This episode of Discovery ’67 takes a look at the “new territories” of Hong Kong, at a time when Hong Kong was still under British mandate. The episode dates to 1967 features hosts Bill Owen and Virginia Gibson. The New Territories is a region of wetlands, parks and mountains in Hong Kong, north of Kowloon.

At 1:10 the show starts, with Bill Owen and Virginia Gibson on a Chinese junk in the harbor of Hong Kong. Part of Hong Kong is named “nine dragons” this is due to the nine mountains and it comes from the Chinese belief that there is a dragon inside every mountain. Hong Kong translates to “fragrant waters”. At 2:00 the hosts speak about living in Hong Kong and the city itself. At 3:19 Hong Kong harbor. Some of the residents here live on the junks anchored in the harbor. At 5:50 the show moves away from the big city, and examines the small villages that make up the rest of the island. Here, rice and water buffalo are very common. The border between British Hong Kong and China is just a river, some of the banks are closer than others. At 7:05, Virginia Gibson and Bill Owen are in an ancient village called San Tin. This village is in the New Territories of Hong Kong, not in the Republic of China. In this village, there are 3500 people. All of the men have the same last name because they are all descendants of one person. At 9:20, Bill Owen talks about all the rice made in the New Territories. One of the only things not supplied by the village is a certain reed, which is used in the furniture and handbag factory in the village. At 12:30, the lives of men are discussed. Most of them separate from their families during the day and make money by working in restaurants and factories. This represents a break from a centuries-old tradition. At 14:20, Bill Owen talks about the markets in this village. Normally they sell fresh produce but sometimes other things as well. At 14:50, we look at the Manchuan family. There are 5 people in the family and they are all descendants of the same person who founded the village all that time ago. At 16:22, Bill Owen talks about rice cultivation. The water buffalo pulling a wooden plow churns up the ground and allows the rice to be harvested. Not only do the New Territories farm rice, but they also farm ginger, water spinach, and bean sprouts. Many vegetables are grown in the New Territories. Some people from the village catch fish instead of producing vegetables. At 20:55 the show ends.

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