Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go with a group of HKU students to the Nam Chun Ecovillage up near the Startling Inlet and the border to Shenzhen. This surrounding area actually has 55 local villages, with all but one settled by the local indigenous Hakka peoples. Similar to the last blog post’s theme of land justice and fighting against corporate/government development, the Nam Chun Ecovillage is a co-op of a group of activists hoping to revitalize some of the degrading farmland and practice regenerative farming and agroecology. In addition to helping to clear months of debris from the land, preparing and cooking food, and cutting grass for mulch, we spent a lot of time learning about the history and practices of the local land.

First we were welcomed by 2 temples. The first one that we saw that was closest to the bus stop faced the sea and is dedicated to Tin Hau, a sea goddess who is very popular among folk religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Below the temple were also statues of the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas as well as a table for spirits to gather and rest. These deities are very popular among Chinese culture and so there are a lot of celebrations and temples across China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. This is when we learned that a later group of fishermen also moved to this area much later compared to the original inhabitants and built this temple. As we walked closer inland towards Nam Chun, the 2 more local villages we passed by housed a temple for a more local deity. What was interesting was that the area was covered by mangroves. Mangroves are actually very important for coastal areas, as they provide a biome and habitat for various species like crabs and fish, and help to reclaim land from the ocean. In fact, the coastal line used to be much further back, but through natural efforts of land reclamation through planting, villagers were able to create more areas for paddy farming.

Unfortunately, the decline of the area started in the 1960s. First there was a series of droughts in 1963 and 1967. 1963 was the biggest drought, brought on by air circulation changes caused by the eruption of a volcano in Bali. Water shortages were also exacerbated by the politics of water rationing. The main source of water was and continues to be mainland China (particularly Guangdong), and so in the 1960s, when there was some political turmoil, China turned off the supply periodically, leading to extreme rationing by the government. In response, the government also came to this area in order to start building reservoirs and dams that would prevent rivers and streams from entering the ocean. This affected the local population in multiple ways. First was the influx of outside people for construction, which meant the entire area was redeveloped to increase road access. Second was that with the blocking off of various streams, agriculture was deeply affected. Water supply became very unreliable, as the villagers had to now depend on building their own water pipes. At the same time, the government encouraged workers to go overseas to find work in Europe, resulting in mass migration and the decline of the local villages.

The ecovillage community in Nam Chun was created in 2013 by the Partnership for Eco-Agriculture and the Conservation of Earth (PEACE). As I learned, the act of sustainable farming was also a form of activism. Until the 1990s, over half of Hong Kong’s produce were grown locally, but since U.K.’s handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the rate has dwindled fast, so now less than 2% of produce are grown locally. The goal then, is not only to build stronger communities and sustainable food systems, but also to mitigate biodiversity losses and climate change. In terms of politics too, there is a desire to lessen political control over local people, including protecting local New Territory villages from demolition and development away from agriculture. With various neighboring villages already wiped out, the Land Nurturer’s Movement wanted to protect Nam Chun from being developed into a private golf course. This resulted in the creation of the Nam Chun ecovillage.

To conclude, I wanted to share some of the flora and fauna that I encountered on the trip. First, I learned about some sustainable agricultural practices, such as planting certain larger plants as shade for smaller plants, intercropping, and intentional spacing of crops for protective and symbiotic relationships. For example, I learned that planting bananas and papayas together actually help both of them to grow a lot better. Second, I learned that non-gmo papayas are actually very susceptible to yellow spots. You will find that most papayas in Hong Kong will not have those spots because the first papayas that were introduced to farmers were actually all genetically modified. Finally, here are some pictures I took, including papayas, jackfruits, passionfruit, the Chinese motherwort, and a Paris Peacock Swallowtail!