Blog Band – Page 42 – Fridayeveryday

China builds train loop the size of a country

CHINA BUILT A TRAIN track as big as a country—and they did much of it on shifting sands. The new Xinjiang railway loops around the huge Taklamakan desert, a patch of sand so large it could swallow the countries of the United Kingdom plus the whole of Ireland. It wasn’t just the size of the…

July 19, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

Features

The garden-maker of Kowloon

Violent death arrived in Hong Kong on December 8, 1941. Japanese troops took just four days to chase most British forces out of Kowloon. But one old European horticulturalist, who lived in a house in Ho Man Tin, turned his home into a sanctuary for hundreds of westerners—and defended it with guns. Meno Monteir tells…

July 19, 20220Comments ByMeno Monteir

Features

New Kowloon: A Forgotten Episode of Urban Expansion

Modern-day Hong Kong is divided into three regions: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories. Few people today remember the fact that in the past there was an area called New Kowloon. Andrew Lam reports. THE BRITISH ADDED Hong Kong to its empire in 1841, and signed the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. Thanks…

July 18, 20220Comments ByAndrew Lam

News

Rule change means Hongkongers could become astronauts

FIT YOUNG HONG KONG people have been cleared to become astronauts. Mainland China has quietly moved away from its policy of using only military personnel on space missions, it was revealed. The change became apparent after Legislative Councillor Edward Leung asked the Hong Kong government to broker a deal to relax the restriction. Because of…

July 18, 20220Comments ByAnna Tang

News

First Americans came from Asia—but one group went home

New data tells the story of how Asians spread to the Americas A GROUP OF ASIANS travelled to Siberia, crossed to Alaska and became the first humans to settle in America – but some of their descendants decided to make the long and perilous journey back to the area which is now China and Russia.…

July 18, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Features

Let’s keep Hong Kong’s old ‘understairs’ shops alive

Swanky artisan coffee shops may be cool, but Hong Kong's traditional stores need our support too, says Anna Tang FEW THINGS ARE more pleasurable than doing some nostalgic shopping – especially if you are hungry. What’s your pleasure? It may be the Dragon’s beard candy (龍鬚糖) found in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun, or that…

July 14, 20220Comments ByAnna Tang

News

One city produces extraordinary number of ‘perfect scores’ in global IB exams

Students from Hong Kong are getting world-beating results in the International Baccalaureate exam, but this doesn't mean it's a wall-to-wall city of nerds - one of the top performers this year is sports champion Xavier Chang. H.C. Lu reports. HONG KONG HAS arguably the world’s best school system for smart children, according to the latest…

July 14, 20220Comments ByH.C. Lu

Graphics

Graphic: If only the world focused less on weapons

July 13, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

Features

10 thoughts about Asian stereotypes – and how to rise above them

Good at math? Bad at sports? A new generation of Asian young people are aware of how they are seen from the west and know that this will have to change, writes Hong Kong teenager Anna Tang. ASIA IS A PLACE in the Far East which consists of three countries: Japan, Korea and China. Seriously?…

July 13, 20220Comments ByAnna Tang

Features

The internet stranger’s eyes looked a little crazy

Conversations with strangers on the internet tend to be superficial, judgmental and short. But make an effort, and it can be an opportunity to have in-depth discussions with people you’d never normally meet. Anna Tang reports. THE NIGHT BEFORE writing this, I was “strolling” around the online Q&A site Quora and encountered a man…

July 12, 20220Comments ByAnna Tang

China builds train loop the size of a country

The garden-maker of Kowloon

New Kowloon: A Forgotten Episode of Urban Expansion

Rule change means Hongkongers could become astronauts

First Americans came from Asia—but one group went home

Let’s keep Hong Kong’s old ‘understairs’ shops alive

One city produces extraordinary number of ‘perfect scores’ in global IB exams

Graphic: If only the world focused less on weapons

10 thoughts about Asian stereotypes – and how to rise above them

The internet stranger’s eyes looked a little crazy

FAQ: Is Hong Kong’s ‘Friday’ news project a commie plot from Beijing?

Hong Kong now has world’s top insurance penetration rate

Space: a new business frontier is opening up over our heads