Sequestered valleys surround isolated Yung Shue O that were once the heart of Hong Kong life. The villages were largely self-contained, and inhabitants rarely ventured to urban areas. Some of the larger villages housed schools and places or worship, but these too have long been deserted. Nonetheless, clan members from these villages retain a life-long attachment to the crumbling farmhouses and identify themselves with their ancestral homes even if they never lived there.