Essay Competition

Open for Submission!

Mei Ho House, formerly part of Shek Kip Mei Estate, was the first batch of resettlement blocks, which marked the beginning of Hong Kong’s public housing policies, the evolution of local community and folk life. While other buildings of the estate dating from the 1950s have been demolished and were replaced by new ones, Mei Ho House was preserved as a record of Hong Kong's public housing development. Under the “Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme” introduced by the Hong Kong Government in 2008, this Grade II historic building was revitalised by the Hong Kong Youth Hostels Association (HKYHA) and reopened at the end of 2013 as the Youth Hostel and the Heritage of Mei Ho House (HMHH). HMHH showcases the history of Shek Kip Mei Resettlement Estate and the daily lives of residents in the 1950s to 1970s. To further preserve and share this heritage, the “Mei Ho House Former Residents Network” was established to reconnect past neighbours, conduct oral history interviews, and document estate life, helping to recreate the collective memories of Hong Kong people.

The purpose of oral history is to document history through the interaction between interviewer and interviewees. In order to further promote cross-generational exchanges, students are encouraged to interact with the elderly members of their families through the “Affection Across Generations” Essay Writing Competition conducted by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Project Grant: Mei Ho House Hong Kong Spirit Learning Project. Students get to know what it was like to live in the public estate in the past from a first-person perspective. The stories shared by the elders present the strong bonding between neighbors and Hong Kong Spirit of perseverance. By writing an article that is based on the stories of the elderly, the sense of positive values and attitudes of students can be reinforced.