Although the Heung Yee Kuk was established in 1926, the tradition of autonomy in the New Territories in Hong Kong was much earlier than this time. After the New Territories became a British colony, the British Hong Kong government paid no attention to it because of the relationship between the level of economic development and population, and the rural governance in the New Territories maintained the tradition of squire autonomy in the late Qing Dynasty. In fact, the incident of 1926 opposing the removal of compensation items and picture frames by the British Hong Kong government was the beginning of China's rural squire autonomy tradition learning from British modernity about the operation mode of modern social organizations. In order to protect their own interests, organized people will inevitably oppose the wrong decision of the government, but the traditional squire autonomy in China relies on someone's prestige and cohesion. Once this person is gone, this United and organized struggle and governance situation will disappear.

As the saying goes, there is no Fiona Fang without rules. A standardized rural governance organization needs advanced organizational system and appropriate organizational operation rules. A little understanding of Heung Yee Kuk in the New Territories will reveal that this peculiar public institution is so similar to the modern parliamentary organization, and it is a copy of the modern parliamentary organization from the perspective of personnel election and constituency division. The operation mode of Heung Yee Kuk not only has the characteristics of traditional squire autonomy, but also follows the existing rules of procedure of the British Parliament. On the basis of British representative system, Heung Yee Kuk has become a unique rural council combining Chinese and Western culture in China, which has undertaken the functions of collecting and discussing public opinions, communicating with the administrative government, protecting rural folk customs and traditions, maintaining rural morality and the most important rural governance. At the beginning of its establishment, the Heung Yee Kuk in the New Territories even assumed the function of grass-roots litigation mediation, which shows the importance of the Heung Yee Kuk in the lives of residents in the New Territories.

In order to facilitate the election, the Heung Yee Kuk in the New Territories has divided three constituencies, namely Yuen Long District, Tai Po District and Nanyue District. Under each large constituency, there are different numbers of rural committees, actually different numbers of villages. Under the Rural Committee is the grass-roots unit of the Heung Yee Kuk in the New Territories, that is, an independent village. The election of Heung Yee Kuk is from bottom to top. The village representatives of each village elect the chairman of the rural committee and the district head of the village. Naturally, 1 of the three district heads will become the chairman of the Heung Yee Kuk in the New Territories, and the other two will become the vice-chairmen. Although this institutional arrangement has avoided the excessive influence of election competition on the people's lives in the New Territories, it has failed to reflect the most basic public opinion to the greatest extent, because the process of people's participation in elections is also a process of expressing their opinions and opinions.

Although the election of Heung Yee Kuk in New Territories is stipulated to be held every two years, there is no special restriction on re-election. Finally, the current chairman of the Heung Yee Kuk has served continuously for more than 30 years, which is very difficult to happen under the democratic parliamentary system. To a certain extent, it also reflects the imperfection of the Heung Yee Kuk system in the New Territories, which is far from a modern public opinion organization. However, with the decrease of population and the acceleration of modern economic development in the New Territories, there is not much time left for the Heung Yee Kuk in the New Territories.

With the establishment of district boards and the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, the functions and roles of Heung Yee Kuk in the New Territories have been seriously weakened. However, as the most important public opinion expression organization in the New Territories, Heung Yee Kuk has its own ex officio seats in the district boards and the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, and it still plays its role.

Back in the early days of the establishment of Heung Yee Kuk in the New Territories, its leaders were three squires, namely, squire Yang from Tsuen Wan, squire Li Zhongzhuang from Fanling and squire Yuen Long. They represented moderate and rational forces in rural areas and had the most say in rural affairs. The Heung Yee Kuk's predecessor, the New Territories Agriculture, Industry and Commerce Research Association, was established in 1923 to resist the unreasonable land policy of the British Hong Kong government, and finally forced the government to cancel the relevant policies on housing compensation. The process of safeguarding vital interests can unite the moderate and rational power and public opinion in the countryside, which is also the foundation of the existence of Heung Yee Kuk in the New Territories.