The Portrait Project
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Nick the Bookman, Hong Kong, SAR
Nick “the Bookman” is the last hippie of Lamma Island. Lamma is just off of Hong Kong island full of quirky characters looking for an offbeat life that is still just 20 minutes away from central HK. Nick used to be a journalist, and interviewed Muhammad Ali and other sports figures when they passed through. Now he spends his days reading, slinging sci-fi recommendations, writing, and mixing music. His most important life lesson? “Keep reading and stay married. I met my wife on this island 26 years ago. Best decision I ever made.”
“The tea I grow and sell, because it supports my family.”
Sean is a cantankerous conservationist and promotes responsible ecotourism in the Tiger Leaping Gorge. But he is often undermined by the government, which prefers a top-down approach to protecting the gorge and frequently cuts out locals from the tourism industry. He has good reason to distrust the Communist Party: When Sean was just two-years old, during the Cultural Revolution, members of Mao’s Red Guard locked him and his family in his home and lit it on fire, attempting to kill them all. He carries significant scars and can barely use his left hand. He says the most important thing is, “do something real for other people.” Too many Chinese people say one thing but do another. Protecting the environment is the entire world’s responsibility, but China has too many people and too many factories, so we have a bigger responsibility. Tourism is the best factory, because it doesn’t take from the environment.” When I asked him about whether he was concerned about repercussions for speaking out against the government, he was unconcerned. He said, “I cannot be a coward. If you don’t speak out, you can’t change the conditions. And if you don’t, we will all be weak.”
“Serve the people, make our guru happy, and follow tradition.” Sikh warrior
Michael Saniyaz is never satisfied. Originally from Kazakhstan, he belts out love ballads in clubs all over the world in Chinese, English, and his native Kazakh tongue. His Chinese is so fluent that even most Chinese people can’t tell he isn’t a native, and his English is almost as good. On stage he looks like a long-lost Jonas brother with better dance moves and hair. When I asked him what is the most important thing in life, he said, “Always keep learning. Singing is all I have. So I have to keep finding ways to improve.” A few minutes later, not satisfied with his answer, he said a Daoist saying guides why he is never content: 天不言自高 地不言自厚 水不言自流 人不言自能 金砖何厚 玉瓦何薄 . This means “As the sky is never satisfied with its height, the earth is never content with its depth, the water is never content with its flow, man can never be content with his ability. Gold bricks are thick and jade pieces are thin.” In other words, never stop hustling.
Nadia, 18, is finishing up home-schooling on a dirt road off a road off a road in northern Michigan. Far from being isolated, however, she is more worldly than most. Conversations with her and her younger sister are speckled with references to Greek and Roman mythology, literature, Marvel heroes, Star Wars, and the natural world that surrounds them. Nadia also runs a beautiful art project on Instagram, @cogneyezant, where she draws someone’s eye every day. A line by poet and civil rights activist Audre Lorde grounds her in the present so that she can build her bright future: “The necessary ingredient needed to make the past work for the future is our energy in the present, metabolizing one into the other.”
Money.” Age 26, Luis Vuitton bag not pictured
Sean, Shangri-La, Yunnan, China
Sonny Gyalzur founded Shangri-La Highland Craft Beer Co., the largest microbrewery in China. He uses barley grown by Tibetan families and the fresh waters of the Himalayas to make beers that regularly win awards in Europe and around Asia. But the brewery’s mission goes far beyond the mixing of hops, barley, and water. Sonny is the son of Tendol, the woman who runs Tibetan orphanages. The brewery is a family affair; eighty-percent of the brewery’s workforce grew up in his mother’s orphanages. It provides rare professional opportunities in the region and has a huge economic impact for all of its employees. Sonny moved to Shangri-La from Switzerland, where he was born and raised, to reconnect with his roots. The change was jarring, but also taught him to think differently. He said his most important lesson is, “Don’t take yourself too seriously. In Switzerland, there was always pressure to succeed. I was living in a bubble. Everything was perfect and yet I was not happy. Now, living here, I’m more relaxed towards problems, because something that is not good for you may be good for others. For example, when it rains, the tourists are upset. But farmers need the rain. I have a bigger perspective here. I realized that Shangri-La is not a geographic location, you carry it in yourself.”
”Chocolate...and Italian noodles!”
appy, Harold and their friends are construction workers from Punjab. They are refurbishing the 10,000 Buddha Temple (This is a misnomer - there are actually 13,000 Buddha’s ranging from a few inches to several stories tall. Hundreds, each unique, line your long, hot walk up the mountain). Happy and his friends are working at higher wages in Hong Kong to save up for a family. They told us, “Always work hard. Work means money, and money means a wife and family. But we like the alone-life for now.”
