Press
A. HK01
https://www.hk01.com/article/335459
English translation
[ Partitioning an Apartment to its Extreme] An Apartment was partitioned into 40 coffin homes – Poor Housing Conditions recorded under a Doctor’s Lenses : Like Birds in Cage
A Doctor was shocked by an apartment which had been partitioned into 40 coffin homes
An unit was partitioned into 40 coffin rooms, the width of its corridor was about the size of 2 pieces of tiles, and each room can only accommodate one bed. This prison-like living environment truly exists in Hong Kong. Dr CHEUNG Wing-Lun is an enthusiast of wildlife photography. He enrolled in a photography course a year ago. In order to do a project for the course, he moved from bird photography to taking pictures of street sleepers in the city, and then to shooting different poor housing conditions. He then realizes that life of some people are no better than animals. “Looking at those street sleepers, they are actually like birds trapped in cages.”
Dr Cheung visited partitioned apartments, roof homes, coffin homes and cage homes in various districts. “North Point, Causeway Bay and Ngau Tau Kok all have their shares. They are not only in Shamshuipo, but in fact in every district.” In a year’s time, he took thousands of pictures on the housing conditions of the under-privileged people in Hong Kong. He selected nearly a hundred of these and held an exhibition called “The Forgotten” in Wanchai during 7 – 9 June. “They are the forgotten ones in the affluent Hong Kong.”
A doctor’s work is busy and routine. That is so especially for specialist doctors. In his busy life, specialist Cheung Wing-Lun found an interest in photography. That allows him to have a short break from work. Dr Cheung loves the nature, especially birds. He takes pictures of birds whether they are freely flying or sadly caged.
From photographing Birds to People “Feel like the street sleepers are trapped like birds”
A year ago Dr Cheung enrolled in a distant learning master course in photography and his inspiration for photography continues to prosper. “In the beginning it was bird pictures. When pictures of flying birds were no longer special, caged birds came into place. Then it was animals in zoos and so on.” And then a scene he saw as he passed Shamshuipo district impacted his thought on photography. “Once I passed a footbridge in Shamshuipo, I saw many street sleepers. I felt that they were trapped like caged birds. They sleep on the streets because there is nowhere else to live.”
In-depth visits to poor living environment in various districts
“A group of Vietnamese drug addicts stayed on the Shamshuipo footbridge. At the time the Government had to evict the street sleepers, saying that drug addicts scared the passers-by and that syringes left might spread infections. I was chatting with the street sleepers when the volunteers distributed the daily necessities to them. When the volunteers went to another park, I followed them.” This incidence a year ago let Dr Cheung came into contact with different street sleepers, and then, “followed the volunteers to visit partitioned apartments, coffin homes, and finally to roof homes, and the notion grew that way.”
Communication is the biggest difficulty when taking pictures of people
Dr Cheung said the biggest problem for shooting people is to communicate. “How to make them not to resist you and let you shoot them. You would surely fail if you just try them with a lens.” He started to follow the church volunteers to visit the street sleepers and regularly distribute supplies to them. “First break the barrier and then chats will follow.” Taking pictures on people give him a sense of success. “Taking picture on the instant moment. Grab that chance. If you fail to shoot you fail, unlike animals which you can wait for them to came over for food.”
An apartment was partitioned into 40 coffin homes
On visiting many poor housing conditions in various districts, Dr Cheung is most impressed by one apartment in Shamshuipo. At the time he followed the volunteers to an old building. Initially he thought it was an ordinary partitioned apartment. When the door was opened he saw only darkness. There was no lighting in the corridor and he had to rely on handheld light. The partitioning was crowded, and the width of the corridor is about the size of 2 pieces of tiles. They had to turn their bodies sideway in order to cross this narrow passage. He counted that there were 10 coffin homes on each side: 5 on the upper and 5 on the lower parts, each with a tenant. Because the space is too little, some tenants had to extend their legs out to the corridor. When they reached a second door, opening it he saw another 20 such coffin homes of the same partitioning. “One unit was partitioned into 40 coffin homes, very shocking …”
The monthly rental of a coffin home is about 2000
“The tenants are very kind. They told us not to go too near to the walls because there were fleas.” Dr Cheung said there were little space and the hygiene was poor. There was no window in the coffin homes, so some tenants installed exhaust fans on the wooden planks of the partition. Because it was so crowded, they could only rely on central air-conditioning. “Someone lived there to try out and was so bitten by the fleas that necessitated medical treatment. Insecticide is daily consumable like shampoo and toothpaste.”
In this era Hong Kong still have this type of living environment. “There is no way, they do not have money.” Dr Cheung said the rental of a coffin home is around $2,000 to $2,200. “The ones at the lower deck is $200 more because there is no need to climb up and down.” These partitioned apartments exist in Hong Kong island as well. “North Point, Causeway Bay and Ngau Tau Kok all have their shares. The general impression is that they only exist in Shamshuipo, but in fact they exist in very district.”
Street Sleepers are flexible in order to survive Modifying park bench to form a bed
Under hardship some people cannot even afford coffin homes. They have to sleep inside the parks. However, the design of the benches there form hindrance to the street sleepers to rest. “The government does not allow you to lay down. Iron bars were designed and placed on top of the benches.” Dr Cheung said the street sleepers worked their ways around, “When people were decorating and abandoned their doors, the street sleepers took the doors and placed them over the benches like a bed. There was an elder who extended the bench and placed a sleeping bag there to sleep.”
The human world is more complicated than animals’
The Nature is full of life under Dr Cheung’s camera: birds flying, flapping their wings. However, people are just the opposite, like zombies. According to Dr Cheung, it is survival of the fittest in the Nature, escaping from the natural enemies and without a long life, animals’ desire to live is stronger than human beings. “The human world is very complicated because man can think. Animals are simple: food, passing on to the next generation, nesting, feeding chicks, mating … they only know these.”
No money nor land, like no way out
The wages are low, it is difficult to get public housing and land resources are limited: is there a way out? “Many social workers told them to apply for public housing but it is actually very difficult. Even single person has to wait for a long time. ‘Telling them to queue for public housing like asking them to wait until they die. I remember a street sleeper said, “It is better to queue for ash niches for my dead body rather than public housing.” Lately 3 of them pass away. Very sad. They don’t have hope of survival.” Dr Cheung said he hope the government could provide more dormitories for these people to ease the problem. “I believe it can be done but the government doesn’t do it. The government wants them to work rather than remain dormant. However some people there just cannot work because of their physical conditions. So there is a need to find a solution.”
Photo Exhibition in hope to raise concerns on this group of people forgotten by the society
“This group of people has been forgotten by the affluent Hong Kong society. These series of pictures were taken in hope that the Hong Kong people would pay attention to them. I also hope let youngsters know that there are people whose living environment are worse than theirs.” Dr Cheung will hold a photo exhibition, “The Forgotten”, in EastPro Gallery, Wanchai on 7 to 9 June. Admission is free to all. He will also launch a book on there in hope that the public will continue pay attention to this issue.
B. Oriental daily
https://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20190616/bkn-20190616040037061-0616_00822_001.html
English translation
Snail-home dwellers under the doctor’s lenses
For years Hong Kong people witnessed the economic take-off and construction of high-rise buildings everywhere. They are all proud of these. Today, the buildings constructed is getting higher and higher, the people living in this city are getting smaller and smaller, and even the living space is shrinking. Cage homes, partitioned apartments, coffin homes, and roof homes… have become the only options for the grassroots people. Those who cannot afford can only sleep on the streets. A doctor targeted his camera on these forgotten people, unveiled what appeared to be the glamorous appearance of Hong Kong, and presented the public with an exhibition and a photo book, and raised bare doubts to the community.
More than a year ago, Dr CHEUNG Wing-lun was a wild-life photography enthusiast. That was until he enrolled in a Master of Photography program and found that the wild-life subject matter was limited. He then turned his attention to social issues. At that time, a news report about the demolition of wooden houses of street sleepers aroused his concern for the homeless. Dr Cheung went to the scene. There he got acquainted with the volunteer organization that assisted the street sleepers. After joining many visits with the volunteers to various types of housing with poor environmental conditions, he gradually established mutual trust with the grassroots whom he had little chance to communicate before. “Taking photos of birds only requires waiting, taking photos of people requires communication, and have to be fast!”
Coffin homes and the cage homes only have limited space. They are subdivided from a large unit into multiple beds. The passage is narrow and the light is limited. It is difficult to take pictures. Dr. Cheung pointed out that technical problems are not difficult to solve. The most difficult thing is that even if he has already been acquainted with the tenants for some time, they still resist his camera. In order to respect their wishes, most of his photos do not show their faces, but focused on the elements inside the room. “A narrow corridor filled with slippers is visually overcrowded. On a calendar hanged in a the cage home, it was written “Relied on God”. Does that reflect a mood of reliance or helpless?”
One of the themes that have emerged from this series of photos is “dignity.” In luxury apartments, it is not uncommon to see double toilet bowls. However, Dr Cheung did not expect there are such toilets for partitioned rooms. “Many partitioned rooms share common toilets, but some landlords have put two toilet bowls side by side in the same toilet. One has to be watched and even when in the toilet. There is no privacy.” He also pointed out that in recent years the Government has added iron bars to the benches inside the parks, and the street sleepers used different ways to get around in order to lay down and rest. “Some used abandoned wooden door to place on top of the bars. Some used miscellaneous materials to extend the benches. They are all forgotten in this affluent society.”
This photography project comprises Dr. Cheung’s many visits to the homes of the grassroots in various districts. It is also his “doctor’s certificate” for the diagnosis of the housing problems in Hong Kong. Earlier, he selected from thousands of his photos and held a photography exhibition “The Forgotten” in Causeway Bay, wishing the public will see this sickness of the society. “If no photo is taken, the public may not know how miserable these people are, and it is pointless to say any next step.” Although the exhibition has ended, interested parties can still find the photo book in major bookstores.
C. Appledaily
https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/daily/article/20190419/20659648
a9-hkg_20190419(to view the picture in more details)
English translation
When the evening lights first lit up, I followed CHEUNG Wing-lun, a medical doctor, to the Tung Chau Street Park in Shamshuipo. Before we arrived at the entrance, a suffocating urinary smell came. Just when we sat down on the stone bench, three big mice came out from the flower bed, fighting. I screamed. Dr. Cheung seemed use to it, calmly and playfully he said, “Some mice are bigger than cats. I have seen a rat going through the left side of pants and came out from the right side, so don’t wear wide-leg pants.” The sound effect of this 4D thriller in front of my eyes was the “squeaky slap” of the chess players.
Such environment is but the last Eden of more than 70 street sleepers.
Since 2 years ago, the government has gradually cleared the wooden huts erected by the street sleepers at the bottom of the Tung Chau Street flyover. The persons expelled have been scattered, and Tung Chau Street Park has become the final base of some. This low-end population is the protagonist of Dr. Cheung’s high-end lens. Most of these people are thin and cheeky, their faces are whiter than the high walls of the adjacent newly built luxury apartments, and their confused eyes as well as their confused prospects are projected to earth, and are taken by the lens. “After the completion of the luxury apartments now under construction, it is unsure where they will be forced to go?”, the doctor said while greeting those he knew.
“We are forced not to sleep on the streets, are we to sleep in the middle of the road? What has the government done?” Knowing that we are journalists, street sleeper A said. Last year end, the Housing Authority announced that the average waiting time for public housing applicants reached a record high of 5.5 years. “Five years? I started applying in 2005, and I am still here.” A complained.
“Public Housing? It is better to wait for niche for my ashes!”
Another street sleeper, Brother Fat, chipped in, “The only way is to wait. But now I won’t wait to be resettled, what I apply is a niche for my ashes.” He was not yet 50 but his hair is all white. and he leaned on two crutches. Originally a bartender, he was disabled and lost his ability to work because of his illness. His wife lived in the home of her own parents. For the limited space there, he reluctantly slept on the streets. ” I am this young, but I have to hold two AK47s. Do you know what sort of disease is inside me? Once it attacks I would be paralyzed on the floor! That’s it.” Earlier on, there was an old man in a wheelchair. One day, he was like an immovable bronze statue. They pushed him and found that the old man had no breath. “I personally called the police for him. There have been three deaths here recently.”, A said while looking at Dr. Cheung with mixed feelings. No one knows whether his end will be the same as the old man.
According to a recent international survey report, the average price of a housing unit in Hong Kong is as high as HKD9.73 million. At the same time, at least more than a thousand people do not have shelter. Some people died on computer desk inside internet cafe in the Sham Shui Po. There were Mc-refugees who died in the fast food restaurants. They were all semi-street- sleepers with jobs. “They go to work in the morning and sleep in different places at night. No one will notice that they are homeless,” the doctor said.
The street sleepers have no home, no computer, no air-conditioning, no table, and the most terrible thing is that there is no future.
Dr. Cheung, who loves photography since his school days, has been taking pictures to relieve pressure. “One can take pictures without company, and it is more flexible than playing ball games.” At his spare times as well as idle time between surgery, he carried his camera around to find subjects to take pictures. Initially he likes to take pictures of birds and animals. Then he realizes that Hong Kong people are not as comfortable as animals in a zoo.
From the newspaper, Dr. Cheung learnt that more than 20 street sleepers would be evicted from the pedestrian flyover in Cheung San Lane. He considered this was a theme. Since then, he has started taking pictures on partitioned apartments, coffin homes, roof homes, cage homes, and even homeless street sleepers. Subsequently, he enrolled in a two-year distance master degree program in the UK. The school demanded his work to be critical and creative. He believed that this theme could continue to develop. Originally for his homework, but with similar passion as a doctor, he gradually got empathy through taking pictures of them, and began to care about the grassroots’ stories.
“Tung Chau Street is different from Cheung San Lane. (The street sleepers) are drug addicts, elderly people and chronically ill patients. Those in Cheung San Lane are younger, some Vietnamese.” Dr. Cheung gently talked, like talking about what happened to his family lately. “I recently chatted with street sleepers outside the Henry G Leong Yau Ma Tei Community Center. They said that four of their fellow street sleepers have recently passed way, one of them was the one who was shot by the police in Kai Bo (Food Supermarket).”
As a doctor, one has to be exceptionally calm during surgery. As a photographer, one has to be passionate. “Sometimes (I have) split personality”, Dr. Cheung said.
Everyone has his own story to tell or want to tell, “Hong Kong is such an affluent society but it has an unknown side. It is a revelation by taking pictures on that for the public. Otherwise, the people at large do not know that while they are fortunate and well off, there is also a group of low-ended people whose living environment is so poor, so without dignity.”
Initially Shamshuipo was the poorest community in Hong Kong. In recent years many luxury apartments are erected. Cheung Wing-lun took a picture to reveal this irony of the disparity between rich and poor. Below the construction site of a luxury apartment building, it is the miserable life of the homeless. Dr. Cheung is most impressed by the partitioned rooms. When one opens the door to go inside, there are 20 cubicles on both sides. When the same door is opened again on the other side and there are another 20 cubicles. An ordinary unit of about 800 to 1,000 (sq) ft is turned into 40 cubicles, upper and lower layers in total. There is no window in the entire unit, and all cubicles are equipped with central air-conditioning. “I suppose each one is allocated 20 ft, and those who are slightly fat have to turn sideway in order to pass (the corridor), but I really admire the designer’s creativity.”
What is touching is that the occupants gently reminded the doctor not to go near the wall because of the fleas there. They also showed the insecticide they need to buy every month, and the cats they kept for catching mice.
Dr Cheung has also been to the Hong Kong’s famous “cage home”. “There are very few people living in cages, but there are still many coffin homes. The environment in the partitioned room can be counted as good. There are separate toilets and kitchens. A sparrow though small, all internal organs are there. The coffin home really… you can only sit but not stand. A taller guy has to put his legs up in order to sleep. This is really hard to bear.”
“They have worked hard for this city.”
Because the old building has been demolished to make way for redevelopment, the roof homes in Shamshuipo is greatly reduced. The doctor gets to know a family living on the top of an old tenement building. “They bought a roof home but later found out that the unit was not legal at all. The person who sold it to him was the owner of the top floor unit. He was told to pay rent to the owners’ incorporated. He was told to leave for he did not pay. He did not leave and lived permanently on the stairs, preferring to walk nine storeys everyday, up and down 18 storeys in total.”
Although they are a forgotten group, many people pay heed to them. “A lot of people here may not be willing move to public housing when it is their turn. May be the public housing is in remote area. After giving up three times they will have to queue afresh. Therefore many people are shell-less snails without public housing and unable to pay rent.”
” The problem in Hong Kong is that it is densely populated and the distribution of social resources is not even. If more resources are accorded to this group of people, everyone will be happier. They have all contributed to building this city.” Cheung Wing-lun, who appears calm, is heart on fire.
On the ground of Tung Chau Street Park, there are used syringes from time to time. The guess is that the drug addicts threw them there after use. There is no lack of drug addicts in Dr Cheung’s photos. “This person injects too often and many blood vessels are blocked, so both feet are swollen,” he said as he showed me his work.
While also a syringe, what Cheung Wing-lun perceives as a doctor when he gets into contact with it in the hospital is totally different from that in front of our eyes . At this moment, his eyes has layers of sadness.
Walking under the wall, every brick is full of bitterness. I saw the crevice on the wall of the old tenement building rooftop, there a new seedling was growing. Like Feng Zikai’s inspirational painting “New Opportunity”, Hong Kong people is always good in undergoing adversity, but now it is not necessarily what you reap is what you sow. I am feeble to the heavy loads, and the doctor’s photos has become very heavy too.
From June 7th to 9th, this series of photos will be exhibited at the EastPro Gallery.
D. EBC of Taiwan
This presentation of Taiwan media included my work from 13:45 onward for nearly 3 minutes