A new build graces the skyline of the Hong Kong and Macau (HK/MU) BTE server. The headquarters building of the Apple Daily newspaper has been erected and in record time no less, after attracting many contributors to the site of its creation. Yet the speed of its completion and the passion of the builders hint at something deeper than just enthusiasm for glass and white concrete. They reveal it to be part of an effort to preserve the present aspect of Hong Kong in what seems to be a turning point in its history.

The entire building had reportedly been started and finished within three days. The construction was quick and spontaneous. Strikingly, it lacked a single director. When asked, none of the participants could point to one person in particular who could claim the idea, demonstrating that the project was a community initiative. When asked for a comment, Naz, a builder, moderator and a local Hong Konger said: “I believe that many of the builders [who] participated had the same thought in mind when they heard the news of the closure [of the Apple Daily Newspaper]- [to] build [their] HQ?” Fellow Hong Konger and veteran staff member Tomato concurred: “A bunch of us just came up with that same idea around the time.”

Deeper investigation shed light on the source of that inspiration and the local politics that led to it. To place the story in its proper context: The Apple Daily newspaper and its antagonism with the government has captured the public attention in the midst of a period of political upheaval for Hong Kong. After continued escalations, it finally had to end circulation and announced that it was closing its doors in late June. The announcement made quite the stir within the HK/MU server, not just for political reasons but also because there was a history between them and paper. Not too long ago one of Apple Daily's publications, Fruit Seeds, had covered the server and their passionate recreation of Hong Kong. Confirming that connection, Naz commented: “[We were] aware that Apple Daily may shut down in several days time. Many of our builders, including me, put all our effort in recreating [its] headquarters in hopes [of preserving] this building as part of Hong Kong's history. ”This last point seemed to be the key, not just to understanding this addition to BTE's Hong Kong but also to the philosophy of the entire server. A true passion for the narrative of the two hundred-island city and a sensitive ear for the rustle of history. In investigating the construction of the Apple Daily HQ it was impossible not to be enchanted by the lovingly rendered historic buildings of the city.

There was no interviewee that failed to bring the Central Admiralty to focus. While deceptively modern, consisting of many skyscrapers the frequency of which have made Hong Kong famous among great cities worldwide, this sprawling district hosts many companies that can trace the beginnings of their operation to the exciting if shady days of the British Empire and its ventures in the Far East. Some of them date back to that maligned Second Opium War which laid the foundations for Hong Kong's rise into the massive economic powerhouse that it is today. Tomato mentions: “...for example, the Jardine House. The company that built it, Jardine Mathewson Holdings Limited has a long history of influence in Hong Kong since the 1800s through smuggling opium.”

This is a city that has, if nothing else, a colourful and multifaceted story to tell. Another builder, Howard, who among other things is credited for all the rendering work in the recreation of the Apple Daily build, highlighted the ubiquitous but no less charming Tong Laus. These are the classical tenement buildings dating back anywhere from the late 1900s to the 60s that are preserved by city law in their old forms. He went into detail about the differences between them and their Macau and mainland counterparts: “Tong Lau in Hong Kong are usually 'tidy' as building extra balconies is prohibited… But in Macau, you can actually build cages hanging outside the Tong Laus to act like balconies.”Howard also elaborated on the process of recreating them, crediting the Japanese server for pioneering one technique he described: “An excellent way to detail Tong Laus [is] using heads to recreate shops, signboards and [AC]units, banners or create the hanging clothes outside Tong Lau windows… ”He also spoke of the challenges that their unusual shapes pose: “I think the main challenge of building Tong Lau is to make accurate outlines for them, as Tong Laus are usually very packed and their shapes can be very weird. ”This attention to the vivid details is what best demonstrates a living interest in history.

Returning to the Apple Daily headquarters, it is easy to see how that sensitive ear for history picks up on Hong Kong's unique chime. This time not in tracing back the flow of time but in recognizing how what was contemporary today can become history tomorrow. When asked if he thought they were preserving history, Tomato had to say: “Absolutely! In a way we are ‘save scumming’ Hong Kong in its current form, before the tides of history potentially change it [...]I think doing what we are doing now is definitely preserving the current history of our beloved city along with our culture and history.”

Perhaps one day that culture and history will vanish, but as long as it continues to capture the hearts and minds of the public as it does now, this day lies far in the future.

你仲記唔記得，中學時期的你，每日做咩？返學放學、做功課、溫書......相信是不少香港中學生每日的固定行程，但有一班00年後的中學生，年紀細細，就決定用Minecraft興建了一個香港。

在4月的時候，一名外國YouTuber PippenFTS發起了名為「Build The Earth」(BTE) 的計劃，希望在網絡世界中建構一個1:1的地球，並且邀請來自世界各地的玩家一同參與。直到現時，已經有來自世界各地的隊伍參與，透過分工合作去完成整個BTE計劃。Build The Earth: Team Hong Kong - Macau 就是當中負責興建香港和澳門的隊伍，目前有五十幾人，主要成員中，有不少都是中學生。

Could you still recall what you were doing when you were in secondary school? Going to school, doing homework, revising for exams, daily routines for most Hong Kong students. Meanwhile a group of secondary school students, born in the 2000s, have decided to build Hong Kong in Minecraft despite their young age.

In Apr (2020) the project named Build The Earth (BTE) was launched by YouTuber PippenFTS, aiming to build planet earth on a 1:1 scale, inviting players from all over the world to join. There have been teams from around the world splitting the earth into parts and completing them as a team. The Team Hong Kong-Macau is the team responsible for both Hong Kong and Macau, with roughly 50 members, mostly secondary school students.

成員各司其職起香港 絕不是「細路仔玩泥沙」

Minecraft是一款沙盒遊戲(sandbox)，玩家可以在一個隨機生成的3D世界中，利用帶有不同質感的立方體進行遊戲，當中備有多種模式，包括生存模式、創造模式等等，而興建地球用的，就是創造模式。要建立虛擬世界，除了要用到Minecraft之外，他們還會用到Terra121、CubicChunks、BetterBuildersWands、WorldEdit、Optifine、JourneyMap等可以附加在Minecraft的軟件，成員之一的阿軒表示:「JourneyMap的功能與Google Maps相似，而WorldEdit就可以幫助我們一次過創造大量方塊。」 他們又會以Google Maps作為比對，如果照片或者影像不夠清晰的話，甚至會親身到場視察。

雖然團隊成員年紀細細，但整個團隊其實十分有組織，絕對不是「玩玩吓」。現年22歲的阿軒指：「我們每個月都會投票選出一個大家最想興建的地方，即為該月的 community project。6月和8月是中環、7月是元朗、9月是大坑、10月則是尖沙嘴。」由計劃開始至今，已經興建了不少地標，包括金鐘政府總部、將軍澳尚德邨、中環、油麻地一帶，還有南灣澳門半島等等。阿軒在團隊中負責興建樓宇的部份，專注的地方有海怡半島和中環一大部份，當中最具挑戰性的地方非中環莫屬，中環有不少玻璃幕牆大廈，而在Minecraft中興建玻璃幕牆十分花工夫。「雖然玻璃只有一層，但玻璃後面的顏色也要做，再加上玻璃幕牆前面經常有的裝飾圖案。以遮打大廈為例，上面有一種大格和一種小格互相扣起，要營造到這個效果，就要把其中一個圖案放外面，另一個圖案放在裏面，所以總共要做四層。單計興建遮打大廈的時間已經花了16小時。」

Building Hong Kong with teamwork, far from being children's play

Minecraft is a sandbox game where players play around blocks in different textures inside a randomly generated 3D world. There're different modes such as survival and creative, and creative mode is chosen for building the planet earth. To start our virtual world, multiple mods were used in addition to Minecraft, such as Terra 121, Cubic Chunks, BetterBuildeWands, WorldEdit, Optifine and JourneyMap. "JourneyMap is similar to Google Maps in functionality, and WorldEdit helps us manipulate large number of blocks at once," said Ah Hin. They use Google Maps as a reference and will even do real-life visits if the photos were not clear enough.

The team is very organised and far from being children's play, despite their young age. Ah Hin, now 22 years old, mentioned: "We vote for a place where everyone wants to build the most as the month's community project. Central for Jun and Aug, Yuen Long for Jul, Tai Hang for Sep, Tsim Sha Tsui for Oct." Multiple landmarks have been completed since the start of the project, including Govt HQ in Admiralty, Sheung Tak Estate in Tseung Kwan O, Central, Yau Ma Tei etc., and Nam Van in Macau Peninsula. Ah Hin focuses on building the area of South Horizon and Central, and Central is regarded as one of the most challenging. There are many skyscrapers with glass facades and this takes a lot of effort to present in Minecraft. "The glass is one layered but we need to present the colour behind the glass itself, same as the decorations to the front. Taking Standard Chartered Building as an example, the large and small grids interlock and to achieve that, we need two patterns one above each other, leading to 4 layers. It took 16 hours just to build this building." 

而就讀中四的Soup，主要負責興建道路相關的物件，「不同時期興建的馬路都有所不同，例如觀塘或者中環的馬路會比較有組織，形成格網系統，這些馬路大多是以前興建的。而60、70年代興建的馬路則會因應地形而建，比較多彎路，例子有大埔和沙田。」

至於今年讀中六的Terry，因為要應考公開試，所以負責後勤的工作，比較少參與興建，當中包括管理伺服器軟件的運作，又或者解決團隊在進行計劃時所遇到的問題。例如 Minecraft有一個256米高的硬性規定，但香港不少建築物都高於256米，Terry就用一些名為模組(MOD)的功能去解決這個問題。

Soup, in F4, was mainly responsible for road-related objects. "Roads look different when they are built at various times. Kwun Tong and Central roads tend to be more organised, more grid-like, since they were older. 60s 70s roads tend to bend more with terrain, such as Tai Po and Sha Tin," said Soup.

Terry, in F6 and studying for his public exam, is mostly in charge of server support and barely builds. This includes managing server software and resolving technical issues. One example is the 256 block height limit in Minecraft, which most buildings in Hong Kong exceeds, and he will use mods to resolve this.

希望藉此宣揚香港 成員 Soup:「特別想保留這個時空、這個時間。」

團隊的目標是建造一個當下的香港，除了希望本地人有一個電子版的歷史紀錄之餘，也可以從另一角度探索香港，外國人亦可以藉此到香港「旅遊」。Terry表示：「雖然單單在遊戲中興建了香港，看似無用；但我覺得，遊戲可以最大程度地發揮軟實力，比起攝影和地圖更能吸引眼光，可以有效宣揚香港的文化和特色。 」正正因為香港的獨特性，團隊希望可以透過建築將香港的特點以及文化宣揚開去，透過介紹不同地方的歷史和特點以及展現香港於公共交通、食物，以至生活大小事的特別之處 ，去將香港人的聲音發揚光大。而Soup更加表示：「 在自己鍾意的遊戲入面，起自己鍾意而又屬於自己的城市，算是我自己由細到大的夢想。自己作為香港人，感覺到香港在過去一年的情況特別嚴峻，所以特別想保留這個時空、這個時間。」在Minecraft團隊中，Terry負責後勤工作、阿軒大多負責興建樓宇，而Soup則負責建設道路相關的物件。

Hoping to promote Hong Kong, Soup: Want to preserve this space and time.

The main goal of the project is to build a present-day Hong Kong, not just for locals to have a digital copy of our history, but also serving as another way to explore Hong Kong where foreigners could "travel". Terry mentioned: "Building Hong Kong in-game seems useless but a game is the best expression of soft power and is more intriguing than photography and maps. This way we can better promote Hong Kong's culture and speciality." It's Hong Kong's uniqueness that the team wants to promote, introducing our history through buildings, and even our unique lifestyle, food and public transport, spreading the voices of the Hong Kong people. "It's been my dream to build a city that I love, that I belong, in my favourite game. The past year has been challenging as a Hongkonger, and that gave me the urge to preserve this time and space," Soup said.

而中環是整個團隊最喜歡的地方，阿軒指出:「因為中環是我們兩個月共同興建的計劃，建設的過程也十分愉快，而且成果也十分好看和壯觀，是比較難忘的地方。」除此之外，中環的建築保留了中⻄混合的特色，中環是香港金融中心加舊城區的結合，複雜的路網和規劃十分有挑戰性，亦十分吸引，「我覺得中環有幾幢建築物都比較有特色，其中之一是怡和大廈。怡和大廈70年代落成，採用當時流行的白色，是香港唯一外牆窗戶以多個圓形組成的建築物。」Terry說。

雖然這個計劃是在虛擬世界中發生，但是因為這計劃，改變了成員在現實生活中的習慣，亦令他們對香港的城市規劃更了解。阿軒說:「開始這個計劃後，在街上反而多了抬高頭，不會只看電話，會留意一下樓宇是如何興建，留意一下是甚麼圖案。其實我們可以從樓宇興建的方式，知道建築物的興建時期，即使是公屋也有很多不同的模樣。」他隨後又補充：「以前往往是身居要職的人才可以寫歷史；但是現在，任何人都可以寫歷史。在Minecraft之中，我們在寫我們看得見的歷史。」

Central is the favourite part of the team. "Central is a community project for two months, and it's been a fun experience to build. The project looks great and astonishing, it's something we will never forget," Ah Hin points out. The blend of the West and the Orient in Central's buildings, plus the mix between a financial centre and an old town, complex road network and planning makes it both challenging and intriguing. Terry said: "Several buildings in Central are quite special. One of them is Jardine House, built in the 70s using white colour common at that time. It's the only building where windows in multiple circular shapes form the facade."

While this is a virtual project, it has made an impact on the daily lives of the team members and taught them valuable lessons about Hong Kong's urban planning. "Since this project, I've been looking up a lot more, rather than glued onto phones. I pay attention to how the building is built, and what patterns there are, which tells when it was built. Even public housing blocks come in all sizes and shapes," said Ah Hin. "Back then only the privileged could document history, and now, anyone can. In Minecraft, we tell the history we can see."

YouTube comments throwback

The original video was deleted but still fun stuff was backuped to be looked back.

Well actually one of interviewees went on to pursue urban studies at uni