The Murals of Sorrow in Ping Yeung

I have previously visited the Murals of Love in Kam Tin.  There is another mural village in Hong Kong.  The Ping Yeung New Village in Ping Che, Fanling is another mural village.  Yet the reasons for these murals were markedly different from the ones in Kam Tin.  For the murals were part of the villagers’ struggle to keep their homes in face of the Northeast New Territories Development Plan (NENT NDA).

The Northeast New Territories Plan (NENT Plan)

I have briefly written about the New Development Area of Kwu Tung under the Northeast New Territories Development Plan.  The Ping Yeung New Village belongs to the Ping Che / Ta Kwu Ling New Development Area, which was originally part of the NENT Plan.  The government had envisioned the development of a mixed zone, consisting of low-density residential, special industrial and government use in Ping Che.

The NENT Plan originated from the Planning and Development Study of Northeast New Territories of 1998.  The Ping Che / Ta Kwu Ling area was part of the plan even then.  The government shelved this plan in 2003 because population growth slowed.  However, in the Policy Address of Donald Tsang in 2007, the then-Chief Executive revived the study and included that into part of the Hong Kong 2030 vision.

Unlike the other two NDAs (Kwu Tung North and Fanling North) in the original NENT Plan, there was no plan to link the Ping Che / Ta Kwu Ling NDA with railway facilities.  Alternatively, this NDA was to become part of the highway system that links up the various border checkpoints.

In 2013, the Hong Kong Government scrapped the plan to develop the Ping Che / Ta Kwu Ling area due to the lack of roadways and other transportation facilities.  According to the Government, this area should be developed along with the plans for New Territories North.  In the 2021 Policy Address of October 2021, there has been no mention of development in this area.

When Ping Che / Ta Kwu Ling was removed from the NENT Plan, there were fears that the government might develop this area into a special border zone, where the residents of China could stay for a week at a time without Hong Kong residency.  It was then envisioned that border control would be established as well, linking it to the other border areas of Hong Kong.  As of now, there does not seem to be any plan in doing so.

Therefore, for now, the Ping Yeung New Village will be untouched.  I am sure, however, that the Hong Kong Government has not left it out of its radar.

The Ping Yeung New Village

I have visited both the old and the new Ping Yeung Villages.  The Ping Yeung New Village has many squatter homes, as the residents are mostly non-indigenous.  They moved to the village during the wave of immigration from China during the 1950s.

The Ping Yeung Old Village, on the other hand, consists of indigenous residents who have statutory rights to their land.  Visitors cannot miss the apparent disparities between the two villages.  The homes in the Ping Yeung Old Village are remarkable.  They are proper modern village homes.  The difference between the Ping Yeung Villages made me wonder if the Hong Kong Government had an unstated policy of preserving the indigenous inhabitants’ rights to land.

Murals as an Expression of Resistance

In 2014, the villagers of Ping Yeung New Village worked with the international volunteer organization of Voltra.  They invited volunteers from other countries to come for art work camps.  As a result of this initiative, the murals of Ping Yeung sprung up on the walls and footpaths of the village.

There were also some really cute installations as well.

A tour will begin on Ping Yuen Road.  You will begin seeing paintings on the walls of the warehouses.  Do note the wooden plaque of the Ta Kwu Ling / Ping Che Homeland Defense Alliance.  It’s a nice sweet note to begin the journey.

From that point, walk on for a few minutes to reach the entrance to the village.  You will see the Cheuk Wing Kee Store with an artsy decoration at its front porch.

Photos above: The Cheuk Wing Kee Store is the entrance to the Ping Yeung Murals.

At this point, turn around and you will notice a chair that was carved out from a tree trunk.  It is very cute.

Note this Fridge of Love, where people leave their heart-felt messages to the village in support of their efforts to preserve their homes.

Having toured both the Kam Tin and Ping Yeung Murals, I can see that art is healing, and art is hope.  It is also empowerment.  When the murals were newly-installed, the word went around and the village did attract many supportive and curious visitors.  The minibus driver told me that he took many visitors to the village then.  However, interests have waned by now.

It is quite sad for me to see that some of the murals have fallen into disrepair in Ping Yeung.  When I visited the village in April 2021, I still saw the art installations.  But even then, there were graffiti destroying some of the artwork.  I re-visited the village again in October this year, and the art installations were no longer there.  There is a sense that the spirit of struggle and hope has slowly, gradually dissipated with time.  I thus call this the Murals of Sorrow.

The Abandoned Ping Yeung Public School and Ping Yeung Old Village

As I headed out from the mural village, I passed by the Ping Yeung Public School before entering the Ping Yeung Old Village.

The Ping Yeung Public School was founded during the 1950s.  The campus spanned an area of 20,000 square metres.  When it was built, the school mobilized the villagers of Ping Che.  Together with the teachers and students, the villagers laid the groundwork for the school, one brick at a time.

At its heyday, the school enrolled some 400 students.  Pursuant to the public education policy of the 2000s, however, the Ping Yeung Public School had to close its doors in 2007 due to insufficient enrollment.  The site remains in ruins since.

I debated whether to enter the school grounds and I did.  But within ten minutes, I ran out because I saw stray dogs inside.  I only managed to take a few pictures.  Therefore beware if you want to enter the school grounds yourself.

Finally, the Ping Yeung Old Village is also worthy of a walk.  The Chan Ancestral Hall is beautiful.  My understanding is that only the Ping Yeung New Village will be demolished to make way for the NDA, if it does go forward.

Ping Yeung Village is the largest village in Ta Kwu Ling.  The Chan’s founded the Ping Yeung Village.  They were originally the people of Fujian.  During the Ming Dynasty, they moved to Hong Kong and eventually settled down in Ping Yeung during the mid-Qing Dynasty.  The Chan’s Ancestral Hall shown here is not an antique monument because it was newly built.  Other sources have reported the existence of two more ancestral halls, which are historic buildings.  I did not find them on my second visit to the village.

How to Get There

As compared with the Murals of Love in Kam Tin, the scale of the artwork in Ping Yeung is notably smaller and much more concentrated.  I think it will take 30-45 minutes to walk through and appreciate all of them.

As I live in Sheung Shui, I took the red top minibus from Fu Hing Street (wait at the basketball court).  Its final stop is at Ping Yeung Old Village and it runs every half hour.  This line will drop you off right at the Cheuk Wing Kee Store.  And this is the entrance into the Ping Yeung New Village.

For others going from other areas, take the green top minibus 52K or bus 79K at the Fanling Station, and get off at the Kau Kee Store stop.  Then walk along Ping Yuen Road to first reach the wooden plaque of Ta Kwu Ling / Ping Che Homeland Defense Alliance.  Keep on walking for five minutes and you will come across the Cheuk Wing Kee Store, which is the entrance to the mural village.

Sources

Master-Insights.com, Ping Yeung Village – Defending Homes in Northeast New Territories.

120 Billion For the Development of the Northeast, New Towns Give Home to 170,000 (Chin), July 5, 2013, Ta Kung Pao.

The Wikipedia on Ping Che/ Ta Kwu Ling New Development Area (Chin).

The Facebook Page of Pingchehomeland (the Ta Kwu Ling / Ping Che Homeland Defense Alliance).

Town Planning Board, TPB Paper No. 9128, North East New Territories New Development Areas Planning and Engineering Study (Stage Three Public Engagement).

Mingpao Weekly, A Thirty-Year Countdown to 2047—2030+ Development Will Level the Northeast New Territories (Chin).

Civil Engineering and Development Department, the Planning Department, Northeast New Territories New Development Areas, Planning and Engineering Study, A Summary of Public Participation (Chin), November 2009.

Ping Yeung Public School (Chin), wikimapia.org.

The Model of Ping Che: They Did Art In Face of the Bulldozer (Chin), February 23, 2016, StandNews.

It’s Known: Views of Ping Yeung In and Out of the Mural Village (Chin), Ming Pao, January 5, 2020.