Chapter 62 "Victoria" is just a prison?
In March 2006, my husband and I lingered in some famous old neighborhoods in Central, Hong Kong Island on weekends. At the turn of the escalator leading to Mid-Levels, we happened to look down: alas, there is an old street under our feet, a traffic queue, and the end Driving to the north, another line of people suddenly appeared on the sidewalk, queuing up in twos and threes, slowly moving south.
What is the purpose of this scene?
After inquiring with passers-by, a middle-aged couple who looked like scholars happened to be leaning on the railing there, and told me: "There is an old prison in Hong Kong called Victoria Prison, and the location is just ahead, at No. 16 Old Bailey Street. The doors are about to close, and the 'End of Service Charity Open Day' is being held in the past two days, and the people below are all queuing up to visit."
Are Hong Kongers queuing to visit a 'prison'?What happened to this "prison"?Why close?
Old Bailey, a famous criminal prison in London, England. In 1841, the construction of the first prison since the opening of Hong Kong began. The street where it is located is naturally named "Old Bailey" (Prison Street), so if Victoria Prison Without searching for its roots, modern people, especially foreign tourists, have no way of knowing the strong colonial color attached to it.
As for the "Victoria" Prison that is about to be closed, I have actually heard about it some time ago.Once I drove to Xiaolan in the New Territories and saw a beautiful white wall on the hillside, winding and undulating like the Great Wall, but there was no beacon tower and lookout point. I once asked Hong Kong people for advice, "What is in there ", the Hong Kong people in the same car joked with me, saying it was "a prison in Hong Kong".I said: "Don't be funny, how can a prison look like this?" Hong Kong people continued to be humorous, saying: "A mental hospital! Isn't it the same as a prison? You live in it, and there is a 'Great Wall' blocking it. I can’t get out.” That’s when I inquired about how many prisons there are in Hong Kong and where they are, and I learned that there are two prisons in Hong Kong, one is located on Stanley Island in the southern district of Hong Kong Island, and the other is One is as far west as Lantau Island.As of January 2006, there were more than 11,000 prisoners of various types in Hong Kong prisons, with a capacity of 103%.However, since Hong Kong's prisons have always been short of storage space, why did "Victoria" close down?What is the background of this prison, and what do the authorities want to do with this land after it is vacated?
On December 23, 2005, the "Victoria Prison" in Hong Kong transferred the last prisoner. The Correctional Services Department and the Community Chest decided to hold a three-day "Victoria Prison" on March 11, 18, and 19 of the following year. On the one hand, it is trying to draw a perfect end to this ancient prison; on the other hand, it also cares about providing citizens with an opportunity to visit and raise donations, so that the general public can enter the former heavily guarded prison. , impregnable prison, see the prison facilities, historical documents, correctional clothing and tools of great commemorative value, including the "nine-tailed whip" used by prison guards to execute corporal punishment, and the giant record book for registering and executing punishments. These objects, whichever one is invited out, are hundreds of years old.
An ingenious "farewell ceremony". Visitors only need to spend 20 Hong Kong dollars to enter the cell, lock themselves in it and pose for photos. At night, they can hold a private party in the prison, wear prison clothes and eat prison Rice, and even a "prison guard" in a grandiose manner.It is said that on the night of the "Victoria Ending Service Charity Open Day", the number of donations has reached 68,000 Hong Kong dollars. release the prisoner".
On March 19th, the last day of Hong Kong's "Victoria Prison" opening to the public, I was finally sensitive to the fact that the history of more than 160 years is really about to turn the last page. If I don't rush to join in the fun, the opportunity will never exist .So I rushed to Central early in the morning and queued up on the streets of Old Bailey.Of course, my purpose of visiting "Victoria" is not only to see the remains of the oldest prison in Hong Kong. For two days, I have heard that Hong Kong citizens are "resolutely opposed" to the government's upcoming demolition of this ancient prison. There was more than one wave of voices.Citizens sternly protested that the government only wanted economic benefits, intending to make "Victoria", together with its adjacent "Central Police Station" and "Central Magistrates' Office", the core building of Hong Kong's criminal justice system that has stood for hundreds of years Qun sold all of them, and sold to various merchants in the contemporary era, so I went to "Victoria" quietly, and I also had an extra heart to visit.
At the scene, I carefully watched every cell, every iron window, every ancient fan, and every piece of historical old brick within reach in the six prison buildings of "Victoria Prison"—"Yuan "Dolly" used to imprison many pirates and bandits in the early days of Hong Kong's port opening.During World War II, most of the buildings in the prison were bombed by Japanese aircraft and severely damaged.After the war, it was repaired and reopened. At most, more than 600 prisoners were detained here. Among them, Sun Yat-sen, the father of the country, and Dai Wangshu, the poet, lost their freedom here.
In February 2006, the writer Zhou Liangpei published an article titled "Wangshu's Hong Kong" in the 254th issue of "Hong Kong Literature", which excerpted from the article that the famous Taiwanese scholar Long Yingtai, as a taxpayer, appealed to stop the Hong Kong government from A paragraph of "Victoria Prison" and "tendering" was written. Although this paragraph is full of individual passions of literati, what is said and sighed is the voice of Hong Kong citizens: "I dare say that the Victoria Prison Every brick is wet because it seeps into the tears and sighs of Hong Kong people's mothers and grandparents, and the collective trauma and glory of Hong Kong people. How can the government have the right to hand it over to real estate developers to 'dispose'? You will put Grandma's handwritten diary up for auction?"
Hong Kong people can't just watch yet another ancient architectural complex being submerged again in the sea of modern material desires, turning into another "Lan Kwai Fong" or "Taigu Center". On August 24, 2006, about 170 old neighbors launched the action of "hand in hand to protect the historical sites". They circled around the old Central District Police Station, blowing whistles in their mouths, protesting Potentially destructive actions by governments.Some promoters of the "Central District Police Station Action" even announced to the media: "If the government insists on going its own way and irresponsibly handing over the 'Central Monuments Group' with the longest history in Hong Kong to the real estate developers for disposal, it is not ruled out that a mobilization will be launched." All citizens in Hong Kong voted to protect the historic sites." The Hong Kong Institute of Architects is almost forcing the government to include the protection of historic sites as an "overriding" bidding criterion in the development plan of the "Central Historic Building Group".Therefore, it can be seen that Hong Kong citizens were fully prepared for the "Victoria" incident in 2006, submitting letters, writing letters, demonstrating, protesting, and orderly...
"Who is the master in Hong Kong"?
Walking down the long corridor of "Victoria Prison", I was still thinking.
After leaving the prison, the guard told me: "That's all right. I heard that our prison may not be demolished. The government has been considering the opinions of the citizens for the past two days."
Hong Kong's "Victoria Prison" has planted the concept of history and cultural relics in the hearts of ordinary people precisely because of its antiquity. Hong Kong people defend this prison just as everyone protects their ancient homeland.It is impossible for the government to be indifferent to the citizens' "nostalgia", nor dare to ignore the citizens' "protests" completely. I can bet anyone on this point - Hong Kong citizens have become a habit of asking the government to "bow their heads like a bully" for many years. In other words, it is already a kind of trial by the general public against the administrative civilization of the authorities, although it takes about ten years to develop this "habit".