I don’t care too much about the Queen’s Pier. I have used it a few times to broad cruise boats, and that is all the links or memory (however vague) I have with the place.
My heart is however with those folks fighting for its preservation. These folks aren’t doing it for their own monetary interest. They are doing it for public interest. For this they deserve our greatest respect.
They are not only fighting for the preservation of a building. They are fighting against a government with a corrupted agenda swaying towards big real estate developers that it would total ignore public and professional opinion and override the consultation. The issue is not, as the government claimed, about preservation against development. The issue is about fairness, justice, intellectualism, respect of history and the government’s totally lack of these important elements.
Only beautiful buildings and things are worth preserving is a whole load of crap, because:-
- Who is qualified to draw the line and decide what is and what is not beautiful?
- People’s view of what is beautiful changes over time.
- Is preservation about presenting a grand view of the history and the past, or is it about preserving a faithful snapshot of the past?
The Queen’s Pier, like the City Hall, are typical utilitarian 1950s and 1960s British architecture. The post-war period is a very important part of the Hong Kong history, unless one thinks the Hong Kong history starts from 1997.
Whether the Queen’s Pier will be preserved or not will, in the big picture, be irrelevant eventually. There will however always be another battle, and let’s say, the odds are against the HKSAR Govt.