RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS
Antiquities Advisory Board and Antiquities and Monuments Office
The Antiquities Advisory Board has 17 appointed members. They include anthropologists, archaeologists, architects, curators, historians and planners. It advises the government on sites and structures which merit protection through declaration as monuments.
With the sponsorship of the Hong Kong Tourist Association, the AMO participated in the Hong Kong Exposition in Beijing, which was organised by the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China and the Xinhua News Agency Hong Kong Branch. A small display on the heritage conservation work in Hong Kong was staged. The exposition was held in March and attracted many visitors.
Two historical buildings, Lo Wai walled village and Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall in Fanling, were declared as monuments in 1997.
Lo Wai, built on a small hill and enclosed by brick walls on four sides, was the first walled village established by the Tang clan of Lung Yeuk Tau, Fanling. Ten other villages were subsequently established in the same area. Together, they are commonly known as Five Wais and Six Tsuens.
Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall is one of the largest ancestral halls in Hong Kong and has served its clansmen for about 470 years. It is a three-hall building with two spacious internal courtyards. The whole building is exquisitely decorated with fine wood carvings, polychrome plaster mouldings and murals of auspicious Chinese motifs.
Restorations and repairs were undertaken at various historical sites including Lo Wai, Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz, Tang Ching Lok Ancestral Hall and Tai Po Man Mo Temple.
The Antiquities Advisory Board also examined and graded pre-war Chinese temples and monasteries in Tuen Mun; the military structures on Stonecutters Island; the former Victoria Barracks; the former Whitfield Barracks and the MacIntosh Forts according to their historical significance and architectural merit.
An overseas consultant was commissioned in 1997 to inspect all the declared monuments and to draw up a schedule of maintenance for the buildings. The consultancy tendered useful advice and recommendations to the Antiquities Authority on the maintenance of monuments.
A historical buildings survey continued in 1997. So far, about one-third of Hong Kong has been surveyed with about 2 000 unrecorded items of historic interest identified. The survey is expected to be completed by late 1998. All the information and data collected will be computerised to facilitate future research.
It proved to be a very busy year for local archaeologists. With the assistance of contract archaeologists and enthusiastic volunteers, eight rescue excavations were conducted by the AMO. A large-scale rescue excavation was conducted from late March to mid-June at three small house sites at Lung Kwu Tan, Tuen Mun. A total area of 300 square metres was excavated and a late-Neolithic cultural layer of about 2000 BC was encountered one metre below ground surface. The most spectacular finding of this excavation was a series of 13 post-holes, suggesting that the local Neolithic folk lived in stilted houses along the coast.
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