Letters from the Rooftops of Hong Kong

Dawn above the trams

There is a rooftop in Sheung Wan where the air tastes like salt and copper. The trams begin long before the city fully wakes, their bells chiming up the sides of the towers. From here the neon workshop glows like a kiln, bending glass over blue flames.

I followed letter maker Lau cheung-sang through the maze of steel ladders to reach this perch. He told me the city is quieter at height. You hear only the wind and the buzz of transformers.

The keepers of light

Hong Kong still keeps its light in handcrafted tubes. Each bend is a memory of a shopfront—herbalists, tea houses, the temple gate where our story print was captured. Lau says his work is a promise that the nights will always be bright.

When we photographed "Temple at Dawn" the same glow framed the hilltop. The story print holds the silent moment when light met incense.

Why it matters

From up here you see how the harbor cradles the city. Every story we release from Hong Kong carries that energy. Collectors tell us the print keeps their rooms awake. Maybe it's the current that Lau leaves inside each letter.