Aberdeen Promenade

This guide to Aberdeen Promenade in Hong Kong traces the history of the Tanka, the boat-dwelling community whose junks once filled this harbour by the hundred thousand. It follows their status under the Qing dynasty as a despised caste barred from owning land or sitting imperial exams, and the 1729 imperial decree that declared them equal citizens with one impossible catch. Listen for the last of their junks still rocking at anchor in the shelter of the harbour.