#Peng Chau Island

[travelernight]

Hong Kong Secrets: Uncover The Top 10 Must-Visit Hidden Gems

[bonefall]

looking at the nutrition guide posts again, and you say that the clans' territories are bigger than one might think.... how big do you imagine they might be? the book maps always make them seem smaller than they probably actually are due to art scaling

There is no way to give a perfect number, because productivity of land depends a lot more on what's on it rather than raw size. An old-growth oak forest will have more squirrels in an acre than a sitka spruce plantation will in miles.

But this is an aerial photo of Peng Chau island, which is a landform notable for being almost EXACTLY 1 square kilometer.

That's 10 million square feet, for those of us burdened by imperial, and 247 acres, for... farmers idk. Or, 100 hecatares for those who are aware that most UK nature reserves measure their land in hecs.

(does this seem big? it's not. this is merely two 18-hole golf courses. or maybe we should destroy all golf courses. who knows :P)

According to the John Muir Trust, which researches red deer density and conversation, 1 square kilometer can sustainably support 5 red deer; more deer than that and they will begin to damage the environment. Britain is so ecologically devastated that the deer density is more like 10 to 1, but this is what apex predators like boars, lynxes, and wolves are SUPPOSED to be for.

(Remember: the ratio of 5:1 is still an average. The TYPE of land is going to matter A LOT MORE than the raw size.)

So if you're asking me, who has ruled that the White Hart/Forest Territory has an entire herd of red deer which hunters come to shoot at, I'd say the area was at least 3 square kilometers. Enough for a sustainable herd of 15 deer.

(But I imagine the Windovers sometimes toss hay out at them, to sustain a pretty sizeable herd. The map names the WindClan territory the "Windover Moor" so I imagine they actually own the majority of the area. I also write the entire White Hart being MUCH larger than the minimum 3 sKM, more like 10 sKM counting all the territories put together. BUT I don't think about it too much-- I just know it's not a tiny little backyard area.)

(Also Sanctuary Lake is even larger.)

[aieaiemeimei]

how the kaito links Peng Chau and its neighbours.

街渡 “Kai To” is a type of boat that links ports of the outlying islands of Hong Kong together. The kai to services enable a flow of people and goods over a larger, de-centralised territory. The network of ways that link the islands together induces non-hierarchical relations between the outposts – in opposition to the lines connecting each island to “Central”.

The lines and their schedule are usually adapted to the needs of locals – i.e. school students travelling early morning or mid-afternoon between Discovery Bay and Peng Chau.

The vessels themselves are small, usually open-air boats, operated by small companies based on the islands. It’s a kind of neighbourhood business that caters to community needs. 

The neighbourhood spirit that inhabits the kai to is more interestingly embedded in its name. 街 kai means street and 渡 to cross (a river, a sea, as the water radical indicates) – literally we get crossing the street, which draws a very poetic analogy between the sea and the street. Like a street, the sea acts as both a separator and a connector between the two banks and their population. For residents of the outlying islands of Hong Kong, travelling to another island or port does indeed feel like visiting a dear neighbour.

*orientation showing our "mental north"

[bivouacrecording]

Generations : Nelson Hiu

Go to Collection on OpenSea.io

This past summer (2022), I had just moved to Hong Kong and was looking for interesting people to record. My friend Paul Yip who is an experimental musician and sound bath performer, recommended that I get in contact with Nelson Hiu. Upon first glance at Nelson's Instagram, he seemed like an interesting fellow, with moody photographs and short videos of solo performances. So I got in contact with him and set a date to meet.

Nelson lives out in Peng Chau which is a 30 minute ferry ride from the Central Piers in Hong Kong. I love taking boats and ferries. It always reminds me of my first journey to Chongming in Shanghai, the excitement and mystery of what lays on the other side. I had never been there so my imagination and anticipation were running wild. Our first meeting, though brief, was a pleasant one. We met at the Islanders Space (ig @islanders.space) which is a venue that hosts events dedicated to local urban design and exploration in Peng Chau. Nelson was curating a monthly performance series at the venue with musicians whom he knew and respected.

Small Pengchau beach</br>I mentioned I was recording experimental musicians in Hong Kong for an album project and wanted to know if he would be down with participating. He agreed and we decided on a day to record as I left on the next ferry.

Pengchau</br>The day of the recording, I took the morning ferry to explore the island and do some field recordings. Peng Chau is a sleepy island town with most of its inhabitants living around the vicinity of the pier . There were a handful of tourists coming to the island that day to explore but for the most part it was a pretty quiet place. It is not a very big island but I was only able to explore the Eastern side before our meeting. There is never a shortage of ocean and water sounds in Hong Kong. Peng Chau had quiet green areas too. I walked around and got lost, met some dead ends, and was open to new experiences. From sea level, to the top of the mountain I enjoyed every minute of it.

Pengchau

After lunch we met up and went to his apartment to begin recording. It was an informal recording, just using instruments and objects he had on hand: flute, hand drums, box o' stuff, even the strands of beads hanging in the doorway were fair game. I had decided it was to be a dynamic recording using a mono microphone moving around, in and out of the space as he played. I focused on describing the space by affecting the polar pattern: going into corners, pointing at all the surfaces, walking outside on the balcony, and even a detail of the creaking of Nelson's rattan woven chair. This dance lasted about 30 minutes and was a great improvisation. We bid each other farewell and I went back home to rest after a rewarding adventure.

Nelson Hiu performing during recording

In the coming weeks, I had finally found a solution for the Generations project compositions and I just knew this recording would be perfect for it. I put it in and started the process. As it was the first Generation, it was going back and forth on the reels for a few weeks while i ironed out the composition process.

After propagating the audio for a few hours on the reels, I used previous recordings to give it some depth as each re-recording would not be as clear as the original giving a good texture and a sense of time passed.

As the composition process became more established, I decided that I would end the process and collected these 10 recordings you hear now. Upon giving an early recording to Nelson, he was happy to hear how it turned out and agreed to do more recordings for the project. I can't wait!

NFT

It is with great pleasure to announce that the Generations : Nelson Hiu collection will be exclusively sold as an NFT through OpenSea. 

Recently I had been turned on to NFT for audio as a way to distribute my works. I was always frustrated about how Soundcloud reviewed tracks for distribution on streaming music platforms. The gatekeeper of the gatekeeper. I also felt like I was trying to fit in with Bandcamp's traditional album model. 

With Generations, where each recording is unique artwork, this further distanced me from the established framework for releasing music. What appealed to me about NFT was that  I could treat my sounds like one-of-a-kind artworks. They could be unique, like paintings. Each minting yields a unique token that cannot be changed. Also there are options for royalties when the token gets sold and resold which is a great thing for artists. I have control over copyright and the amount of tokens I want to mint and sell. It redefined the meaning of what sound art was to me and made it more tangible. It's time for change.

Stay tuned. Thanks for listening.

[yewwooi]

Table for 3? 👌🏻 A very friendly neighbourhood cafe on Peng Chau island. #YWxHK #mycoffeetour . . . . . #eeeeeats #hongkong #hkcafe #hkfood #hkig #instameethk #discoverhongkong #lifewelltravelled #cafehopping #busystranger #food52 #alternativebrewing #coffeeaddict #coffeesesh #baristadaily #peoplebrewcoffee #masfotokopi #tablesituation #manmakecoffee #anakkopi #hobikopi #coffee #cafehopping #coffeeshopcorners #shotoniphone (at Island Table Grocer Cafe) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjApA_6LIKG/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[alittlefreaky]

Peng Chau, Hong Kong @ Jan, 2021

[susanyung]

Lung Mo Temple on Peng Chau Island Hong Kong

[emmaklee]

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A post shared by Walter Koditek (@wkoditek)

Peng Chau Island, Hong Kong

[mikasavela]

H.

[harrychen-photography]

Learning how to fly a drone (Hong Kong, China, 2019). Took a day trip to the Peng Chau island. We were able to find tranquility on this small island. Some people took the opportunity to fly a drone.

[jihnih]

The life in Peng Chau is same in Cheng Chau island. People are living in slow paced routine as they enjoy the quietness of the place. When I visited the island last Friday, I was surprised of how many people rode the ferry and as I observed them, we are all tourists. I got worried that we may disrupt the daily lives of the locals in a sudden outpour of visitors, but then again, I was wrong. It didn't flinch them at all.

[aieaiemeimei]

Parmi les habitants du rivage, le chiton. Le chiton se plait sur les sols durs, et est un habitué des rivages rocheux de Peng Chau (et de Hong Kong). Créature étrange au premier regard : on ne sait si elle est fossile, pierre, ou être vivant. Vue à sec, elle semble littéralement pétrifiée, totalement immobile, dans l’attente. Sous l’eau, une goutte de souplesse semble s’immiscer sous cette armature en aragonite. Pour qui aime à se promener sur les rochers de l’île, le chiton est un normal, mystère quotidien. On se penche, on l’observe, on distingue 8 plaques articulées, aux couleurs sombres (dans les tons gris-marron-noirs) et aux motifs simili-taillés. On tente de gratter autour, mais le chiton semble ancré, vissé au sol, inamovible. Le chiton possède un pouvoir de succion qui le maintient attaché aux rochers sur lesquels il vit et le rend inattaquable—des humains et de leurs outils mécaniques. Le chiton, ou polyplacophore (liolophura japonica), nous explique Tommy Hui (Lingnan University), est un mollusque brouteur qui racle des algues microscopiques tapissant les rochers grâce à ses dents enduites de magnétites qui les rendent plus dures que de l’acier. Le chiton, nous explique Tommy (1), nous revient du Cambrien inférieur. 500 millions d’années de vie et d’évolution, qui ont conservé la carapace (alors que la pieuvre l’a perdue), mais segmenté en 8 plaques articulées, magnifiquement décorées à ce moment donné, lors de notre rencontre —qui sait comment il évoluera au cours des prochains X millions d’années— , d’yeux d’aragonite (2) face à nos yeux d’enfants. Cette expérience de mise en face à face avec un être venu du temps profond (Baptiste Morizot) nous force à l’humilité. Que sommes-nous, sinon un embryon d’être (si on se rapporte à cette échelle de temps) ? Quelle est notre forme vivante en tant qu’être humain ? La mise en contact avec une autre échelle de temps, nous aide à sortir de nos préoccupations anxieuses du capitalocène. Comme le dit Baptiste Morizot, “beaucoup des problèmes qui nous obnubilent aujourd’hui et qui nous aveuglent se dénouent quand on accepte que le monde est très vieux et que la vie sur terre est très ancienne et que nous héritons d’une diversification, d’une richesse qui devient intelligible à la lumière du temps profond.” (3). Le chiton qui, quand il se sent attaqué, se roule en boule —grâce à ces 8 plaques articulées— dans un mouvement, lent, très lent, nous dit Tommy; et cette lenteur nous projette à l’échelle de temps long sur laquelle il vit—contraste à notre vie à toute vitesse. Que nous apprend le chiton, sinon d’apprendre à vivre tranquillement, de cultiver notre petit jardin, apprendre à brouter l’herbe qui nous entoure et ne pas déranger les autres ? Bien ancré dans le dur, capable de respirer sous l’eau, de bio-synthétiser des éléments ferreux, ou de survivre à des événements climatiques extrêmes; tout cela ne s’acquiert pas en 2 millions d’années—et surtout pas en détruisant tout ce qui nous entoure.

(1) Visite de site sur Peng Chau avec Tommy Hui, chercheur à Lingnan University, dans le cadre de l’Inter-Island Festival 2023. (2) Yong, Ed. ‘Chitons See with Eyes Made of Rock’. National Geographic, 14 April 2011. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/chitons-see-with-eyes-made-of-rock (3) Adler, Laure. ‘Baptiste Morizot : “L’inexploré”’. L’heure Bleue, n.d. https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/l-heure-bleue/l-heure-bleue-du-mardi-09-mai-2023-7124867

[golfess]

Nice lunch at sea and a visit to Peng Chau 🛥 (at Peng Chau Island) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb5MOQEhktD/?utm_medium=tumblr

[stellayuan]

Easily fall for this place😌 (at Peng Chau Island) https://www.instagram.com/stellayeyuan/p/CYTOiK8l3Rf/?utm_medium=tumblr

[zinahns]

spent my birthday this year on Peng Chau Island with @katjes2017 🥰🧡 this is the Seven Sisters Temple and yes we are seven sisters • #zinahns #zinahns_hk (at 七姊妹道) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRtSzr_ICcr/?utm_medium=tumblr

[yewwooi]

Living the island life. 🏝 #YWxHK #pengchau (at Peng Chau, Hong Kong) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiO6BAoLZjL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=