A study of boat people changing communities with the application of Lefebvre’s theory
Foreword
The case study analysis emphasizes the correlations of modernization and boat people communities in Hong Kong. Boat people societies have been experiencing a downturn during the past few decades with the presence of modern society. It is expected that exclusive features and culture can be revealed before it fully diminishes. This sector has witnessed the evolution of Hong Kong and acted as a major industry before.
1. Introduction
Playing a significant role in terms of Hong Kong’s history and culture, boat people communities have created multiple traces along with the evolution of fisheries. Hong Kong first started as a fishing village, then has undergone three economic transformations that have led to the modern society it belongs to today. The term, modernization, carries multidimensional implications and creates influences on the spatial practice of boat people communities. Spatial practice is explained as follows: Human behavior gives meaning to the space while human activities strengthen the value of spaces, and therefore form a special spatial appearance (Lefebvre, 1991). This project investigates the interrelation of modernization force and boat people communities, particularly how the process of Hong Kong being a modern society impacted the development of fisheries.
2. Theoretical framework
The idea of a conceptual triad from Lefebvre will be used to analyze the interaction between residential space and the traditional culture of boat people as well as the conflict between different parties that contribute to the diminishing of boat people’s culture. According to Lefebvre (1991), spatial triads include spatial practice, representations of space, and representational space.
1. Spatial practice: Human activities endow spaces with cultural meaning in the sense that it strengthens the value of a place and constructs a particular spatial feature.
2. Representation of space: Conceived space that is manipulated by a scientist or urban planner and fosters representational space.
3. Representational space: The everyday space that people inhabit and act within, but the spatial representation is changed by the dominators such as the government.
2.1 Spatial practice in the religion of boat people
The origin of religion and superstition of boat people is the danger from working in the sea, they worship different kinds of ‘gods’ and pray for their own safety. Take the ‘Feng Shui Egg’ near Ap Lei Chau as an example. It is a rock that looks like a duck egg where people perpetuate that as good fortune in giving birth to boys, and this means a lot to the residents. When the coastal area was being developed, the Southern District Council reserved the ‘Feng Shui Egg’ especially. We can see that it is the residents that endow meanings to an initially meaningless space (Mok, 2021).
2.2 Representation of space and representational space in changing living habits
From 1960 onwards, the living habits of boat people changed due to various governmental policies and development plans that intend to transform the industry (Lam, 2022). This demonstrated that the employment of space is political where it is the social product of the parties who dominate the space. With the intervention of the government and developer, the original usage of the living space of boat people was transformed into tourist attractions and private housing. Under capitalism, space and places become a product where the initial utilization of space is changed.
3. Empirical Analysis
Back to earlier days, the older generation of boat people lived on boats on the water, which was named “houseboat” with terribly simple and crude facilities and layout (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, 2022). There was neither electricity nor water supply while the washroom was simply a crowded corner at the stern separated by wooden boards (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, 2022). Yet, this was the everyday space where they inhabited and spent their daily lives. As time passed by, they started moving their dwellings by constructing huts along the shore with bamboo branches, tree bark and iron sheets (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, 2022). With the accumulation of hits along the shore, that area became their communities. At that time, the huts were arranged densely and side by side without walls surrounded (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, 2022). Therefore, their neighbors may occasionally pass by the living spaces of one another. This increased the opportunities of contact and interaction among boat people that promoted the development of harmonious and close relationships. These features created traces of culture in boat people communities. Representational space of boat people derived a common ideology that “land” does not exist, while they emphasized “water” given its symbolic representation of vitality. From the perspective of boat people, “water” extensively provides them with a harvest which generates their income for a stable living (Zheng, 2012). Meanwhile, living and working on the water could be dangerous depending on the heave of the sea, this could be regarded as a matter of life and death among boat people. Therefore, boat people sought the power of religion to protect and support them in overcoming all kinds of difficulties, and many gods related to the sea gradually emerged. Speaking of this, when the adversities from the representational space, for example unfavorable living conditions, unpredictable weather, and harvest, intersected with the ideology of boat people, it gave rise to a trace of “boat people spirits”. They are namely indefatigability and optimism (Tsang, 2020). Boat people could always find ways to encourage and entertain themselves, such as fisherman’s songs (Chan, 2018).
Figure 1. Huts in Tai O.
(Source: Authors of this research paper)
3.1 Opportunities brought by modernization
The culture of boat people communities can be benefited by modernization in terms of the development of in-depth travel. Take the event in Tai O as an example, participants with any cultural background were welcomed to visit. Through engaging in the activities organized by Tai O Cultural Association, they could have a deeper understanding of the histories, culture, and life hacks of boat people communities. For example, there was an activity offered as a fish net weaving tutorial class. The traditional skills of knitting fishnets with the use of reusable bags and clothes were shown (Hoffman, n.d.). Throughout the process, participants could comprehend the traces of folk wisdom where boat people made use of limited resources from the environment with their intelligence. In addition, in-depth travel injected new values to the boat people communities that converted the cultural landscape based on the original place. Participants of the event injected appreciation due to the cultural and historical stories carried by the place. Whereas the traveling event injected tourism value to the boat people communities, visitors achieved perception, understanding, and involvement of tangible and intangible cultural landscape where distinctive features were involved.
3.2 Challenges brought by modernization
Although modernization has a significant positive impact on the culture of boat people as mentioned above, it has brought certain challenges to the culture too. We have identified five main causes behind the challenges: high demand for technology and mechanization, urban development, Hong Kong’s economic transformation, advancement of education, and surge in demand for seafood.
As a result of technological development, demand for motorized fishing boats and more advanced equipment increased. To reduce the financial burden on fishermen, the Fish Marketing Organization offered loans for fishermen to purchase such equipment. However, since the loan approval standard was based on fishermen’s catches (Zheng, 2012), those with fewer catches failed to receive the loan. In the meantime, as the demand for machinery rose, and the cost of introducing technology became expensive which added cost to fishermen, those who failed to motorize their equipment experienced a decrease in their competitiveness and were forced to leave the industry in the end.
Land reclamation and infrastructure construction along with urban development might have benefited most of us, but not the fishing industry. These projects had led to a reduction of fishable area and adversely impacted the marine ecology, as well as the quantity and quality of catches (WWF, 2018). As the fisheries resources have plummeted in the industry, boat people could hardly maintain their livelihood and have started a new life on land. This demolished the sense of place among boat people, which the affective and experimental traces that tied these people into their origins were destroyed. Urban development could be regarded as a cultural act, exercising its dominant power to change the representational space of boat people communities. New cultural boundaries were developed on the water by land reclamation, which exerted the power in restricting the behavior of others, such as fishing of boat people. Moving on to economic transformation, the manufacturing industry including the fishing industry was the mainstay of Hong Kong’s economy until 1841. Yet, as Hong Kong moved to an entrepot, then switched to an industrial city after that, and finally to a tertiary industry like today’s Hong Kong, the fishing industry began to decline and became less important to Hong Kong’s economy (Mu, 2005).
Modernization has resulted in an improvement in the education system, making it easier for fishermen to access education. However, as the descendants of boat people realize the importance of education, most of them chose to seek better education and job opportunities on land and left the sea (Chen, 2018). The ideology of “water as their origin” became vague, which the younger generation chose to start a new chapter of life on land. With their removal, the older generation, who strongly emphasized the concept of collectivism, failed to inherit the missions of being boat people to the next generation. Therefore, the cultural traces have diminished.
4. Conclusion
This paper strives to merge the conceptual triad of Lefebvre into the analysis of how modernization adversely affected the culture of boat people communities. In-depth tourism injected new values to the communities which favored the embedding of values and beliefs, as to strengthen the consciousness among people. However, the dominant power from modernization limited the cultural practices of boat people communities by influencing the representational space.
Reference
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (2013). Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://www.afcd.gov.hk/
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. (2022). Culture of Hong Kong Fishermen. https://www.hktraveler.com/HKFish_to2013/edu_culture.htm#01
Chan, W. T. (2018). Cultural Studies. https://www.ln.edu.hk/mcsln/archive/63rd_issue/criticism_04.shtml
Hoffmann, M. (n.d.). Tai O Fishing Village. Hong Kong Traveller. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://www.hong-kong-traveller.com/tai-o-fishing-village.html
Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Oxford: Blackwell.
Mok, J. (2021) Maritime religion: An east asian perspective: Jay Mok. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://www.hkcnews.com/article/40691/maritime_religion tanka%E8%9C%91%E5%AE%B6%E4%BA%BA-40691/maritime-religion-an-east asian-perspective