- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
- France awaits fourth government of the year
- Death toll in Brazil bus crash rises to 41
- Odermatt stays hot to break Swiss World Cup wins record
- Neville says Rashford's career at Man Utd nearing 'inevitable ending'
- Syria's new leader vows not to negatively interfere in Lebanon
- Germany pledges security inquest after Christmas market attack
- Putin vows 'destruction' on Ukraine after Kazan drone attack
- Understated Usyk seeks recognition among boxing legends
- France awaits appointment of new government
- Cyclone Chido death toll rises to 94 in Mozambique
- Stokes out of England's Champions Trophy squad
- Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 28
- Sweet smell of success for niche perfumes
- 'Finally, we made it!': Ho Chi Minh City celebrates first metro
- Angry questions in Germany after Christmas market attack
- China's Zheng pulls out of season-opening United Cup
- Minorities fear targeted attacks in post-revolution Bangladesh
- Tatum's 43-point triple-double propels Celtics over Bulls
- Tunisia women herb harvesters struggle with drought and heat
- Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal
- India's architecture fans guard Mumbai's Art Deco past
- Secretive game developer codes hit 'Balatro' in Canadian prairie province
- Large earthquake hits battered Vanuatu
- Beaten Fury says Usyk got 'Christmas gift' from judges
Hong Kong cheongsam master in the mood to retire after 75 years
Bent over a magenta chiffon fabric, an elderly Hong Kong tailor wearing thick glasses meticulously stitched on embroidered butterflies, working to transform the shimmering material into an elegant, high-collared Chinese dress known as a cheongsam.
At 88, Yan Kar-man is one of Hong Kong's oldest master tailors of the cheongsam -- literally "long clothes" in Cantonese -- a dress recognisable for its form-fitting silhouette which was famously featured in Wong Kar-wai's film "In the Mood for Love".
Experts say the silver-haired tailor is among roughly 10 remaining cheongsam-makers in Hong Kong, which in the mid-1960s used to have about 1,000, according to records from the Shanghai Tailoring Workers General Union.
But after dressing generations of women ranging from housewives to movie stars like Michelle Yeoh and Shu Qi, Yan has decided he will hang up his measuring tape soon -- by the end of September at the earliest.
"I can't see clearly -- my eyes are not working well, and neither am I. I have to retire," he told AFP as he stooped closer to his sewing machine to tack on an embroidered border on the dress.
With about 10 more dresses to finish, Yan hesitated to give an exact closing day for his tiny workshop located in the bustling Hong Kong commercial district of Jordan.
Evolved from the long robes worn by Manchurian people in China's Qing dynasty, cheongsams have dominated the wardrobes of ordinary Chinese women for much of the 20th century since it was popularised in Shanghai in the 1920s.
Its high-neck collars, knee-length slits and streamlined fits evoked a sense of city glamour, and by the 1960s the dress was everywhere in Hong Kong.
"Women would wear them to shop in wet markets," recalled Yan, whose workshop walls are plastered with photos of beauty pageant queens wearing his dresses.
Some of his celebrity customers have even reached out for major life events -- like Liza Wang, a Hong Kong diva nicknamed "Big Sister" in entertainment circles, who has been his client for three decades.
"I didn't know it was for her wedding when I made her a dress with one of her scarves and turned the scraps into a tie for her groom," Yan said.
-'Critically endangered'-
Born in Jiangsu province, China, north of Shanghai, Yan was 13 when his uncle brought him to Hong Kong in 1949 to work as an apprentice in a workshop, where the school dropout was discovered to be a young talent.
At that time, the trade for cheongsam was so common and stable that Yan recalled a plain design would cost "just a few (Hong Kong) dollars".
Western fashion became popular after World War II, and the rise of the garment manufacturing sector in Hong Kong squeezed the cheongsam out of the fashion limelight while pushing tailoring workshops out of business.
Today, the traditional technique to make the dress is "critically endangered", said Brenda Li, an adviser to the Hong Kong Cheongsam Association.
"Hong Kong's cheongsam-making has developed its own style and tradition in the past century, merging skills of dimensional cutting from the West," Li told AFP.
"Few people still wear and care about it, but we want to preserve it no matter how niche it has become because it's part of our culture."
Though cheongsam-making technique has been recognised as part of Hong Kong and mainland China's cultural heritage, Yan said the withered trade offers little chance to pass on his craft.
"You can't make a living by making qipao because it's no longer the trend," Yan said, using the Mandarin word for the dress.
The master -- who also teaches at a learning centre near his shop -- said his students were "far from ready to make real clothes for clients".
Nowadays, orders typically come from older women who need a statement dress to attend their children's weddings, and each piece takes Yan weeks to finish and costs several thousand Hong Kong dollars (hundreds of US dollars).
"How many old clients are still out there, and how many pieces of such detailed work can you make every month?" Yan asked rhetorically.
"My generation is mostly gone."
R.Veloso--PC