Tai O
in Our Eyes
Traditional life style
Fishing lifestyle
Tai O is also the oldest fishing village in Hong Kong. Since Tai O is home to the Tanka people, fishing is playing the important role in their traditions. Even though the fishing industry is now dying out in Hong Kong, the fishing lifestyle in Tai O still active.
The fishers will use the old-fashioned rope-drawn ‘ferries’ to fish in the surrounding sea area in Tai O. After capture the fish, they will dock the ferry near the bright. Tai O residences or the tourists can buy the seafood easily. For the fishers, the old old-fashioned rope-drawn ‘ferries’ are their tool to fish and the ferries also can be the shop to sell the catches. Finishing now still can make their living in Tai O. Fishing lifestyle will continue in this small fishing port as one of the tradition.
Shop House(下鋪上居)
As time passed by, overfishing is damaging the eco-system in Tai O. The government limited the finishers to fish in the sea in the 1990s. In order to make their living, some fishers started to sell some sea food products in their house. Usually downstairs is using for the shop purpose and they still living in the upstairs. It becomes the “shop house” traditional lifestyle in Tai O.
Burning firewood for cooking
Living in the well-developed urban area, I haven’t see people burning firewood for cooking in their daily life. But in Tai O, I saw it. Burning firewood for cooking is the other tradition life style for the Tai O residences.
We are lucky to see how can the Tai O residences using their traditional method to separate the huge tree into several small firewood. That is a kind of folk wisdom and a part of the Tai O people's traditional lifestyle.