It is true that shopping for fabrics at Ki Lung Street has become more pleasant than before, with the downturn of the economy. Vendors are more accommodating to the individual designers who some years back would receive a face or a signage saying "No Design Students". But the experience of this fabric market is just unique, somewhat like the Hong Kong cultural experience - the contrast, the diversity, the clutter, the chaos, and above all, a very interesting and dynamic experience. To be able to learn by seeing and touching a roll of fabrics, getting inspiration on textures and colours from trawling through large rolls of fabric like a treasure hunt, seeing interesting fabrics which you cannot find elsewhere....

It is sad that that these days, we are so disconnected with the clothes we wear, and we have become so apathetic as to where they come from. I still keep my grandpa's suits which were made by his private tailor when our family was living in Shanghai in the 1930s. Every suit was cut and stitched by hand. Every piece of clothing I used to wear when I was a child was made by grandma, whom I lived with in Sham Shui Po. Going back to the fabric market was like a trip down memory lane. The public housing estate I used to live has already been demolished, and so will the market.