The Songkran festival returned to Hong Kong’s Kowloon City district with a splash on Sunday after the pandemic put celebrations on hold for the past three years, as the city’s redevelopment chief pledged to preserve the area’s local characteristics including the vibrancy of the Thai community while embarking on urban regeneration.

Wai Chi-sing, managing director of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), on Sunday noted that Kowloon City was home to many unique shops selling diverse and affordable goods. Restaurants celebrating the local Chaoshan and Thai food cultures, on top of distinctive traditional festivals, had created a unique commercial ecosystem, he said.

“Before we embark on the urban renewal of Kowloon City, the URA has already studied at the planning stage the reservation of locations for merchants to relocate to and operate after reconstruction, while trying to preserve ground level shops and the vibrancy of the community,” Wai wrote on his blog.