Abstract
In recent decades, heritage preservation has been a rising issue attracting widespread attention of the civil society in Hong Kong. From a moral point of view, in order to better our society and attain human flourishing, we all seem to have an obligation to heritage preservation. However, this could pose a serious problem in urban policy: if the heritage concerned is the private property of certain individual(s) or organization(s), should heritage preservation trump protection of private property right? Dworkin’s famous metaphor of “trumps” reminds us that basic rights, notably private property rights, shall enjoy a very high priority in policymaking that they may trump other objectives (such as heritage preservation). But is it really the case? In this chapter we shall try to tackle this problem on the theoretical level by utilizing resources from the traditional Chinese thought, namely, Confucianism, which is the core value system in Chinese culture. In subsequent discussions, the preservation of King Yin Lei and Ho Tung Garden as successful and unsuccessful cases in Hong Kong will be analysed, to demonstrate the applicability of the theories proposed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The Chinese Text Project is an online open-access digital library that makes pre-modern Chinese texts available to readers and researchers all around the world (https://ctext.org/).
- 2.
Da Xue or Great Learning is an article attributed to one of Confucius’ disciples, Zengzi. It is one of the “Four Books” in Confucian classics.
- 3.
Can refer to Bryan W. Van Norden’s translation, for example, Van Norden, trans. (2008, p. 66).
- 4.
Being one of the most important Confucian classics, the Analects was written by Confucius’ followers containing teachings of Confucius and conversations of Confucius and some of his disciplines and contemporaries.
- 5.
Mencius is also a Confucian classics. It was written by Mencius himself and his disciplines. And is a collection of teachings of Mencius and conversations of Mencius and his disciplines and contemporaries.
- 6.
Ng and Wong (2012).
References
Alston, P. (2005). Ships passing in the night: The current state of the human rights and development debate seen through the lens of the millennium development goals. Human Rights Quarterly, 27(3), 755–829.
Benitez, M. A. (2011, December 19). Just leave my home alone. The Standard.
‘Central Station’. (2013, October 25). Bye-bye mansion dream, hello $25 billion. The Standard.
Chan, J. (1999). A Confucian perspective on human rights for contemporary China. In J. R. Bauer & D. A. Bell (Eds.), The East Asian challenge for human rights. Cambridge University Press.
Chan, M. K. (2008). China’s Hong Kong transformed: Retrospect and prospects. City University of Hong Kong Press.
Donnelly, J. (1989). Universal human rights in theory and practice. Cornell University Press.
Dworkin, R. (1978). Taking rights seriously. Harvard University Press.
Fan, R. P. (2010). Reconstructionist Confucianism. Rethinking morality after the west. Springer.
Flakk, T. (2003). Human rights the Confucian way. Towards international consensus on human rights from within cultural traditions. Paper submitted to the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo.
Gillman, D. (2007). The idea of cultural heritage. Institute of Art and Law.
Harding, S. (1997). Justifying repatriation of native American cultural property. Indiana Law Journal, 72(3), 723–774.
Harrison, R. (2009). Chapter 1: What is heritage? In R. Harrison (Ed.), Understanding the politics of heritage. Manchester University Press.
Hong Kong Government. (2008, July 11). King Yin Lei declared a monument (Press release). https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200807/11/P200807110148.htm.
Information Services Department, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. (2007, September 14). Heritage: King Yin Lei to be declared a monument. https://www.news.gov.hk/isd/ebulletin/en/category/healthandcommunity/070914/html/070914en05002.htm. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
Information Services Department, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. (2008, January 25). Heritage: King Yin Lei to be declared a monument. https://web.archive.org/web/20080128182602/http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/infrastructureandlogistics/080125/html/080125en06010.htm. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
Kwok, D. W. Y. (1998). On the rites and rights of being human. In T. De Bary & W. M. Tu (Eds.), Confucianism and human rights. Columbia University Press.
Lee, H. Y., & Distefano, L. D. (2016, July). Chinese renaissance architecture in China and Hong Kong. The Institute of Historic Building Conservation. https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Chinese_renaissance_architecture_in_China_and_Hong_Kong
Lee, S. H. (1992). Was there a concept of rights in Confucian virtue-based morality? Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 19, 241–261.
Leung, R. (2011, January 25). Government declares Ho Tung Gardens villa ‘proposed historic monument’. South China Morning Post.
Nadeau, R. (2002). Confucianism and the problem of human rights. Intercultural Communication Studies, XI, 107–118.
Ng, J. (2011, January 26). Ho Tung mansion saved from demolition. South China Morning Post.
Ng, J., & Wong, O. (2012, December 5). Ho Tung Gardens to be bulldozed; minister admits policy failure. South China Morning Post.
Rawls, J. (1999). A theory of justice. Harvard University Press.
Raz, J. (1986). The morality of freedom. Clarendon Press.
Rosemont, H., Jr. (1988). Why take rights seriously? A Confucian critique. In L. S. Rouner (Ed.), Human rights and the world’s religions. University of Notre Dame Press.
Tang, Y. (2005). 文化意識與道德理性 (Cultural consciousness and moral reason). China Social Sciences Press.
Tsui, E. (2012, February 4). Restoration drama. Financial Times.
Van Norden, B. W. (2008). Mengzi. With Selections from Traditional Commentaries. Hackett Publishing Company.
Ying, K. K. (2020). Heritage preservation versus development: The case of Queen’s Pier. In B. Yung & K. P. Yu (Eds.), Land and housing controversies in Hong Kong, governance and citizenship in Asia (pp. 127–144). Springer Nature.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ying, Kk. (2023). Should Heritage Preservation Trump Protection of Private Property Right?. In: Yung, B., Mok, F.K.T., Wong, B. (eds) Rights and Urban Controversies in Hong Kong. Governance and Citizenship in Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1272-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1272-8_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-1271-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-1272-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)