Study on Urban Renewal of Chung Ying Street, Sha Tau Kok with Historical Narrative

In the current context of urban renewal, the memory of historic sites often faces the challenge of being neglected or even destroyed, and how to protect and pass on the local history and culture in urban renewal has become an urgent problem to be solved. To address this issue, this study takes Chung Ying Street in Sha Tau Kok as an example to explore the role of narrative in the renewal of historic sites. Chung Ying Street is located in Yantian District of Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, which is the ground boundary between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. It is the ground border between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, jointly administered by the Shenzhen and Hong Kong governments, and is known as the "window of one country, two systems". Due to its geographic location, the Chung Ying Street area has witnessed the historical changes between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and has been deeply influenced by the Hakka culture, with a rich geopolitical and folk cultural heritage. However, the grand political narrative dominates the current tourism space of Chung Ying Street, and the local history and folk culture are gradually being forgotten, with its vitality and attractiveness declining, so it is of great significance to enrich the narrative of the local space. Narrative theory, as an interdisciplinary research paradigm, has a wide range of applications in the fields of literature, painting, cinema, architecture and so on. Narrative is the construction of a story system with internal logic and meaning through the organic combination of elements such as time, space, characters and events. In urban renewal design, fully understanding and applying narrative theory can help us tell a good urban story, grasp the historical heritage and cultural inheritance of the area, and explore new ideas and methods for urban renewal. This paper firstly introduces the transformation needs and background of Chung Ying Street in Sha Tau Kok, which leads to the importance and necessity of the study; secondly, through the introduction of the relevant concepts of narrative theory, it systematically elaborates the narrative composition and elements, which lays the theoretical foundation for the subsequent study; through the exploration of domestic and international cases of renewal of historical locations, it summarizes the renewal design strategy that combines historical narratives; then, taking Chung Ying Street in Sha Tau Kok as a specific object, the four narrative elements of time, space, characters and events are analyzed in depth, and the existing problems of the site are summarized; finally, in combination with these narrative elements, and in view of the current problems, the renewal design is carried out from the aspects of constructing a narrative system, arranging narrative paths, and creating narrative nodes. In summary, through the in-depth exploration and practical application of the historical narrative of Chung Ying Street in Sha Tau Kok, we can search new ideas for urban renewal design. By fully exploring and utilizing local historical and cultural resources, we can better realize the functionality of urban renewal and promote high-quality development of historic sites. This study makes an attempt to address the issue of regional boundary zone transformation in a specific historical period, and can also provide useful experience and inspiration for the renewal design of similar historic sites.