| HAINAN HONGSHUI VILLAGE Throughout the Hainan Island, the 1.2 million Li people have changed their traditional lifestyles and become integrated into modern Chinese society. In 2007, when How Man and his CERS team visited the Hongshui village where the Li people are living, there was hardly anyone who could still make and play the traditional nose flute, or the bamboo Jews harp, a mouth organ. The remnants of the “raw” Li people’s past have all but vanished. Not willing to see the traditional culture fading, CERS has launched a project to preserve this traditional village of the Li people. The team was formed by 17 people, including more than a dozen staff members, outside experts from the UK, Switzerland and the US, and a documentary team to film the vanishing lifestyle of these indigenous people. The goal is to preserve select thatch-roofed houses otherwise destined for demolition. |
LEAVE IT or FIX IT
Wong How Man
Hong Shui, Hainan – 06 December 2009
A renovated village houseWhen you come across a dilapidated village clinging to the last vestige of its past, a wise person will choose to leave it alone. Few would choose to fix it as there would be a long string of hurdles to overcome, including finding the time and resources. CERS, unfortunately, is cursed with many such unwise individuals.
My team and I first set eyes on Hong Shui Village in March 2007. The village’s fate was almost sealed with the demolition of the entire village scheduled within two weeks. It was to be replaced by cement and brick houses which the government encouraged as substitutes for the traditional “makeshift” architecture. I could have lamented the demise of yet another icon of a unique ethnic group, written about it, and mourned its departure. I could have documented its passing with a few photographs and some video footage. That would have saved my colleagues and I heaps of trouble over the next few years, and most people would have chosen that route.