Hong Kong Rooftops: Condemned
Forty years might not even be close to a lifetime for most people, but in Hong Kong, it’s enough to witness the birth and death of a neighbourhood.
In the mid-1960s, when Cheung Cheuk-kuen and his wife, Cheung Tsui-lin, moved into a flat on the top floor of a building in Kwun Tong, it was a typically bright, spacious place, newly built to accommodate Hong Kong’s postwar surge of population. Their life was comfortable; Mr. Cheung owned a restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. In the 1970s, though, the restaurant began to attract gang members and Cheung decided it had become unsafe. He sold it and decided to earn a living by renting out his flat to tenants. He built cage homes in the living room and wood houses on the roof.
Now the whole neighbourhood is condemned, waiting to be demolished for a HK$30-billion redevelopment of Kwun Tong’s town centre. The Cheungs, who are in their late 80s, are some of the only remaining residents in their building. Mrs. Cheung suffered a stroke and can longer walk, so she spends her days in a wheelchair on the roof. “It’s better to stay up here where there’s more room and fresh air,” says Mr. Cheung. The roof is surprisingly quiet; only the occasional horn and the rattle of passing MTR trains serve as reminders of the busy streets below.
Most of the old roof houses are now in ruins, surrounded by heaps of debris. It’s part-junkyard, part living room, with five fridges (three of them functioning), three televisions (two of which still work, including a big plasma screen bought as a gift by relatives) and a garden of potted plants. A maid from a small village in Guangdong helps take care of Mrs. Cheung. She washes the laundry in a bucket on the roof and cooks with a small charcoal stove. In the evenings, she sits outdoors with Mrs. Cheung, watching TV.
A few elderly people still live in the cage homes downstairs, which are covered in layers of grease and dust, and which echo with the racking coughs of their inhabitants. The Cheungs will stay put until they are forced to go; the rent is their only source of income. “We have no choice but to live here,” says Mr. Cheung.
See more photos of the Cheungs’ rooftop here.
Tags: Hong Kong, Housing, Kowloon, Rooftops, Views from Above
ForeveR says:
I don’t know if it was the author’s intention to solicit sympathy from the reader regarding the old couple in this article. Although their story seems sad, I keep thinking about the caged homes they are renting out to people who cannot afford decent housing in HK. From the reports I’ve seen these caged homes are small, cramped, humid places not really suitable for human habitation. I don’t think I can sympathize with people who makes their income in such a way…
April 23rd, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Christopher DeWolf says:
That’s true, but Mr. Cheung also lives in one of the cage beds. And his wife lives in a shack on the roof. Not exactly swank accommodations.
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Ricky says:
shouldn’t something be done to save bits of these rooftops as say open-museums? imagine how great it would have been if the whole kowloon walled city was preserved…
May 23rd, 2010 at 12:03 pm