Along the bustling streets of Sheung Wan, a little alley known as Man Wa Lane seems to fade unnoticed into the shadows. Few people would expect to find the 3,000-year-old craft of Chinese seal-carving alive and well, right next to a MTR exit.
The narrow alley, whose name means Chinese Cultural Lane and is a mere 400 metres long, is lined by the dozen tiny green booths of chop-makers.
Chan Sei, 78, the second-generation owner of the old Hon Jai Chops shop, sat cautiously engraving Chinese characters onto a piece of soapstone no bigger than a 10-cent coin. With expertise he carves characters onto jade, cow bone, crystal and wood. He often works with the ancient calligraphic styles of seal scripts from the Qin dynasty, but he also uses modern Chinese script and even English, a language he doesn't speak well.
'I guess I was destined to be a chop maker,' Chan says. He inherited the tiny workshop from his father more than half a century ago. He has been earning a living from it ever since. 'It has been my greatest skill and interest in life,' the craftsman says.
The golden era of Chop Alley dates back to the 1900s. Back then most people couldn't read or write and they had to stamp their signatures on official documents. They used stamps to receive wages or when picking up packages at the post office.
Some artists and scholars might even have a full set of name seals, leisure seals and studio seals with elaborate Chinese calligraphy and paintings carved on precious stones. They could cost a fortune.
But nowadays almost everyone can read and write, and a colour printer is within everyone's reach. Chop making has fallen out of favour. 'No matter how well I carve, nobody seems to care about this ancient craft anymore,' Chan says.