After Chinese Festival: Where’s Home? Reflect and Explore Community, House, Memory, and Meaning of Home

Reflecting on this year's Spring Festival, whether it was the brief reunions with relatives and friends I hadn't seen in years, or the nostalgic return to my hometown, I'm inspired to write down a collection of stories infused with emotions about community, home, memory, and belonging.

The bond between people is deeply rooted in the cities and communities they inhabit. Each dwelling shapes unique modes of interaction, ultimately fostering a balance of social dynamics and coexistence.

Over the past 25 years, I moved from the spacious lands of Malaysia to the land-constrained Hong Kong, where every relocation led me to vastly different residential communities.

01.

0-13 years old Born in the Gated Community Condominium Era

When I was young, my bed was adorned with plush animal toys. Being afraid of the dark, I often found myself unable to sleep. So, I would sit up and kneel by the window in the dead of night. The 50-centimeter bed, combined with my 100-centimeter self, positioned me perfectly to gaze at the swimming pool in the apartment complex. The complex consisted of three residential buildings, with the swimming pool and community facilities forming a courtyard layout. The pool seemed especially eerie in the middle of the night, reflecting the lights from the households still awake in the three buildings. As I watched the lights from other people's homes, I felt an inexplicable sense of security, realizing that the world wasn't just me and the darkness. Before long, drowsiness washed over me, and I finally laid back down to enter the realm of dreams.

Gated communities began to rise in Malaysia at the end of the 1980s and gained popularity in the 1990s, primarily addressing social security concerns at the time and providing residents with comfortable and secure living environments. With private security and perimeter walls, as well as basic amenities, communal spaces, and recreational facilities, gated community residents unconsciously developed a strong sense of community and belonging. Most residents were middle-class families, resulting in similar lifestyles and values. In an era without the internet and social media, the neighborhood atmosphere was exceptionally close-knit. Particularly during evenings and weekends, shared facilities became spaces for residents to socialize, interact, and foster lasting relationships, cultivating a very friendly sense of extended family.

Access-Controlled Apartment Community Facility Floor Plan

The swimming pool on weekend mornings is a communal space where residents gather and interact

02.

Chinese New Year's Eve to the Fifth Day of the Lunar New Year

Corner Single-Storey Terraces

Evert year during the Spring Festival, our family of four would go to Grandma's house to celebrate. Grandma's house has three rooms, with the large front room serving as Grandpa and Grandma's master bedroom. My sister, mom, and I would squeeze into the windowless secondary bedroom. The back room serves as a storage area for the house. Inside the room is a double bed where my mom and sister sleep, while I sleep on a mattress laid on the floor. As night falls, I feel the fear of not being able to see my hand in front of my face in the pitch-black room. Aside from the chirping of geckos from the ceiling and the buzzing of the exhaust fan, I can't see or hear anything, as if the room is slowly engulfing me. At this point, I can only tightly close my eyes and tell myself that in a few hours, when I open the door, I will see the bright sunlight and the spacious side yard, where I can play with my cousins.

Corner single-storey terraces are another common type of residential housing in Malaysia. They offer the advantages of a simple and practical rectangular layout along with relatively spacious outdoor living spaces. These terraces are not subject to the control of gated communities, and their outdoor spaces are more flexible, allowing for a closer relationship with nature. Residents may choose to plant various vegetables, fruits, and flowers in front of their houses, or convert the space into parking areas. Neighborhood relationships are more diverse compared to gated communities. During ethnic festivals, different households set up tents, tables, and chairs, inviting relatives and friends over to eat and play mahjong.

The front yard of a single-storey terrace can be used for parking, storage, or transformed into a small garden

During festivals, tents will be set up along the road in front of the houses, with tables and chairs arranged to host relatives, friends, and neighbours

03.

14-18 Years Old

Gated Community Double-storey Terraces

Later, our family moved from the apartment complex to a two-storey terrace community. Similar to the apartment complex, the community also has security walls, a swimming pool, and other basic facilities. The difference is that the community's public garden is designed between the alleys behind the two rows of houses, while the road where cars drive in is outside the front yards. My room happens to face the garden in the rear alley. In the evening, occasionally, I would hear the sound of children from other families playing with kids from neighboring houses. However, apart from this, we rarely ventured out of the community, and due to various restrictions within the neighborhood, we seldom saw neighbors setting up tables and chairs in the front yards to host friends.

Although the lifestyle is very similar to that of the apartment complex, the two-storey terrace provides more spacious private space. On one hand, it combines the advantages of comfort and safety of the apartment complex, and on the other hand, it offers more private space for the terrace houses. While the quality of life has improved in the textbook sense, the reduced need for activities in public spaces has also led to very limited interaction with neighbors. Furthermore, the community management has strict regulations on the appearance of houses and landscaping, resulting in a uniform look of the houses in the community, thus making the provided public spaces and facilities serve as places to meet individual activity needs.

Access-Controlled Terrace Community Facility Floor Plan

Community Children's Playground Connecting to the Rear Lane Garden

Access-Controlled Terrace Community's Uniform and Neat Exterior Appearance

04.

19-23 Years Old

Student Hall Dormitory, Largely Minimized Living Space

When I was in college, I moved into the student dormitory on campus. At that time, Hong Kong was experiencing social movements, compounded by the outbreak of the epidemic shortly thereafter. The student dormitory served as both a safe haven for isolation and a breeding ground for external instability. Over the four years, I had four roommates from different countries. Living with two people in a space of only 15 square meters, I suddenly realized how important and precious the private space I used to have was. Suddenly, the partitions in the bathroom became the most private place. On the same floor, there were a total of 40 students—40 people sharing a 15-square-meter kitchen, three refrigerators, and a 20-square-meter living room. This cramped living environment presented me with a completely new challenge.

More importantly, living with someone with completely different habits and backgrounds made me feel like I was being watched all the time. The mutual tolerance in daily life taught me a very important lesson in growing up. Living in the dormitory room was not for comfort, but more like a place to meet daily needs for eating and sleeping. Therefore, most students shifted outdoor activities to nature. Hiking on weekends, running along the coast, playing ball in the gym, and swimming in public swimming pools became common after-school activities. This, in turn, increased opportunities to connect with nature, leading to another kind of chaotic yet orderly lifestyle.

Hong Kong University Student Dormitory Full View

05.

After Graduating from University

Hong Kong Working Class’ Private Apartment

After graduating from college, I moved into a 30-square-meter private residential estate. While experiencing the convenience brought by the dense living conditions, I often felt lost and anxious in the fast-paced life. A piece of carpet and a small sofa in the living room became the place where my roommate and I relaxed, chatted, watched TV shows, and had meals after work. Life no longer had the freedom it used to. The 4-square-meter room was filled with a bed, a small table, a chair, and a clothes rack, while the bed was still adorned with stuffed animals. Sometimes, this 5-centimeter-sea-view room seemed to take me back to my childhood. In the quiet of the night, I would sit in front of the window sill, looking at the building across the street, imagining other people's lives, and filling the emptiness of my life in a foreign land.

4 square meter room layout

5-cm Sea View Outside My Window and The Buildings Across

What is home? How exactly is the relationship between home and house defined? What roles do cities and communities play in this context? Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck wrote about this in 1956.

“The dwelling and its extension into the exterior, the city and its extension into the interior, that's what we have to achieve！“

I believe that the concept of a house transcends its physical structure. It encompasses the notion of home, a place for creating and cherishing memories. Home is not just a building; it is a sanctuary filled with personal experiences, emotions, and connections. Homes are not isolated entities but closely intertwined with communities and cities. They form the foundation of communities, where collective identities are forged. The vitality and strength of communities are often manifested through the bonds within families.

Similarly, cities play a crucial role in shaping our experiences of home and community. Urban environments provide a stage for diverse cultures, traditions, and interactions. The design and planning of cities can influence social cohesion, inclusivity, and a sense of belonging. Therefore, achieving an ideal integration among houses, homes, memories, communities, and cities becomes essential. This requires creating an environment that fosters strong community ties, where families are not isolated but seamlessly connected to larger urban structures. It involves designing cities with a focus on interpersonal interactions, green spaces, and sustainable living.

In the pursuit of this goal, we can create spaces that encourage the formation of lasting memories, cultivate a sense of belonging, and foster social cohesion. By recognizing the interplay between houses, homes, memories, communities, and cities, we will shape living environments that truly enrich our lives and promote thriving societies.

Translator: J