Renewal plan for Hong Kong’s ‘Little Thailand’ leaves long-time residents torn over losing deep community ties
- As URA project draws near, affected residents and businesses hope they can be relocated together
- New homes, commercial premises coming up in area popular with Thai, Chiu Chow communities
Water seeps through the wall, the broken back door does nothing to block the sound of barking stray dogs and, frequently, rats and cockroaches scuttle across the floor. This flat in Hong Kong’s Kowloon City has been home to Wareerat Kanchat for 16 years.
“I have lived here for so long, I can’t imagine a life elsewhere,” says the 60-year-old, who left her native Thailand for Hong Kong in 1993 to work as a domestic helper after her husband died.
Wareerat shares the three-bedroom flat in a dilapidated tenement building along Kai Tak Road with her two adult sons, a daughter-in-law and a colleague from a nearby Thai grocery shop where she works. They pay a monthly rent of about HK$6,000 (US$771).
Aside from knowing her Thai and Hongkonger neighbours well, she says she feels connected to her roots living in the area which is known as “Little Thailand” for its big Thai community.
She patronises the Thai shops and restaurants, and joins other Thais to pray and offer food to Buddhist monks who visit the neighbourhood. She looks forward to the Thai New Year festival of Songkran every April, when a parade winds its way through the streets and everyone takes part in playful water fights.
However, a looming urban redevelopment project threatens to dismantle Hong Kong’s biggest Thai community. Thais such as Wareerat and her friends, as well as Hongkongers who have been long-time residents and business owners are worried they will have to leave.