Featuring the stories of twelve long-time and new residents of Mui Wo, alongside revitalisation advocates and conservationists
Thorough exploration of Mui Wo’s local history from the 1950s onwards
Examining the transformation of agricultural practices on Hong Kong’s outlying islands
Through the lenses of people, culture, land, landscapes, and produts
Opening a new perspective on Mui Wo’s agricultural community
Transcending the simplistic framework of “prosperity” versus “decline”
The Good Old Soil research team combines local knowledge with historical investigation to uncover a side of Mui Wo beyond its image as a “tourist hotspot” or “remote island.” They reveal Mui Wo as a vibrant “agricultural hub” from the 1950s to 1980s, and as a “diverse island community” that emerged in the 2000s through unique circumstances.
The book provides detailed depictions of how rice, vegetables, and fruit cultivation shaped the agricultural and rural cultural landscape of the island, alongside practical insights into Good Old Soil’s efforts to engage with community networks and build connections. It offers both meticulous “archaeological” reconstructions of the past and forward-looking reflections on the present.
In today’s context, where development and conservation often compete, the research team examines the past and present of Mui Wo’s agricultural landscape to challenge the rigid divide between “natural” and “human-made” conservation. They propose a new direction for rural community building.
Today’s agriculture in Mui Wo is neither a mere relic of the past nor an entirely new creation. It is something that requires continuous understanding, redefinition, and active participation by contemporary people to sustain its possibilities.
* Includes a full-colour 1960s map of Mui Wo village, showcasing the hydrology, geography, and cultural produce of this “agricultural hub.”
Author: Loong Tsz Wai, Huang Shan, Jess Tan, Cassie Fei
Editor: Enoch Yee-lok Tam, Lina Xie
Art & Design: Kathy Wong@Young and Toxic
Map illustrutor: Twodogdog
Edition：First edition, March 2024
ISBN: 978-988-74162-7-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.70783/muiwo
Page: 224, colour printing
Price: HKD198
Language: Complex Chinese
Content
Foreword 1: Sidney C. H. Cheung
Foreword 2: Chow Sze-chung
Author’s Preface 1: Huang Shan
Author’s Preface 2: LoongTsz Wai
Chapter 1: Exploring the Agricultural Social History of Mui Wo
1.1 Why focus on the agricultural social history of Mui Wo?
1.2 Mui Wo as a hub: The case of agriculture
1.3 A community of limited openness
1.4 Beyond “prosperity” vs. “decline”: The future of Mui Wo conservation
1.5 Research origins, methods, and process
Chapter 2: Mui Wo Agriculture Chronicles and Geographic Overview
2.1 Key agricultural events in Mui Wo’s history
2.2 Geographic distribution of Mui Wo villages
2.3 Evolution and usage patterns of agricultural land in Mui Wo
Chapter 3: Beyond “Prosperity” vs. “Decline”: Mui Wo Agriculture Then and Now Through the Lens of “Hub”
3.1 The myths of “prosperity” and “decline”
3.2 Post-war structural changes in Mui Wo from a hub perspective
3.3 Mui Wo as an agricultural hub
3.4 After “decline”? Revitalising Mui Wo agriculture and community
Chapter 4: A Community of Limited Openness, a People of Self-Reliance: Stories from Mui Wo Agriculture
4.1 Kan Shui-yung: Mui Wo is open and free, yet self-reliant
4.2 Yuen Chit-chi: The founding ideals of Mui Wo Agricultural Cooperative
4.3 Lam Cheong-ting: A second-generation farmer from the heyday of Mui Wo’s agricultural boom
4.4 Mrs Wah: From Mui Wo to Sai Wan, a life of professional farming
4.5 Tam Yau-choi: The pineapple farmer you’d always see at Wang Tong
4.6.1 Ho’s Orchard: Three generations preserving Mui Wo’s last century-old orchard
4.6.2 Leung Nin-tai: “Selling vegetables at Chung Hau is a way to pass the time.”
4.7 From hardship to contentment: Oral history of Mrs Lo from Choi Yuen Village
4.8 Winnie Kong: From Mui Wo outsider to owner of a 40,000 sq ft farm
4.9 Chow Man-keung: Restoring the legacy of white gourd farming as a third-generation farmer in Pak Ngan Heung
4.10 Lee Kwok-keung: Ginger flowers and the development of Mui Wo
4.11 Jenny Quinton: Bringing sustainable living to Mui Wo
Conclusion: What kind of agricultural community is Mui Wo?
Chapter 5: The Rural Cultural Landscape of Mui Wo Agriculture – Conservation Through Fruit Tree Cultivation
5.1 Sensing rural spaces with new eyes: Agricultural hub or tourism gateway?
5.2 Village forestry and fruit tree cultivation before and after World War II
5.3 A vanished industry? The golden age of fruit tree cultivation on Lantau Island
5.4 Understanding rural cultural landscapes through Wo Tin Village
Conclusion: A new perspective on rural conservation
Chapter 6: The Future of Mui Wo’s Agricultural Community – Good Old Soil’s Experience and “Relational Population” Connections
6.1 Rural community building and landscape conservation: Good Old Soil’s experiment in reviving agricultural communities
6.2 “A new gateway island for migrants”: Returnees, locals, and “relational populations”
6.3 Diversity in rural community building: Policy support for “migrant populations”
6.4 From “archaeology” to “presentology”: Producing local knowledge and revitalising rural areas
About the authors
Loong Tzs Wai: Based in San Shek Wan, Lantau Island, Loong is the initiator of this research project. He is the author of Growing Lantau: Notes on Rural Community Building and Reinventing Hong Kong: From Social Innovation to Participatory Planning, and the editor of the local food and agriculture magazine Lantau Food Post. Currently, he runs the Mui Wo community hub Good Old Soil with his apprentices.
Hunag Shan: Raised in Fujian and Beijing, Wang is a PhD candidate in the Anthropology Department at Stanford University. His research interests include political anthropology, urban studies, and affect theory, as well as environmental and ecological issues. He has also published essays, translations, and critical pieces. In 2017, he joined the Mui Wo Oral History Group at the Lantau Academy, and in 2018-19, he lived in Luk Tei Tong Village.
Jess Tan: Currently living in Hang Tong Village, Mui Wo, Tan has studied and lived in Hong Kong, the US, the UK, France, and Germany. After returning to Hong Kong, she worked as a researcher across various fields, focusing on issues that benefit Hong Kong society. As a passionate and active member of the South Lantau community, she hopes the government will prioritise grassroots perspectives when undertaking conservation efforts on Lantau Island, ensuring tangible benefits for local residents.
Cassie Fei: Born in Wuxi, Jiangsu, Fei has wandered to Hong Kong and “pitched camp” in Mui Wo. A film student, former multimedia journalist, and documentary filmmaker, she has transitioned from capturing short film scenes to producing documentary reports and participating in this research. With a camera in hand, she engages in a visual dialogue with Lantau while sketching the story of Mui Wo with her pen. Although she resists identifying with any label, she often tells people Lantau Island is one of the homes she has wandered through.
About the organisation
Land Education Foundation
Founded in 2013, the Land Education Foundation is dedicated to promoting land education in Hong Kong through community building and agricultural conservation. Rooted in the historical and cultural characteristics of rural areas, the foundation organises community-building activities to foster a sense of belonging among local residents, encourage regional innovation, challenge mainstream development paradigms, and drive changes that rejuvenate local communities.
Representing Mui Wo’s Notebook
-
Between Development and Conservation: Where is Hong Kong Heading?
By Eric Siu-kei Cheng This collectively authored work, titled “Representing”, explores the still-vibrant agriculture on Hong Kong’s outlying islands. Through oral accounts, it delves into broader social analysis and employs the concept of a hub to challenge the narrative of an urban-rural divide.
Praises and Reviews
The narrative of “prosperity fading into quiet decline” is still sometimes heard in today’s Mui Wo. “But it’s strange,” Loong remarked, “so many people say this place is dead, yet why does no one leave?” Artists, farmers returning to the land, and different generations of creatives continue to move into Mui Wo. Loong often feels that this place is full of untapped talent and potential. “There’s a kind of spontaneity in this space,” he said. People come to the countryside to start their own projects, showing remarkable resilience. By contrast, cities, where “so many things are impossible for long periods,” often seem “fragile.”
The book also introduces the concept of the “island hub.” During the era of agricultural prosperity, the inter-island ferry routes connected Peng Chau, Mui Wo, Chi Ma Wan, and Cheung Chau. “Can that kind of connection go beyond just transportation?” Loong asks. “It feels like we’re closer than people in the city—whether in lifestyle or shared values—and everyone wants to create something.” He noted that in recent years, events like the “Inter-Island Festival” have aimed to connect the islands. Through the concept of the island hub, Loong hopes to bring people together to “jam” and imagine broader possibilities.
In recent years, Hong Kong has seen a rise in local history research, offering a refreshing demonstration of the power of place-based thinking. These efforts deserve serious attention. One of the newest works is Representing Mui Wo. While it’s not the first book to study Mui Wo, it stands out because it was co-authored by four civic-minded individuals who became neighbours after moving to the area. Together, they combined solid oral histories with in-depth archival and policy analysis to craft this unique work.