The conclusion of the hearing into the disputed estate of late tycoon Nina Wang comes as a relief to Hongkongers, who no longer have to be confronted, on a daily basis, with even more tales of baseness, superstition and venality than already fill our lives. Those unfamiliar with the story—it is hard to think who they might be, given …
hong kong
Would You Die For Your Local Police?
There are some crimes that you would consider risking your life to prevent. Illegal street racing is not one of them. But risk their lives is exactly what several members of the Hong Kong public were asked to do in a recent police operation that raises questions of civil rights, abuse of power and the basic humanity of the officers …
Fung Shui Is Evil
As someone born in Hong Kong of partly Chinese parentage, I used to proudly claim fung shui as a part of my culture. When rational people questioned how the layout of hills and water, or furniture or mirrors, could affect the energy of a place, I would smirk and give a look that meant “How little you know.” Long after I gave up other …
Mainland China Cracks Down, Hong Kong Remembers
To Curb Suicides, Hong Kong Adds More Subway Safety Doors
Under pressure from groups like Hong Kong University’s Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation has decided to speed up its subway safety plan. According to the new timeline, announced last Friday, the remaining eight above-ground MTR stations will have platform safety doors installed by 2011, one year …
Must-See Hong Kong TV
First there was the stressed-out Bus Uncle. Then came the Airport Auntie who threw a hissyfit on the floor after missing a flight (her performance has attracted almost 7 million views!!). And to add to Hong Kong’s growing collection of video hits featuring the city’s mentally unstable, we now have Paranoid-MTR-Jerk-Uncle (my suggested …
Appearance and Reality
Cities as imagined in the brochures of their property developers often have a mildly hallucinogenic quality—but Hong Kong lavishly so. Depending on what kind of homebuyer is targeted, the catalogs show either a sunbathed arcadia of wooded hills, sunsets and pristine water, or a blazing Gotham, its denizens clad in evening dress, …
Video: A Cemetery’s Waitlist
Happy Birthday, Underground
Because the listings pages are full of details of gigs by local bands, I am always surprised when people—foreigners invariably—inform me that “there is no underground music scene in Hong Kong.” Perhaps we don’t read the same magazines, or perhaps they’re simply determined to have a miserable time. But even sensitive, …
In Hong Kong, Even the Dead Wait in Line
Hong Kong’s land shortage forced most residents to give up on burials long ago. Now the city has run out of space for ashes. Read our story here.
HK Dissidents Prep for Big Tiananmen Anniv.
From TIME Hong Kong intern Anka Lee:
As the 20th anniversary of the June 4 crackdown at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square draws near, Hong Kong is humming with activities. Activists and dissidents are holding book talks and forums and students on university campuses across the city are debating whether the central government should come clean …
Sevens Heaven
Wander through the stands of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens—the city’s biggest sports event—and it’s as if the 1997 reunification with China had never happened. The English-speaking community, at other times a collection of dissipated stragglers in the population statistics, becomes a roaring, Mexican-waving, demographic powerhouse, …
Time to Beat Your Enemies
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9GLXLspENc]
March 5-March 7 is 惊蛰 (jingzhe, or “Waking of the Insects”), a lunar holiday observed almost exclusively in Hong Kong. People here mark the occasion by seeking out elderly women to use a shoe or slipper to beat the pulp out of a strip of paper that symbolizes a backstabbing …