All language subtitles for Great Asian Railway Journeys Series 1 02of20 Hong Kong University to Lantau Island 1080p

I'm in Southeast Asia with my 1913
Bradshaw's handbook,

published at the height
of European imperialism.

My 100-year-old guidebook will lead
me on a railway adventure

through archipelagos and peninsulas
dotted with hills, forests

and paddy fields.

I'll tour towering megacities
and magnificent mosques.

I'll encounter golden Buddhas
and jewelled temples and experience

some of the world's most spectacular
and notorious railways.

As I travel through the diverse
nations of this vast region,

I'll learn how they asserted
their independence

against the British, French
and Dutch empires,

to become the economic tigers
and dragons of today.

I'm in Hong Kong, continuing to
explore this mega metropolis.

I visited the Kowloon Peninsula
and crossed Victoria Harbour

to Hong Kong Island.

From here, I'll head north
to visit the walled villages

of the new territories,
and west to the remote

and tranquil Lantau Island.

I'll meet a descendant of one
of the region's oldest dynasties.

Your family has been here, how long?

Over 1,000 years.

It makes the British occupation
seem like just a...

Learn about the father
of modern China.

Sun Yat-sen was the person who came
and make change in a huge way.

And discover why Hongkongers
are protesting.

20 years after the handover,

we're not being given what
was promised.

The anger and the frustration
is there and it's escalating.

I'm exploring Hong Kong Island
on a metro system that handles

around six billion trips a day.

The success of Hong Kong's mass
transit railway

is very hard to believe.

It's only existed in its modern
form since 1979,

and yet it has now 91 heavy rail
stations, including some

which are indescribably huge.

Most unusually amongst metros
in this world, it is highly

profitable and its punctuality
record is just shy of 100%.

I'm travelling to Hong Kong
University to learn about one

of its most renowned alumni.

Bradshaw's tells me that
the foundation stone

was laid in 1910.

Before that, it was the Hong Kong
College of Medicine for Chinese,

and the physician, Dr Sun Yat-sen
graduated in 1892.

Since he went on to become
a revolutionary, to overthrow

the Chinese imperial dynasty
and to become known

as the Father of Modern China,
it makes you wonder

what was on the curriculum.

In 1911, Sun Yat-sen and a group
of revolutionaries, led a successful

uprising against the Qing dynasty
and founded a republic in China.

But he spent his formative
years in Hong Kong.

Dr Ho Yin Lee is an associate
professor

in architectural conservation.

His grandfather was
Sun Yet-sen's secretary.

I understand that
Sun Yet-sen graduated

from the medical school here,

was his background before
that in Hong Kong?

Before he came to Hong Kong,
he was in China as a young person,

and went to school, as most people
who came from a family

of reasonable wealth.

And he wasn't happy, obviously,
with the educational system

and all kinds of system
in China then.

And so, in fact, he went to America,
to Hawaii, where his brother lived,

and he did this study for a short
while in Hawaii,

before he came to Hong Kong.

While he was studying to
be a physician,

do you think he was already
having political ideas?

Yes, very much.

By the time he went to medical
school, he was beginning to...

..get into contact
with like-minded people

to form a revolutionary idea to
overhaul the Qing government

and to establish a modern China.

Why would he have
revolutionary ideas,

what was wrong with China
in those days?

China, I can't even begin to count,
you know,

what's wrong with China then.

And so if you look at education,
China was still stuck

in a educational system, that is to
say the least, you know,

is not about academic freedom.

And if you look at governance,

and so it's a huge nation ruled
by a small family.

So, it's a royal family but,
you know, essentially

it was a dictatorship.

And the worst part is that there
is no...

..concern by the government to
the demand of the people.

The best way to put it, simply,
is that people were fed up,

is looking forward to change,
you know.

And so Sun Yat-sen is the person who
came and make change in a huge way.

Sun Yat-sen was a graduate
of an open and modern,

Western-style education.

In 1923, he returned
to the university

to deliver a speech that's
remembered to this day.

Oh, what an impressive room.

It is.

This is the place where,
one summer day in 1923,

Dr Sun Yat-sen, the founding father
of modern China, came to give

a rousing speech to the community
of the University of Hong Kong.

Well, if you come on stage I'll
tell you what Sun Yat-sen said.

So in 1923 on that day,
imagine these rooms

completely filled with people,
professors, students.

They are all anticipating what
Sun Yat-sen is going to say.

And he said that, "I feel as though
I've come home, and Hong Kong

"and this University of Hong Kong
are my intellectual birth place."

And you can just imagine, the crowd
must have been cheering.

And he continued to say that,

"And where did I get my
revolutionary and modern idea?"

And he said that, "This idea came
from the colony of Hong Kong."

He you are, resident in Hong Kong,
teaching in Hong Kong,

what do you think
of Sun Yat-sen today?

If you go back to his, the three
principles of the people

in which he advocate
for a strong Chinese nation.

So that means having
pride in the Chinese identity.

And the second thing
that it's about,

developing a liberal society with
freedom of all sorts.

That's important to this
university - intellectual freedom.

And the third thing is about
the livelihood of people.

So that means having a responsible
government that addresses

and respond to people's
needs in a timely manner.

So all of this is exactly
what the young people,

the protester asking for.

So, in fact, it's totally relevant
and there's no contradiction at all.

So I wish more people will look into
Sun Yat-sen's political thoughts,

you know, and think more about it.

I think that way Hong Kong
will get out of the trouble

that we have now.

I'm heading towards Hong Kong's
northern border.

As I travel away from
central districts,

the contrast is remarkable.

Skyscrapers are replaced by
mountains, concrete by trees

and urban density by thinly
populated villages.

My preconceptions of Hong Kong
are being challenged.

I'm heading towards Hong Kong's
northern border.

25 minutes later, I'm in Kam Tin,
a district in the New Territories.

This is the walled village
of Kat Hing Wai.

First settled by the Tang Clan
over 500 years ago, it was built

to protect the residents from rival
clans and bandits.

At the time of my guidebook, the
village's distinctive brick walls

will be tested once more.

In 1898, the British wanted
to establish a defensive barrier

for Hong Kong.

And so they acquired,
on a 99-year lease,

the so-called New Territories, which
consisted of more than 600 villages.

Not all the inhabitants were
at all happy with British rule,

and there followed a very bitter
six-day war

with very high Chinese casualties.

Here at the village of Kat Hing Wai,

they closed the gates against
the British.

Nonetheless, they were overrun,
the gates were stolen

and sent to Britain and restored
to the village

only in 1925 as a gesture
of goodwill.

Also in Kam Tin, another beautifully
preserved historic village,

Shui Tau Tsuen, inhabited by
descendants of the Tang Clan.

Featuring traditional Cantonese
architecture, parts of the village

date to the 17th century.

Village leader, Ying Wu Tang,
is showing me the family temple.

This is very, very beautiful,
how old would this be?

HE SPEAKS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

200 years? Yeah.

200 years. Uh-huh.

Tell me about this.

HE SPEAKS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE

Then my daddy, my grandfather
and all the generations.

Well, wonderful, may I see?

OK.

My father and my grandfather.

Very beautiful and very moving.

Your family have been here,
how long?

Over a thousand years.

A thousand years? Yeah.

All Mr Tan.

One family, 1,000 years?

Yeah.

It makes the British occupation
seem like just a...moment.

Tucked away in the quiet village,
the Yi Tai study hall,

built during the latter years
of the Qing dynasty

in the mid-19th century, was
converted into a primary school

around the time of my guidebook.

A little desk like this, countless
generations of villagers

will have done their Confucian
studies and will have learned

too, to revere their ancestors.

It strikes me that in a place
where a family has lasted

for 1,000 years, you probably
view history differently.

It's not so much about the isms -
imperialism, communism, capitalism.

The empires don't matter so much,
the Qings and the Mings.

And even for the one-day visitor
to the village,

it makes you perceive the past
quite differently.

I'm leaving the New Territories,

and taking the MTR back
to the heaving metropolis...

..where I'm navigating a vast,
open-air market in Wan Chai,

on Hong Kong Island.

Wan Chai is an old residential
district of faded apartment blocks.

And on them, they've grown
air-conditioning units,

like barnacles on the hull
of an old ship.

But down here, by contrast,

the produce is incredibly beautiful
and fresh.

Well, fresh it should be,
half of it is still alive!

Hello, guys. Hi.
Excuse me. How are you?

Are you enjoying Hong Kong?
Yeah, we are.

Where have you come from?
Well, we both live here.

You do? Yeah. So this is
our local...our local market.

Oh, how amazing! How long have you
lived in Hong Kong?

Er...I've been here nine months.

I've been here for, like,
a month and a half.

Wow! Just moved here.

How are you enjoying it?
Yeah, I love it.

What do you enjoy about the life
here?

I mean, for me, we came here
because of the food

and the...the travel opportunities.

You can really travel anywhere
in South Asia very easily from here.

And it's an exciting place.

There's a lot going on.

It's never boring.

There have been protests recently.
Has that been disruptive?

Has that had you on edge a bit?

Er...no. It's actually been
very exciting, I think, for me.

I mean, it's not very often you see
democracy, like,

happen in front of your eyes
that dramatically.

Thank you so much. So nice to talk
to you. Thank you. Yeah. Bye-bye.

Enjoy your meal tonight.

This silent and very dignified
demonstration

is part of a series of protests
that have been held in Hong Kong

over the proposal for a law by which
Hong Kong people could be extradited

to the People's Republic of China
for trial on charges,

presumably including
political charges.

Now, the British did not really
bequeath to Hong Kong democracy,

but they did leave a legacy of laws

that were pretty much fair
and non-political.

And so Hong Kong people now fear

that they're losing
some of those important rights,

they're losing
their special standing

and they're losing their autonomy.

It's my last day exploring
Hong Kong,

and I'm heading to one
of its outlying islands.

My next stop will be Lantau,

which the Chinese call
Big Island Mountain.

Certainly, it's a great deal larger
than Hong Kong Island.

And although it's
sparsely populated,

it is strategically important.

It hosts the International Airport
that opened in 1998.

I'd like to see how important
it was to the British

as they monitored shipping headed
towards the Pearl River Delta

and the great ports of China beyond.

TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT IN CHINESE

TANNOY: Be a safe escalator user.

Hold the handrail and don't keep
your eyes only on your mobile phone.

Lantau Island was added
to the colony in 1898

as part of the New Territories'
lease.

Today, it's connected to
the mainland by a large double-deck
suspension bridge,

with road above and rail underneath.

The largely-mountainous island
is often referred to as,

"the lungs of Hong Kong".

A destination for pilgrims,
the remote Po Lin Monastery,

with its colourful Buddhist imagery,

sits alongside the Big Buddha,

a 34-metre bronze statue
built in 1993.

I've arrived in Tai O,

a traditional fishing village
on the west coast of the island.

HUBBUB

What a sight - the village of Tai O,

on the same island as
the Intercontinental Airport.

But here, houses on stilts.

Long before people lived
in apartment blocks,

I suppose this is how they dwelt.

And long before they made
their living out of financial
services and shipping,

it was with a boat
and a fishing net.

LOW CHATTER

No need to ask here
whether the fish is fresh.

Hello! Hello.

Let's go for a lovely cruise,
please. Thank you.

Mm! There's a cool breeze
upon the water

and the modern world seems
very far away.

The fishing village of Tai O offers
a glimpse of what life was like

in pre-colonial Hong Kong.

And just outside the village,
with a commanding view
over the Pearl River Delta,

is a striking example
of colonial architecture.

It's now a boutique hotel,

and Karl Law is the manager.

Karl, from the veranda, we have
a terrific view. Lots of islands,

and actually, quite a lot
of shipping, as well. Yes.

And if I look out, what...what
can I see?

If you look all the way, far,
you can see Macau and Zhuhai.

So, this is quite a strategic point?
Yes, it is.

This building,
what was...what was this?

This building,
it was a marine police station.

And it was the period of 1902.

And during that time, there were
a lot of pirates around this area.

So this is why this police station
was built,

to look after this coastline, also
look after this fishing village.

What were the tasks
of the marine police?

At the night-time, the police
officer would use a searchlight
to scan around the area,

to look for any illegal immigrant,
also the smuggler,

around this area during that time.

When did it cease to be
a police station?

This police station was closed
in 2002.

The reason it was closed is because
this village became safer and safer.

They only recorded only five crimes
during the period.

So they decided
the police station was closed

and then the police were moved out.

A happy reason for a closure.

I'm nearing the end of
my exploration of Hong Kong

and returning to
the Central District.

I came in for a simple cup of char.

This is wholly unfamiliar to me.

Red-brown liquid, boiling hot.

It's a whole new strain of chai,

and not necessarily my cup of tea.

This, I'm told,
is Hong Kong-style milk tea.

Thank you very much! Thank you.

Hm.

The whole place
smells strongly of tea.

Ha-ha-ha!

Yeah, it's very, very strong tea
with condensed milk.

And the tea has been repeatedly
strained to make it smooth.
It is smooth.

It's a kind of very strange fusion

between British and Chinese ways.

Which actually reminds me
that I came to Hong Kong

in the very last days
of British rule.

I was Defence Secretary,
I came to visit the troops.

Was received by the last governor
at Government House.

And we did feel very sad
about giving up Hong Kong,

but I think that was mixed
with a certain shame.

Because, you know,
possessing a colony

in the closing years
of the 20th century,

was anachronistic, to put it mildly.

And in 150 years of British rule,

we had not established
British-style democracy.

But still, we did fear
for the future of Hong Kong.

Two decades have passed since
the handover ceremony

overseen by the Prince of Wales

and the Governor, Chris Patten.

I want to find out from Hongkongers
how life has changed for them.

Radio presenters Noreen Mir
and Hugh Chiverton,

and Benita Chick,
a CEO of a social enterprise,

are long-time residents.

It's nearly a generation since the
handover of Hong Kong back to China.

Is it still very different
to live in Hong Kong

from elsewhere
in the People's Republic?

Things have certainly changed.

Our education system,
a lot of the shops, a lot of things,

but I think there's something
very distinct about Hong Kong
culture and our identity.

How we behave, how we interact
with the rest of the world.

People would still want to come
to Hong Kong because

we have the rule of law, or
whatever, that make us distinct.

Noreen, for you, too, would this be
the fundamental difference -
the rule of law?

I think so. I agree with Benita,

the rule of law is very different
in China.

In China, it's a civil-law system.

In Hong Kong,
we've still got a common-law system,

I think inherited from Britain.

And we trust the judicial system
here in Hong Kong.

Hugh, I take it you've lived here
before and after the handover.

Has it made much of a difference
to you?

Have you seen many differences?

I think the biggest differences
I've seen, to be honest,

in Hong Kong, over that period,

have been differences that have
affected the whole world,

in terms of globalisation.

I think Hong Kong is a more,
er...it's a more westernised place.

It's a more international city
than it used to be

back in the '80s,
when I came to Hong Kong,

But I think that's true of China,
as well.

One thing that hasn't changed
that is important, I think, also,
is freedom of expression.

You can really say we're as free
to say what we want in Hong Kong

as anywhere in the world.

And you're not, over the border.

What is at stake now
with the demonstrations?

The crux of the problem is the lack
of democracy,

or universal suffrage,
which is enshrined in the basic law.

People want to vote.

People want to vote for
their leaders in Hong Kong,
and they're not able to.

20 years after the handover,

we're not being given
what was promised.

The anger and the frustration
is there, and it's escalating.

My fear for Hong Kong would be
all of the protests,

all of the noise,
all of the international coverage

actually won't achieve anything.

Amid the pulsating pace
of capitalist life in Hong Kong,

I've enjoyed perceiving contrasts.

My unexpected brushes
with village life

and with traditional ways
of thinking and doing.

On my first visit since the end
of colonial rule,

I find the long-established trends
have continued.

Passing under the control
of communist China

has not prevented
the city from becoming bigger,

taller and even more international.

But as Sun Yat-sen observed
a century ago,

the city's people are used to living
freely and expressing their minds.

And the question for the future

is whether for Beijing,
that contrast goes too far?

Next time, I'm in Thailand

to find out about one of
the kingdom's great monarchs.

King Vajiralongkorn is, up to today,
Michael, venerated

for saving Thailand
from this colonial threat.

Take cover in an umbrella factory.

How do I look?

Wow! You look like an astronaut.

And discover the potent ingredients
of Thai cooking.

This is shrimp paste.

Really? Yeah. Have a smell.

Shall we, um...? Oh!

THEY CHUCKLE