宋王臺文化景觀與香港的歷史記憶流變

To many visitors to Hong Kong, Sung Wong Toi (or Song Emperor’s Terrace) is a tourist spot located in Kowloon City. But for many locals, particularly the sensitive souls, it has been a potent symbol to evoke a collective memory, a unique identity, and above all, a vision for the future. Based on Henri Lefebvre’s threefold meaning of space—the perceived, the conceived, and the lived—this paper examines the complex process through which a barren rock on the Sacred Hill was transformed into the centrepiece of a locale where the Qing loyalists remembered the “benevolent rule” of the Manchu dynasty, a “place of memory” to celebrate Chinese nationalism during the Second World War, and a splendid Chinese garden to “win hearts and minds” at the high noon of the Cold War. By tracing the intricate steps and strategies by which Sung Wong Toi was repeatedly constructed as a spatial signifier, this paper shows the variety of forces that had shaped the politics and society of Hong Kong between 1911 and 1997. As Sung Wong Toi today becomes the name of a metro station in Hong Kong, we should reflect on its past and ponder its future role in the collective identity of Hong Kong people.