John Choy

“The Hong Kong-Shenzhen border and the restricted border area have long been a fascinating subject for me. I’ve always wanted to know more about it. I believe it is because of my interest in Hong Kong history; I want to learn about and understand our roots. Pak-chai initiated a trip to the area to learn more about the government’s development plan and what the people actually think. We set up a group after the visit and invited more like-minded photographers to join us. This was how the project started.

After spending some time working in the area and knowing its people, I questioned the wisdom of turning the area into new towns. Do we need the new towns? Many people in Hong Kong have a blind faith in development; they think that Hong Kong must keep developing, or we will lose out. Our hardware is very well developed, so we don’t need to bulldoze a dragon fruit plantation for more houses. Instead, what we need to develop is the people’s intelligence. With a shrinking birth rate, our population is aging. Do you need so many houses? Living is about quality, not about making more money from property accumulation. Unfortunately, many in Hong Kong regard their property as an investment and they constantly want to make more money from it. We have overdone our development.”