It's a memorable image: a man in a suit talking into his mobile phone but sporting a Qing-dynasty queue walks down busy Des Veoux Road in Central, drawing bemused stares from passersby. The recent TV commercial touting a brand of accounting software has grabbed the attention of many viewers.
Most people acquainted with Aixingero Hing-tong assumed he was the star in the ad. Not so. 'You're all mistaken, that man isn't me,' he says, frowning. 'I kept getting phone calls from friends and relatives congratulating me for becoming a model.
'There's no resemblance except for the hairdo,' says the 59-year-old, who is of Manchu descent. 'I'm a lot more agile despite my age. The actor in the ad is very stiff and his movement is slow.'
The photo studio owner decided to highlight his heritage four years ago by adopting traditional Manchu customs and dress - including a Qing-dynasty hairstyle with a shaved forehead and queue down the back, and bowing to ancestral altars daily.
Aixingero also formally resumed the use of his Manchurian surname, registering it with mainland and Hong Kong authorities. His two children - daughter Pansy, 29, and son Enoch, 20 - have done the same, and he's eager to show doubters his Hong Kong identity card bearing the name.
His great-grandfather changed their family name to Chow in the 1930s because of political sensitivity, he says. After all, they bear the same surname as Puyi, the last Qing emperor. 'Imagine what life would have been like in the New China era if the family still carried the surname of Qing emperors,' says Aixingero, adding that friends know him better as Chow-tong.