Heritage Tour

Today was dominated by a bus tour up to the New Territories to visit several places associated with the Chinese heritage of the region. Our tour guide, Richard Gee, pointed out that as a nation, China has the longest identity in the world, stretching back to the second century BC. While the political rule might have changed, the language and culture have been consistent for a couple millennia. That's almost 10 times as long as the US and twice as long as England, the oldest continually recognizable nation in Europe. With a perspective like that, the 100-150 years of British ownership of Hong Kong is a mere blip in time.

The New Territories came under British control in 1896, designed to be a buffer between Hong Kong/Kowloon and peasant uprisings that foreshadowed the end of the Qing Dynasty to the north. The magistrate's house, walled village, ancestral halls, and temples visited today all pre-dated the British era, and reflected older Chinese government, daily life, generational respect, and "practical prayer," respectively, all but the first of which carry on with a level of continuity today.