Disappearing Legacy: The End of Cha Kwo Ling Village

The 400-year-old Cha Kwo Ling Village, one of Hong Kong’s three remaining historic urban villages is vanishing. Scheduled for demolition in 2025, the village has been a witness to Hong Kong’s evolution from a Hakka settlement to a bustling quarry center. Nestled on a green hill and once accommodating 10,000 residents, the village flourished for centuries thanks to granite quarrying. In the mid-20th century, a surge of migrants from Mainland China settled in the village. However, by the 1960s, quarrying had ceased, and the government started dismantling parts of the village. Today, Cha Kwo Ling stands as one of the last remaining squatter villages in Kowloon, set to be demolished to make way for high-density housing.