Lesson 3: Cultural Property- Not Cultural Heritage

8 lessons for Mrs Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor:
How to be a good Secretary for Development
Waiting for Secretary at Dinner, the 22nd day
Lesson 3: Cultural Property, not Cultural Heritage

[English version is still at draft stage on 29/6/08]

Note: According to the 2007-08 policy address, the Hong Kong Government aims to preserve and promote our intangible cultural heritage.

This worksheet distinguishes between living cultural property and 'preserved' cultural heritage: artifacts, monuments and antiquities.

The residents assert that there is a cultural heritage in Hong Kong which does not come under the definitions of the Antiquities and Monuments Office, in fact, although they live in buildings, they are not buildings at all. The Development Bureau has also launched its own Heritage Office and website. The Development Bureau still only refers to old buildings in it's initiatives in response to the policy address. As you can see in the Secretary's circular argument in Worksheet 8, the Bureau only assesses the cultural value of buildings which are listed (by the AMO) as having cultural value.

Even for those listed sites, the Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment criteria document states that:

Built heritage, sites and landscapes are to be in favour of preservation unless it can be shown that there is a need for a particular development which is of paramount importance and outweighs the significance of the heritage feature.

(3.1 Mitigation)