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The banana trader who saw the future of shopping

A BANANA SALESMAN stepped into a department store called David Jones & Co and saw the future. This was 1890s Sydney, and the man, Ma Ying-piu (馬應彪), had never seen anything like it. In front of him was a huge space in which people bought an unimaginably wide variety of goods, and above were multiple…

September 29, 20220Comments ByFriday Writers

Features

Why people sewed up a wound on the back of a giant fish

The Emperor's fish, an extraordinary giant beast that had been seen in the waters of the great rivers for centuries, was dying. Until the day came when there was just one left. It was injured and the people tried desperately to save it. Emily Zhou reports. THE WINTER OF 2003 was bitterly cold. A…

September 29, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

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

Features

Spirit of Eileen Chang remains on this Hong Kong beach

GETTING ON A DOUBLE-DECKER in Central and grabbing a seat upstairs, you can head to Repulse Bay in the southern part of Hong Kong Island. This district, one of the most expensive residential areas in the world, is reached by a 30-minute picturesque ride with great scenery of mountains and seas along the road. Embraced…

September 7, 20220Comments ByEmily Zhou

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Return to the Kingdom of Bicycles

Planners designed ten thousand kilometers of bike track in China, as cycling makes a huge comeback THE BICYCLES ARE BACK. Cycling, for decades the dominant mode of transport in China, is becoming popular again, and the potential is immense. Shanghai, 1980s As recently as the 1990s, China was known as the Kingdom of Bicycles, with roads…

August 8, 20220Comments ByNury Vittachi

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Memories of Hu Fa-kuang shared at mega bookfair

SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE. Large areas of crumbling old buildings in Kowloon needed to be knocked down and replaced, everyone agreed. This was in the late 1980s, and the Hong Kong government, run by the British, said they would inject HK$100 million into a group called the Land Development Corporation. Problem solved? No, not…

August 1, 20220Comments ByFriday Writers

Features

Forget the mega-cities; here’s what most of China is really like

The average Chinese person lives in a small city you've never heard of - and that's where you begin to gain a deeper understanding of the people and the country. FOR FOUR DAYS, I've been in southern Hunan in the city of Chenzhou (郴州). Chenzhou is not a big or famous…

July 26, 20220Comments ByDavid Fishman

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

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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

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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

Features

The banana trader who saw the future of shopping

Why people sewed up a wound on the back of a giant fish

May Yeung is bringing art to a public space near you

Spirit of Eileen Chang remains on this Hong Kong beach

Return to the Kingdom of Bicycles

Memories of Hu Fa-kuang shared at mega bookfair

Forget the mega-cities; here’s what most of China is really like

The garden-maker of Kowloon

New Kowloon: A Forgotten Episode of Urban Expansion

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

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