Short Reads
Then & Now | Shopping, sedan chairs, seeing China – tips for 1930s Hong Kong tourists
Pearl of the Orient, a city of myriad lights – Hong Kong was promoted to 1930s visitors by China’s Nationalist government much as it would be for decades afterwards. No sedan chair rides these days, though.
Reflections | As Hong Kong chases Muslim Mideast money, memories of China’s oldest mosque
An hour by high-speed train from Hong Kong, in Guangzhou, is the Huaisheng Mosque, which probably dates from the 10th century, some three centuries after Muslims began settling in the city.
The floating library visiting Hong Kong to help those in need
Hong Kong is hosting Germany-based Christian charity GBA Ships’ floating library. With over 2,000 books, it aims to promote literacy and ‘empower people with knowledge’.
Home from Home | How UK TV’s University Challenge still stumps me; but not Hongkongers
Watching two Hong Kong students help win the UK’s long-running University Challenge TV quiz show, Cliff Buddle recalls the challenges of viewing British TV favourites in Hong Kong in the 1990s.
When a Hong Kong policeman walked free after shooting his boss dead at work
Police Chief Inspector Leung Chi-lung was shot in his office in 1994 by Sergeant Leung Chung, who then held him hostage for three hours. The inspector died, but the sergeant was cleared of his murder.
Language Matters | Where did jeans and denim come from? The clues are in the names
The Italian city of Genoa and the French city of Nîmes are responsible for giving the world jeans and denim, respectively, which were later exported to northern Europe, Britain and North America.
Photographs from 80s Hong Kong paired with post-punk band at M+ museum
Wong Kar-wai and Chow Yun-fat are among the Hong Kong cinema luminaries featured in photos shot by Canadian Greg Girard on 1980s film sets. They will be presented at M+ with a musical accompaniment.
Then & Now | Good luck finding expert guides to tell tourists truths about Hong Kong
Tourists to Hong Kong have long been fed rote-learned clichés about its history by uninspiring and uninspired guides. In today’s new normal, who would dare risk offering them anything different?
Language Matters | Japanese ‘katsu’, from English ‘cutlet’, now English word in its own right
Among Japanese origin added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2024 is katsu, a ‘boomerang word’ – one the Japanese borrowed from English in the first place.
When a swindler offered to have Hong Kong hospital chief’s ex-wife killed
When a man offered to have Dr Walton Li’s ex-wife murdered in return for HK$800,000 in 1998, the hospital chief called the police. Iu Shui-tai was sent to prison for making the hoax offer.
Reflections | 3 Body Problem recalls one of Chinese history’s worst traitors
(Spoiler alert) A character in Netflix’s 3 Body Problem brings to mind a Chinese military leader who has been vilified as a traitor for nearly 400 years for allowing Manchu troops to overrun China.
Then & Now | When Scots were deployed to Hong Kong defences named after roads in London
Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly, Shaftesbury Avenue: names given to the tunnels of Hong Kong’s Shing Mun Redoubt. Yet their occupants in 1941 were Scots for whom London was in a foreign land.
‘My favourite place’: Skids singer Richard Jobson excited to play Hong Kong
Scottish punk rockers Skids are playing their first Hong Kong gig on April 30. Frontman Richard Jobson, who can’t wait to perform in his favourite city, talks about starting out in music aged 16 in 1977.
Reflections | The pitfalls of travelling on passports issued by Malaysia and Singapore
Passports issued by Singapore and Malaysia don’t separate first and last names, confusing airline computers and online apps. Why the constant demands to state a surname when none is defined?
Home from Home | Where are all the bees and butterflies? UK’s many wildlife worries
From bees and butterflies to birds and badgers, much of Britain’s wildlife is in disturbing decline resulting from development, climate change, pesticides and pollution. And then there’s the roadkill.
When a Hong Kong truck driver was put on trial for smuggling guns into China
A Hong Kong truck driver was arrested for smuggling firearms into China when he entered Shenzhen in 2001, and put on trial despite the guns being fake. Eight months later he was still awaiting a verdict.
Hong Kong musical on marine sustainability decries shark’s fin soup
A Hong Kong musical promoting marine conservation and decrying shark’s fin soup, Shark Symphony is a mix of arts: throat singing, contortionism, acrobatics and belly dancing, backed by an orchestra.
Then & Now | Northern Thai cemetery’s surprising links to old Hong Kong
Chiang Mai’s foreign cemetery not only contains Hong Kong-made tombstones, but also bear testament to the educational ties that once bound northern Thailand to Hong Kong.
When a British soldier’s wife went on hunger strike in Singapore
A teenaged British army wife went on hunger strike in Singapore in 1962 in protest at the housing provided for the family. A move to Hong Kong, and a flat in Chungking Mansions, delighted her.
Reflections | Move over, soba. After oodles of udon on a trip to Japan, I’m a convert
Soba and soumen wheat noodles are my preferred Japanese varieties, but after eating udon on a visit to Kagawa in Shikoku, especially the local Sanuki udon, I was won over by their chewiness.