According to Wu Hung, "ruins break the logic of historical continuity, as time simply vanishes in these black holes. The past of these sites has been dstroyed and no-one knows their future; they are simply identified as 'demolition sites'."
When I visited the Ma Wan Old Village, this was exactly what I felt. Most dwellings were deserted. Signs stating "Government Land" were posted outside some 3-storey shophouses which were still in good shape; other wooden lodges by the sea were simply left vacant, leaving only some accessories, such as rusty window frames and worn spirit tablets behind in their original places.
This was of course not a wartime ruin, but again I guess a sacrifice of modern estate development. The land was fully evicted by the government by 2005 for developing the Ma Wan Park Phase II along with Park Island by SHK Properties Ltd., but it is still left untouched for all these years. The place is now "belonging to everyone and to no-one". The public can still go there by new means of transport (ferry and bus instead of kaito in the past). Few local people still go back there daily for their dried seafood business, but the community has completely been torn apart. The ruins are not well preserved, some public areas, like the pagodas, are sealed off with wire gauze, some buildings are no longer recognisable. The ruin itself has its own value and beauty, it has some kind of magic that attracts people to walk in and explore its past, but we are now not welcome nor allowed to do so.
Rapid and unthoughtful city development is found throughout Asia, no wonder ruins and demolition are also major sources of contemporaneity.
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