On 10 January 2025, the Global Affairs Office organised two walking tours for inbound exchange students to visit either the “Kowloon Walled City Park”, which consists of a few archeological remnants as a reminder of the existence of Kowloon Walled City or “Sham Shui Po”, one of the densest and most vibrant neighbourhoods in Hong Kong, so as to open students’ eyes to a fragment of Hong Kong’s history and the hazzle and buzzle of the city. 

Students visiting the Park saw for themselves the remains of the former Walled City from Qing dynasty, in which a successful Hong Kong movie “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” as released in mid-2024 was set. With detailed briefing, exhibitions and a bronze model of the Walled City, students found it helpful to visualise the daily lives of those residents living in such a very densely populated area back in the 20th century. For a deeper dive into the local history and heritage, students also explored the nearby Hau Wong Temple, a declared monument featuring a wealth of cultural artefacts as well as Little Thailand and Little Chiu Chow in the Kowloon City Market to retrace the ebbs and flows of Thai and Chiu Chow culture in Hong Kong. 

For those who opted for “Sham Shui Po”, they visited the Heritage of Mei Ho House Museum, which showcased the first-generation public housing in Hong Kong in the 1950s through a mixture of donated exhibits and first-hand anecdotes from former residents. Students learnt about the way of life in Hong Kong in the past and the historical changes of the neighbourhood. They also took a stroll to North Kowloon Magistracy and the Garden Center to have a better understanding of the resilience of the community in the face of economic and social challenges. The visit provided them with the opportunity to explore the vibrant street life and open markets of “Sham Shui Po”. Students walked through the district’s long-standing shops and historical streets – Pei Ho Street and Apliu Street, retracing the ups and downs of the district and came to know more about Hong Kong in a fresh perspective.