A few days after hearing of the closure of another of Hong Kong’s remaining pro-democracy news outlets, Stand News, and its web archive, I decided I needed a good walk to shake off the gloom. Before meeting Michele Chu, an artist friend exhibiting at 1a space in Tai Kok Tsui, I wandered around nearby Ma Tau Wai. I entered the beautiful 1950s modernist campus of Tang King Po School, which has an open chapel for worshippers. I admired the inner cloistered courtyards, visited the chapel and chatted to the friendly caretaker. The ambience was utterly solid, stable – otherworldly, almost. It was a perfect retreat for an hour – and a reminder to just get on with it.
Later, I mentioned to Michele that I had visited the school and she recalled that when she learnt to drive a car, the instructor told her to remember “Tang King Po” School as she was preparing to drive, a homonym in Cantonese for “seat, mirrors, gears” – a simple reminder to adjust all three before driving.
A moral there: this reminder is known by past learners and will be passed to generations of future learner drivers. You can’t entirely destroy history.
香港民主派的新聞媒體所剩無幾，《立場新聞》和網站最近也關閉了，聽到這個消息後的幾天，我決定我需要出去逛一逛才能擺脫陰霾。我的朋友朱凱婷是藝術家，她在大角咀1a空間舉辦展覽，和她見面前，我在附近的馬頭圍閒逛。我走進鄧鏡波學校，是美麗的50年代現代主義建築，那裡有一個開放的小教堂供信徒使用。我觀賞內部隱蔽的庭院，參觀了教堂，並與友善的管理員聊天。氣氛非常平穩固定，幾乎超凡脫俗。這樣放鬆一個小時非常寫意，提醒我們要繼續前進。
後來，我向朱凱婷提到我去過這所學校，她回憶說，當她學會開車時，教練在她正要開車時告訴她要記住「鄧鏡波」學校，因為這是粵語「凳、鏡、波」的諧音，簡單的提醒開車前需要的調整。
我學到，過去學車的人都知道這個提醒，未來的學車的人亦會學到。你不能完全摧毀歷史。
Photo: John Batten