Instead, there are small motorised trucks officially termed "village vehicles", which include specially designed mini-fire engines, ambulances and police cars.

However, in recent years, the island has become a major tourist attraction, offering a mixture of sandy swimming beaches, seafood cafés, and traditional Chinese culture.

In 1898, Cheung Chau was leased to the United Kingdom for 99 years (till 1997) under the Second Convention of Peking, alongside some 200 other outlying islands and the New Territories.

[citation needed] In 2005, Islands District councillor Lam Kit-sing suggested converting the notorious villa into a macabre tourist attraction, proposing a "ghost town" with a "charcoal-burning museum", Halloween-style fairs, and "haunted" flats for people to stay in.

The plans quickly received strong opposition from residents, villa owners, and his fellow councillors, including criticism that they might create copycat suicides.

It was originally called the Asylum (棲留所) and was not a hospital in the modern sense, in that it did not provide medical care and only functioned as a refuge for poor homeless patients to die in peace and dignity and as a mortuary for those killed in shipwrecks.

The word Fong Bin, meaning 'convenience' in Chinese, suggested that the hospital was meant to serve the medical needs of all.

Substantial renovations took place in 1931 and 1951 to meet the rising demand for medical care in Cheung Chau and nearby outlying islands.

It was staffed by reputable doctors trained in traditional Chinese medicine, and provided cheap and quality medical treatment that even attracted patients from other outlying islands.

Although there are more people living on Cheung Chau now than ever, the fertility rate throughout Hong Kong has dropped significantly leading to many school closings throughout the city.

Cheung Chau also has a ferry service to other outlying islands and regions such as Mui Wo and Chi Ma Wan.