Travel Guide Tsuen Wan 荃灣

On the edge of West Kowloon, this former fishing village transformed into a large industrial and residential centre offers no transcendent views. However, with other new cities populated almost exclusively by premises, the real Hong Kong, the one that breathes the painstaking authenticity of everyday life, far from the bubbles of finance and Champagne Champagne. In 1898, when the New Territories were ceded to the British, Tsuen Wan consisted of only a few small villages grouped around a market. The population had only about 3 000 people, mainly peasant farmers, and the production of incense was the only industry.Today, Tsuen Wan has more than 800 000 inhabitants and housing towers have been built on the new city. The Nina Tower rises, from the top of its 319 meters and 80 floors. Despite all of this, ancient punti and hakka lifestyles are perpetuated in the surrounding hamlets of the hills. These, in the image of Ping Shan and Kam Tin, are the subject of a pleasant stroll, discovering the vestiges of the oldest buildings still standing on Hong Kong. Not far from there, Tai Mo Shan, the Hong Kong's highest hill with 957 metres, dominates Country Park and provides sports opportunities off the beaten tracks.