An Idea Worth Its Salt

A proposal to revive salt making at the fishing village of Tai O has been floated, but as the last few salt-makers are in their 80s, younger folks will need to learn the traditional skills to make it happen.

Tai O was famous for salt making for centuries, with exports to the mainland dating back 700 years. The industry was still thriving in Tai O at the turn of the 20th century. But with severe competition from salt produced on the mainland, it declined in the 1940s and finally ended in 1969.

Most maps still show the outlines of the disused salt pans, but tourists mainly visit Tai O to see the stilt houses and watch villagers make shrimp paste.

Bringing the salt industry back to life would be great for Tai O, and the best part is it's an idea that doesn't involve the government pouring more concrete. Even the old salt-makers are excited about it:

Chow Gau was thrilled to learn that salt making could soon resume in Tai O.

The 88-year-old's only concern is whether it will still be done the traditional way - he is the youngest of the village's surviving former salt makers. "We are too old to farm on a salt pan again. I am worried it is not easy to revive it, as there is a lack of skilled workers," he said.

Mr Chow, who has lived in Tai O for 64 years, is one of three villagers who used to work on the salt pans - tidal flats on the western tip of Lantau where the South China Sea deposits salt.

"I was taught how to use the instruments and how to produce salt by my father in my home town, Shanwei in Guangdong. My father was also a salt farmer," he said.

"I came to Tai O at 24 and was immediately hired by one of the three salt farm operators."

The salt pan was close to his home and at least 10 villagers worked for the same operator, he recalled.

There was no fixed schedule for collecting salt from the pans since the work depended greatly on the weather and the humidity.

"When we collected a large amount of salt, we would place it in warehouses. After that, we would pack it in bags and sell the salt to consumers," he said.

During the 1930s, the salt produced in Tai O was costly. Local residents could not normally afford it and most was for export.

The buyers, who came to Tai O by boat, would smuggle the salt back to the mainland. Their trading was done with another commodity - rice.

"I could get 300 catties of rice when 100 catties of salt sold during the best selling period," Mr Chow said. "But the business was always fluctuating."

He recalled that salt making went into decline after the Japanese occupation in Hong Kong ended in 1945.

Mr Chow said salt making involved multiple processes and would need many workers to do the job. He said employing skilled labour from the mainland could be a way to solve the shortage of salt farmers in Tai O.

I hope this plan gets off the ground and that soon visitors will be able to enjoy living history and buy genuine Tai O salt as part of their Hong Kong experience.

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