Vignettes of the World
The trail of the day is a 5km walk on the Smugglers’ Ridge. I decided to head from the Kam Shan Country Park (also known as Golden Hill Country Park), then to Smugglers’ Ridge via the Smugglers’ Pass. I exited through the Shing Mun Reservoir. …
A busy schedule has prevented me from regular hiking during the first two months of 2022. I took some time from the busy schedule to walk the Pik Shan Path with a friend for a quick and easy stroll in Hong Kong Island. The plan …
A review of the stage performance 100% Hong Kong is long overdue.
We booked the tickets to the 100% Hong Kong show back in June for a showtime in late October. And it was worth the long wait.
100% Hong Kong was going to make its debut in 2019. Both production and performance ceased because of the social events that year. Due to its somewhat political nature, it did not rehearse again until the political climate in Hong Kong has become more settled, albeit a lot more draconian, two years later in 2021. I really commend the producer and performers for putting together this show.
The idea of the 100% show originated from Rimini Protokoll, a theatre production group in Germany. The 100% Hong Kong show is a collaboration with the local theatre production group On & On Theatre Workshop.
100% Hong Kong gathers 100 non-professional actors for a series of question-and-answer sessions, in which they all express their preferences by “voting,” or “polling” in different manners.
These 100 performers possess characteristics that are 100% representative of Hong Kong’s demographics. This suggests that the collective preferences expressed on the show on various (and sometimes sensitive) questions are representative of Hong Kong people’s preferences and experiences.
The original show was scheduled for 2019. The events of 2019 called for a stop of this show. Thereafter, 50 out of the original 100 actors dropped out. The producers had to redo the whole recruitment again. Even before 2019, it was going to be very difficult to get 100 Hong Kongers to invest time in rehearsing for a somewhat impromptu show. Due to the political climate in Hong Kong, the expression of ideas, namely the asking of questions, had to be predetermined and well-rehearsed beforehand as well.
The casting proceeds by recruiting the first member on the show, and I do assume that it is Robert Chung (see below). Then that person has to recruit another one, with some certain characteristics that meet a stated profile. This next person then recruits another one, and so on, until 100 actors agree to perform. According to the programme, this process is “an artistic work in and of itself.”
The original 100% show debuted in Berlin, named 100% City. It staged with 100 Berliners between the ages of 6 months and 90 years. The cast performed in five cities, and not one question asked was repeated in all five cities.
Art is a creative expression of ideas. Although art often serves as the proper channel for politics, a stage performance that features the opinion poll as the art form itself is unusual. What gives form to the expression of ideas is a series of voting exercise.
Perhaps some details will illustrate it better. Someone in the group of 100 performers ask a question. Then every performer will express his or her preference by voting. They can “vote with their feet” (literally) by walking to the “yes” or “no” group. In another session, they can raise color cards to express their choice, and the audience can judge the popularity of a certain choice by seeing the color distribution on stage. In still another session they do “anonymous voting,” whereby they simply light up their phones to their preferred choice in a dimmed stage. The questions asked in this session were, properly considered, “more private matters.”
So this is about a fusion of politics and art, and it sounds mighty serious. When the show begins, I did think it would get heavy and perhaps even a little tedious. But this is truly an exceptional group of lay performers.
First of all, the key performer, the first person that does the opening, is the well-known statistician Robert Ting Yiu Chung. He heads the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute. He does the longest self-introduction of the group, and his status as the head of Hong Kong’s most notable polling agency is very apt for this type of creative venture. It is heartwarming to see him on stage, especially after the events of 2019.
What follows then are 99 people, all non-professional actors, who were recruited to the show one by one through referral. Each comes on stage to do a self-introduction. Quite a number of them bring a token of identification. Some bring a toy, some dress up. For example, the newspaper delivery man brings a newspaper with him on stage, so that the audience can identify him among the group.
And the ways with which they introduce themselves are very humorous. The self-introduction session strikes immediate rapport with the audience. As we learn about the actors one by one, we could see that like them, we are the ordinary Hong Kong, and 100% so. It also surprises me how much I remember these individuals during the show when they vote or when they ask questions.
After the introduction, the show proceeds to some basic demographics of the group to establish the fact that these one hundred people possess the characteristics that represent 100% of Hong Kong’s demographics. They present questions such as the region where you live, your age and others on the basic characteristics of the group.
There are humour points throughout the show. For example, someone asks the question of whether you have a crush on someone in the group during this whole time of rehearsal together. Then someone asks if you absolutely detest someone in the group. We can gather the uneasy sense that there is a clear split of opinions in terms of the actors’ support or opposition to the social events of 2019.
At some point, the audience is engaged in the show. The audience is asked whether there is any question that you must not ask in this creative venture. Some actually say yes to that.
Then comes some more sensitive questions. Have you previously participated in the protests of 2019? Should Hong Kong allow more immigrants from China? Have you served a sentence in jail before? Have you had unconsented sex?
I think this show is a great success, especially at this difficult time for Hong Kong. The air of free expression is felt throughout the show. My mind can breathe as I watched. According to the programme, “100% Hong Kong is a gathering that is a city, a group beginning to experience itself, one body with 100 minds, assembled into ever-changing new group pictures –fleeting portraits of belonging and separation, an assembly that celebrates diversity and life.” I do think the group has shown this aspect amply throughout the show.
Perhaps a point of lesser importance is the venue. It is my first time visiting the Xiqu Center, and surely it is grand and beautiful. This type of show was probably more fitting in the Freespace. Indeed, it was the intended venue for the show originally. But the Xiqu Center is just as good.
The 100% Hong Kong Programme, published by the organizers of the performance.
It was due to the Covid-19 pandemic that Chestnut Writers had to take on a new direction for Chestnut Journal. When Chestnut Journal began its first chapter, we have meant this blog to be mostly about international travels. Although we did intend to write about …
The plan of the day was first a walk in Shek O’s Tai Tau Chau (also known as Urn Island), then head over to Big Wave Bay and ascend the Pottinger Peak via the Pottinger Peak Country Trail. The walk ended in Chai Wan, when …
The plan of the day was first a walk in Shek O’s Tai Tau Chau (Urn Island), then head over to Big Wave Bay and ascend the Pottinger Peak via the Pottinger Peak Country Trail. The walk ended in Chai Wan, when I found my way (a long way) to the Chai Wan MTR station to go home. Because there are two distinct parts in this walk, I will discuss the Shek O part and the Big Wave Bay part separately.
The whole journey between Shek O and the northern entrance of Pottinger Peak Country Trail took me four and a half hours, excluding a half hour when I ate a snack at Ho Lok Store in Big Wave Bay.
From the Big Wave Bay Road parking lot, head over to Big Wave Bay. As its name suggests, big waves wash up this beach. There were many surfers on the this cold winter day that I visited.
Pass through the beach. You will then see a barbeque area. Go pass it and there is a crossroads. The Big Wave Bay Rock Carving lies on the path on the right.
Photo: At this crossroads, the path on the right leads you to the Rock Carving of Big Wave Bay. The stairs on the left will lead you to the Pottinger Peak Country Trail.
The Rock Carving of Big Wave Bay is one of the nine prehistoric rock carvings discovered in Hong Kong. In previous occasions, I have visited the Rock Carvings of Lung Ha Wan, Cheung Chau and Po Toi Island.
A police officer discovered the Rock Carving of Big Wave Bay in 1970. According to the descriptions on site, these are “geometric and animal patterns” but I certainly do not have the training to tell, especially with animal patterns. These patterns “symbolize the cloud thunder or other forms of nature” with “hints of human or animal images.”
Because these patterns resemble the geometric patterns on the pottery and bronze vessels of the Bronze Age, it is generally understood that they are dated to the same. That is about 3,000 years ago.
I have reported ony my previous sightings of the Rock Carvings in other locations, that these carvings are all in the coastal areas of Hong Kong. This suggests that those very early inhabitants of Hong Kong led sea-faring lives. The descriptions on-site says that they “may have been intended to propitiate the power of the sea.” That is surely a very convincing story for the Rock Carvings.
Like all eight other rock carvings in Hong Kong, the Rock Carving of Big Wave Bay is a declared monument.
Worthy of mention here is the Rock Carving of Cape Collison, which is quite close to the northern entrance of the Pottinger Country Trail. Many hikers visit that site and the Pottinger Peak in one go. However, the Rock Carving of Cape Collison, which was discovered relatively recently in 2018 and became a declared monument in 2019, requires some unaided trekking on the rock outcrops on Cape Collinson Path. Therefore it is best to plan a group outing to see it.
Heading back from the Rock Carving, you will come back to the crossroad. Make a sharp right to head up the Pottinger Peak on the stiars. On this part of the trail, you will be walking up a continuous 1000+ steps on a well-paved, well-kept trail. As you walk, you will have Big Wave Bay behind your back. Do take some time to turn around to savor the views.
This trail has three signposts that mark the progress, each with a rest pavilion. I took my breaks at each of these pavilions. Because the path is well-paved throughout, the hike up was smooth and it did not require extra attention. The hike became very easy after passing the second pavilion.
There are some seaward views at the third pavilion, but it was hazy that day and this was the best I could do.
Photos: Views at the third pavilion of the Pottinger Peak Country Trail
It was around 4pm or so when I made it to the third pavilion. Since it was more than an hour before sunset, I decided to take a quick further hike up the Pottinger Peak.
Photo: Clear signs on the way on Pottinger Peak Country Trail
Unlike the previous section of the walk, which is a standard trail as the Pottinger Peak Country Trail, the path up the Pottinger Peak is an unpaved mountainous path.
Photo: at this intersection, the right path leads you to the third pavilion on the standard trail. The left part is a 15-minute hike up the Pottinger Peak. The trail ahead leads you back to the trail’s northern entrance at Cape Collinson Road.
I therefore paid much attention throughout this part of the hike due to my frequent injuries. It was a gentle incline throughout, and I reached the signpost at the Pottinger Peak in fifteen minutes. Besides the signpost, there is just a transmission tower of some sort at the peak. Otherwise there is no big view to speak of there.
I was delighted to see what seems to be a former war site on the way. I believe this is a pillbox.
Bloggers have noticed some other war relics in the area, but I was probably too keen on finishing the hike to notice. It was becoming dark and I hiked alone that day.
Photo: View on the way up the Pottinger Peak
Once back at the crossroads, turn left to walk on for another seven minutes or so to exit at Cape Collinson Road. On the map, the closest civilization should be Siu Sai Wan, but I needed to get on the MTR and so I walked a longer way to the Chai Wan MTR station via Cape Collinson Road. There will be no public transport available on this section of the walk. It goes downward on city roads so it did not strain the knees.
At the Shau Kei Wan minibus station, (across from the Shau Kei Wan Bus Terminus) take red top minibus Shau Shek Route and get off at the Big Wave Bay Road parking lot. Then follow the Hong Kong Trail direction to reach Big Wave Bay.
I passed by the Ho Lok Store and had a small meal there before heading up the trail. That turned out to be a good decision because the hike was slightly more demanding than I had expected. I highly recommend the Ho Lok Store because its food really is very good, especially the Thai fried rice selection.
Historic descriptions on-site.
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Ki Lun Shan is quite a popular trail in my neighborhood. I have lived here for ten years and I finally mustered up enough courage to go. As it turned out, it did take some courage to take down this trail, which is along the northwestern face of Ki Lun Shan.
In fact, my advice for fellow hikers is not to hike this trail on the north-western face of Ki Lun Shan as I did. I will explain below.
I missed one critical piece of information on my way to Ki Lun Shan. The bloggers said get off of green top Minibus 605 at the final stop. If I were to do that, I would have hiked up Ki Lun Shan via Ki Lun Shan Au on its southeastern face. This way would take a bit longer but certainly much less dangerous.
I got off the minibus quite a bit earlier than the final stop. I thought, I was already within the vicinity of Ki Lun Shan, and the TrailWatch app shows a path up to eventually end at the Kwu Tung Reservoir. So let’s just take that path. I did not do more research on this path on northwestern Ki Lun Shan.
The difficulty with this path is, first it was very, very difficult to locate as there was no clear indication of an entry. I got off at the Ki Lun Shan Public Toilets, walked backward toward the Route 9 direction and spent at least half hour finding the entrance to an upward path.
These photos show how I found the entrance. I do not have the words to describe where exactly it is. Suffice to say, that this area is full of village graveyards and that is an indication. The entry to Ki Lun Shan Au lies between two sets of stairs up village graveyards (photos below). I tried going up on these two sets of stairs and both pathways ended with no way up the hill.
Photos above: these are the two sets of stairs that lead to village graveyards, and they are both wrong ways.
Look for a big patch of vegetation with this graveyard (this is somewhat halfway between the two staircases above). This is the obscure entry to Ki Lun Shan.
Once you are here, you will have to pass a few graveyards before finding the proper hike up the hill. The photographs below is the sequence of views that I saw after I passed through the green patch above. Please look out for the hiking ribbons (they are also on my photographs) and follow them.
When I saw hiking ribbons, I realized that this most obscure way is the way to Ki Lun Shan.
The path was clear at some sections but obscure at others. My only advice is to watch out for the ribbons. It was really quite amazing because every time I looked ahead with no clue where the path actually was, I saw a ribbon not far ahead guiding me. These ribbons really were my guiding light.
This photo shows the views as I hiked up. Since the trail is on the northwestern face of Ki Lun Shan, the views were that of Shenzhen afar and the fish ponds of Ma Tso Lung within the Hong Kong border.
There were sections that required both hands and legs. In other words, it was literally a climb up.
I regretted every step that I took on this path. It was truly dangerous, and I was hiking alone. Certainly, one should not do this trail alone. Furthermore, I soon realized that there was actually no exit point. I could not have gone down the same way because the descent would have been too dangerous. I could only grind on, and I did not know if I would actually find the way to the peak.
You will have reached a milestone when you see the large electricity transmission tower.
I took quite a number of breaks on this climb up. It was demanding both physically and mentally. With each unknown step up I could have injured myself. There was no going back as well. What if I reached a dead end? I did not know if Trailwatch was right in showing the way, because the path was very obscure on the ground.
Another reason why I was so scared (I was actually fearing for my life all along this climb) was that a female hiker died hiking Ki Lun Shan last year. She was found at Ki Lun Shan Au. I really wanted to silence my fear, so I paid extra, extra, extra attention on every step that I took.
After the transmission tower, I came upon a significant outcrop of rocks. That is inidcation that you are on the final stretch of the climb. About another fifteen minutes of climbing, I saw people at the signpost on the peak of Ki Lun Shan. Honestly, I have never, ever felt so relieved at the sight of human beings. I then started hearing lots of chit-chats, and that was when I knew for sure that I have made it on this trail.
Once at the peak of Ki Lun Shan, which is where you see this signpost below, you will enjoy exceptional, all-around panoramic views of New Territories north.
Photos: at the signpost of Ki Lun Shan, which is its peak.
Photos: Panorama at the peak of Ki Lun Shan, looking north into the extended skyline of Shenzhen.
I planned on exiting at Kwu Tung Reservoir. I followed the directions on TrailWatch app and reached Kwu Tung Reservoir. The descent was actually very tough as well, do take care. There were a few sections with crossroads, but TrailWatch will direct you correctly. Please use a proper hiking app for this trail.
Photos: panorama view looking northeastward on Ki Lun Shan’s peak.
Photo: Looking eastward at the peak of Ki Lun Shan
Worth mentioning here is that some hikers I met on the way asked about seeing the heart-shaped Kwu Tung Reservoir. As far as I could tell, the views of Kwu Tung Reservoir on any point of this trail does not show a clear heart shape. See my entry on Kwu Tung Reservoir if you want to take photographs with the heart shape.
When I was at this point looking at the dam of Kwu Tung Reservoir, I finally regained my calm. The trail was simply too exciting for me. This scene of serenity was probably the greatest highlight of this hike.
Due to the strenuousness of the climb up Ki Lun Shan, and the same rigor on descent to Kwu Tung Reservoir, I took three hours for a mere 3 kilometers on this hike. It was a true test of perseverence, to say the least.
I do think that doing a hike at Ki Lun Shan at any entrance point requires a few critical things. First, wear long pants. There are short shrubs all along the way and long pants will prevent scratches from thorny plants.
Secondly, and for the same reason as the long pants, gloves would be very useful on this hike. Sometimes you do have to find support with whatever branches you manage to grab on the sides of the path. Sometimes you must push away the shrubs that are overgrown onto the path too.
Hiking poles would provide support for the long descent down to Kwu Tung Reservoir. There was a section where I decided to slide down on my bum instead of properly walking down. Hiking poles would support the descent in a significant way.
Photos: on this descent, I slid down on a sitting posture. The photo on the right shows the way to Kwu Tung Reservoir.
I was able to begin and complete this hike only with the help of TrailWatch. Please do have a proper hiking app with you.
Finally, beware if you hike this trail in the summer and bring a lot of water with you. Most of the way before reaching Kwu Tung Reservoir are wide-open with little shades.
The public transport to Ki Lun Shan is green top Minibus Route 605. The stop is at the minibus stop next to the Sheung Shui MTR Station, close to the bus terminus. The southeastern path up to Ki Lun Shan is close to the final stop of Route 605.
