Villages and Market Towns in Hong Kong: Settlement and History

Patrick H. Hase

Nov 2024 · The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

About this ebook

Most histories of Hong Kong begin with the arrival of the British, and only incidentally mention the pre-colonial eras. In this book, Patrick Hase, one of the leaders in the field, provides an important addition to the history of Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta region, covering topics such as Chinese ethnicity, commerce, port-towns, and squatting. It is a truly excellent work that will interest historians, anthropologists, and social scientists.

—James L. Watson

Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society and Anthropology Emeritus,

Harvard University

This book, an historical and archaeological portrayal of Hong Kong market villages across the territory, depicts how Hong Kong evolved not through chronicles of emperors and governors but through the ups and downs of different centres of rural life over the centuries. It belongs beyond the bookshelves of historians and archaeologists—anyone wandering the streets of Hong Kong neighbourhoods today wondering “how did this place get to be here?” will find this book well worth reading. After reading this book, I will never again look at Tsim Sha Tsui in quite the same way.

—Gordon Mathews

Research Professor and Emeritus Professor of Anthropology,

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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How have places in Hong Kong evolved since well before the 19th century? Villages and Market Towns in Hong Kong is a vital book, showing us how its various suburban settlements came into being. Such is a history of immense interest as well as unending fascination.

Since arriving at Hong Kong more than half a century ago, Patrick Hase has been researching its local history, with a particular focus on the market towns and villages in the New Territories. Due to a lack of written documentation for the study of these communities, much of his research was conducted through oral interviews with village elders in the 1980s and 1990s. Hase sought their memories of the villages in their youth, as well as their grandparents’ accounts of the communities prior to the age of high technology, urbanization, and modernization.

Ratings and reviews

A must have book

Thank you for bring us back Hong Kong’s history!

About the author

Patrick H. Hase received his PhD in History from the University of Cambridge before coming to live and work in Hong Kong in 1972. He was a part-time lecturer and the advisory board chairman of the Department of History, Lingnan University. He serves as an honorary advisor to the governments of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Kaiping, and is the past president and honorary fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong, among others.

His previous monographs include The Six-Day War of 1899: Hong Kong in the Age of Imperialism (2008); Custom, Land and Livelihood in Rural South China: The Traditional Land Law of Hong Kong’s New Territories, 1750–1950 (2013); Forgotten Heroes: San On County and Its Magistrates in the Late Ming and Early Qing (2017); and Settlement, Life, and Politics: Understanding the Traditional New Territories (2020).