The Salesian House of Studies has not changed much since it was built on a Hong Kong hillside in the 1930s. But the city around it has altered beyond recognition. Tower blocks, main roads and schools have sprung up and engulfed the mission house. The soundtrack of the presumably once tranquil retreat is now a symphony of constant drilling, rushing traffic and workmen shouting.
Cardinal Joseph Zen himself greets me at the door of the mission house. The humble building is where he began his studies in 1948, when he travelled to the island from his home in Shanghai just a year before Mao Zedong seized control of the mainland. After standing down as Bishop of Hong Kong in 2009, he has returned to the place where it all began for his retirement.
