香港新國際機場的興建,掀動了周邊地區-赤鱲角和東涌的變化,多個擁有數百年歷史的原居民村落需要遷徙,一個安頓從市區遷來的居民的新市鎮亦隨之而誕生。本文將探討遷徙以後,原居民、新市鎮居民、政府文物機關以及研究者的歷史記憶論述在這一過程中所產生的互動,及其如何影響新社區的建構。各個社會成員透過掌控及重塑歷史記憶,重新建立社區秩序:因就官方遷徙計劃中既定「原居民」與「非原居民」身份的劃分,善於挪用社區歷史論述權的一些原居民成員最終成為遷徙後的村落領袖;當地一間村落廟宇的文物保護運動加強了該村遷徙後的社區身份認同,並影響它與東涌舊村落的融合;新市鎮精英藉着社區展覽和本地報刊重新包裝舊村落的文物和文化,建構起社區身份和社會網絡;而東涌舊村民則透過文化遺產的論述和限制新市鎮居民參與東涌神誕活動而劃清社區界線。過去,研究香港遷徙計劃的著作經常把遷徙前的歷史與遷徙後的新生活割裂開來。筆者認為,要全面了解遷徙後社區的重塑過程,必須了解過去與現在的聯繫,歷史記憶如何被掌控與建構。跟一般社區抗拒由官方與公眾加諸其上的歷史論述不同,東涌的案例展示本土社區如何透過挪用官方論述重建自身的歷史記憶。
The completion of the new Hong Kong International Airport in 1998 caused the relocation of several villages in Chek Lap Kok and Tung Chung and the building of the Tung Chung New Town nearby for new settlers from urban areas. This thesis examines how the construction of historical memory by the native villagers, the new settlers, government heritage institutions and commissioned researchers affected the building of new lives after relocation. In correspondence with the official distinction between "indigenous" and "non-indigenous" residents in the relocation project, those villagers who were articulate in narrating the past in terms of communal settlement history became local leaders in the relocated villages. The publicity in mass media about the restoration of a local temple for heritage preservation reinforced the communal identity of a relocated village and affected its reintegration with the old Tung Chung community. By repackaging the heritage of old Tung Chung villages in exhibition and local newspaper, local elites in the New Town attempted to construct communal identity and social networks. Through limiting the new settlers' participation in the festival of the patron god of Tung Chung, native villagers managed to demarcate their communal boundary excluding the New Town by narrating their heritage. The previous studies on relocation in Hong Kong often focus on the community's history and the situation after relocation separately. This thesis argues that the link between the past and the present in terms of how people construct and manipulate their historical memory in relation to the present and future is important for our understanding of how people build their new lives after relocation. Unlike many studies about the local community's resistance against official or public narratives about local history, the cases in this thesis show how local communities appropriate official or public narratives for constructing their own historical memory.