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Conservation
OpinionComment
Dennis Lee
Dennis Lee

Opinion | Look beyond dollar signs to see Jumbo Floating Restaurant’s true value to Hong Kong

  • The debate over whether and how to aid the struggling restaurant involves asking what makes some buildings worth preserving and not others
  • Some carry cultural value beyond their economic output, which makes them worth saving as part of our collective history and heritage

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The Jumbo Floating Restaurant as seen on June 1. The fate of the historic restaurant is in doubt as calls for its preservation have run up against complaints about the economic cost and more pressing economic priorities elsewhere. Photo: Reuters
Dennis Lee
Is the Jumbo Floating Restaurant worth saving? It is a difficult question with no simple answer.
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Often we rely on government departments such as the Antiquities and Monuments Office and Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) or non-governmental organisations such as the Conservancy Association to conduct a heritage impact assessment and prepare recommendations for stakeholders to consider.

However, whether intentionally dodging the matter or not, AAB member Vincent Ho Kui-yip said on a recent radio show that the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance applies only to buildings on land, not floating structures on sea. Therefore, the Jumbo Floating Restaurant will not be evaluated and categorised.

Over the past several weeks, we have had people call out the painful reality of the restaurant’s high operating and maintenance costs and sluggish returns before it shut its doors in March 2020. On the other hand, we have had preservationists reminding us of the structure’s cultural and architectural significance to the city’s heritage, which can hardly be measured through commercial viability.
The ultimate question is this: how do we determine that premises such as the Police Married Quarters, the Victoria Prison complex or Central Market are worth saving, but not the Queen’s Pier, Lee Tung “Wedding Card” Street, Bruce Lee’s former mansion and now the Jumbo Floating Restaurant?
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Sceptics such as lawmaker Andrew Lam Siu-lo have questioned the rationale for keeping the floating restaurant alive and dismissed its social value when it no longer had commercial appeal. He also questioned the purpose of the structure if it was rescued but did not serve as a seafood restaurant afterwards.

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