Aberdeen - Water People

Only a few years ago more than 30,000 "water people" lived on 5000 or so junks and sampans (small boats) in the bay, protected from typhoons; most of them found work as fishermen, boat-builders or laborers on the surrounding wharves. Their number has diminished drastically since the government introduced its rehousing program. In addition, two devastating fires in 1987 and 1988 destroyed more than half the boats; this was rather convenient as far as the government was concerned as it enabled them to speed up the move to more permanent quarters, although the main reason for doing so was the lack of hygiene on the boats, where the ebb and flow of the tide formed the only means of disposing of human waste in the absence of expensive sewage installations. In recent years public funds have financed the building of high-rise flats around the harbor which do provide at least an elementary degree of comfort.

In recent years the town of Aberdeen has been renovated at great expense, with the building of modern boutiques and shopping centers. Of the boat-dwellers who originally inhabited the harbor only a few hundred remain.

A trip in a sampan - the fare for which should be negotiated in advance - will offer photographers a variety of picturesque shots, but will also reveal the prevailing poverty.