Pier Politiking...

On July 31st, I went over to the Queen's Pier to show respect and support for the cause of heritage conservation... Hong Kong, in the words of scholar Ackbar Abbas, is a city in constant disappearance...

Too many buildings and structures of historical importance (some even with high potential for generating tourism) have already been torn down, displaced, and taken away from the people of Hong Kong, hence, the city in its development, the 'progressive' strive towards an Asia's World City standard, is constantly burying its past...and without our past, we could very well be lost in the future...

To be honest, I have no personal feelings towards the Queen's Pier, I rarely ventured out there except for the annual habit of watching films at the HKIFF, where some screenings were held at the City Hall...

Yet, this whole movement started up by the three fasting students, 本土行動, and 學聯 have really raised our awareness of the history that have taken place here on this not so attractive pier...

However, the sad truth remains that the voices of the people can always be deemed irrelevant by a piece of paper with a couple of signatures and a chop...

There's no other background building more ironically suited for this rally at the pier...

Can you feel the towering economy and its invisible hand?

I really like this sign...there were loads of expressive artwork like this displayed at the pier, i couldn't helped but felt like I walked into an outdoor exhibition of political installation art when I first got there...

When night falls, more people came around for support...

The three fasting students speaks out...

Cultural critic 梁文道 speaks out...for those who can read Chinese, there's an excellent interview between him and the students on inmediahk.net

05:19, August 1st...

Quite possibly the last sunrise at Queen's Pier...

Regardless of what will be done to the future of this pier, awareness in the importance of protecting, learning, and giving space to our past, has finally gained the spotlight it urgently deserves...

My deepest respect for those who fought and are still fighting to preserve Queen's Pier...

D....