Being unable to read Chinese websites I feel like I’m missing out on a huge slice of Hong Kong culture

Being unable to read Chinese websites, I feel like I’m missing out on a huge slice of pop culture. Can you give me a quick ‘n’ dirty introduction to a few sites worth knowing about? – Web N00b

I’ve got two for you, Web N00b. First up: Centamap (hk.centamap.com) was Google Maps before Google ever set foot in Hong Kong. Developed by Centaline Property, the bilingual site may be stuck in a hellish early-2000s Geocities/Lycos version of the internet, but it uses official maps from the government’s Survey and Mapping Office. That makes it about 7,000,000 times more accurate than Apple’s Maps. It even allows you to overlay census data. Ever wanted to know how many people living in Mong Kok own their own houses? Now you can. Nerd.

A recent spate of user-bans in June led to cries of censorship, but HKGolden’s CEO denied the claims, claiming that he just wanted to prevent libelous complaints against the Oriental Daily: the newspaper had sued the site for libel, and won. But “Golden Boys,” as members of the site are known, aren’t entirely the forum trolls you’d expect. As a whole, the forum is anti-Beijing, pro-Hong-Kong, and deeply socially active. “Golden Boys” hold considerable power: in May this year the forum’s members bought an advert in the Sharp Daily and am730 newspapers to protest the government’s proposal to donate $100 million of public funds to the Sichuan relief efforts, as they feared that the money would be skimmed by corrupt mainland officials. The ad read, “Hong Kong citizens are forced to donate $100 million to corrupt officials.” On the Hong Kong internet, only three things hold true: lolcats, memes—and protest.

HK Golden: More subversive than it looks