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Presence of Declared monuments: The Antiquities
and Monuments Ordinance (Cap. 53), provides
powers for the designation of declared monuments
in Hong Kong. It also provides statutory protection
against the threat of development for gazetted
monuments, historic buildings and archaeological
sites which have been recommended by the Antiquities
Advisory Board (AAB) to enable rehabilitation
and maintenance works and to facilitate appropriate
levels of public access. According to the
Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO), there
were 67 declared monuments as of 21st August
1998.
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Presence
of Deemed Monuments: Deemed Monuments have
been identified by the AMO and agreement reached
with the owner of the Monument to provide
for specific measures to ensure preservation.
Deemed Monuments have the potential to be
upgraded to statutory Declared Monuments.
According to the AMO's records, there were
8 Deemed Monuments as of 21 August 1998.
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Presence
of Listed Buildings or Structures: The AMO
has also assigned gradings to buildings of
historical interest ranging from the most
valued buildings at Grade I down to Grade
III. The definition of the grading of historical
buildings is shown as follows:
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Grade
I: Buildings of outstanding merit; every effort
should be made to preserve if possible;
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Grade
II: Buildings of special merit; efforts should
be made to selectively preserve;
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Grade
III: Buildings of some merit; not yet qualified
for consideration as buildings for which preservation
efforts should be made.
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The
listed buildings or structures are stored
as working files at the AMO office. Each building
has its own file to record all the relevant
information.
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Presence
of Archaeological Sites or Features: The AMO's
existing records identified more than 200
sites of archaeological interest as of September
1998. The information is updated from the
current Territory Wide Archaeological Survey
commissioned by the AMO.
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Presence
of Historical Buildings or Structures: Current
records in the AMO archive indicate some 800
known "historical buildings" which
are not yet graded. The AMO has recently undertaken
a Territory Wide Historical Buildings Survey
to update the existing records. The results
of Hong Kong-wide surveys of Historic Buildings
and Structures are expected to include approximately
8,000 features (14).
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Presence
of Other Historical and Cultural Features:
This includes field patterns, trackways, landmarks,
fishponds, fung shui forests, evidence of
historic industrial activity and land management
practices (including evidence of lead mining,
iron ore smelting, brick-making, lime kilns,
salt pans and pottery production), designed
landscape features and contemporary or historic
burial areas (including burial areas, clan
graves and ecclesiastical graveyards). As
indicated in TR1, available information on
these features would be sourced from AMO's
archives (15).
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