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"I would like to do more for students...In our time at school, even in the university, no one really cared about Hong Kong history and at secondary school, we never had a chance to study Hong Kong history, so no one knew about what happened in Hong Kong."
Ko has also published a battlefield guide and a bilingual publication for the Country Parks Authority. His next book, a resource guide for teachers and students on Kowloon City, should be out in May. Ko has not published in the RAS Journal, and has no plans to.
“Not as many people are writing in Chinese,” said Ko. "There are a lot of many very good scholars writing very good things like Patrick Hase, James Hayes, but all these, they only write in English."
Ko is a fifth-generation Hong Konger. He is Hakka and his ancestors were stonecutters. He has traced his family back to the 1850's, before the British came. Ko studied Japanese at the Hong Kong Polytechnic and worked for the HKTA (Hong Kong Tourist Association, now the Tourism Board) for six years before quitting to do more of what he does today record Hong Kong history, including what life was like in the early resettlement blocks.
"It's quite unimaginable for young people now, the communal toilets, communal bathrooms, no tap water in a small flat," said Ko. "You remember I emphasised during the talk, 24 square feet for each adult, a 100-square foot room would take at least four adults or six, if there are children. You could imagine how the situation could be. All the male members would need to sleep in the public corridor.
"I always dream of, even till now, I dream of life in the housing blocks. I don't know why, many times a year, even till now, because actually I spent 22 years there...[They] could not be regarded as fond memories because we lived on the top floor and there were a lot of problems then with the ceiling leaking.”
The 37-year-old has supported himself for the last 10 years through freelance jobs -- acting as co-ordinator and translator for the visiting Japanese media book royalties, and other odd projects.
Ko has been a member of the RAS since 1990 and on the Council