Long Reads

Alison Loehnis, the Yoox Net-a-Porter boss, tells Kate Whitehead about falling in love with fashion, being trained to within an inch of her life at Ralph Lauren and how landing in London led to her dream job.

‘Fashion was freedom’: Yoox Net-a-Porter boss on London and her dream job

New Yorker Alison Loehnis, the Yoox Net-a-Porter boss, tells Kate Whitehead about falling in love with fashion, being trained to within an inch of her life at Ralph Lauren and landing her dream job in London.

18 Mar 2024 - 12:14PM
Newly minted author Sonia Leung tells Kate Whitehead about life in a Diamond Hill slum, a devastating rape and how she finally followed her dream. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Raped at 14, she was haunted for years – now her dream has come true

Fresh from her talk at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, newly minted author Sonia Leung tells Kate Whitehead about life in a Diamond Hill slum, a devastating rape and how she finally followed her dream.

11 Mar 2024 - 7:15AM
The map of the whole of China from Martino Martini’s Novus Atlas Sinensis, published in Amsterdam in 1655. A new compilation of 127 maps of China produced between 1584 and 1735 shows how mapmakers helped paint a – somewhat – accurate picture of China during this period.

How European maps helped paint a picture of China in the age of exploration

A new book containing reproductions of 127 printed European maps of Ming and Qing China from 1584 to 1735 reveals how they helped paint a reasonably accurate picture of the Middle Kingdom for the first time.

10 Mar 2024 - 5:15PM
A disco single by Frankie Kao. As Taiwan’s younger generation dust off disco records from the 1970s and ’80s, so, too, are scholars looking into how the island came to embrace a Western music genre at a time when even dancing in public was illegal.

Taiwan’s forgotten disco era and how it changed the course of Mandopop

As Taiwan’s young generation dust off disco records from the 1970s and 80s, scholars consider how the island came to embrace a Western music genre at a time when even dancing in public was illegal.

10 Mar 2024 - 7:45AM
An imperial throne in the Wang Shu Room, at the Humboldt Forum, in Berlin, Germany. Photo: David von Becker

Why German museums are scouring collections for looted Chinese artefacts

German museums have begun to research the provenance of their vast collections of imperial Chinese artefacts in an attempt to identify items that were looted amid the chaos of the Boxer war.

7 Mar 2024 - 3:56PM
A version of the Disney-designed logo which adorned the planes of the Flying Tigers, volunteer American and British fighter pilots who took to the skies to protect Free China from the Japanese during World War II. Photo: EJ Hersom/US Department of Defense

The Disney logo that symbolised China’s fight against Japan during WWII

Japan’s aerial dominance in World War II was ended by volunteer US and British fighter pilots who protected Free China in planes bearing a Flying Tigers logo designed by Disney’s best and brightest.

6 Mar 2024 - 6:21PM
British-American filmmaker Sarah Morris talks to the Post about her unique artistic language, and giving a fresh perspective on Hong Kong in her latest film, ETC. Photo: Sarah Morris

‘A new view of the city’: US artist’s film of Hong Kong, star of M+ facade

American visual artist Sarah Morris’ new film ‘ETC’ – which is being screened on the facade of M+ until March 17 – displays her unique artistic language in offering an outsider’s depiction of Hong Kong.

25 Feb 2024 - 11:15AM
Masato Hyakutake explains the difference in taste between different cuts of game meat. Photo: Mariella Kai

Game on: why hunting is trending with young urbanites in rural Japan

A new trend has emerged in Japan, with young urbanites and local clan members dusting off ancient hunting techniques and heading to rural areas in search of wild game.

24 Feb 2024 - 11:15AM
Astrid Andersson on campus at the University of Hong Kong in Pok Fu Lam. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Hong Kong is her home – and protecting its wildlife is her passion

Wildlife trade researcher Astrid Andersson tells Kate Whitehead how her passion for Hong Kong and its flora and fauna fuelled a career in conservation.

19 Feb 2024 - 9:16AM
Searching for Billie: A journalist’s quest to understand his mother’s past leads him to discover a vanished China By Ian Gill. Photo: Blacksmith Books

She was weak, alone, pregnant. And suddenly a prisoner of war no more

An excerpt from Searching for Billie sheds light on the life of a World War II internee at Hong Kong’s Stanley camp – the author’s mother – in the chaotic days following the Japanese surrender.

18 Feb 2024 - 11:15AM
Artist Chang Dai-chien was acclaimed for a wide-ranging oeuvre that included gongbi (a realist Chinese painting technique involving meticulous brushwork), traditional Chinese ink wash, and splashed-colour paintings (called pocai) reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism. Photo: Zhang Weimin

After ‘Picasso of the East’ left China, his life was a mystery. Until now

Chang Dai-chien, or Zhang Daqian, was one of China’s most famous 20th-century artists, but little is known of his life after he left his homeland in 1949. A new documentary aims to fill in the gaps.

15 Feb 2024 - 12:03PM
“Teddy bears vs Birds” - a vegetable patch in Wang Tong, Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Photo: Larry Feign

Book extract: 32 bucolic years in a car-free island village in Hong Kong

In an excerpt from his new book, a cartoonist and writer pays homage to his carefree and car-free adopted Hong Kong home and its fascinating collection of colourful characters.

3 Feb 2024 - 6:13PM
Illustration: Victor Sanjinez Garcia

Book extract: new thinking about Marco Polo’s China travels, often doubted

With his outlandish stories of the East, Marco Polo has always drawn scepticism. But historian and author Christopher Harding’s latest book makes the intrepid Venetian’s travels harder to doubt.

28 Jan 2024 - 9:00AM
A couple release munias at a shrine in Phnom Penh. “Life release” rituals are common in Buddhist Cambodia, but the practice and the trade surrounding it kill millions of birds every year. Photo: Yann Bigant

How animals suffer for Buddhists to earn spiritual points

Nine in 10 Cambodians release animals as part of Buddhist merit-making, but the practice and the trade surrounding it are killing and injuring millions of birds every year, and disturbing the environment.

26 Jan 2024 - 1:47PM
Swedish climber Matilda Soderlund, pictured in Hong Kong, tells Kate Whitehead about honing her competitive spirit as an infant, finding her life’s passion in an instant and getting engaged at sunset atop Kowloon Peak. Photo: William Hamilton

‘A gift I’d been given’: climber’s 3am epiphany and a Hong Kong high

Swedish climber Matilda Soderlund tells Kate Whitehead about honing her competitive spirit as an infant, finding her life’s passion in an instant and getting engaged at sunset atop Kowloon Peak.

22 Jan 2024 - 7:15AM
Naturists Julia Fu and Tom Yang at a farm in Sanzhi, Taiwan. Both are members of the Return to Nature social media group, which holds monthly events - despite public nudity being technically against the law in Taiwan. Photo: Brian Wiemer

‘Freedom’: the Taiwanese naturists defying social – and legal – norms

Strictly speaking, like most of Asia, public nudity is against the law in Taiwan. But one group holds monthly events where they can bare all without outside interference and encourage body positivity.

21 Jan 2024 - 7:45AM
Chef Ricardo Chaneton at his Latin-American restaurant Mono, in Hong Kong’s Central neighbourhood. The Venezuelan talks to the Post about how he fell in love with cooking, and labout iving in a city he loves. Photo: Sun Yeung

‘I owe a lot to Hong Kong’: Mono chef Ricardo Chaneton on forging his path

The Venezuelan chef-owner of Latin American restaurant Mono in Central talks to Kate Whitehead about finding his passion – for both food and Hong Kong.

15 Jan 2024 - 7:15AM
“Delmar”, a Filipino worker who helps train AI models, performs a task on the online platform Remotasks. While the artificial intelligence development industry has created opportunities in the Philippines, a lack of decent pay and training has raised concerns. Photo: Per Elinder Liljas

How AI development has fostered a digital ‘sweatshop’ in poor countries

The development of artificial intelligence has created opportunities for educated workers in the Philippines and other developing countries. But they are poorly paid and lack training.

13 Jan 2024 - 7:52AM
Portrait of Sarah Greene, director of Blue Lotus Gallery in Sheung Wan. 08DEC23 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

‘My life is a string of serendipities’: Hong Kong photo art gallery founder

Sarah Greene, the Belgian founder of Hong Kong’s Blue Lotus Gallery, reveals how she went from being an in-demand shipbroker to opening one of Asia’s art hotspots showing photographers like Fan Ho.

8 Jan 2024 - 7:15AM
Hand-weaver Fei Fei (left) dresses American luxury fashion designer Angel Chang in one of her handmade outfits in Guizhou, China. Photo: Justin Jin

‘Like discovering gold’: US fashion designer teams with Chinese villagers

American luxury fashion designer Angel Chang is employing artisans from ethnic minorities in China’s mountain villages to recreate their intricate traditional clothing in a sustainable, high-end line.

6 Jan 2024 - 1:48PM