Choi Yuen Village documentaries

Raging Land (2009-2012)

In 2008, the Hong Kong government announced the demolition of Choi Yuen Village, Wang Toi Mountain, Shek Kong, New Territories. On the grounds of the construction of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway project. The villagers who had been farming and living in the village complained that they were kept in the dark until November 11, 2008, when a large number of Lands Department personnel suddenly entered the village and painted the demolition numbers on each house, telling them to move out within two years. The Choi Yuen Village incident originated at this time, and the villagers launched a campaign to protect their homes that lasted for more than three years.

The government officially opened the high-speed rail for service in 2018. The villagers completed the construction of the new Choi Yuen village in 2016.

Since 2009, the local independent social documentary organization v-artivist, together with the Supporting Group of Choi Yuen Village, has filmed the process of Choi Yuen Village's resistance to the government's forced demolition, relocation, and establishment of a new village due to the construction of the high-speed railway. A trilogy of "Raging Land" was produced:

1. “Raging Land 1: A Record of Choi Yuen Village" (2009)
2. “Raging Land 2: Breaking New Ground Through Thorns And Thistles“ (2010)
3. “Raging Land 3: Three Valleys" (2012)

This study will explore how three documentaries document the struggle in Choi Yuen Village.

Produced By: v-artivist, Supporting Group of Choi Yuen Village
Camera and Editing: Benny Chan Yin Kai
In Cantonese with Chinese and English Subtitles
2009 / Hong Kong / DVD / 80min / Colour

Synopsis:
This is a film about Choi Yuen Village, which recorded villagers’ life between summer and autumn in 2009. New elements are slipping into their lives: meetings every week, guided tours with many visitors pouring into the village, petitions, demonstrations, and government consultations in which genuineness is in doubt. All of a sudden they need to tell “stories” of their life in the village for the past fifty years and also the meaning of their life. The ever-fixed conception of fiercer demonstration equals wanting more money seems shaken. The long-lost phrase “agriculture” also reappeared in the eyes of Hong Kong people. (After the end of the timeline shown in this film follows the climax of the anti-express rail movement around the Legislative Council).

Sadder still, the building of the express rail is on the move. Between spring and summer of 2010, villagers moved toward rebuilding the village with great difficulty. They face soaring land prices in finding a new place for the village, they need to negotiate with the government every day to try to get the license of rebuilding their home. Buying land, planning, building infrastructure, and processing farm products are all problems villagers need to solve on their own. The public now has a false perception that the government has given them a huge sum of compensation and has planned everything for them. All their efforts, from insisting on not leaving to rebuilding their homes are to live the way they want and protect their living standard. They want to live and farm in the same place, they want to live with their extended family, they want to live with their pets, and they want their elderly to have a better life.

What is going to bear the weight of this passion to life and to the land?

The documentary consists of two parts. Eddie Chu Hoi Dick said[1]: "One of the parts is to record the daily life of the villagers, and the mainline is Granny Ko, the mother of Ko Chun Heung, the chairman of the support group. Harvesting vegetables, selling vegetables, and going back and forth between Shek Kong and Yuen Long, the moment was plain and genuine. The other part was a record of the protests, including petitioning at the Tamar PLA headquarters, attending the Legislative Council and being detained, confronting Eva Cheng Yu Wah (secretary for transport and housing) in a PR show, and thousands of supporters supporting the villagers in anger. Either excited or indignant."

The documentary begins with a brief description of the background of the Choi Yuen Village incident in words:

"The next ten years
There will be a lot of planning and infrastructure works happening in the New Territories
Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, Lok Ma Chau Loop, Liantang Port, and Overhead Road, Hong Kong–Shenzhen Western Express Railway
A restricted area as large as Kowloon will be fully opened Under "Accelerating the Integration of the Pearl River Delta" "Avoid being marginalized" sayings
New Territories is facing an unprecedented change"
//
"Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway construction cost over 63 billion
is the highest engineering project ever
The high-speed rail depot and emergency station are scheduled to be located in Choi Yuen Village, Shek Kong, Yuen Long
A village witnessing Hong Kong's 50-year agricultural history without any discussion or consultation
The government has rushed the whole machine to run at full speed"
//
"The villagers of Choi Yuen Village have been kept in the dark November 11, 2008
Three tourist vehicles carrying more than 200 people from the Lands Department suddenly arrived
They followed the prepared plan
Broke into the garden without the consent of the householder to take measurements and post a demolition order
Every house had a demolition number that no one understands Announced that the government had requisitioned the land to build the high-speed rail
Emergency ambulance stations, train parking spaces, and maintenance facilities”
//
"The villagers have to leave in November 2010"

Granny Ko, the 80-year-old Choi Yuen Villager, harvests, weighs and sells vegetables throughout the documentary. In the film, she picks banana leaves vigorously, uses a knife to divide them into small pieces, collects the tree roots on the ground, rolls them into a rope, and ties the banana leaves into a bundle. Granny Ko said that a regular customer asked her for banana leaves to pack tea fruit. The photographer asked Granny Ko do people recognize her? Granny Ko replied:

"Yes, more people know me after I showed up on TV. "Granny, you've been on TV," I said yes, I'm not happy when I'm on TV. If they want to take my land back, I don't know how to live, and I don't know how to live in the future. "Don't be afraid. The government will compensate you" (sigh). I said that compensation is one thing, but I'm satisfied with living here and unwilling to lose my home. I'm used to living here. I have put so much effort into it. Do you see? I bought a land, built a house, and planted many fruit trees. Ah, how much effort went into cultivating it, and now you say take my (land), ah, I don’t even know where to live. I don’t know what to do with the land. “Don't be afraid. The government will pay you back.” But I'm not used to it. It's a good place to live. I've lived here for decades, and I don't know where to live in the future. It’s good to live here, and I have my living here. I can grow vegetables, have vegetables to eat, and sell vegetables. How good is it? Living in a building, how can there be land for you to farm? If I can’t farm, I don’t want to do anything. I’m already 80 years old.”

Granny Ko started harvesting vegetables at 6am. She filled two big plastic bags with her home-grown cabbage, ginseng, and Hedyotis diffusa. She took a trolley, took the bus from Choi Yuen Village to Tsuen Wan Chuan Long Street, and set up a stall to sell vegetables. She talks about how she has lived in Choi Yuen Village for decades while waiting for the bus.

Granny Ko first sold vegetables at the roadside on Chuan Long Street. After lunch, she moved to the stairs in front of a McDonald to continue selling vegetables but was chased away by the McDonald's restaurant manager and FEHD staff. During the sale, some neighbors gave her fruits, and some regular customers came to chat with her and exchange ideas about what food is good for children's health. The daily life of selling vegetables has changed because of the high-speed rail project. This year, many customers told Granny Ko that she could take this opportunity to retire and enjoy a happy life. Granny Ko always explained slowly and steadily:

"I want to be self-reliant, earn my own money, spend my own, and have my own. Some people say why do you work so hard? The government has money for you. I said no, I could do it myself. I am healthy, and I can control how much I earn and spend. Everyone asks the government for money. How much can the government give you?... I rooted here. Even if you want me to leave, it is difficult to move. I will stay here unless you come to lift me. I won't go."

The documentary also recorded several protests by villagers in Choi Yuen Village in the second half of 2009, including:

1. September 8, 2009 Petitions

The villagers of Choi Yuen Village, wearing aprons and straw hats, went to the Tamar PLA headquarters in the morning to petition and sent a letter to the PLA, hoping that the PLA would release some vacant land in the south for the construction of high-speed rail facilities to save Choi Yuen Village. The villagers shouted slogans outside the door: "Ask for the People's Liberation Army to rescue Shek Gong" and "Long Live the People's Soldiers";

At noon, villagers protested at the headquarters of the Transportation and Housing Bureau in Murray Building, Central, shouting slogans such as "Cheng Yu Wah kills the village and sees no blood," "Shek Kong Choi Yuen Village grows bananas, Cheng Yu Wah eats bananas," "Looking for people. Cheng Yu Wah, come to Choi Yuen Village immediately";

After lunch, the villagers went to the government headquarters to deliver a letter to the then Chief Executive, Donald Tsang. Ko Chun Heung, the convenor of Choi Yuen Village Concern Group, led the villagers to shout slogans.

2. September 10, 2009 Boycott Briefing Session

The government held a briefing session at the Choi Yuen Village Vegetable Station. The Choi Yuen Village Concern Group had indicated earlier that they would boycott all the government’s innocuous briefings. However, because the government officials had previously informed them that new information would be announced at the meeting, the Concern Group decided to attend. A group of villagers wearing green T-shirts also came to participate.

Under the camera, the villagers hummed the song "Light of the Choi Yuen" while crossing the road. The lyrics sang:

"Life is the most important home in the world
Planting love for a lifetime
Farming in the morning and making a good harvest with my hands
Gossip warm in the evening
Can simple happiness be continued for the second half of my life?
Your road to riches
Can you not come to my house
Co-development of rural and urban areas (Hey)
Can also coexist
Just don't come into my house this way
This prosperous land will never change.”

About half an hour after the briefing began, the villagers discovered that there was no new announcement from the government at all. After the concern group led the villagers to shout the slogan "The government betrays Choi Yuen Village," all of them left.

3. September 17, 2009 Villagers were arrested

That afternoon, the Legislative Council Railway Affairs Group held a meeting to discuss the high-speed rail. About a dozen villagers of Choi Yuen Village and members of the Choi Yuen Village Concern Group attended the meeting. During the meeting, because the villagers were dissatisfied with the repeated false remarks made by Cheng Yu Wah, the Secretary for Transport and Housing Bureau, the villagers protested in the auditorium. Afterward, the villagers and Concern Group member Eddie Chu Hoi Dick was taken away by the security guards, arrested by the police, and sent to the Waterfront Police Station (today's Central Police Station).

In the documentary, the villagers waiting outside the police station were worried and dissatisfied. Time passed, and more and more people came to join and waited outside the police station to support. At about 9pm, the arrested villagers and Eddie Chu were released. Ko Chun Heung, chairman of the concern group, spoke to the media outside the police station, during which she could not help choking:

"Cheng Yu Wah, don't lie to Hong Kong people anymore. You have never been to our village. Yau Shing Mu, you have never been to our village. With the optimization plan (said by the government), even the elderlies in their 80s and 90s know you're lying. (choking) Then how can you tell us not to speak up? If we don't speak up, what kind of society will Hong Kong be like? What will happen to our home? What will happen to the elderly? That's all we can say. We want our home, and we want to protect ourselves and our home. No moving, no demolition Choi Yuen Village.”

4. October 13, 2009 Confronting Cheng Yu Wah

The government suddenly told the concern group on October 12 that it would come to Choi Yuen Village to meet with the villagers in the afternoon of the following day. Due to the urgency of time, the concern group hoped to change the meeting to the evening of October 18. But the government insisted. On October 13, Cheng Yu Wah walked into Wang Toi Mountain Village Office immediately after arriving at Choi Yuen Village. After a while, Cheng Yu Wah stepped out of the village office and told Ko Chun Heung that she should attend the meeting on behalf of all the villagers. But Ko Chun Heung said that all the villagers wanted to participate in the discussion and should not be represented by her alone.

The villagers were worried that everyone was not well prepared for this unexpected meeting. Therefore, at the meeting site, the villagers made it clear to Cheng Yu Wah that they hoped to rearrange another time for the formal meeting so that the villagers could have time to discuss countermeasures. Unfortunately, the Government has no intention of arranging any more meetings.

The documentary explains in words: "However, a few days later, the government used public relations to smear the villagers. They have accepted compensation and are willing to move out. So the villagers decided to show their aspirations to the society."

5. October 18, 2009 Thousands of people supported Choi Yuen Village

From 2 to 4 pm on October 18, Choi Yuen Village held a "Thousands of People Angrily Support Choi Yuen Village" event. Villagers hung banners in the village: "Family can last for thousands of generations. Money is just a passing glimpse." The villagers of Choi Yuen Village, members of the concern group, and many Hong Kong People who came to support them took a group photo in Choi Yuen Village.

6. October 20, 2009 the ExCo passed the high-speed rail plan

Unfortunately, the villagers' protests could not stop the bulldozers from entering Choi Yuen Village. On October 20, 2009, the executive council passed the high-speed rail plan. The government held a briefing session in Choi Yuen Village on the same day, explaining the "long-prepared" compensation plan to the villagers for the first time.

Under the camera, the villagers couldn't hide their sad faces. The villagers tore up the paper symbolizing "compensation" while shouting, "No compensation, I want Choi Yuen Village."

Produced By: v-artivist, Supporting Group of Choi Yuen Village
Camera and Editing: Benny Chan Yin Kai
In Cantonese and English subtitles 2010/Hong Kong/DVD/120min/Colour

Synopsis:

Choi Yuen Village, a village threatened by the Express rail. In 2009 villagers went through countless demonstrations and petitions, which triggered the Anti-express rail movement at the end of 2009. Thousands of citizens surrounded the Legco to stop the budget from passing; all villagers only wanted their village to survive. In early spring 2010, the budget finally passed. The following Chinese New Year was not easy for the villagers. They had to decide whether they wanted to abandon the old village or not. At last, they conclude to accept the offer of a land rehabilitation scheme and rebuild a new village together.

In March, Choi Yuen Eco-community Building Studio was founded with the assistance of building the new village. Villagers and volunteers went on searching for land in Pat Heung together. For the time being, the struggle was not over. Villagers still needed to fight for the qualification of the rehabilitation scheme, which meant they needed to prove they were farmers. Finding new land and planning the future new village together all needed the hard work of the villagers. People in the general public still misunderstood the villagers' situation and always thought they got a lot of compensation. The government would buy the land and build a new village for them. All these bitter-sweet moments, all the hardship and quarrels, and all the villagers' emotions, they were all in for continuing their original lifestyle.

The Longan Trees that didn’t bear any fruits in 2009 blossomed and fruited lavishly in 2010. In this difficult time, what can keep villagers go together all the way long?

The documentary begins with a brief look back at the year before the Legislative Council passed funding for high-speed rail in January 2010, including:

- October 20, 2009 The ExCo passed the high-speed rail plan
- November 23, 2009 Anti-high-speed rail funding parade
- December 15, 2009 Anti-high-speed rail funding rally
- January 3, 2010 Parade
- January 8, 2010 Rally
- January 8, 2010 A group of post-80s youths initiated a territory-wide walk, and many villagers and citizens joined in. They knelt every 26 steps - a reference to the 26 kilometers of the rail.
-On January 15 and 16, 2010 over 10,000 citizens surrounded the Legislative Council
- On January 16, 2010 the Legislative Council passed funding for high-speed rail

The documentary records that on February 22, 2010, about a month after the Legislative Council passed the funding for the high-speed rail, Choi Yuen Villagers announced a plan to rebuild their homes. The villagers decided to move the village collectively through the agricultural restoration plan. Ko Chun Heung, director of the Concern Group, said: "It's approaching the end of the year (Chinese calendar year), and since the Lunar New Year's eve, the villagers have received various forms of pressure. The villagers are under a lot of invisible pressure and worries. We held a seven-night meeting, and most of the villagers understood the worries of the elderly. They want to live and work in peace and contentment, so we decided on a plan to rebuild our home.”

Difficulty 1: Strive for the rehabilitation licenses

The government set a deadline of October 10, 2010, for the relocation of Choi Yuen Village. Villager Ah Chuk explained in the documentary that the biggest obstacle to building a new village was that the government did not issue rehabilitation licenses to the villager, "You can build a house on self-purchased land only if you have a rehabilitation license." Therefore, the government has not decided on rehabilitation licenses for one day, and it is impossible to find land to build a new village.

At the end of April 2010, the government announced the approval of 15 rehabilitation licenses for the villagers of Choi Yuen Village. However, it is far from the number of more than 80 rehabilitation licenses [2] required by Choi Yuen Village.

In June 2010, the government asked villagers to submit information to verify the identity of farmers. Each farmer needed to provide a name, year of cultivation, and type of crops for applications.

On June 24, 2010, the villagers, the Heung Yee Kuk, and the Transport and Housing Bureau planned to hold a tripartite meeting in the Legislative Council to discuss the rehabilitation license. But until 3 pm, government officials still did not show up. An hour later, the chairman of the township council, Lau Wong Fat, had a phone conversation with Yau Shing Mu, but the villagers did not dare to leave the Legislative Council. At about 8 pm, Lau Wong Fat reappeared in the Legislative Council and went to Wanchai with the villagers for a tripartite meeting with the Transport and Housing Bureau. In the evening meeting, the Transport and Housing Bureau promised to directly handle the application for re-farming licenses in Choi Yuen Village. It confirmed that the number of rehabilitation licenses had increased from 26 to 28.

In early July 2010, the government notified the villagers by telephone, confirming that the number of rehabilitation licenses would increase from 26 to 39, about half of the number of applications from the villagers.

Difficulty 2: Finding land to build a village

Since March 2010, the villagers of Choi Yuen Village have visited 20 places in three months, including Kam Tin and other sites, to find a suitable place to build a new Choi Yuen Village.

Since 2009, the high-speed railway land acquisition has entered the discussion process. Dozens of villagers from Choi Yuen Village hold meetings every week. Besides the countless internal group meetings.

In June 2010, they established the new Choi Yuen Village agricultural group to prepare for the villagers to build their new villages.

"Raging Land 2: Breaking New Ground Through Thorns And Thistles" also intersperses with the farming and daily life of different villagers. Facing the imminent demolition of their homes, they have a lot of helplessness, powerlessness, reluctance, and anger. In this documentary, everyone has different opinions on different issues, but still, they cooperated.

Some of the views of different villagers shown in the documentary:

- Jane: "I'm worried. All the villagers are worried. I don't know what to do. The deadline for (moving the village) is approaching, and it will become an official land. Everyone doesn't know what to do. I can only try my best to win the rehabilitation licenses.”

-Ah Chuk: "It's better not to move. I don't need him (government) to compensate."

-Ah Fu: "I want the government to give me a (rehabilitation) license. Our trust (in the government) is a mistake. If correct, I don't have to work so hard. Our decision is wrong. We should fight for remaining unchanged, not relocated or demolished. He (the government) said that they would issue licenses and rebuild our homes, so I decided to trust him. How could I know that the government would lock all the doors? I would rather refuse the money and fight for remaining unchanged.”

- Mrs. Hui: "I'm going to move at the end of October. I don't have a house. Where should I move?"

In one of the scenes in the documentary, the farmer Shui Gor was plowing as usual, "October 6th is going to be moved, which is the 8th month of the lunar calendar, and it is after the 15th day of the lunar month. I will see if it is too late to harvest the radishes." The photographer asked, why is the weather so hot and you still plowing the fields? Shui Gor replied: "Because there are still a few tanks of fertilizer remaining." The photographer asked, but there will be new fields for farming in the new Choi Yuen village? Shui Gor hesitantly sighed, "Oh, then..." He revealed he didn't dare to imagine the road ahead.

During the interview, Shui Gor said: "In the past, more people supported Choi Yuen Village, but people thought that the government had compensated a lot of money to the villagers of Choi Yeun Village, and felt that we were greedy. We got one thing and asked for something else. (They don't know) Most of the compensations are given to the original inhabitants, who have land.”

(Editor’s note: Many villagers in Choi Yuen Village are non-indigenous residents who do not have land rights.) Shui Gor said that he is now concentrating on farming and no longer pays attention to the developments in Choi Yuen Village. "When my wife came home, I told her not to tell me about the current progress. I was upset when I heard it, and my life will be shorter for a few years."

Benny Chan, the documentary filmmaker, once admitted in a media interview[3] that the most challenging part of editing in this documentary was the footage of the villager's meeting. The interview wrote: "Because Choi Yuen Village is not the Garden of Eden, there are always disagreements and disputes in meetings like all groups. When editing these clips, it is necessary to explain the background and character of the villagers. Because the audience has to get the villagers' situation before understanding the dialogue in it and not lead to a misunderstanding that "all the villagers are selfish.” Benny believes that a responsible filmmaker or editor must spend time developing relationships with interviewees and familiarizing their living habits before capturing their daily moments.

Since March 2009, Choi Yuen Village had held guided tours every week to introduce the history of this non-indigenous village and the latest situation of opposition to demolition in Choi Yuen Village to non-Choi Yuen Village villagers. During the peak season of the summer holiday, up to three to four guided tours each week. Later, many villagers joined the guided tour program and acted as tour guides to explain village life.

At the end of this documentary, a thought-provoking speech delivered by villager Ah Chuk in the guided tour:

"We (Choi Yuen villagers) do not know whether we will succeed or fail, but we have no regrets about what we have done in the past. Because of what we have done, we did not do it alone. Some are following the footprints of our predecessors. For example, we do guide tours because some predecessors let us know that doing tours can pass on their experience to others. In addition, when our outcome is slightly better today, it may also because the success of the Wanchai Blue House conservation has given us some strength. In August last year, we heard the government would preserve the Blue House. We were all excited. Of course, it is best to keep Choi Yuen Village, isn't it? If our action is not too fail, it is all because our predecessors have walked many roads, and we just continue to go forward. Even if we can't keep Choi Yuen, we have done a good education and passed on our efforts. Next time another group of people may reencounter the same situation, they can refer to our method. If our method was not good, they should not use it. If our method was good, they might think of using it.”

The documentary ends with:

"Not the END
October 2010"

Production: Choi Yuen Support Group, v-artivists
Camera and Editing: Benny Chan Yin Kai
Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles
2012/ Hong Kong/ 310 mins / Colour / DV

Synopsis:

In 2010, amidst heated opposition, the Legislative Council approved the funding for the construction of the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link. The focus of the struggle of Choi Yuen Village, the major victim of the land resumption and clearance involved in the railway project, has then shifted to building a new village for themselves.

In 2011, whilst fighting for an official license that allows them to purchase farmland and build houses, the villagers began planning the new village. From the design of every single house to the ratio between private land, farmland, and public land, every detail was discussed and decided collectively.

Meanwhile, the government announced that the villagers had to move out in November 2010; however, due to the ‘Right of Way’ issues, the villagers were concerned about the possibility of commencing the construction of the new village on the piece of land which they were not sure if they had the right to pass through.

The government started to tear down houses in the village in November. To fight for sufficient time for building the new village, the villagers formed daily patrols to stop the demolition.

In May 2011, the villagers eventually left their homeland, in which they have lived for decades, and moved to temporary houses built on farmland they purchased.

Despite all the obstacles, the Choi Yuen villagers demonstrated persistence and unity. The struggle and experience of Choi Yuen Village manifest new possibilities to the villages in the northeastern part of the New Territories that are now confronting land resumption and demolition; it also reminds us of the true hardship of a prolonged struggle of this kind which we should never overlook.

The research team did not watch "Three Valleys" this time because V-activists told us: "As for "Raging Land 3 - Three Valleys", because we have agreed with the producers and the villagers, we will only show it on screenings with post-screening discussions. There is no DVD for sale, and we need to ask the producers and villagers for permission before showing each time, so we cannot provide video discs or online links.”

After its premiere in 2013, "Three Valleys" had held several community screenings, including a free screening at the Multimedia Theatre of HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity on March 10, 2013, with post-screening discussions. And on September 18 of the same year, it was screened at the 11th Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival. The film won the 2013 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in Japan. It was screened in Taiwan and Japan, including a screening at the B6 warehouse in The Pier-2 Art Centre, Kaohsiung, on November 16, 2014, with a post-screening discussion. And a screening at Osaka Academy of Visual Arts on October 22, 2016.

Editor's note: The twists and turns of building Choi Yuen New Village

Although the research team was unable to watch "Three Valleys," according to the film's introduction, we believed that the documentary recorded the difficulties of building Choi Yuen New Village. According to media reports of the year[4], the construction of Choi Yuen New Village went through twists and turns, including:

-In December 2010, 47 villagers in Choi Yuen New Village formed Choi Yuen New Village Co., Ltd. and purchased four lots of DD106 LOT 1993, 1996, 2000, and 2011 on Kam Sheung Road in December 2010 for rebuilding Choi Yuen New Village. After that, 47 households divided the four lots into 47 small lots, and the rest were public facilities and public farmland. Because the villagers of Choi Yuen New Village have not been able to solve the problem of the right to use the road leading to the new village, they have been unable to move out of the old Choi Yuen Village. Finally, Heung Yee Kuk announced on February 9, 2011, that a "good man" had paid for the right of way "to Choi Yuen New Village" to use the villagers and other public members.

-From April to May 2011, the villagers moved into the temporary houses built in the new village and prepared to build Choi Yuen New Village.

-In 2011, the Yuen Long Lands Office approved the construction of Choi Yuen New Village after consulting two nearby indigenous villages. Still, it was delayed until the second half of 2012 to issue the license officially.

-From March to April 2012, the villagers of Choi Yuen New Village signed a construction contract with the contractor and were ready to start construction. However, people kept erecting barriers to prevent the villagers from beginning construction when the construction process started. In March 2013, the villagers of Choi Yuen New Village, who had been waiting for two years, held a press conference for help.

-In May 2015, the forty-seven permanent farmhouses in Choi Yuen New Village were substantially completed. However, CLP has not yet been able to connect the electricity to Choi Yuen New Village. [5]

The process of building the new village took up to six years. And the Choi Yuen New Village was finally fully completed in 2016.

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[1] "Granny Ko's Farming Life, Possibilities in My City - Choi Yuen Village Documentary Raging Lang", November 21, 2009, Chu Hoi Dick, inmediahk, http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1005201?fbclid=IwAR0QLO2Peiuj2StSca7N4N8D75Zx-kP-ER-YyLblXFlNcCXuFPRlKHts3c8

[2] Choi Yuen Village relocation, new neighbors riot, September 4, 2010, Ming Pao, https://www.e123.hk/news/26384

[3] The new-look along with the raging land - Interview with the author Chan Yin Kai, November 2010 issue, CUHK Student Newspaper, http://cusp.hk/?p=1704

[4] The redevelopment of Choi Yuen New Village is unreasonably blocked and requires the government to intervene immediately, March 13, 2013, http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1015798?fbclid=IwAR35eC43ZyOkigu90hhrTfl9naeTNnHVVw3HHES5us0dRsA9tohq-yRZb-M

[5] Choi Yuen Village Support Group: “One House, One Electricity, One Food, One Water, One Village, One Field,” May 19, 2015, inmediahk, https://www.inmediahk.net/node/1034431