Lump of concrete facade all that remains of Eastern Cotton Mills
A facade is all that remains of Eastern Cotton Mills, a symbol of post-war economic success
A lump of concrete standing in the middle of a construction site on Mok Cheong Street in Kowloon is all that is left of the Eastern Cotton Mills, one of the largest spinning factories set up in post-war Hong Kong.
"I was looking for the mill along a heritage trail, but all I could see was a pitiful part behind a hoarding," said Conservancy Association campaign manager Peter Li Siu-man.
"I thought, 'Am I in the right place?"
Li recently inspected heritage spots in Kowloon City, where district councillors and locals planned a trail to link sites of historical interest as part of a larger scheme to revamp the old district.
He wrote to the Antiquities and Monuments Office, only to find that the concrete lump was the "parts of the facade" of a grade-three historic building that the owner was willing to preserve amid redevelopment of the site.
"We feel that the present development-cum-conservation option fits in the definition of grade three," the office said in its reply. A grade-three block is considered as "of some merit" and preservation in some form would be desirable.
"This is ridiculous," Li said. "The portion they chose to preserve is a sorry state of affairs. I don't know how it can be representative of the mill at all."
