The village as trope represents “tradition” in contrast to “modernity,” periphery in contrast to core, and the past in contrast to the present. This paper explores Pai Tau Village, a settlement in the Shatin District of Hong Kong. While it is recognized by local heritage organizations as an ancestral village, Pai Tau is neither distant nor separate from emblems of Hong Kong as a major cosmopolitan city, but rather is located at the edge of a large mega-mall – a center of commerce, consumerism, fashion, and business. This article suggests that the relationship between modernity and tradition is not necessarily oppositional, but symbiotic. Via an exploration of this duality, it also addresses globalization and transnationalism via consumer exchanges among Japan, Hong Kong, and mainland China, and addresses contemporary contradictions in anthropological fieldwork and theory.
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