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Hong Kong culture
OpinionLetters

Letters | Hong Kong must save its sailing icon, the Star Ferry

  • Readers share views on what makes the Star Ferry irreplaceable, why the UK should reflect on ‘its own version’ of Tiananmen, and question the continuing mask mandate for runners

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Hong Kong’s beloved Star Ferry (left) crosses Victoria Harbour on March 25. Photo: AFP
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It was with great disbelief that I learned from a foreign paper that the Star Ferry might be sailing into history.

The idea that the Star Ferry could disappear is unthinkable to Hong Kong. I refer to Hong Kong here as both the spirit and the people of the city. The Star Ferry is more than a form of transport. The ferries make up Hong Kong’s iconic skyline – they are present in all photos that tourists take of the Victoria Harbour.
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It is the means of transport Hongkongers take to remind themselves of why they love and live in this city. The 142-year-old infrastructure is a silent, yet significant constituent of Hong Kong’s international image, collective memory and history. In an ever-changing city, it is one of the few remaining existential markers that ground Hong Kong’s delicate wisp of an identity.

A journey on the Star Ferry is listed as a “must do” for foreign visitors on the Hong Kong Tourism Board website, which also dubs the ferry the “sailing icon”. The Star Ferry is to Hong Kong what the Great Wall in Beijing is to China, the Eiffel Tower in Paris is to France, and the Pyramids of Giza are to Egypt. Not only do they hold great cultural and historical significance to their cities and nations, these landmarks also bear a significance to the larger world that transcends the capital value of their material parts. The disappearance of the Star Ferry from Hong Kong, as the company faces mounting financial difficulties, would simply be sacrilegious.

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Considering China’s hopes for Hong Kong to become a cultural hub as part of its 14th five-year plan, the loss of the Star Ferry would be a reflection of the city’s lack of cultural awareness and competence. Furthermore, as the Hong Kong Tourism Board has affirmed, the ferries are “a source of inspiration for the city’s creatives”. If Hong Kong is to become an artistic hub of China, it should very well start by nurturing and preserving its cultural and artistic identity, and the very infrastructure that embodies this.

Joanne Tsang, Tung Chung

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