By the coast between Yau Tong and Lam Tin in East Kowloon is a forgotten corner. It is the Cha Kwo Ling Village, which is more than a century old, located on the outskirts of the urban area. The main street in the village is now disorderly cramped with squatter huts and entangled cables among them. The partly overlapping rooftops leave only narrow slits of the sky to be seen. In addition, the lack of main sewers means that flushing water is not available in most of the huts; therefore, many villagers rely solely on the public toilet near the village’s entrance. Everything there gives an impression of a fringe community where time stands still.
About a century ago, Cha Kwo Ling Village was a major producer of high-quality granite and the home of many miners. The village had a population of over 10,000 in its heyday. As the mining industry lost its importance later on, the mines no longer exist even though you can still see the small hills. With only over a thousand residents in Cha Kwo Ling Village currently, there are merely several shops left on the main street. Among them is a cafe with the history of half a century. The décor inside is the same as it was fifty years ago, so upon walking into the cafe you feel as if you have travelled back to the 1960’s. The reason that keeps owner Uncle Keng and his wife running the old-fashioned cafe is to provide a place for fellow villagers to meet up.
WU Lai-shan’s family has been living in Cha Kwo Ling Village for four generations, she is witnessing the village’s decline. According to her, the government has been speaking of developing the village ever since she was a child but it has been all talk and no action. Lai-shan feels there is nothing she can do about it. Although the village seems deserted now, she is still devoted to working as a tour guide in the village, introducing visitors to the past days of glory in great details.
Having grown up in the village, the 18-year-old TUNG Kam-hei well understands how uns
在東九龍油塘與藍田之間的海邊，有一處被人遺忘的角落，它是位於市區的邊緣，已經有過百年歷史的茶果嶺村。現在走進村中大街，兩旁全是狹窄零亂的寮屋，交錯的屋頂、狹縫一樣的天空，屋與屋之間電線交纏，因沒有大型去污渠，大部份寮屋都沒有水沖廁，村民只能依賴村口唯一的公廁，這裏一切，都彷如時光停頓了的邊緣社區。
茶果嶺約在一百年前曾經盛產優質花崗石，當時有不少石礦工人住在這裏，全盛時期人口過萬，後來採石業逐漸式微，今日雖仍看到細小的石山，但礦場早已不存在，現時茶果嶺人口只有一千多，村內大街的店鋪亦只剩下數間，其中開業已有半個世紀的冰室，內裏陳設五十年不變，就像回到六十年代的花樣年華，店主鏡叔與太太堅守古老冰室，為的只是讓街坊有一個相聚的地方。
胡麗珊四代住在茶果嶺村，見證小村由盛轉衰，她說兒時已聽聞政府要發展茶果嶺村，但一直只聞樓梯響，珊姐亦感無奈，感覺這裏好像被遺棄一樣，但她卻專心當村裏的導賞員，詳細向訪客介紹過往的光輝點滴。
18歲的童錦熙自小在茶果嶺村長大，深深感受到這邊緣社區公共設施的不足，但他卻不想這裏被拆遷，只希望政府能改善茶果嶺村環境，保留這九龍市區僅存的大型寮屋區，作為香港歷史的見證。
