The dramatic economic and political changes of the last two decades have had a profound effect on village life-styles. New two-story houses can be seen in every hamlet. Villagers own private cars, refrigerators, and television sets. Traditional schools, where village boys once learned the Confucian classics, have given way to modern forms of education. Ha Tsuen boasts a new school that caters to both boys and girls. Young people wear the latest Hong Kong fashions, and a number of Teng families send their teenage children to Kowloon for secondary education and technical training.

All of these innovations are important, but a less obvious and more significant change is the extent to which ordinary Teng have become involved in the world outside their lineage. No longer are villagers confined to Ha Tsuen, with an occasional visit to Yuen Long. Most now work outside the village; young people make regular visits to the teahouses and cinemas of Yuen Long and Tuen Mun; and they have non-Teng friends whom they meet at school or work. Not surprisingly, there have been similar changes in relationships with affines. Affinity was once the concern of wealthy men and the wives of Ha Tsuen's tenants and smallholders; affinal relations are now important to many Teng males, including laborers and entrepreneurs. Several Teng work with their wives' fathers or brothers in restaurants abroad. Other villagers have moved into urban flats with the help of their affines.