Hong Kong (AFP)

It has been more than 60 years that "Duk Ling", the last authentic Hong Kong junk, sailed its elegant red sails in the "Port aux Parfums".

But its future is now uncertain, as new restrictions against the coronavirus prevent it from welcoming tourists.

The local government recently toughened measures to deal with a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the former British colony.

And this time he promised to tighten controls against any violation of the rules limiting gatherings in public and private places, to the point of opening a telephone line to allow the population to denounce possible offenders.

"It will be very difficult in the short term to stay alive," Dukling Limited director of development Charlotte Li, who manages the junk, told AFP.

Because this 18-meter three-masted ship that transports tourists must be maneuvered by four people during its outings.

However, two left the ship because of the drop in their wages.

“We have to respect the law. But how do we maintain the salaries of our employees who support their families?” Ms. Li asks.

She is angry with the local government for not taking care of small businesses like hers that are excluded from public aid to the tourism sector, which is granted to travel agencies, tourist guides or amusement parks.

"I know the government can't help everyone, but it should think more globally when it comes to the tourism sector," she said.

Junks, whose use dates back to the Han dynasty in the third century BC, were for centuries the favored boat in the region for fishing or transport.

Built in 1955 in Macau, "Duk Ling" is the only authentic junk still in existence in Hong Kong.

The others are all modern replicas.

It belonged for 20 years to a fisherman who lived on board with his family.

Then it became an attraction for tourists and an iconic sight of Victoria Harbor, the strait that separates Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon Peninsula.

It was by picking up Hong Kongers and schoolchildren that the small business has been able to stay afloat for months this year, despite the plummeting number of foreign visitors to Hong Kong caused by the epidemic.

To please the Hong Kong public, we had to correct the course: change the courses and swap the comments in English for explanations in Cantonese.

But new restrictions on the gathering mean that even this local source of income has dried up.

Ms. Li now calls for the responsibility of the authorities who, according to her, should not support what is a part of the local heritage.

“It's an old boat, which has a long history and is full of history,” she says.

"It's a floating museum, a fishing museum."

© 2020 AFP