#laurel chor

[aswiya]

Milk tea with condensed milk and butter on toast: the perfect snack to be enjoyed at any time of day.

LAUREL CHOR

[aswiya]

Young performers wait for their cue during a rehearsal for a Cantonese opera performance.

LAUREL CHOR

[aswiya]

A woman works on a traditional Chinese wedding dress in Mong Kok.

LAUREL CHOR

[aswiya]

A woman and a man tear up while singing “Glory to Hong Kong,” the protest movement’s anthem, at a memorial event at Kowloon Union Church commemorating one year of pro-democracy protests.

LAUREL CHOR

[aswiya]

Deena Ravi Thinakaran, a 24-year-old teacher of Indian heritage, sits on the tram in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. “Taking the tram is really different compared to other places,” she said. “As I grow older I see so many changes in Hong Kong, and I just feel more connected [on the tram]. It’s really nostalgic.” The political turmoil has taken its toll: “I feel like when you have your first love and you have the first heartbreak, but it's on loop. Every time I think about it, my heart hurts.”

LAUREL CHOR

[aswiya]

Sandy Au, 28, stands inside one of the circular buildings at Lai Tak Tsuen, a public housing estate in Tai Hang, Hong Kong. The area has become popular with tourists and Instagrammers because of its iconic architecture.

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[aswiya]

This beautiful kwan kwa wedding dress took 120 days of intricate work to complete.

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[aswiya]

Au Kit-chun poses at the Sun Fat Store, where she has worked for 31 years after immigrating from the mainland. At a traditional shop like hers, she says, customers can still chat with the staff, “so there’s a sentimental attachment.” Having lived through China’s Cultural Revolution, she says she is “more cautious of what I say now. … You don't know if the people around you are your friends or a snitch.”

LAUREL CHOR