The number 1 subway line stops at Pingzhou (坪洲), which once upon a time was a sandbar near the coast of the Nantou Sea. The station is at the edge of Qianhai, but near the former center of restored Bao’an County. The county seat of restored Bao’an was Baocheng (Bao City)-Xixiang, with administrative functions in Bao City and commercial functions in Xixiang. Indeed, the layout of Bao City-Xixiang echoes the layout of Luohu-Shagbu, with a new town going up next to the older market town.

Located on the banks of Qianhai Bay, the early development of Bao City-Xixiang spread in two directions–easterly, away from the coastline and northerly, away from the second line. Thus, the original layout of Bao’an-Xixiang moved inland, with G107 forming both a barrier between older and new sections of the town and the artery that allowed for electronics, toys, and other goods to be shipped to the Port of Hong Kong for export to the rest of Asia, the US and Europe. However, since 2000, as Qianhai has been filled in and the city restructured to integrate Hong Kong (since 2014 umbrella movement), the newest section of the city has been built up westward, away from the coastline into the bay. Thus, the current layout of the area has three main components: the historical Xixiang, which is located in between the old new town (Bao City and its environs) and the new new town (Qianhai and its environs.) Rivers and roads form boundaries between these areas, as do different kinds of shopping experiences.

Below, are images from yesterday’s walk from the Pingzhou subway station toward Tanglang, one of Bao City’s more prosperous urban villages. Along the way, I stopped for 擂茶, one of my favorite Hakka meals. The cost of lunch, including the herbal soup, sticky rice balls, and stir fry was less than a latte at Starbucks. So yes, at the end of the day–just like at the beginning of the day–the conversation about urban villages remains: how do low-income families balance cost-of-living with access to the city proper?