The central part of Yuen Long was traditionally a market town, in the area now known as Yuen Long San Hui (元朗新墟), in Yuen Long District, where people from the surrounding villages sold their crops and fish. The market is still a place where people from villages in the northwest New Territories shop and trade. Like many market towns in Hong Kong, the market operates only on certain days each week. Modern shopping malls and restaurants have also established.
Two new towns have been developed in Yuen Long since the 1970s:
Yuen Long New Town was developed in and around the market town in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Tin Shui Wai New Town was established in the 1990s to the west of Yuen Long New Town, separate from Yuen Long New Town. It is mostly residential.
There are Light Rail Transit and several bus routes serving between the two towns.
History
The earliest market in Yuen Long was south of the main road, near Tai Kei Leng. In 1669, the market was moved north to the area near the present-day Yuen Long station. This area is now known as Yuen Long Kau Hui (元朗舊墟, lit. "old Yuen Long Town"). This market is sited south of a small hill. While it is far from the coast today, it was beside the seashore when the market was first built.
Cheung Shing Street, which separates Nam Pin Wai and Sai Pin Wai, divides the centre of the market. Temples were built for worship and to judge disputes. After the British leased the New Territories in 1898, they built Castle Peak Road to connect major areas of the New Territories and Kowloon. The villagers proposed and moved the market town to the main road. After the Second World War, Yuen Long Town dramatically increased in size, going from a small village into a large town known for its numerous cultural and sporting events.
The 2019 Yuen Long attack was a mob attack that occurred on 21 July 2019, in Yuen Long, Hong Kong.[2][3][4] A mob of over 100 armed men dressed in white indiscriminately attacked civilians on the streets and passengers in the Yuen Long MTR station[5][6] including the elderly, children,[7] black-clad protesters,[8] journalists and lawmakers.[9] At least 45 people were injured in the incident,[10] including a pregnant woman.[11] The attack happened following an anti-extradition bill protest in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong and was an act perpetrated against the pro-democracy protesters.
Cross-border activities
Due to their proximity to the Shenzhen border in China's Guangdong province, towns in the northern parts of Hong Kong, notably Sheung Shui and Yuen Long, have become hubs for parallel traders who have been buying up large quantities of goods, forcing up local prices and disrupting the daily lives of local citizens.[12][13] Since 2012, there has been a vertiginous increase in Chinese parallel traders arriving in the North District of Hong Kong to re-export infant formula and household products – goods popular with the Chinese – across the border to Shenzhen.[14] Trafficking caused chronic local shortages of milk powder in Hong Kong, which led the government to impose restrictions on the amount of milk powder exports from Hong Kong.[15]
The first anti-parallel trading protest was started at Sheung Shui in September 2012.[16] As government efforts to limit the adverse impact of Chinese trafficking were widely seen as inadequate, there have been further subsequent protests in towns in the North District including Sheung Shui.[17][18] A campaign called Liberate Yuen Long was mounted on 1 March 2015 by localist camp to protest smuggling and parallel trading.
Demographics
Yuen Long residents are mainly local ethnic Han with a sizable Hoa immigrants, Vietnamese Chinese from the 1970s to 1990s.
Housing estate
The private residential estate Fairview Park is in the northeast part of Yuen Long.
Education
The Yuen Long West area, meaning areas west of Tai Tong Road and the Yuen Long Nullah and south of Kau Yuk Road, is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 73. The other parts are in POA 74.[19]
Within POA 73 are multiple aided schools (operated independently but funded with government money) and one government school: South Yuen Long Government Primary School (南元朗官立小學).[20] POA 74 has multiple aided schools and one government school: Yuen Long Government Primary School (元朗官立小學).[21]
The Yuen Kong Kindergarten is in Yuen Kong Tsuen. It had five students in 2009 and 64 students in 2011; Elaine Yau of the South China Morning Post stated that the school had faced closure but has since improved. The film Little Big Master is about the kindergarten.[22]
^【元朗襲擊】白裙女懷孕不足3個月沒通知醫院 診所求醫證胎平安 (22:46). online "instant news". Ming Pao. Hong Kong: Media Chinese International. 23 July 2019. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
