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Photo Essay

The Haunted House

 

by Choco Chan

Lights were dimmed, the walls were dilapidated. Big signs were found photoessay2on the walls threatening residents to destroy their copper pipes. This is the site known in Hong Kong for multiple murders and suicides, the Hoi Hing Building.

Hoi Hing Building is one of the redevelopment projects of Henderson Land Development in Tai Kwok Tsui, there has been an ongoing buy-out of this building since 2008.

"They (the remaining residents) struggle to live every day because of the unbearable living environment the developer created," said one of the committee members of owners' corporation in the Hoi Hing Building, Lee, who lived there for 34 years.

photoessay3After the gruesome murder case of Henry Chau Hoi-leung, who chopped his parents' head off and later froze the remains in the fridge in 2013, most of the residents have seeked for another shelter for their lives. The building was left to rot with less than ten occupancies out of 270 flats.

"Among the ten households that still live in this building, three has yet given up their ownership," said Lee. "The developer has been destroying the building, for example, cutting the electricity, to force the remaining residents to give up on their ownerships."photoessay1

There are five gates to the building from different directions. Lee said one of the locks was deliberately destroyed after the buy-out have taken place.

Without locks and guards, the security of this building was further enfeebled. Crimes like rape, arson and robbery were rampant, fear of the Hoi Hing Building blanketed the neighbourhood and lingers.

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"It's not likely the remaining flats can make it through under this living condition. The developers always have their ways to get what they want, be it good ways or bad," Lee said.

(Edited by Amie Cheng)

《The Young Reporter》

The Young Reporter (TYR) started as a newspaper in 1969. Today, it is published across multiple media platforms and updated constantly to bring the latest news and analyses to its readers.

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