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H.C. Lu

86 articles published

New rail station moves China into sci-fi territory

ATHLETES ARRIVING IN CHINA for the Asian Games next year will feel like they’ve arrived in a sci-fi movie. The spectacular design of the new Hangzhou West railway station makes users think they are stepping into the future. The main elements are either bright white or completely transparent, and the structural lines are huge in…

December 2, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Chinese food Culture

The Cantonese have a world of soups to choose from

SOUP DISHES ARE SO popular in Hong Kong that you can order them by app or stop on your way to work for some quick broth. And multi-course Cantonese dinners are not complete without a soup course. Cantonese people believe that savouring regular bowls of soup can help reduce water retention in the body, prevent…

November 24, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

News

Uni graduate? Here’s a free pass to billionaire city

WANT A WELL-PAID JOB? With a free work visa? In a low-crime city? With the world’s highest health score? In a community with more super-rich people than anywhere else on earth? And with a huge pot of money waiting to invest in whatever business you’re doing? The answer has got to be YES. And so…

November 22, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Chinese food Culture

Don’t say ‘Chinese food’, say ‘Cantonese’ or ‘Sichuan’

WHILE PEOPLE AROUND the world talk about “Chinese food” as if it is a one thing, in fact there are eight great regional cuisines in China, and the most popular is Cantonese. (The other seven cuisines are Anhui, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan and Zhejiang.) Cantonese cuisine is characterized by its light seasoning, tender…

November 8, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Chinese Music Culture

Chinese orchestra uses infrastructure for inspiration

ONLY IN HONG KONG would engineering details about a piece of major infrastructure be turned into music. Hong Kong-born composer Chan Ming-chi noticed that the extraordinary Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge consists of three cable-stayed bridges, one undersea tunnel, and four artificial islands. So he took the numbers three, one, and four – and turned them into…

November 3, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Chinese history Culture

Amazed sailor finds his ballast was the real treasure

CHINESE EXPLORER ZHENG HE would sail from China with his boats laden with gifts. He took treasures from his country to give as presents or to use in trade with people he met around the world. He once came home with a giraffe. On the way back to China, the ships would be too light…

October 25, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Chinese history Hong Kong News

The forgotten ‘bromance’ between communists and colonials

Hong Kong became host to an extraordinary Communist school in the 1940s The British asked Communists to work as the police in the New Territories A Hong Kong war hero got an MBE before being killed by a Taiwanese bomb ONE OF THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY episodes in modern history was a “bromance” between British colonial…

October 11, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Features

May Yeung is bringing art to a public space near you

Art galleries and museums are fine, but art should be done by creative young people and should be present in the public environment, says the super-creative Hong Kong artist. H.C. Lu reports VISITORS WHO STEPPED into the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel in the US a few years ago got a surprise – there was a pair…

September 19, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Culture

China’s equivalent to the ‘Alphabet Song’ is a 1,000-character masterpiece

An ancient poem has been used for 15 centuries to teach Chinese children to read and write. H.C. Lu reports LITERALLY BILLIONS OF PEOPLE worldwide have learned the Alphabet Song, in which the 26 letters of the alphabet are memorized by being rather awkwardly fitted to a French melody from the 1700s. But few people…

August 30, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Culture

Tang Clan arrived in Hong Kong long before the British

HONG KONG HAS a fascinating history behind its futuristic cityscape. And much of the history dates back centuries before the British era. Yuen Long’s Ping Shan is one of the most historically significant places in Hong Kong – and there's a heritage trail where visitors can marvel in a cluster of well-preserved …

July 26, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu