The sky as a backdrop in July 1997 in Hong Kong was heavy. It poured daily and peoples_ hearts were heavy and depressed. China was about to take Hong Kong back after over 100 years of British colonization. Lau Pokchi wanted to take his family’s portraits for this occasion but they had all left for America. Some had come back because America was not for everyone. This disjointed-family situation became a common phenomenon in Hong Kong with a population of 6.5 million. Housing was dense, tiny and hideously expensive. Home, to many people there, was a cage. They preferred to roam the streets. The photographer used the reality of street frenzy in Hong Kong as a backdrop for the exterior portraits. As for the foreign workers he used interiors where there were usually Chinese objects behind. A pull-down white curtain worked as a separation and boundary. Oblivious to the reality around them, the subject were free to interpret themselves as they appeared in between the camera and the curtain, between the real and the artificial.