If a smell can represent a culture, the salty fragrance of shrimp paste is undoubtedly the signature aroma of old Tai O.
It has permeated the Lantau fishing village for a century but today, like the traditional identity of the inhabitants and their community, it is fading.
Shrimp paste is used in east and southeast Asian cooking to add flavour, colour and smell to dishes. Tai O shrimp paste gained its reputation among overseas Chinese because of Hong Kong's privileged position in trade compared with China in the 1950s to 1970s.
In the 1960s, there were about 10 shrimp paste factories in Tai O but there are only two remain. Even as the craft disappears from fishing communities across the city, steps are being taken to preserve at least its memory.
Shrimp paste making was officially recognised as a cultural asset in June when the government announced its first intangible cultural heritage list of 480 items. But locally made shrimp paste has become a part of history. Scenes of residents making shrimp paste began to disappear from Peng Chau, Aberdeen, Cheung Chau, Lamma and Ma Wan from the 1970s.
Traditional skills and constant adaptation to changes in society have sustained the business until now but the new generation is not carrying on with this production process. The industry has all along been run on an apprenticeship basis. If no one in the family is willing to take up the trade, then it will stop there.