In Hong Kong, a giant urban development plan is eating away at villages and marshes

But in recent years, the century-old village of Ha Wan Tsuen has shrunk, nibbled away by roads and bridges as it was pre-empted for an ambitious future government project to urbanise the border area, the "Northern Metropolis", which will go ahead despite concerns from residents and environmental activists.

Mr Kwok's bucolic idyll, near Hong Kong's largest wetland, is long gone. From his window, all that's left is a grey stone wall, while an army of mosquitoes emerge from the stagnant water beneath his stilted house.

In September, the government gave the green light to create a technology park that will eventually engulf Ha Wan Tsuen.

"We hope they don't destroy our village - it's our dearest wish, but also the most impossible to achieve," said Mr Kwok, who has been Ha Wan Tsuen's mayor for ten years.

"It is impossible for us to resist the government - it would be like a praying mantis trying to stop a tank."

90% reluctance

The "Northern Metropolis" project, which aims to strengthen economic integration with China, is expected to house nearly 2,5 million people and urbanize 30.000 hectares of land, according to the government, equivalent to a third of Hong Kong's territory.

At the heart of the project will be the San Tin Technopole, a centre for innovation and technology, which is expected to create a third of the 500.000 new jobs promised by the entire project, according to the government.

But residents like Mr Kwok have had few opportunities to voice their concerns directly to the government.

During the last public hearing held by the Town Planning Board this summer, 90% of the 1.600 residents who participated opposed the project, which did not prevent the same committee from giving it the green light.

No plans for relocation or compensation have been put in place at Ha Wan Tsuen yet and concerns about the environmental impact of the project have been dismissed by the government.

The technology park will be developed in a protected marshland area, recognized by UNESCO since 1995.

Even the Hong Kong government has designated the area around these marshes, which is 2.600 hectares of ponds, rivers and wetlands, as a buffer and conservation zone, in order to limit development and preserve the ecosystem.

A park as "compensation"

However, the technology park will be developed on 240 hectares of this territory, the government admitted.

"In the past 30 years there has not been a development project in Hong Kong that could damage the wetlands to this extent," said Wong Suet-mei, a conservation officer at the Hong Kong Bird Conservation Society.

The government believes that most of the marshes that will be affected have already changed to the point of no longer being recognizable.

A marsh protection park will be set up as "compensation", along with other measures such as maintaining a 300-metre flight path for birds.

"Based on experience gained from ecological compensation in other development projects, we are confident that the number of birds will remain at the current level or even increase," the Development Bureau told AFP.

But Chan Kwok-sun, a fish farmer whose ponds are slated to be swallowed up by the technology park, doubts such claims: "No one can raise fish when there are no ponds, no birds will come if there are no fish," Chan told AFP.

Yet the 74-year-old farmer is happy about the development plan. He has seen Shenzhen's rapid development from "pure darkness, like in prehistoric times" to a "mountain of skyscrapers."

Despite everything, he will stay near his ponds as long as possible.

"I live an unhindered life (...) it's hard to find that anywhere else," he says.