The once ‘unlovely’ New Territories village has become popular with Hongkongers thanks to its Instagram-friendly murals, craft markets, self-pick farms and more.

Piecework was commonplace during the city’s post-war industrial boom, allowing families to earn extra and their employers to sidestep safety and labour regulations.

In the post-war period, the humble refrigerator took pride of place in living rooms across the city, until it eventually became too commonplace for comment.

The recent ‘dance-hall cluster’ has thrown a spotlight on the hitherto respectable tradition of ballroom dancing.

A writer pays tribute to his amah as Ah Kam retires to her native Thailand after 20 years of feeding, judging and fond memories.

17th and 18th century Europe admired all things Chinese, from textiles to garden design and even philosophy, before such sentiments soured into suspicion and hostility – setting a precedent for modern geopolitics.

Such items reveal the lives, times, and personal circumstances of their former owners, and how general fashions and tastes have evolved – and deteriorated – over generations.

In the past, what people took to their new lives, and then retained for a couple of generations, illuminates what they considered personally important.

Despite Hong Kong’s long-standing reputation as a shopping haven, the city’s well-to-do have always looked West for quality household goods.

After Hong Kong fell, on Christmas Day 1941, those interned in the colony learned to make festive feasts from their meagre supplies.

The sweet potato was a hardy, hearty – and delicious – substitute for rice during World War II.

In societies where different languages play parallel roles, interpreters are required to translate both language and cultural nuance.

From its earliest urban beginnings, Hong Kong has never lacked full-throttle moaners, and their repertoire of complaints doesn’t vary very much.

As European colonies spread so did drying cupboards, to protect leather shoes, books and rarely worn ‘leave clothes’ from the ravages of tropical climates.

Chinese Ink, Western Pen: Stories of China, and Sinophiles and Sinophobes: Western Views of China, offer new readers insight into their chosen area of research.

Victoria Harbour has long separated Hong Kong from Kowloon, a geographical bifurcation that encouraged biases and insular mentalities, even when infrastructure came to connect the two cities.

Surrounded by rising hostilities, the city had been on a war footing since the Sino-Japanese war started in earnest in 1937.

A Hong Kong historian looks to the future to avoid the pain of the present.

Sorting the papers belonging to a late Portuguese friend led this columnist on a journey of discovery that touched on issues ranging from war to the Kowloon-Canton Railway Station at Tsim Sha Tsui.

From Repulse Bay to Castle Peak, these amorous spots have helped many a relationship blossom over the decades.

The construction of reservoirs in the New Territories all but eliminated rice cultivation as a going concern, while rising labour costs and cheap imports helped do away with large-scale vegetable farming.

Instantly recognisable around town in her trademark turbans, Australian Jeanette ‘Jan’ Fisher imported the latest fashions from Paris and New York for her Central shop, Vogue.

The idea that Portugal’s legacy of expansion in Asia was entirely different from other colonial experiences was perpetuated by dictator Antonio Salazar.

The origins of various urban myths, and how they have evolved into received truth over time, offer revealing insights into local approaches to history.

Trust, like that placed in the ‘Made in Hong Kong’ label, must be earned. Forcing the ‘Made in China’ label upon Hong Kong-manufactured goods will squander an internationally recognised sign of credibly.

Writer Donald Moore’s talents were dampened by political circumstances, a rising puritanism, and campaigns against ’yellow culture’ – as anything artistic was labelled – in 1970s Singapore.

There are a number of factors that can coalesce to create the Quisling type, cheif among them is almost always financial gain.

Foreigners attempting to integrate into Eastern societies have long been seen as odd, from both sides of the ethnic divide.

HMS Calcutta, an obsolete wooden sailing ship, was pressed into service in the second opium war against China.

Cold-eyed acceptance of the city’s diminished role does not feature in public discussion.