Intimate portraits of young Chinese British men

Photography has the power to reveal details about people and places that words often fail to capture. Not just the physical aspects – outfits, facial expressions and locations – but also the emotions, societal norms and cultural contexts of the time. 

Photographer Naomi Wong sees her practice as a bridge to her family history. Raised in England by her mum, Wong had limited contact with her father, who lives in Hong Kong. He seldom shared much about his past, leaving her with fragments of stories about his younger years. He came to England in the 80s to study English and attend university in Salford, yet these snippets barely sketched an idea of his life. Last Christmas, while visiting her home in Scunthorpe, Wong’s auntie discovered a collection of old photographs that were about to be thrown into a skip. “I had never seen them before and I felt like I was learning so much about my dad through these lost photos,” she reveals. “The more I thought about them, the more I was curious about his life in the UK at the time.”

This reflection inspired Wong to embark on her first personal project and now debut book, 後生仔, which translates to ‘young man’ (後 hau6 – meaning behind or come after; 生 saang1 sang1 – born, grow, life, alive, unripe; and 仔 zai2 zi2 – son, child, boy). Through intimate portraits and interviews, Naomi aims to “fill in the blanks of the absent Chinese male in British culture”, celebrating them as “a lover, a friend, a son and a brother”, she says. Two years in the making, her subjects include a mix of individuals born and raised in the UK, as well as those who arrived at a young age to study or settle. “Despite all of us having been raised within very different backgrounds, we could all relate to the feeling of not quite fully belonging to this country that we may call home but have a slight, bittersweet affinity for.”

One poignant subject is her close friend, Chun Yin-Chan (陳振賢), the textile artist and graphic designer behind the title font for the book, inspired by the films of Wong Kar-wai. Chun is photographed with his dad in his childhood home in York, North Yorkshire and, like Wong, Chun spent part of his early years in Hong Kong before moving to the North. “Sometimes it feels like we are trading very familiar memories,” she shares. Chun is depicted lying on his bed, surrounded by artworks and film posters, like that of In the Mood for Love. He’s captured in a wistful pose, some imagery depicts him lying face-on to the camera while others show him looking longingly into the distance. The photos are vulnerable yet familiar, as if you’re a fly on the wall looking in on the most personal and safest places of adolescence – the bedroom. 

“To be within their personal space is always so intimate and comforting,” she adds. “I really love the idea of discovering a person’s interests and hints of their personality through their surroundings – what they have in their room, the things they collected because it was something they loved growing up.” 

Other subjects include her nephew Owen Wilkenson (韋文星), who moved to London to study medicine, and Tai Tang, who’s captured in his bedroom surrounded by Pokémon memorabilia and plushies, evoking a nostalgic nod to early 2000s Britain. “I think personal items play a big role in showing someone’s sense of character and having these items dotted in the back of the images adds a personal touch.” 

Jun, an avid football fan who was cast through Instagram, is photographed both on a grassy pitch and inside his room, donning a football Hong Kong Football Association jersey and a pendant necklace wrapped around his face. The duality of the imagery speaks to his journey navigating his Chinese heritage and British upbringing. “Sometimes they compliment each other but they also sometimes clash, and there are times where I don’t feel like I belong to either,” says Jun in an interview with Wong for the project. Football, however, has enabled Jun to find a sense of community. “There are a lot of Chinese football enthusiasts in the UK but they don’t seem to be prominently represented in British football culture,” the photographer notes. 

Through her work, Wong emphasises how collective storytelling can challenge stereotypes, especially when it comes to celebrating the nuanced identities of young Chinese men in Britain. “[The project] is a love letter to the Chinese community in Britain, particularly those who are still in the process of navigating themselves – their sense of identity – in this country,” she concludes. “I would really love the series to encourage more stories to be told from our community because storytelling is always what brings people closer and together. I also hope it may even open up conversations with our parents and older family members about their experiences, stories and maybe even secrets they won’t tell unless we ask them.”

Naomi Wong’s 後生仔 Young Man is available to pre-order here now.