However, in the 1960s, residents began to leave their ancestral home: Hong Kong was industrializing rapidly, and it was becoming hard to make a living from farming.

It was abandoned for 70 years following WWII, since it was too large and expensive to maintain. Now, trees surround it.

In the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, many families emigrated overseas — like Wong’s, who moved to the UK when she was 15 — for better opportunities, and elderly residents passed away.

However, in the 1960s, residents began to leave their ancestral home: Hong Kong was industrializing rapidly, and it was becoming hard to make a living from farming. “We didn’t even have shoes ...

However, in the 1960s, residents began to leave their ancestral home: Hong Kong was industrializing rapidly, and it was becoming hard to make a living from farming.

“Elsewhere in Hong Kong, many abandoned villages had houses collapsed beyond recognition and vegetation invaded the whole village,” says Chiu Ying Lam, head of the Hong Kong Countryside ...