Mayan doomsday 2012

According to the ancient Mayan civilisation, December 21, 2012, represents the end of a cycle in the Mayan long count calendar that begins in the year 3114 BC. It is the completion of 5,200 years counted in 13 baak t’uunes, a unit of time. One baak t’uune is equivalent to 144,000 days, or roughly 400 years. Doomsday believers expect a cataclysmic event to occur that day and end the world.

A BAD WEEK FOR ...

A bad week for ... , December 23, 2012

23 Dec 2012

The Mayans

Surprise, surprise, 'doomsday' is just a day like any other

22 Dec 2012

The sun came out yesterday as most Hongkongers expected. But elsewhere in the world, people were not so certain about seeing the light of day.

UN denies selling China doomsday ark tickets

21 Dec 2012

The United Nations has denied distributing tickets for an ark to save people from the apocalypse, it said on a Chinese social networking site on Friday.

The Hong Kong couples who tied the knot on Doomsday

21 Dec 2012

Is it romantic to get married on the day civilisation is supposed to end? Or is the marriage doomed? SCMP.com asked Hong Kong's brides and grooms why they decided to get married on December 21,...

Feng shui master claims doomsday is actually lucky day

21 Dec 2012

Still alive? Have no fear. Even feng shui master James Lee Shing-chak says today is an especially lucky one.

2 comments

Opinion

Jake Van Der Kamp

An age-old problem and the sums that just don't add up

Howard Winn

HSBC suffers the Taibbi treatment in Rolling Stone

Shirley Yam

How tycoons' IPO 'losses' may hide profits at herd's expense

1,000 'Doomsday cult' members arrested on mainland

Mainland police have arrested nearly 1,000 people in the crackdown on a Christian sect that spread doomsday rumours and targeted communist rule, state media said ahead of the supposedly Mayan-...

Doomsday unavoidable, say religious leaders

As some Hongkongers await the end of the world today, religious leaders have warned everyone expecting life to carry on as usual that their own doomsday is coming sooner or later.

Talking points

Treat in store for game fans

MY TAKE

Rumours of demise greatly exaggerated

If you can read this, so far so good, we seem to have survived yet another apocalypse. Congratulations.

Not that I ever lost any sleep over it, but my concerns about this day were first...

China arrests 1,000 doomsday 'cult' members

China has arrested nearly 1,000 people in a crackdown on a sect that spread doomsday rumours, a day ahead of a supposedly Mayan-foretold apocalypse.

BRIEFS

Briefs, December 19, 2012

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou pledged not to interfere with freedom of speech or the media, and said he had called on Beijing to release Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.