AFTER more than 40 years of enduring a midnight curfew, residents in the tiny border village of Sha Tau Kok have decided they are sick of going to bed early.
Designed to make it easier for authorities to spot illegal immigrants, the curfew has meant that the Hong Kong-side of Sha Tau Kok has only a limited nightlife.
Most of the 6,000 residents are older people who are not keen on late night parties, but even so, many of them have never known what it was to be out after midnight in their home town.
Police Divisional Commander Chief Inspector John Fuller said the residents were pushing to have the curfew (between midnight and 4 am) either scrapped or eased.
Sha Tau Kok (on the Hong Kong-side) is closed to all but those who live and work there, but the Chinese side, which is very much a thriving market town, is open to everybody.
The town is quite literally split in two by Chung Ying Street which doubles as the Hong Kong-Chinese border.
One side of the street is patrolled by Hong Kong police, the other by Chinese police.