Inside Hong Kong's Aberdeen Harbor, a floating village once home to 150,000 people that has faded into history

James PasleyJan 13, 2024, 03:01 IST

A Chinese woman and baby strapped to her back rowing a sailing sampan.George Rinhart/Corbis/Getty Images

Hong Kong's Aberdeen Harbor was home to thousands of fishing families known as "the floating people."
They lived on junk boats or sampans — small, flat-bottomed wood boats about 4.5 to 7 meters in length.

Thousands of people once lived on small boats in a floating village in Hong Kong.

In Aberdeen Harbor, residents lived on sampans or junk boats. They were known by several names but preferred "Soi Seung Yan," which translated to "those born of the water."

But at times, it was a dangerous life. They had to deal with typhoons, massive swells, and fishing accidents.

Eventually, as Hong Kong grew and its government offered the fishing communities public housing, the harbor emptied out and the village disappeared.

Here's how the fishing community grew so large and why it's no longer around today.

On the southwest edge of Hong Kong Island, there’s an old fishing harbor called Aberdeen Harbor.

Sampans floating near the shore in Hong Kong.HUM Images/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

These fishermen lived on boats permanently with their families.

A woman carrying water jugs walks across floating sampans in Hong Kong.Archive Photos/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Many of the boats they worked and lived on were sampans, which means “three planks” in Cantonese.

A vintage photo of sampan boats floating near houses on stilts on the water.Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

People also lived on wooden junk boats, which were much larger.

A traditional junk boat sitting on its keel at low tide in Aberdeen Harbor.H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images

These floating villages grew until they were filled with thousands of full-time residents.

A family living on a small boat in Aberdeen Harbor.George Bryant/Toronto Star/Getty Images

Many were almost entirely self-sufficient, cooking and sleeping aboard their boats.

Sampans and junk boats cruise in the water in Aberdeen Harbor.Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images

They bought groceries from other sampans.

A floating grocery store in Aberdeen Harbor.C.Y. Yu/South China Morning Post/Getty Images

They ate their meals on board together.

A family living on a fishing boat at Aberdeen Harbor.C.Y. Yu/South China Morning Post/Getty Images

Aberdeen’s fishing community continued to grow in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

An aerial view of Aberdeen Harbor.Authenticated News/Archive Photos/Getty Images

By the 1960s, there were as many as 150,000 people living on Aberdeen Harbor.

An aerial view of "Sampan City" in Hong Kong's harbor.Three Lions/Getty Images

During the day, children went for swims in the harbor.

Children going for a swim in Aberdeen Harbor.Sunny Lee/South China Morning Post/Getty Images

But it wasn’t an easy life. The children had to work from a young age.

A boy repairs fishing nets in Aberdeen Harbor.Bristol Archives/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

It was a dangerous life, too. The boating community had to deal with typhoons, massive swells, and fishing accidents.

A view of the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter.Chan Kiu/South China Morning Post/Getty Images

In the 1960s, the fishing communities began to move ashore with help from the government.

An elderly lady helps children to get ashore from a sampan in Hong Kong.United Archives/Hanna Seidel/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

In 1977, Hong Kong’s government built a new bridge across the harbor.

A group of boat dwellers presented a sampan to the Public Works Department as they urged the Chinese government to rehouse them.Chan Kiu/South China Morning Post/Getty Images

By 1985, there were about 12,000 people still living on 3,000 sampans in Aberdeen Harbor.

Sampan taxis drive passengers in Aberdeen Harbor.Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images

The number of people in the floating city continued to dwindle.

Boat dwellers, not Chan Gun Ho's family, watching TV on their floating home in Aberdeen Harbor.C.Y. Yu/South China Morning Post/Getty Images

In the following decades, the floating village almost disappeared.

An aerial view of Aberdeen Harbor with lines of modern boats surrounded by residential and commercial buildings in Hong Kong.Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

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