HONG KONG PORTRAITS - LEE Cheuk Yan ( 1 )

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[ Hong Kong Portraits ] is a photo project that I set out to do without time-frame.


Main purpose of this PROJECT is to illustrate a realistic aspect of HONG KONG CITIZENS through series of Portraits focusing on their lives in a hope to bring out that familiar faces we know as HONG KONG ( or 'Hong Kongers' ).

The characters that appear in my series, they may be my friends, or good neighbors, or a person I have just met. Furthermore, the man and woman you see here may be a person with certain fame and social status. However regardless of big or small, most important point in my photo project is, to shed a light on those who are obscure, who are weaker ones in our community yet they are the true main pillars of our society who shouldn't  be ignored. And I do not care how small and ordinary they are.


" We travel across the mountains and rivers and there shall be an encounter "  Chinese says. Every encounters in our lives are a CHANCE.



My project have just begun, I only hope that I will be persistent enough to finish it.




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LEE Cheuk Yan - General Secretary of HONG KONG ALLIANCE IN SUPPORT OF PATRIOTIC DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENTS IN CHINA. Lee have been a dedicated social activist struggling to vindicate victims of the 1989 JUNE 4th TIAN AN MEN MASSACRE in Hong Kong for 28 years.


I have met and photographed Lee Cheuk Yan on numerous occasions at the news scene, only until last year on the anniversary of the [June 4th], I met him personally at the VICTORIA PARK, where annual [Candle Light Vigil] was held to comemmorate the victims of the 1989 TIAN AN MEN MASSACRE. I have kept periodical contact with Lee but never introduced personally. It was a raining day at the Victoria Park.  When I arrived at the Park for appointment, I saw medias were already surrounding him in a hope to make an interview, well that is their routine. When I saw that he was through with the interviews I moved up to him and said "hello", I handed my calling-card to him and asked : " you should know me don't you ? "  he replied with a smile, YES.

After a while, a sudden shower began to drench the Park in quite a ferocity, we both quickly found a refuge under the tent. I always had an impression of Lee Cheuk Yan as a stern looking guy with less sense of humor, yet at close encounter, I felt that he is actually quite an easy-going guy with relaxed attitude. In last year's LEGICO ELECTION, Lee lost his constituency and been driven out of Legico Chamber, it was a painful setback for Lee and he wept. Personally, I regard Lee's defeat at HKSAR Legislature means a serious blow to the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, and certainly it is a grave setback for struggle for democracy in Hong Kong.


We cannot afford to see a key member of the ALLIANCE losing it's seat in the LEGICO, because it compromise Hong Kong's struggle for more open and democratic society, particularly to bring on JUNE 4th ISSUE inside the Hong Kong Government legislature reminding the authority the importance of facing a history with an open eyes but not turning away from it.




I hope to see Lee's returning to the Chamber in the near future.






Liau Chung Ren （ 廖中仁 ）
2017, 5-27
Instagram@bluuren

* Translation from the original Chinese script, some modifications are made. English translation by the author.