Photography and interviews by Douglas Mann

On a visit to Hong Kong during the twilight of British control of Hong Kong PhotoMann interviewed four individuals to get their thoughts of Yesterday under British rule, Today in transition and Tomorrow under Chinese control. All four individuals are ethnic Chinese who were born and raised in Hong Kong. I found their answers quite interesting and hope you do to. I did this project on behalf of a German stock photo agency that specializes in Asian photography. Unfortunately it never sold but it was an interesting experience regardless.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

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Regina Yeung

Regina, age 28, is currently a Primary School Teacher. She has a BA in Chinese from the Open University in Hong Kong. Her interests include reading and swimming

Note: This interview was done in Chinese and interpreted by Patrick Cheung.

Yesterday: Under the British government control and administration, and because I'm studying Chinese as my major subject I find there's lots of colonial control and education throughout my study. They didn't give a sense of belonging to the Hong Kong people. They were trying to take control but nothing else. They didn't give the sense of belonging to the Hong Kong people and did little else.

Today: I'm excited, I'm a little bit worried but my interest and excitement overcomes my worry.

Tomorrow: I'm glad, I'm happy to become complete Chinese. I'll have a sense of belonging to the Chinese nation as a whole.

Future Plans: In the coming 5 years I think there won't be much change in my work and my life but in the longer term I would like to go back to China and have some educational work there.

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Patrick Cheung

Patrick, age 28, is currently a Project Specialist for Computer Networks. His educational background includes a BS in Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, U.K. and an MS in Computer Science, University of Wales, Cardiff, U.K. Patrick's other intersts include Religion (bible study) traveling, and music.

Yesterday: The British built up Hong Kong in their financial need. The economic development was beneficial to both the British government and the Hong Kong people but nothing else. They did little for the local people until recently because of political pressure.

Today: On the last day under British government control I think I'm confused in the way that I couldn't find my identity because I had no identity before. Now I'm facing another identity problem. Which country I should belong to but I will definitely find the answer very soon.

Tomorrow: I hope that I'm not only living well financially I need to be more involved in my country so I can find a sense of identity.

I would like to see a new form of government that not only provide financial stability in Hong Kong but who also cares about Hong Kong people. Hopefully we can help each other out in both financial development and also politically we can adapt each other. Hong Kong to become more patriotic and the Chinese government can be more considerate so we can work and live together for the future.

Future: I would like to involve myself not only in my job but also in a way to support the city and the gov in a better ways not only in the economic development through my job but my involvement in the public works. On the personal side I will get married and have a family. Although as a unit of family we can't do much to the city or do much in the country hopefully people like us can united together to reform the society and from this society, this city, we can reform the whole country. In other words I hope at the end both Hong Kong and China will get better until it's stable and work and live well with other nations and achieve world peace as a whole.

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Vanlisa Chow

Vanlisa, age 30, is currently a High School Teacher. Her educational background is a BA in English Education, University of Birmingham, U.K. She enjoys badminton and reading in her spare time.

Yesterday: Under British control she has helped the Hong Kong people to develop higher living standards when compared to the Chinese people.

Today: If it was in the year 1989 after the 4th of June I would be very afraid because of that incident but after 8 years now 1997 it is quite stable so I'm not very afraid of the government. Not so worried when compared to that year. For today I'm quite optimistic about the future of Hong Kong people even though I don't know what will happen to the Chinese government.

Tomorrow: I think that the Chinese government will try their best to keep Hong Kong stable because the stability of Hong Kong will help the development of China.

The Future: I think I will continue my career as a teacher not because of 1997 even though the Chinese government won't [will] take over Hong Kong in 1997... I think the takeover will not have much influence on me.

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Raphael Hung

Raphael, age 42, is a Computer Training Manager with a BA in Computer Science from the University of Regina, Canada. His other interests include badminton and travel. His profession allows him to travel throughout Asia on teaching assignments.

Yesterday: In Hong Kong we had lots of freedoms.

Today: Today we are looking for keeping the same thing in the future. We try to fight for that.

Tomorrow: We worry about how much we will get, how much freedom we can keep.

Dreams for future: We're looking for the stable changing of the economy. Hopefully the whole of China can catch up with Hong Kong economy and freedoms. That's why I expect I'll be staying here, wait and see.