Many of Hong Kong’s remote villages are crumbling into ruins or have been despoiled by the small-house policy. We meet experts and former residents who’ve given three of them a new lease of life.
While there is still much to appreciate, the Hong Kong countryside is a troubled paradise. The hills, valleys, woods and waterfalls are wonderful, and Hongkongers can be justly proud of the country-park system, but some of our villages are deserted, with houses crumbling to ruins, and many more have been stripped of their rural charm by higgledy-piggledy clusters of three-storey “Spanish” villas.