How a tangerine tree changed farming in Hong Kong forever

It began with a tangerine tree.

Sir Horace Kadoorie, an Iraqi Jewish philanthropist, was ambling through the hills of Tai Mo Shan when he stumbled across the fateful plant. Agriculturalists previously thought humid conditions meant citrus trees could not grow in the region – but Sir Horace’s discovery inspired him to uncover the land’s potential.

Fast forward some six decades to 2016, and what was once just 148 hectares of barren land, is now an ecological haven where Hongkongers can escape the sometimes oppressive hustle and bustle of the city. The Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG), perhaps one of Hong Kong’s least publicised success stories, is celebrating its 60th birthday.

In that time, its raison d’être has shifted from the rearing of livestock and crop cultivation, to ecological conservation and promoting sustainability.

As part of a year of anniversary events, the garden will be featured in a six-part documentary series that it hopes will be screened internationally, an achievement which its founders surely would have found inconceivable.

“They were visionary – this site was a barren hillside when they came here,” Andy Brown, KFBG’s executive director, said. “It really was an ecological desert … but they could see the potential.”