Fonds 02 - Chan Kiu Archives 陳橋檔案

Chan Kiu (陳橋) is a Hong Kong photojournalist best known for his esteemed career at the South China Morning Post (SCMP), where he was a key figure in the development of contemporary photojournalism in Hong Kong. Born in Hong Kong to a working-class family, he received a primary-level education. He entered photography in the early 1950s, taking instant photographs of tourists at Tiger Balm Garden using box cameras. In 1956, he joined The English Tiger as a darkroom technician and later undertook photographic assignments, particularly at sports events, while studying English part-time.

Chan joined the South China Morning Post in 1959 as a full-time staff photographer, becoming one of the first generation of Chinese photojournalists in Hong Kong’s English-language press. He was promoted to Chief Photographer in 1976, a position he held until his retirement in 1987. Known for his exceptional news sense and sound judgment, Chan received numerous awards for his photojournalism, including six Certificates of Honour from the World Press Photo Contest, as well as recognition from industry organizations such as the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong and Nikon Corporation.

During nearly three decades at SCMP, Chan documented many of the most significant political, social, and cultural events in Hong Kong’s postwar history, including refugee movements from mainland China, the 1967 disturbances, major anti-corruption investigations, royal visits, the arrival of Vietnamese boat people, and the Sino–British negotiations over Hong Kong’s future. The South China Morning Post estimated that he produced more than 40,000 rolls of film during his career.
Chan’s photographs were widely published and professionally recognized, and his work remains an important visual record of Hong Kong during a period of rapid transformation. After retiring in 1987, he emigrated to Canada in 1993 and settled in Vancouver, where he died on 6 April 2024 at the age of 96.