Lindsay Varty explores Hong Kong through its traditional crafts, Cantonese slang, local food and everyday stories, documenting the city’s changing culture.
Walking through the streets of Hong Kong, writer Lindsay Varty prefers to slow down and look around rather than rush from one place to another.
She pays attention not only to the city’s busy streets and modern skyline, but also to its old shops, traditional crafts and everyday life. Over three years, she visited small businesses and met dozens of craftspeople, recording their stories and the skills they have kept alive.
Varty was born in 1988 to a British father and a mother of mixed Chinese and Portuguese heritage. She moved to Hong Kong with her parents when she was just 20 days old. Having spent almost her entire life in the city, she considers Hong Kong home.
Her interest in local culture began in childhood. Her parents often took her to Hong Kong’s wet markets and encouraged her to speak Cantonese with shopkeepers and neighbours. She learned the names of different types of fish, the names of different cuts of meat and how to prepare local dishes.
These ordinary experiences gave her an early connection with the city’s everyday culture. Years later, they also shaped the way she approached her work.
As Hong Kong changed rapidly, Varty noticed that some of the old shops and traditional crafts she had known were gradually disappearing from daily life. She decided to document the people behind them before their stories became harder to find.
Starting in 2015, she visited craftspeople across the city. Before each interview, she researched the history and background of the craft involved. She also tried to experience the work herself.
Rather than simply arriving with a notebook and asking questions, Varty often became a customer first. She might buy a small item or try a service. In her view, this was a simple way to show respect for the time and work of the craftsperson.
Her Cantonese also helped open doors. Some craftspeople initially assumed she was a visitor from overseas. Their surprise often became a conversation starter when she began speaking Cantonese.
Among the people she met were an elderly woman who practised a traditional Chinese facial threading technique, a man who wrote letters for customers, and craftspeople who continued to make traditional birdcages, cheongsams and paper offerings.
Varty brought many of their stories together in her 2018 English-language book Sunset Survivors. After its publication, some readers visited the shops featured in the book to see the crafts for themselves and buy handmade products.
For Varty, this was an encouraging response. It showed that a book about small shops and traditional crafts could also lead readers back to the people and places behind the stories.
Her exploration of Hong Kong did not stop there. She later co-authored Hong Kong Slang, turning her attention from traditional crafts to the language of everyday life.
Her experience as a rugby player played a role in that project. She trains and socialises with local teammates, which has given her plenty of opportunities to hear Cantonese slang in natural settings.
Varty has also turned her attention to a younger audience. Rather than introducing Hong Kong culture through non-fiction, she chose a more playful approach for children.
Her first picture book follows a Hong Kong wild boar named Welly as he walks around the city, tries different local snacks and eventually discovers egg waffles, one of Hong Kong’s best-known street foods.
Food, she believes, offers a natural way for people to experience another culture. Through Welly’s story, she hopes to encourage children from different backgrounds to try new things and become curious about the city around them.
From traditional crafts and Cantonese slang to children’s stories, Varty continues to look for small, everyday stories that reflect Hong Kong. For her, the process begins with walking through the city, talking to people and paying attention to details that can easily be overlooked.
Additional reporting by Liu Yueqing.
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