Hong Kong’s oldest golf course receives UNESCO Cultural Heritage Conservation Award

Hong Kong’s Fanling Golf Course, which is the focus of a contentious reconstruction proposal, has been recognised for its for Cultural Heritage Conservation at the 2023 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards.

The award for the Fanling Golf Course from the United Nations body that aims to promote world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture - presented on 21st December - was made along with two other projects: Dongguan Garden Residences in Yangzhou, China’s mainland, and Karnikara Mandapam at Kunnamangalam Bhagawati Temple in Kerala, India.

In presenting the award, UNESCO advised “the multidisciplinary effort of the Fanling Golf Course project has strengthened the socio-ecological commitment and ‘people-nature-culture’ relationship of Greater China’s oldest championship golf course.

“(The project establishes) a welcome precedent for conserving a unique typology of landscape heritage, one located amid increasingly urbanised surroundings and subject to larger developmental pressures.”

UNESCO added that the golf club received recognition for producing “a narrative and a range of activities for a wide public.”

This year, 48 project submissions from eight Asia-Pacific areas were evaluated by the jury, which is made up of seven worldwide conservation specialists under the direction of a chair.

According to UNESCO, judges chose 12 winners based on their comprehension of place, technical prowess, sustainability, and impact.

UNESCO went on to say “the Fanling Golf Course project thus represents a major advancement in the promotion of an inclusive conservation management approach for cultural landscapes in both Hong Kong and the larger region.”

The award follows the Hong Kong Government having, in September, reclaimed 32 hectares of property from the 172-hectare course that was leased to the Hong Kong Golf Club as part of a contentious housing development plan for part of the site.

On 9.5 hectares of the reclaimed ground, the Hong Kong Government intends to construct thousands of public housing units, with the remaining area will be used for recreational and conservation purposes.

Of the 32-hectare tract, seven hectares on what is called the Old Course have been made public since September. The club is also entitled to utilise the facility for tournament purposes.

The club, whose members are mostly the wealthiest citizens of Hong Kong, had previously applied for the UNESCO prize in an effort to save the Old Course portion from being turned into a housing development.

The action was taken after it filed a request for judicial review of the plan in July, claiming errors in the development’s environmental impact assessment study.

The award was “definitely not a bargaining chip,” according to club captain Andy Kwok Wing-Leung, to get the Hong Kong Government to scrap the redevelopment plan.

Kwok noted “we will persist in our efforts to collaborate with the government to ensure that this precious land receives the most appropriate arrangements possible.”

Kwok declined to comment when asked whether the award would be submitted as a supporting document to the judicial review, adding “this award further validates Hong Kong as a multicultural city and a leading international metropolis in the preservation of cultural heritage.”

Image: The Fanling Golf Course. Credit: The Hong Kong Golf Club.