Photos

18 June 2007, Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Down by the harbourfront in Aberdeen, under the shade of a pagoda watching his friends play chequers with a cigarette in hand, TE's most famous Hong Kong resident smiles once more for the camera.

His friends refer to him as "Si Fu," which in Cantonese means master or teacher, a sign of respect in looking up to an older and experienced colleague.

From what I gather this group of men, which Luko and others have photographed in the past, were once-- and some may still be-- sailors, probably out on the fishing boats that still moor at the Aberdeen wharves today. They are all extremely fit, though their weathered faces and leathery skin tell of a life spent on the rough South China Sea, making them seem more aged than they actually are.

Materially, they don't seem to have much sitting there around their daily board games, reading the odd newspaper, having the odd cigarette, sipping the odd beer. I've had one or two friends remark on this by merely viewing this portrait and that has been a source of criticsm over the legtimacy of me taking this picture.

But the context is much more positive, from what I saw and the few words we shared. One can only imagine the kind of comaraderie that is built working together on a boat over the years and that shows through in the way that these men now carry on today and, hopefully, through the smile on Si Fu's face.