LNII Series: The Last Resettlement Estate

(Mugshot of a residential block of LNII)

 

LNII stands for Lower Ngau Tau Kwok (II) Estate, the last old resettlement estate to be redeveloped in Hong Kong. Originally scheduled for 2003, its demolition has dragged on for about six years because of the tenants' petition for a better rehousing arrangement, hence the  ensuing discussions with the government*.

 

(A public notice issued in November 2005 by the estate management saying that this corridor was to be closed in 3 days.  It is still open today due to the postponement of demolition)

(*As an aside, some cities in Mainland China have repeatedly flaunted their "efficiency" in realising building projects as compared to the slow progress for the same in Hong Kong. Besides the factor of cultural differences in this, the respect shown towards people and procedures are not the same. I take pride in Hong Kong's more rational and steady way of implementing projects, which conforms to the internationally accepted practices and should not be changed.)

 (Enthusiastic photographers with their inquisitve cameras outside an old-style barber’s shop)

(Another photographer inside the residential block and two more coming along.  Photographers were roaming everywhere in the estate.  It felt just like a photography fete of some sort)

 

With a history of over 40 years, the  LNII is a standing testimony to the way of life of the general public in Hong Kong. To make way for the clearance scheduled for this summer, shops will be completely evacuated in March and all residential tenants will move out before some months afterwards. Before it goes into history books, photographers have flocked to the estate to take photographic records of it. This series will be presented in several instalments and the photos were taken by me with my GX200 during my two visits to the estate.  Afterwards, I did some research on the estate and the texts in the post were written with reference to the information I managed to dig out.

(Maybe this pot should go to the museum too.  It is certainly a witness to the changes happened in LNII)

Emergence of Resettlement Estates

(A photo of Block 8 of LNII when it was just completed at the tail end of the 1960s)

(Block 8 has weathered out the test of time)

In the 1950s, Hong Kong was faced with an urgent need to house a large number of immigrants from China and fire victims at the lowest cost and in the shortest time. The British administrators in Hong Kong thought out a cheap and quick solution which was to build primitive resettlement estates. Born out of the urgency, and with limited resources, the poorly designed resettlement estates lacked proper living space and basic facilities. They became common targets of criticism by foreign visitors, especially those from the western countries, who found the living conditions appalling.

Notwithstanding that, compared with the squatter huts which were homes to most people then, the resettlement buildings were superior. For those who struggled to survive in the dirt, disorder and constant danger of the squatter areas, these concrete and steel buildings were sufficient to make a stable home. The resettlement estates provided them with safer accommodation at a rent even lower than what they paid for the squatter huts.

 

(One of the many entrances to Block 8)

 

(A view from inside the estate)

 

In those days, people who could move into these estates considered themselves being in luck. This thought was so common that there was a graceful term for it, "Sheung Lou" (literally "ascend to a mansion"), meaning to move a rung up the ladder to a flat up in a resettlement building.

(A typical squatter area.  The mountain in the background is the Lion's Rock on which several fearless rock climbers fell from its deadly hanging rock near the top and died)

 

(The notorious big fire of the Shek Kip Mei [literally, Rock Gorge's End] squatter area on Christmas's Eve in 1952, making over 50 000 people homeless.  The fire gave birth to the resettlement estate in Hong Kong.  Later, lots of fire took place in the squatter areas of which many were actually arson by the dwellers in a bid to be rehoused in similar resettlement estates)

 

(A cottage area in Ngau Tau Kwok near LNII, circa 1977.  These cottages are the even more primitive, temporary housing for fire victims from the squatter areas)

 

Mark V Design

 

It was the late 1950s where tens of thousands of squatter residents began to say goodbye to the uninvited neighbours of rats and cockroaches and moved into resettlement estates. Gradually, the design of the resettlement estate evolved from the primitive Mark I, which provided Roman-style sanitary facilities (i.e. public toilets and bathrooms) to finally Mark VI in the 1970s. LNII, the first estate to adopt the Mark V design, was built in mid-1967.

(Layout plan of the Mark II and Mark V blocks.  LNII's are Mark Vs)

 

(A view from East Kowloon around the time when LNII was built.  LNII is situated in East Kowloon.  The large number of blocks at the immediate left off the centre are the Mark IIs.  Those at the right off the centre are the Mark Vs)

While the Mark I and II blocks adopted a more open-air design, the  Mark III to VI blocks were rather enclosed in their designs with flats built on both sides of a central corridor, where access to the flats was given. Understandably, the central corridor is dark, long and suffocating.

(The narrow central corridor looks like a mile long)

(This special wall on the building is there for a reason.  It serves as a ventilation wall for the enclosed central corridors on each floor, bringing in some natural illumination as well.  Below is a view from the inside of the block)

The resettlement blocks were nicknamed  matchboxes for their rectangular shapes from the outside There are 5 412 residential units in all the 7 blocks of LNII, of which the smallest ones are 8.15 square metres and the largest are 39.39 square metres, which is not large at all. In the next post, we will take a peek into the daily life in these matchboxes.

 

(An aerial view of the matchboxes.  The H-shape ones at the centre are the Mark Is.  The three joint blocks near the bottom are the variant Mark Vs.  The old Kai Tak International Airport can be seen in the background where the airstrip is)

 

 

The following are some shots in the estate neighbourhood.

(A Chinese herbal medicine pharmacy, with cooking utensils occupying the shop front area)

(The environmental hygiene standards have left much to be desired even today)

(A giant wok for the eatery.  Similarly, the cooking utensils are casually placed in public area.  Some cooking are seen being done on this public passageway)

(This is not an back alley but one of the main public passageway which is occupied by the eateries and shops situated on the ground floor of the residential block)

(Block 10 and the newer private residential buildings overlooking it)

- continue here -

(The old photos without copyright notes are reproduced from various printed materials)