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Patten hard at play in ancient village

THE Governor, Mr Chris Patten, scored a hit with a young boy yesterday - a direct hit.

Stopping off on his tour of the 450-year-old Yuen Long village of Nam Pin Wai to pat the heads of babies and dogs, a playful Mr Patten engaged in a gentle game of fisticuffs with one young boy.

Earlier he had met the elders of the walled village, most of them wearing traditional costumes for the occasion.

The centre of the village is a 30-year-old banyan tree, thought to have been planted to improve Nam Pin Wai's fung shui.

Perhaps sensing that Mr Patten, whose political reforms are currently on the negotiating table in Beijing, might need some help, the elders invited him to sit under the tree's trailing branches.

During the visit to Yuen Long, the Governor also inspected the new technology on show at an education centre in the Long Ping housing estate.

He declined to try his hand at crayoning a picture of a junk or show off his singing voice on a video karaoke machine, but could not resist joining in a word game designed to improve students' English.

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