Short Reads
A sense of impermanence pervaded colonial life in tropical Asia, and was reflected in interior decor and dress choices.
The Liao dynasty was ruled by the Khitan people, a great and mighty nomadic group whose name was passed on to medieval Europe as Cathay.
The use of Ramadan is being decried by some as an Arabisation of language and religious practices while others point to the word becoming popular because it is what the observance is called in English.
The acclaimed filmmaker was awarded best director at the festival in 1997 – the year of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule – and he expressed hope that he would be able to continue to make the kind of films he wanted to make.
The Pharmacy, which is located within entrepreneur Maguelone Calmels’ lifestyle store Mahka, offers both old and new titles.
A recent study revealed that a million species are at risk of extinction, but few seem to grasp the seriousness of the environmental and existential crisis facing humankind.
From shadows cast by invisible subjects to strange noises, the occupants of Murray House and HMS Tamar reported unexplained occurrences in 1963, which stopped after a Buddhist exorcism was performed to appease the spirits.
Unlike in Europe, where the names of royal families can change with each generation, in Asia such a move would be considered the death of a dynasty.
From Mother Nature to the “mother of all battles”, as Saddam Hussein described the 1991 Gulf war, the significance is not always maternal.
Graft is entrenched in Hong Kong society; just the face has changed from low-level bribery to high-level venality that’s virtually impossible to uncover.
The 50-metre-high sculpture was the brainchild of Austrian-Hungarian Andre Heller and came with an environmental message.
Martin Turner, of the Hong Kong Cycling Alliance, says the government must look at cycling as a transport option and not just as a leisure activity.
Much like France’s Notre Dame Cathedral, the venerated complex has been razed and rebuilt numerous times.
In ancient China, red beans were called ‘seeds of longing’, and, according to legend, one widow’s grief turned her into a red bean plant. The same cannot be said for this writer’s grandmother, who also lost her husband, but she did have a fondness for anpan.
Neighbourhood Kitchen supplies ingredients and equipment so Hong Kong tenants with no space at home can cook their favourite dishes and ensure their children get the nutrients they need.
With real money on its way out, do the risks of using credit cards – scams, debts and identity theft – outweigh the benefits?
Amid the countless short-lived affairs between Western men and Asian women during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there is one that stands out
More than 100 people were injured, while the dead were burnt beyond recognition, in one of the deadliest explosions to rock the city. The accident occurred at the Hongkong and China Gas Company’s gasometer in West Point.
People have been creating languages for all sorts of reasons, from the artistic Elvish languages invented by J.R.R. Tolkien to Esperanto, which was created by a Polish Jew for ’international understanding and peaceful coexistence’.