Mini cityscapes bring a whole new perspective to Hong Kong

In a city defined by its skyscrapers and towering residential blocks, hundreds of Hongkongers have been flocking to an exhibition in Tsing Yi that celebrates the opposite: miniature streetscapes.

A group of 28 local and overseas specialists in miniature art have re-created traditional scenes under the theme of festivals and culture.

Some lost parts of the city are brought back to life, such as the Mount Davis squatter settlement, an enormous area that took shape in the late 1940s, taking in mostly refugees from the mainland.

The squatters were later encouraged to resettle elsewhere and their huts were eventually all demolished.

Louise Chan Tsui-mee, an accountant who was born and raised in Scotland, started making miniature art about eight years ago when she moved to Hong Kong for work.

For one of her scenes on display at the show, she spent weeks researching something she knew little about, having grown up overseas, but which formed a key part of Hong Kong's cultural make-up: the lanterns of the Mid-Autumn Festival.