Images of Central (中環掠影)

Central is the commercial and financial hub of Hong Kong. It used to be more human with its quaint old colonial style Post Office, Fire Station, Star Ferry, Governor's House,St. John's Cathedral and Botanical Garden etc and old trams rumbling along metal rails with its "ding, ding" as it warns passers-by of its approach or as it turns corners. Not much of them are left now.

What we got now are the products of linear thinking: rational, logical, straightforward, inflexible, mechanical and dull. Even the sun must adapt to its geometrical forms





As a result of the terrorism of the structure of "rationalism", man is forced to squeeze himself into a tiny corner of his own creation



They must make their way in the narrow corridors between huge columns of giant structures

"Art" too has become an abstract  "commodity"  to be "exchanged" at the relevant "market price" in accordance with the mindless operation of the principles of the "art market". This one  presumably  is intended to boost the self-importance of the "Stock Exchange" , perhaps to confer upon it an air of "grace" and "elegance" but if so, it appears to be ill suited for such purpose. It is "massive" but looks curiously "ironic". If it wishes to express the hope of opposing its lowly feminine weight to the might and height of the masculine tower beside it such hope may be illusory.  It can only serve as its humble handmaid. What or who can oppose our "glorious" march towards "progress"  and "financial development", financial services being viewed as one the three "engines" of "growth" of our economy?   Through that humble hole, we get a glimpse of our present lack lustre economy. An air of gloom seems to hover over its feeble attempt to inject a bit of color to give the "appearance" that we're still doing fine.

Flies are supposed to have composite eyes which enable them to survey the same world from different angles. Modern architecture has provided us with its own technological version of the "fly's eye" too. Of course, the poverty in the number of perspectives it can provide stands out in stark contrast to the richness of the "fly's-eye" view.

We got to borrow sunlight to give it a bit more lustre but what we really want is to screen out the sun so that we may live and work and shop within an entirely artificial environment powered by neon or LED lights. We don't want Nature to interfere. We want to cut ourselves off Nature..

A twisted view

a poor attempt at diversity



Ironically, the monuments of its magnificence may be distorted even by its own "eyes"

Perhaps only an "outsider" may notice this?

Who else has the "time" to be bothered?

An unintended effect of one of its perspectives

The sun working its magic

The sun at it again

Beside the richness of the most common tree leaves: the way they are criss-crossed by veins, big and small, the way they align themselves along a branch, the way different branches get out of the way of each other, the way their leaves change colors and textures when they are still buds, when they mature and when they fade away and then drop off, the way their colors and textures blend with the stalks, filled with tiny hairs, the bark of the tree, which break into grooves, channels, patches, the way they create flowers, with a huge variety of colors, tints and hues, they way they gradually morph into each other, the the intricate structure of its stamens, its calyxes etc.... the so-called "ingenuity" of human artifice, upon which man so prides himself, pales into almost total insignificance from its "crudity".

Man the indefatiguable and noisy builder

Tree, the indomitable silent hero of imperceptible growth under almost impossible conditions

Plants struggling to get a bit of the sun beside the escalator. I salute you.