Yuen Long, Hong Kong

🇭🇰 Yuen Long New Town is a new town in the north-west New Territories, Hong Kong. It was developed from the traditional market town of Yuen Long Town (元朗市) from the late 1970s onwards. As it is located in the centre of Yuen Long Plain, the town occupies the best location for villages in the surrounding area to sell their crops and fish. To the west is Ping Shan, south Shap Pat Heung, east Kam Tin, and north Nam Sang Wai. Yuen Long District (元朗區) is one of the districts of Hong Kong.

Market town 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 north-west 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.

New towns 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.

Housing estate The private residential estate Fairview Park is in the north-east part of Yuen Long.

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. 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. 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.

The first anti-parallel trading protest was started at Sheung Shui in September 2012. 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. A campaign called Liberate Yuen Long was mounted on 1 March 2015 by localist groups to protest smuggling and parallel trading.

Buses Inside Yuen Long Town • KMB routes 53, 54, 64K, 68A, 68E, 68F, 68M, 68R, 68X, 76K, 77K, 264R, 268A, 268B, 268C, 268P, 268X, 269D, 276, 276P, 869, 968, 968A, 968X, B1, N269, N368, R968. ◦ Route B1 to Lok Ma Chau station Control Point, a customs checkpoint between Hong Kong and China • MTR Bus routes K65, K66, K68, K73, K74 • Long Win Bus routes A36, E36, E36A, N30, NA36 • New Lantao Bus route B2 ◦ Route B2 to Shenzhen Bay Port, a customs checkpoint between Hong Kong and China.

Outside Yuen Long Town (except via Yuen Long Town) • KMB routes 51, 64S, 69C, 69M, 69P, 69X, 251A, 251B, 251M, 265B, 265M, 265S, 269A, 269B, 269C, 269M, 269P, 276A, 276B • MTR Bus routes K75, K75A, K75P • Long Win Bus routes A37, E36P, E37, NA37 • New Lantao Bus routes B2P, B2X ◦ Routes B2P and B2X to Shenzhen Bay Port, a customs checkpoint between Hong Kong and China • Citybus routes 967, 967X, 969, 969A, 969B, 969C, 969P, 969X, N969.

Transport: Rail Inside Yuen Long Town • MTR Tuen Ma line • Light Rail routes 610, 614, 615 and 761P.

Outside Yuen Long Town (except via Yuen Long Town) • MTR Tuen Ma line • Light Rail routes 705, 706 and 751.

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.