Huie photographs an American family with Asian roots (left) and role-plays a member of the family in another photo.

"My father must have had an even tougher time than Cheng because he went to a foreign country where he couldn't speak the language there at first," Huie says.

Wearing Cheng's clothes, a dirty shirt and wrinkled trousers pulled out from a plastic bag, Huie posed like Cheng, standing on the stairs thoughtfully and looking into the camera with a shy smile.

"By wearing someone else's clothes, I experience a little bit of the person's life," he says. "Now I have deeper understanding of my father and migration."

Born and raised in the US, the 59-year-old photographer took his first trip back to his home village in Taishan, Guangdong, two months ago before spending six days in Guangzhou, the provincial capital. "I want to know more about my ancestry, Chinese culture and the daily life of people here," Huie says.

"I'm curious - if my father didn't go to America and if I was born and grew up in China, what would I do now?

"So I want to talk to people from different walks of life and photograph different segments of society."

He interviewed and photographed 17 people, 15 of whom wrote about their dreams on his small chalkboard. Two lent their clothes to him to wear.

The chalkboard writing gives an interesting snapshot of Chinese society.

In front of Huie's camera, a university student writes of his dream to become "director of drama and director of life" and holds up the chalkboard with a happy face.

A young insurance man dreams about working for soccer team Manchester United, although he is running in a jungle of office buildings rather than on a soccer field.

A 40-year-old man from a farming family looks shy when talking about his childhood dream of being a kung fu master. Now doing odd jobs such as driving and construction works, he says that he only thinks about how to earn more money to support his family.

He says the term Chinese dream is "too big" for him. A college teacher, who is concerned about food safety and recent violent incidents, says that her Chinese dream is "simple" - her family stays safe and healthy.

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