SOME COMMENTATORS are saying that China's annual parliamentary meeting is undramatic this year. This is because they haven't seen announcements about injections of public money that some economists were hoping for. And growth targets were set modestly, at “around 5%” for GDP growth and 3% for the annual budget deficit.
The BBC’s sour correspondent dismissed…
BIG EARNERS WILL PAY more tax, Hong Kong's finance chief said in his latest budget. But the rate will still be far lower than rich people pay in other jurisdictions.
In the budget announced last Wednesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has come up with a fiscal consolidation program to slash the deficit in the…
IN 1897, WHEN THE New York Journal told Mark Twain, the humorist, of the rumor he was dying in poverty in London, he was amused. He replied, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” hoping to nip the story in the bud.
The same can also be said of anybody who predicts Hong…
THE GAME OF rock, paper, scissors started in China, historians believe. The Ming Dynasty writer Xie Zhaozhe wrote in the 1600s that it date back to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE).
But the three elements weren’t rock, paper and scissors. The game was called shoushiling (手勢令), or hand gesture command.
The original elements…
HONG KONG PEOPLE raced to search for “stamp duty” on Google within minutes of Wednesday’s government pledge to make home-buyer easier and cheaper.
But at the exact same time, people selling their apartments raced to raise their prices.
Ultimately, the changes brought a lot of energy back into the housing market—expect some hard bargaining to…
“Parents who deeply love their children are always visionary. ”
(“父母之愛子,則為之計深遠。”)
-quoted from a Chinese classic“Annals of the Warring States”(《戰國策》)
THE HOUSEHOLD REGISTRATION SYSTEM, which has been in place in China for thousands of years, still has a profound impact on the lives of Chinese people, and to some extent determines their fate.
Because…
Hong Kong tourism is set for a major revival in the medium term—as the city is sitting on the doorstep of the world’s biggest “new” middle class.
Mainland China already has more middle class people than all the countries of western Europe and North America put together.
THE INTERNATIONAL and local community of Hong Kong…
While Hong Kong was still run by the British, the Basic Law was drawn up, which included an article numbered 23 - which was an acknowledgement that Hong Kong should not be deprived of the security laws that virtually all other places have to keep them safe.
But some Hong Kong people were nervous,…
A ZEN “INFLUENCER” from 500 years ago is back in the spotlight with a display at the Hong Kong Palace Museum.
In the recent exhibition“The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Stories Untold — Figure Paintings of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum”in Gallery 4 of Hong Kong Palace Museum, a 60-centimeter long painting attracted…
HONG KONG DESIGNER Kelvin Ng (吳紹棠) and his wife Jane Tong (唐慕貞) never imagined that their sofa business Giormani (茲曼尼) would be such a big success when they started it about 25 years ago. Their tailor-made sofas are now sold in the city and over 40 markets worldwide.
Rather than just selling a piece…
