Tsang Tai Uk

'The oldest villages in Sha Tin were built by the Punti people and first settled about 500 years ago. A number of Hakka villages were added between 200 and 300 years ago. Tsang Tai Uk was founded in the 1870s. The founder was a stonemason who opened a quarry at Sai Wan Ho and a masonry at Shau Kei Wan, and prospered greatly. He decided to invest his savings in building a village for his descendants. He built it in the style of his native home in Ng Wah, far to the northeast, which is why the village looks so different from other New Territories villages. It is built around five courtyards, centred on a fine ancestral hall. It is entered through three iron-bound gates. Two wells in the front courtyard provided drinking water. The roofs are decorated with objects to turn away evil spirits. The village is usually called Tsang Tai Uk (The House of the Tsang Clan), but its formal name is Shan Ha Wai (The Walled Village at the Mountain Foot).'

Hong Kong is trying its best to protect its heritage, its identity. With more than 150 years of British colonialism and its rapid development and modernization, it's impressive that it has still retained this much of its culture. Only when we are this close to losing something dear to us do we start to protect it. And only when we jump over the fence do we realize the grass isn't any greener on the other side.