South of the Border: Hong Kong's Cartographic Archives and Visual Memory

Starting from maps, this project reconstructs the little-known historical truth of Hong Kong.

Based on documents from the British Colonial Office, supplemented by historical data,

and accompanied by contemporary photographic records.

A single map,

revealing the intricate relationship between people, events, and history,

offers a fresh perspective,

uncovering an unknown side of the Kowloon Peninsula,

and restoring a more comprehensive and powerful historical truth of Hong Kong.

***

"Maps are not objective records, but rather proof of power."

The history of the Kowloon Peninsula is a chapter interwoven with power, interests, and resistance.

From the Lion Rock area nearly becoming a middle-class residential area for Europeans, the struggle between the Hong Kong British government and the British military for the prime land in Tsim Sha Tsui, to the acquisition of agricultural land such as Sai Yee Street in Mong Kok at bargain prices, behind urban planning lies an unspeakable power play.

Using contemporary images to document today's Kowloon Peninsula, and then using maps to reveal the truth of the peninsula's development, unsealing its true history.