What impression do you get of Hong Kong’s boundaries? Apart from geography, what else are boundaries about? Would you associate boundaries with different sound?

When I was small, I would go to the Frontier Closed Area [1] at weekends to play at my grandma’s place in Chuk Yuen Village, Ta Kwu Ling. I always monkeyed around the fields nearby. That was back in the 90s. In the evening, I often heard flocks of birds twittering ebulliently to announce the fall of night. It meant dinner time was coming and I would have to wait until next weekend to revisit grandma. When I hear birds twitter now, my childhood moments in Chuk Yuen Village emerge in my mind at times.

Retrieving my childhood memories related to Chuk Yuen Village, I bring to mind the rustling sound made by the wind in an abandoned field. Sometimes, I could hear the symphony of the insects. There were a few villages in the neighbourhood, where pet dogs from every house would bark noisily at strangers passing by. The cacophony of the domestic animals in nearby pigsties and chicken farms was echoed between the valleys from time to time. There were mountain and rivers. There was a thin layer of wire fencing too; the noise of piling and car horns came from the other side constantly at an indistinguishable distance.

In the past, the livelihood of people in Chuk Yuen Village depended largely on agriculture. My grandparents, maternal aunt and mother were no exception. In the 80s, flooding damaged Chuk Yuen Village, which was near Shenzhen River. Thus, the village was relocated to an area further from the River. In the 90s, villagers who used to practise agriculture mainly turned to other industries. Most of their offspring worked in the city and some of the farmlands in the village were deserted successively. In 2014, since the Government constructed the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point and its related roads [2], Chuk Yuen Village was once again relocated to Chuk Yuen Village Resite Area. The village houses in the village were standardised as a three-storey structure. The surrounding farmlands were mostly resumed for construction; they turned into construction sites in the blink of an eye.

The Frontier Closed Area has been set up for over 60 years. As the relationship between Hong Kong and China reshapes over time, the role of the boundary has gradually changed. For the recent few times I returned to Chuk Yuen Village, I discovered that various sounds were expanding and some were disappearing. Once heavily guarded and highly restricted, the Frontier Closed Area has now become an area actively developed by the Government [3].

‘Boundary Listening” looks into the experiences brought to humans by the changes of a place. We use our ears to perceive the stories of people living along the boundaries of Hong Kong and the specific boundaries of farming villages. Close your eyes and the boundaries become less tangible than when you look at them. Listen carefully and you get closer to a series of continuous and subtle changes. Yet, these changes are certainly not limited to the boundary areas. This feature story stems from the interview with my maternal aunt and mother. Both of them grew up in Chuk Yuen Village and had been doing farm work for a long time. They are witnesses to the transformation of the village and the boundaries. By looking into what my family has gone through, I explore the various sounds related to boundaries.

The sound recordings are transformed into graphics, as inspired by Samson Young’s work Liquid Borders [4]. Thank you, Samson.

[1] The Frontier Closed Area (FCA) between Hong Kong and China was set up by the Hong Kong Government under the Public Order Ordinance in 1951 for security and defence purposes. People entering or leaving FCA must present a Closed Area Permit. On 15 February 2012, the HKSAR started to reduce the size of FCA in stages. The final FCA reduction exercise was completed on 4 January 2016. Currently, only the boundary patrol road and the sea areas near the boundary belong to FCA.
Source

[2] The affected area resulted from the construction project at the boundary control point building and the associated roads is indicated clearly in the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point and Associated Works Environmental Impact Assessment Report (p. 17) by the Civil Engineering and Development Department, HKSAR.
Source

[3] In 2006, the Hong Kong Government and the Shenzhen Government began to research on the construction at Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point. The project started in 2013. In the “Hong Kong 2030” study released in 2007, the concept of boundary area development is included in the section about Hong Kong’s boundary.
Source

The conceptual framework for New Territories North in the “Hong Kong 2030+” study released in late 2016 indicates the Government’s intention to develop new towns and logistics facilities at the boundary crossings.
Source

[4] Artist Samson Young researched on and made Liquid Borders at the Frontier Closed Area in the North part of Hong Kong between 2012 and 2014. He collected the sounds that form the audio divide separating Hong Kong and the Mainland and presented them through different medium (sound, drawings, text and archives).
Project website

你對香港的邊界有著怎樣的印象？邊界除了關乎地域外，還可以與什麼有關？你會將邊界與其他聲音聯想在一起嗎？

小時侯的我會在週末到位於邊境禁區[1]的打鼓嶺竹園村外婆家玩，也常常到附近的田亂跑亂跳，那是九十年代的事。黃昏的時候，常會聽到成群的鳥「吱吱喳喳」地鳴叫，這也意味著晝之將盡，回家吃晚飯的時間即將到來，要到下個週末才能再到外婆家。現在聽到鳥兒鳴叫時，腦海中偶爾會浮現兒時於竹園村活動的情境。

搜索我於孩童時代關於竹園村的記憶，找到有風吹過會沙沙作響的荒田，有時候還可以聽到昆蟲大合奏；這附近有數條村落，每當有陌生人走過時各家家犬就會吠個不停；這附近有豬欄及雞場，家畜的叫聲不時在山谷迴盪；這裡有山有河，還有一道單薄的鐵絲網，鐵絲網的另一面則不時傳來似遠還近的打樁聲及汽車響號聲。

從前住在竹園村的人大多靠務農維生，外婆外公及姨母、母親一輩也不例外。八十年代，水浸導致位於深圳河邊的竹園村損毀，村落於是遷到離河較遠的地方。九十年代，以務農為主的村民陸續轉投其他行業，他們的子女也大多到市鎮工作，村內部份農地陸續荒廢。二零一四年，因政府興建蓮塘／香園圍口岸及相關道路[2]，竹園村再被遷到竹園新村，村內的村屋全都被統一建成三層式的建築，附近的農地大多被收回作興建用途，轉眼變成工地。

邊境禁區被設立六十多年，隨著香港及中國之間關係的變遷，邊界的角色已漸漸改變。最近幾次回到竹園村，我發現不同的聲音在擴張或消減。曾經一度守衛森嚴閒人免進的邊境禁區，現已成為政府積極發展的地區[3]。

「聆聽邊界」探問人於地方變化中的經歷，用耳朵去感知於香港邊界及農村邊界的人的故事。閉上眼睛，邊界並沒有眼看那樣具體，細聽下更接近是一連串持續且微妙的變化，然而這些變化又豈止出現於邊界地區？本文的內容出自我與姨母及母親進行之訪談，她們兩人都在竹園村成長並長時間務農，見證著農村及邊界的變遷。透過探問家族的經歷，我欲發掘各種有關邊界的聲音。

由錄音轉化成的圖像創作，靈感源自楊嘉輝的作品─《暴力邊界》[4]，特此感謝。

[1]香港政府跟據《公安條例》於1951年沿著香港及中國之間的邊界設立邊境禁區，作保安及防衛用途。持有邊境禁區許可證（俗稱禁區紙）的人士才能進出禁區。2012年2月15日，香港特別行政區政府開始分階段縮減邊境禁區範圍。2016年1月4日，最後階段的邊境縮減完成，現在只有邊界巡邏車道及靠近邊境的海域屬於禁區範圍。
資料來源

[2] 香港特別行政區土力工程拓展署有關興建蓮塘／香園圍口岸及相關工程之環境影響評估研究（第17頁）清楚指出口岸大樓及相關道路的建築工程所影響的範圍。
資料來源

[3] 2006年，香港政府與深圳政府開始研究興建蓮塘／香園圍口岸，工程於2013年動工。而於2007年公佈的「香港2030」研究中有關香港邊境的部份，亦有發展邊境地區的構思。
資料來源

於2016年底發表的「香港2030+」研究概念框架中有關新界北的部份，說明政府有意在邊境地區發展新市鎮及物流設施。
資料來源

[4] 藝術家楊嘉輝於2012至2014年在香港北部的邊境禁區進行《暴力邊界》計劃，收集中港邊境線上隔離物的聲音，並以不同媒介（聲音、畫作、文本及檔案）呈現作品。
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