Tireless champion of Tai O exudes passion for unique community

Wong Wai-king’s face lights up; she leans back in her chair and looks into the distance. She’s talking about her childhood in Tai O in the 1960s.

“I love nature, because I grew up living in a place of natural beauty”, she says. She loved swimming in the bay. When the tide went out, she and her five brothers would scoop up bucketfuls of stranded prawns, crabs and fish. “They were so easy to catch,” she laughs, “and delicious!”.

Every day she walked 10 minutes to fetch water. Carrying heavy pails was difficult, but never a chore. The path to the well wove past a luscious pond, flush with lotus flowers, and Wong relished the site, and smell, every time.

At that time, Tai O was a prosperous village. Some 10,000 people were sustained by a mixture of fishing, agriculture, light manufacturing and a fruitful salt marsh. No one was rich, but life in Tai O was cheap, and the close-knit community took care of each other. “We had very strong bonds,” says Wong.

Wong exudes passion for the community. She’s dedicated her life to preserving Tai O and has played an important role in protecting the village from Hong Kong’s encroaching urbanisation.

“Tai O is a part of Hong Kong’s diverse cultural landscape,” says Wong. Protecting Tai O from Hong Kong’s ever expanding property development is not just about conserving the buildings, says Wong. The culture, the lifestyle and the customs of interpersonal relationships are unique and in danger of being lost.