The Peak magazine

Excerpted stories published from The Peak magazine

Traders work on the trading floor at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Central. Photo: SCMP/ Dickson Lee

Hong Kong exchange eyes new role to keep edge over rival bourses

Chow Chung-kong, chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd (HKEX) since 2012, loves history.

21 Jul 2017 - 7:20pm

Fireman demonstration: Fuel tank and petrol filling station incident training,during the opening ceremony for the Fire and Ambulance Services Academy (FASA) in Tsung Kwan O. Photo: SCMP/Dickson Lee

Watchdog on notice as more mainland Chinese buy insurance in Hong Kong

21 Jul 2017 - 7:21pm 2

Undated photograph of Hong Kong banknote production. Photo: Hong Kong Monetary Authority

Hong Kong’s central banker adds fintech to his list of responsibilities

21 Jul 2017 - 7:20pm 1

A general view shows the skyline of the Central district of Hong Kong on June 27, 2017. Hong Kong will mark the 20th anniversary of the handover from British to Chinese rule on July 1, 2017.Photo: AFP

Will chums among Hong Kong’s gatekeepers hold hordes at bay?

21 Jul 2017 - 7:21pm

The three Gaw siblings, Goodwin (left), Kenneth and Christina. Photo: SCMP Pictures

How the famous Hollywood Roosevelt regained its glory

21 Jul 2017 - 7:20pm

The Billionaire in Bel Air. Photo: Handout

Revealed: The record-topping mansions of the very, very wealthy

21 Jul 2017 - 7:19pm

In the next 20 years, as many as 500 wealthy families with US$2.1 trillion of assets – equal to India’s GDP – will face the challenge of succession planning, according to UBS’ forecast

Business successions that go bad are stuff of soaps and tabloids

21 Jul 2017 - 7:19pm 1

Hong Kong is falling behind Singapore in its quest to be Asia’s financial services hub due to its slow adoption of fintech, according to industry observers. Photo: EPA

Hong Kong’s family businesses need governance to succeed

21 Jul 2017 - 7:19pm

Passer-sby walk along the waterfront of Hong Kong's commercial Central district February 22, 2002. Hong Kong said it was facing serious budget problems which threatened to wipe out the enormous fiscal reserves, used to back its currency peg to the U.S. dollar, the pillar of financial stability in the territory's extremely open economy, in just seven years.

Let’s spend our near-HK$2tr fiscal reserves, not hoard them

21 Jul 2017 - 7:16pm 4

The city’s currency has been loyally linked to the US dollar for 34 years – but again that’s being questioned. Could the renminbi now become a more likely new partner?

To peg or not to peg? That is the question for the HK dollar

21 Jul 2017 - 7:18pm 1

Shui On’s Xintiandi project in Shanghai. Photo: SCMP

Shui On to sell assets, explore new revenue sources

21 Jul 2017 - 7:15pm

A decade-long partnership at New York’s US$1.76 billion Riverside South ended in a series of lawsuits, which Donald Trump eventually lost.

How Vincent Lo trumped The Donald in New York deal

21 Jul 2017 - 7:15pm 2

Assisted by a teacher, a student uses a 'ShopBot' for computer-aided design and fabrication during a summer school course at the Museum of Science and Industry's Wanger Family Fab Lab in Chicago in 2015. Photo: J.B. Spector/Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago/Getty Images.

Hong Kong’s maker group aims for Star Trek-like replicators

21 Jul 2017 - 7:15pm

A concept of the Vertical Farm Centre at the Central waterfront, featuring an artificial beach protected islets featuring artificial coral reefs that can purify the harbour’s water. Photo: Handout

Plan for a self-sustaining building on Hong Kong’s waterfront

21 Jul 2017 - 7:14pm 2

Hong Kong is the perfect urban laboratory to study the correlation between stress and housing design, a study that can help us design better homes

Hong Kong’s tweets helping architects improve urban designs

21 Jul 2017 - 7:14pm 4

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China

A peek into China’s top ‘bodyguard factories’

24 Jul 2017 - 2:21am 7

A Pink Floyd photo taken by Vic Singh in 1967 is displayed at the Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

From Pink Floyd to Kanye West, rock music inspires ballets

The Alan Tam concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum epitomised the glory days of Hong Kong’s Canto-pop music industry. Photo: SCMP

China Business

With no kings or queens, can Canto-pop find its star again?

22 Jul 2017 - 9:07am 14

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Companies

‘Just buzz us’ - says Hong Kong's on-demand tech support startup

19 Jul 2017 - 10:47am

A 360-degree view of the Seven Victory Avenue’s 263-sq ft show flat. Photo: Martin Chan

Hong Kong & China

Inside six of the smallest apartments in Hong Kong

23 Jul 2017 - 8:25pm 12

Young sunbathers strive for golden tans at Big Wave Bay, but are they sufficiently protected? Photo: Antony Dickson

Health & Beauty

Hong Kong skin cancer victims who spent too long in the sun

24 Jul 2017 - 6:07pm 4

The only surviving Tibetan Buddhist kingdom is caught between a rock and a hard place, seemingly willing to negotiate its longstanding territorial claims with Beijing but feeling the heat from an overbearing New Delhi

Geopolitics

Bhutan can sort its border with China – if India lets it

23 Jul 2017 - 1:50pm 105

Hong Kong’s population is ageing rapidly and the number suffering dementia is rising, yet there were only an estimated 19 palliative care specialists in the city as of last year. Photo: Shutterstock

Hong Kong

The struggle for Hong Kong’s old and sick to die with dignity

23 Jul 2017 - 12:00pm 4

The reclusive state did have a few helpful friends

China

The secret behind primitive North Korea’s modern nuclear weaponry

22 Jul 2017 - 11:47pm 14

The name of the world’s favourite sauce originated with Min Chinese, entered the lexicon in Indonesia, and from there was eventually absorbed into English via British India; along the way the sauce evolved dramatically

Opinion

How ketchup was invented in southern China in 300BC

21 Jul 2017 - 7:30am 12

The “Channel One Operater” unit is an all-women military group that transfers calls between leaders through a system of red desk phones. Photo: Handout

China

The military unit that connects China’s secret ‘red phone’ calls

21 Jul 2017 - 6:22pm 11

Beijing has in fact successfully negotiated nearly all its land border disputes, sometimes explicitly invoking relevant international law. Stark exceptions are China’s still-disputed borders with India and Bhutan. Illustration: Ingo Fast

Insight & Opinion

India border stand-off is Beijing’s chance to burnish image

21 Jul 2017 - 7:55pm 32