Sustainable Solutions for Hong Kong’s Villages
Hong Kong is one of the world’s greatest cities. Less well-known is that there are also 600 villages in Hong Kong, mostly in the New Territories and outlying islands. Over the decades many have been abandoned or become rundown as villagers moved overseas and young people left to seek better jobs. One of the more established ones is Lai Chi Wo, a Hakka village in a remote valley in north-eastern New Territories, has still suffered from years of neglect after many villagers gave up farming and migrated to the UK in the 1950s. As part of an ongoing project through the Policy for Sustainability Lab under the Centre for Civil Society and Governance at the University of Hong Kong since 2013, a programme supported by HSBC, villagers are being encouraged to return to Lai Chi Wo to revitalise the village so that it will survive for future generations.
