talk #361

Our fellow Lighter Tse Shun-Kai has designed seven Chinese gardens in Hong Kong since 1995. I have toured two of them. The first one was the "Kowloon City Wall" garden back in 95 before the retreat of the British. HK lighters were invited by the chief architect, Ah Kai, for a private Preview of the garden before the opening ceremony. Ah kai ,our private tour guide, explained to us the various Chinese garden styles and many other related matters such as type of rocks, trees and the meaning of the placement of certain objects .

We were immensely impressed by the research performed before a Chinese garden could be built. We were very impressed by the elegance of the " Kowloon City Wall" garden.

You may ask " where is the Kowloon city wall ? ".When we were at PC, it was commonly known as the " kowloon city fortress", located north of " kowloon city", a region of somewhat dubious reputation. You see, it was still Chinese territory inside the fortress. The Hong Kong police usually would not venture into the fortress. It was a region of " sime but kun", or an autonomous region, a region where the British wanted the Chinese to set up a quasi-government to look after Chinese matters some 150 years ago. As kids, we usually got scared and excited when entering the bordering area, for fear of what may happen to us.

As 1997 neared, the HK government decided to dismantle the fortress and build a garden. At the time it was taken down, there were still several hundred people living inside the fortress.

Inside the garden, Ah Kai left a few of the relics of the old Chinese quasi-government office building, including the wooden front doors . We had a glimpse of the old " Bureau of Chinese affairs".

It is a very nice garden indeed, but not too easy to get to.There
are no subway stations nearby. One can get there by "sil bar---shuttle bus", by taxi or on foot.

The second garden I toured was in December of 2000, the Meefoo garden---a garden of Lin Nam style. I was not in HK when the Lighters had a private preview.

At the garden entrance, there is a concise but clear explanation of the Lin Nam style. Ah Kai named his garden " Lin Nam chi fung---the wind of Lin Nam" with 10 scenes cited inside the garden, and a very interesting stone walk. If you are in good health, you can walk on the small stones, fixed on the path, easily and without pain on your feet. If you are not, well, good luck.

I could only walk half way and struggled to walk back, kind of painful on the feet. It seems one needs to have " hing kun---lightskill ( no pun intended) " to walk over it. I saw a bunch of kids run on it, wow, they either had hind kun or in perfect health. However, one can improve one's health by walking on it often, so I was led to believe. It may be the " yue ---corona points" under the feet being pressed to improve circulation in the body, hence the benefits.

Meefoo is easy to get to. Just take the subway and get off at Meefoo, and you are there.

Ah Kai has plans to retire, but before he does, he is to design another garden near the City University ( in the area of Yau yet tsuen) .

Next time you are in HK , be sure to visit the Meefoo garden---a
garden of grace and peacefulness, and designed by a lighter.