CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME I was brought up in Myanmar [then Burma] as third-generation Myanmar-Chinese. The country is over 90 per cent Buddhist and the people are very kind; they practise charity in their daily lives. With that and my mother's influence, my sisters and I have always been aware of the act of giving. I have some family members still there; I try to go back once every year or two. I speak the language and I do feel a strong affinity to the place. I like going back also because of photography. Myanmar is a very scenic destination.
MODEL CITIZENS I [won the] Miss Hong Kong [beauty pageant] in 1977. During that time I had the opportunity to do some charity work and serve the community, after which I founded the Wai Yin [Association] together with other pageantry finalists; there was no reason not to continue [charity] work after official Miss Hong Kong duties were over. Wai Yin has been going for 27 years. We meet regularly ... there's a lot of camaraderie between members; I have gained friends and learned how to develop my leadership skills.
MOTHER KNOWS BEST I became a mother at 20 and a lot of questions were left unanswered at the time. When you see things that your child is doing, you have to [decide] very quickly what's right and what's wrong. It made me become more assertive about my values. When they were teenagers, I took my boys [Chu had three sons with former husband Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, a member of the Legislative Council], along with my sisters and their children, to Myanmar and Sri Lanka to do volunteer work. For three summers, they taught English at orphanages and homes. Some of the orphans were in their 20s, so my kids felt a bit awkward teaching someone older than them, but it was a good experience.
Judging from how I turned out, I think Hong Kong has a good educational system [Chu attended the Hong Kong International and King George V schools]. As for my three boys, the primary education they enjoyed at St Paul's co-ed gave them a good foundation for their studies abroad. The decision to let them go was not hard. The boys had had very pampered lives in Hong Kong - life's too good here - and I realised the benefits of the boarding-school experience. Of course, I was a bit concerned that having left very young, they would prefer life outside Hong Kong but it hasn't turned out that way so far; the older ones have returned. They see the importance of working in China now, so they actually go to the mainland more often than abroad.
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER I got interested in photography at 14 years old but I didn't get the chance to pursue it until 1994 - after motherhood. I'm not always inspired by beautiful scenery. [Once], when I was set- ting up to take a picture of a dying lotus in a dead pond, people around me could not understand what I was aiming at but I saw the potential of it. Beauty isn't just about a flower blooming at its peak. I've documented sporting events, such as the Olympics and the East Asian Games; they are important historical events which I'd like to keep a record of. I also photograph theatre performances and the religious festivals of different ethnic groups in Myanmar.
In 2001, [my teacher] pushed me to enter my work in the Photographic Society of America's annual global competition. After exhibitions and judging in 16 cities, I came third overall. My foundation in using 35mm film was very important; so was my experience in the darkroom, developing and printing. I converted to digital seven or eight years ago mainly for convenience - the gratification is quite instant.