Few traces remain of the two-year battle waged between villagers, activists, the government and the MTR Corp over the future of a community forced to move out of the way of the new high-speed border railway.
The self-styled patrol unit of students and other volunteers who vowed to protect the Tsoi Yuen villagers has gone. So have the security guards hired by the MTR Corp with whom the protesters often clashed. And by the end of the month, the remaining villagers will also be gone.
All that is left to show of the intense political struggle between a new breed of activists, who believe the city should not sacrifice the well-being of any individual in its pursuit of economic growth, and the pro-growth government are the paintings and photographs around the village that document a two-year campaign.
Things have gone quiet since a deal was finalised for the residents to move to temporary homes built by the MTR Corp on land they have bought to build a new village.
'I have been packing for several days,' 72-year-old Ip Shui-lai said. 'It will take some soul-searching to figure out what to take and what to leave. Moving from a big home to a smaller one means plenty of the things have to be thrown away.'
Ip and his father pooled their savings of HK$30,000 to buy 7,800 sq ft of land in the once little-known village near the People's Liberation Army camp at Shek Kong in 1963. His father, a teacher, named it Ip Garden and built a 700 sq ft house where they planted fruit trees, grew vegetables and raised chickens and pigeons, selling what they did not need.