After a month of protests there are less mainland tourists in Tuen Mun these days.How effective was the series of anti-parallel trading protests that took place in shopping centres across New Territories during the past month?
Blogging for the South China Morning Post, Jason Y. Ng wrote on Friday: "[The protesters'] tactic seems to be working for the time being. The number of Chinese visitors, especially day trippers, has plummeted since the protests began. This past weekend, parallel traders have all but disappeared from northern New Territories."
Kristie Wong, a 16-year-old South Tuen Mun Government Secondary School student, also noticed that streets are now wide open and quiet.
Living in Tuen Mun, one of the areas most affected by the influx of mainland shoppers, Kristie said Tuen Mun Town Plaza is now "empty", especially after the rally on March 8.
The queue for the B3 bus, which runs to the Shenzhen Bay border crossing, is much shorter now, said Kristie.
The PrizeMart near Kristie's home, which appears to be a favourite of mainlanders, is also quite empty now.
"People used to queue up to shop in that store, but now the queue is gone," she said.
Life in Tuen Mun is returning to normal, but Sha Tin College student Nastassja Chan, 18, said that even though there is a drop in parallel traders during the weekend, she still finds Sheung Shui "as crowded as before, especially from 6-8pm".
She said it's impossible to travel in and out of the train station without being bumped around or run over by suitcases. "I've even had mainlanders come up to me to ask which station has 'the most things to buy' so they can go there," said Nastassja.