Hong Kong Tong Lau: The Sha Tau Kok Story House

We’re peeking inside some of Hong Kong’s last remaining tong laus to see how they embody Hong Kong’s past — as well as its creative present.

For more than half a century, life in Sha Tau Kok unfolded out of public view. Sitting on Hong Kong’s northeastern border with Shenzhen, the coastal town was incorporated into the Frontier Closed Area in 1951, two years after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, and remained off-limits to non-residents. To many, the town was cloaked in curiosity and speculation. It was not until 2022, when parts of Sha Tau Kok began reopening in phases under the government’s Northern Metropolis development plan, that visitors were allowed to enter with a Closed Area Permit.

Home to about 4,000 residents, the border town is inhabited largely by descendants of Hakka farmers and Hoklo fishermen. Unlike much of urban Hong Kong that has been transformed by decades of redevelopment, Sha Tau Kok retains traces of its past in its historic tenement houses, tightly knit community and wartime relics. 

Fewer places bring this heritage to life better than the Sha Tau Kok Story House. Occupying one of the 22 Cantonese arcade-style shophouses on Sau Lau Street, the private museum was founded by Charles Lee Yee-keung, an eco-tour guide who moved there from Kowloon in 2012, with the help of Sha Tau Kok’s village chief. 

“I fell in love at first sight,” says the 62-year-old, recalling the sweeping sea view from the apartment rooftop that drew him in. “Sha Tau Kok is a tranquil, ageing neighbourhood. I wondered how a place this scenic and equipped with all basic facilities could be home to so few people?”

Living there deepened Lee’s appreciation of the town. Through conversations with residents and his own research, he began piecing together its layered history and culture through objects donated by residents at the Story House.

During the first four years, however, hardly anyone visited. “It was more of a gathering place for residents,” Lee says. “Sha Tau Kok wasn’t open at the time. I had to grit my teeth and keep paying the rent because I didn’t want these objects and the memories they carry to disappear.” 

A story archive of a border town

The experience of the Story House begins with the building itself. As the largest surviving Guangzhou-style arcade complex in Hong Kong, the row of 22 connected white, two-storey tong lau along San Lau Street was built between 1933 and 1934. Listed as Grade II historic buildings, they are characterised by a layout typical of the early to mid-20th century, with shops on the ground floor and living quarters above.

Renting the upper floor of one of these historic tenement houses, Lee limited the renovation to essential safety and structural upgrades. Much of the original character was retained, including the pitched roof, ceramic floor tiles and wooden staircase.

Designed by Lee himself, each step of the steep staircase marks a key moment in Sha Tau Kok’s history, from the placement of the first boundary marker on Chung Ying Street following the 1898 lease of the New Territories to Britain, to the establishment of San Lau Street in the 1930s, to the establishment of the Frontier Closed Area, which was created as a buffer between Hong Kong and mainland China, with the goal of slowing the tide of cross-border migration. Sha Tau Kok is now in the latest chapter of its history: the gradual reopening of the closed area since 2012.

While inside the Story House offers a glimpse into the lives of generations who called Sha Tau Kok home. There, stories come through everyday objects donated by residents, including farming tools, rice mills, watches, record players and furniture.

“We are not collecting rare artefacts or valuable antiques, but to tell the stories of this once-restricted town,” says the founder. “There are a lot of kind people willing to share their personal items, like sewing machines left behind by their mothers, hoping to keep the memories alive.”

One of Lee’s favourite pieces is a collection of laserdiscs. “There were few entertainment options in this closed town. Apart from watching television and listening to the radio, villagers spent their free time playing mahjong or singing karaoke,” says Lee. “At night, people would play these discs and gather with neighbours to sing together.”   

Next to it is a wooden chest of Gurkha uniforms worn by Nepalese soldiers who served in the British Army in Hong Kong from the 1940s until 1997, patrolling the boundary with China and helping to curb illegal border crossings. 

The Gurkhas were deployed to the border town during the 1967 riots to quell a deadly skirmish known as the Sha Tau Kok Incident. Hundreds of demonstrators backed by China’s People’s Militia crossed the border, seized a police station, killed five officers and wounded 11 others. “The residents told me the Gurkhas stayed in the border town for some time after the incident. Other than that, Sha Tau Kok had never had an army presence, only the police,” Lee shares.

San Lau Street through time

Looking out from the Story House window, the historic Chung Ying Street lies just a few steps beyond the wall. Literally meaning “China-Britain Street,” it was established as the boundary between Chinese and British territories after the New Territories were leased to Britain in 1898. One side of the street is in Hong Kong; the other is in Shenzhen. Jointly administered by the Hong Kong and Shenzhen authorities, the street still remains a highly restricted border area that the general public in Hong Kong cannot access. 

Although adjacent, the two streets feel worlds apart. Chung Ying Street is lively with activity, as residents and visitors browse duty-free shops, souvenir stalls, international brands and eateries lining the street. Since the mainland authorities simplified access applications via WeChat, it has become an increasingly popular tourist destination, attracting visitors eager to explore its unique border history through museums and heritage sites while enjoying duty-free shopping.  In the first quarter of 2026 alone, the Shenzhen government recorded a historic high of four million visits to Chung Ying Street.

Just across the wall, however, San Lau Street remains quiet and largely empty. When we visited on a casual Wednesday in June, more than half the shopfronts on San Lau Street were abandoned, with only faded signboards remaining. The few shops still open—a cha chaan teng, a grocery store, a hardware shop and a traditional Chinese medicine store—now mostly serve local residents.

“There are around six shops operating on San Lau Street now, but they are not really doing business. Most of the shopkeepers are elderly, running the shops to pass time and gather with friends,” says Lee.  

It was hard to imagine the street used to be the bustling market and cross-border trading hub in the 1960s. In its heyday, the 22 tong laus housed a wide range of businesses, from rice merchants and grocery stores to photo studios. By the 1980s, the street even had five goldsmiths, including Sun Lung Jewellery Shop, located beneath the Story House, which closed in 2009.

Lam, in her 70s and better known as Sister Kwai, is the second-generation owner of Shun Hing Fabric and Grocery Store. She still vividly remembers the days when trucks would stop outside the shop to unload goods and when residents from Chung Ying Street could cross the border freely to shop. But after the 1997 handover, the government set up a checkpoint on Chung Ying Street to tighten border controls and combat illegal immigration, smuggling and other cross-border crimes. The move significantly affected businesses on San Lau Street.

“This shop is not making money now. Some kaifong [neighbours] asked me to keep it open so they don’t have to travel all the way to Fanling or Sheung Shui for daily necessities,” Lam says. “As long as I am alive, the shop will sustain. But there is no third generation to take over, as they are not willing to stay here.”

Transforming a closed town

As of early 2026, about 270,000 people had applied for restricted area permits to visit as tourists since the area opened to the public in 2022. Lee saw a surge of interest in the border town in the first two years, with new shops opening on San Lau Street, but none of them lasted. His privately run museum now also sees fewer visitors and operates by appointment only.

But Lee, who also chairs the Association for Sha Tau Kok Culture and Ecology, remains optimistic about the border town’s potential. “We are expecting further opening up of Sha Tau Kok, including access to Chung Ying Street for guided tours under a ‘group in, group out’ arrangement and the withdrawal of the permit requirement to enter the border town in coming years.”

With full opening, he hopes to boost development in nearby villages and islands accessible via the Sha Tau Kok Public Pier, creating more activity in the once-restricted area. Now, the founder is also eyeing something even bigger: transforming San Lau Street into an arts hub.

If his vision takes shape, it will be gradual. Over the years, the Story House has organised a range of community and cultural programmes with residents and artists, including guided tours, film screenings, weekend markets, workshops, and cultural ambassador programmes, all aimed at bringing new life to this once-thriving street.

In 2024, conservator and artist Sze Ka-yan, who is dedicated to the city’s rural village culture, founded the art platform Hub 22 in the 22nd San Lau Street tong lau for exhibitions and workshops. Outside the studio, a colourful mural depicts the shops of the 22 tenements. This summer, the platform will expand into an art space welcoming artist residencies.

In the same year, Lee and Sze also helped revitalise the shopfront of Wong Cheung Tai, a wholesaler established in the 1930s at San Lau Street that once sold rice to nearby islands before later becoming a furniture shop. It was transformed into a community hub for experimental projects and now serves as an exhibition space showcasing the shop’s original history and character.

“I want to bring together people from the arts and culture on this street to give it a distinct identity,” says Lee. “In Sha Tau Kok, San Lau Street has the most character and the richest stories, with tong laus more than 90 years old. There are many possibilities for what it can become and I hope my Story House can help contribute to that.”

The Sha Tau Kok Story House is located on the cockloft of 1/F, 7 San Lau Street, Sha Tau Kok, New Territories, and is by appointment only.

To access Sha Tau Kok, Hong Kong residents and overseas visitors must apply for a Tourism Closed Area Permit through the Hong Kong Police Force’s online application platform at least two working days before their visit.