The meaning of Piers locations at Hong Kong Island in the background of social change and the process of shaping of local identity

The aim of this paper is to understand the meaning of the Star Ferry and Queen's Pier locations for the process of shaping Hong Kong identity and why unlike in previous similar cases, the latest removal of the Star Ferry and Queen's Pier met with resistance from Hong Kong citizens. Looking at Piers of the saga from the historical perspective, it is found that spatial practice of the pre‑Second World War (WWII) piers was a mirror of a colonial and racially segregated city. The public space in the commercial heart of Hong Kong that housed the previous generations of piers was not accessible to the Chinese community, thus denying them rights to the city. It was only after WWII when the Government carried out further reclamation to meet the needs of an industrialising economy that inclusive public spaces were conceived in the commercial heart, enabling the general public to enjoy the city. Therefore when the Government decided to remove this very first public space in the political and economic heart of the city to conceive further reclamation for restructuring the economy, the citizens were determined to defend it. Piers were a physical and mental border of the two worlds, the edge of the city. With the social changes after WWII they were transformed into symbolic centres with a crucial meaning for shaping of the Hong Kong identity.