CUHK students have been working with the Caritas Pokfulam Community Development Project in order to promote Pok Fu Lam Village and to preserve its history and culture. Below is a piece written by one of the students, Sidera Tahir, about the village’s annual Turnip Harvesting Festival.
Listed by the World Monuments Fund as one of 67 global cultural heritage sites that need to be preserved in 2014, Pok Fu Lam Village’s future may be in question, but nothing deters the villagers from continuing their rich history.
For the second year now, the villagers started their Lunar New Year celebrations well in advance with the Turnip Harvesting Festival in early February. The event sees young and old gather in a little green field at 9am to pluck turnips out of the soil to be weighed.
The plot of land was developed in collaboration with HKU students in order to provide a common gathering area for the villagers.
With K-pop, Chinese and Western music blaring from the speakers, the villagers assume their roles in chopping the 42 kilograms of harvested vegetables to make turnip cake, some of which was distributed among the villagers.
The heaviest turnip recorded this year weighed 1.2 kilograms.
“Such celebratory activities bring the villagers closer together as well as let the citizens of Hong Kong know more about the values and traditions of the village,” said Aaron Wong, a third-generation Pok Fu Lam Village resident.
The village, appearing modest to outsiders, in reality has a history stretching back 200 years.
With its charming, twisting alleys and traditional one-storey buildings, it continues to preserve its most important traditions like the annual Fire Dragon Dance, which takes place during Mid-Autumn Festival.
However, the pressure from urban development projects in the recent years raises a question – where will our children find amidst all the concrete their links to the past, our lives and culture?
Read more by purchasing the Chinese-language book “Pokfulam Village: A Historical Settlement below Victoria Peak”. The English translation is currently in progress by the CUHK students.
Words/Photos: Sidera Tahir
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