People

Jeffrey Tam Chun-kit wanted to be a politician so he could help bring democracy to Hong Kong but his mother persuaded him to choose law instead. Now, the Oxford-trained lawyer from a Tuen Mun housing estate is a barrister known for defending pro-democracy causes and activists.

Time stands still in Sammy Photo Studio in Yau Ma Tei, where photographer Lam Kwok-shing has spent decades capturing precious family moments on film for generations of customers.

Chef Vicky Lau Wan-ki is the first female chef to own a Michelin-starred restaurant in Hong Kong, and she's also been named Asia's best female chef. But the 35-year-old owner of the Tate Dining Room and Bar took an unusual path to success; she has a background in design and graphic communications.

Doctor Au Yiu-kai has braved Taliban attacks and Israeli airstrikes during this time as a volunteer physician in conflict and disaster areas across the world. None of these dangers has discouraged him from serving the sick and wounded. But here the head of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) volunteers’ medical team, he tells Varsity about his heartbreak over Hong Kong.

As an exchange student, Egyptian poet Sayed Gouda witnessed the historic Tiananmen Square protests and crackdown of 1989. Now, as a Hong Kong resident, he once again found himself living under Beijing’s shadow after the Umbrella Movement broke out. Gouda talks to Varsity about his unforgettable memories of Beijing and his insights on the Occupy Central Movement.

Today, lecturer Li Chun-hong teaches humanities to university students, but things could have turned out very differently. Li spent some of his childhood years shoplifting, fighting and hanging out with triads. Education turned his life around and now Li hopes he can help other young lives.

From Club 64 to Club 71, Grace Ma Lai-wah has run two bars named after significant political incidents that have witnessed more than a quarter of a century of Hong Kong history. Despite all the struggles and changes in the city and her life, Ma has always managed to find a way to survive.

She had a dazzling career spanning Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea as a teenage sweetheart. She gave it up to become a wife and mother. She survived divorce to bring up two children and embark on a new career as a clay artist. Varsity meets Gloria Yip Wan-yee.

Earlier this year, Hong Kong's best known campaigner for the rights of ethnic minorities, Fermi Wong, stepped down from Unison, the organisation she co-founded and ran for 16 years, and threw herself into the Umbrella Movement. Here, she tells Varsity about her childhood in Fujian, her first days in Hong Kong and her hopes for the city she loves.

He weaves life into stories and stories into life. Varsity talks to Yuen Che-hung, better known as storyteller Uncle Hung, who takes us on a journey from his firebrand days as a teenage rebel in San Po Kong to what he sees as the utopian world of occupied Admiralty.