How have places in Hong Kong evolved since well before the 19th century? Villages and Market Towns in Hong Kong is a vital book, showing us how its various suburban settlements came into being. Such is a history of immense interest as well as unending fascination. Since arriving at Hong Kong more than half a century ago, Patrick Hase has been researching its local history, with a particular focus on the market towns and villages in the New Territories. Due to a lack of written documentation for the study of these communities, much of his research was conducted through oral interviews with village elders in the 1980s and 1990s. Hase sought their memories of the villages in their youth, as well as their grandparents’ accounts of the communities prior to the age of high technology, urbanization, and modernization.