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.
 
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最新出版的Villages and Market Towns in Hong Kong：Settlement and History 是一本研究香港歷史的重要著作，記錄了香港在城市化、現代化之前，鄉村與漁港的樣貌和歷史發展。
 
全書分為六個章節，記載了（1）大嶼山北岸的鄉村與社會；（2）殖民時期前的西九龍（包括尖沙嘴、油麻地、芒角村、長沙灣村等），（3）1550-1911 年期間，西貢鄉村與政治的恩怨；（4）鹽、漁業在港口市鎮的社區發展（包括香港仔至鴨脷洲、赤柱、坪洲、長洲、大澳）；（5）鯉魚門一帶的石礦業；（6）關於兩個寮屋區（侯王新村及古洞）的歷史筆記。