Centamap has it marked as part of an old disused battery but in fact it was originally a mess building for the Royal Engineers. During the 1950's it was given over to Special Branch and used as a detention centre for suspected spies. This included it being used during the 1967 riots as a holding place for trouble makers - it was remote enough to hold people without any interference while the authorities waited for the troubles to cool down. More recently there are rumours that it was used as a staging point and debriefing centre for Tiananmen Square protesters who had managed to flee the military crackdown on the Mainland and were spirited away with the help of the HK authorities and other international jurisdictions including the USA (see Operation Yellowbird here).
These days it is currently being redeveloped into an international University campus for MBA teaching. The company responsible for its redevelopment has promised to protect as much of it as possible but I guess we will have to wait and see how it turns out.
4 comments:
Re "Lust, Caution": I was in Penang when filming for it *and* Vincent Chui's much less well known "Road to Dawn" were taking place.
I wonder... Phil, do you have plans to head to Penang to chronicle movie locations there? ;b
Hi Yvonne
Actually I was in your lovely birthplace at the beginning of the summer and had a great time (the highlight was when my wife had her vanity bag stolen by a monkey who then proceeded to shower money credit, cards, keys on our heads for the new 40 mins :-) ). No plans to focus on anywhere but HK & Macau for the foreseeable future.
Phil
Aiyee re your monkey in Penang story! Were you visiting the Botanical Gardens or Monkey Beach at the time? :O
that was at Monkey Beach. They're are the most aggressive monkeys I've seen yet.
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