“Getting sold down the river” and “Old Man from San Fran” were used to describe the Cantonese people who travelled overseas to be mine and railroad workers during the late Qing dynasty and early Republic of China period. Taishan’s coastal location and ...

North Point is known as the Little Fujian of Hong Kong. As many Fujianese live there, it is possible to get by on Southern Fujianese alone if one does not set foot outside the area. It is home to a tenement house temple, a unique feature of Hong Kong. ...

The streets of Tai Kok Tsui are lined with hardware stores, many of which are run by Zhaoqing Jinlinese. They took root in Hong Kong by setting up these small businesses, building wealth from nothing and growing from weak to strong through unrelenting ...

Shing is a Meizhou Hakka. Whenever he returns to his ancestral home, his third uncle, a culinary master, would cook an array of Hakka dishes for him, with stir-fried intestines being the most memorable among them. Now working as a chef, Shing is return...

Many Chinese people were drawn to Hong Kong to make a living after it was established as a free port in the 19th century. They formed societies according to their respective ancestral homes to look out for each other, keep one another informed, and eve...

Sham Tseng was once a prosperous small community. It was home to numerous factories and shops, as well as a sizeable Chaoshanese population.

Yiu Chi-ming, President of the Sham Tseng Chiu Chow Kaifong Welfare Association, remembers that the manager of...

Every person has their own roots and respective ancestral home. The older generations of Hongkongers are more connected to their place of origin, with some even having lived there in the past. Sentiments and memories may be the reasons that they keep g...

Nanhai District of Foshan is the home of martial dragon and lion dancing.

In the 1940s, a large number of people from Nanhai moved to Hong Kong. A renowned dragon and lion dance troupe, Bei Lun Tong, also put down roots in the city at the time. Its nam...

Lau Fau Shan is renowned throughout Hong Kong for its abundance of fresh oysters. It turns out that the art of oyster farming originates in Shajing, Shenzhen.

Today’s Lau Fau Shan is still mainly inhabited by people of Shajing descent. Many residents o...

Sai Kung is a town mainly populated by the Hakka. However, Hong Kong saw a large influx of mainland Chinese refugees from the 1950s. Many people who originated from Chaoshan also put down roots in Sai Kung, making a living from agriculture and...