Ever since he came to Hong Kong some 50 years ago, Patrick Hase has researched the local history of Hong Kong, and especially of the New Territories villages and market towns. Written documentation for the study of these communities has been lacking, so much of the research was conducted by way of oral interviews with village elders, conducted during 1980s and 1990s, seeking their memories of what the villages were like in their youth, a century and more ago, and what they remembered of what their grandparents had told them of the history of the community before modernization, urbanization, and high-technology changed those communities forever. Patrick Hase is one of the leaders of this field and has, to date, published some of the most influential books on Delta history. This book is truly excellent work which will interest historians, anthropologists, and social scientists. -- James L. Watson, Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society, Harvard University This book . . . belongs beyond the bookshelves of historians and archaeologists―anyone wandering the streets of Hong Kong neighborhoods today wondering ‘how did this place get to be here?’ will find this book well worth reading. -- Gordon Mathews, Research Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Patrick H. Hase received his PhD in History at the University of Cambridge before coming to live and work in Hong Kong in the 1970s. He was a part-time lecturer and the advisory board chairman of the Department of History, Lingnan University.