Members of the Garrison Players staging perform in a dress rehearsal at City Hall, in 1976. Photo: SCMP
Opinion
Opinion
Then & Now
Colonial life in Asia was a bore, which is why many European exiles turned to ‘am-dram’
- Amateur dramatics provided a welcome relief from the malaise of boredom that gripped colonial life in Hong Kong and elsewhere
- From Calcutta to Canton, treading the boards gave exiles the opportunity to inhabit another’s world, if only for a moment
Members of the Garrison Players staging perform in a dress rehearsal at City Hall, in 1976. Photo: SCMP
PLA soldiers attend a farewell ceremony on June 30, 1997, in Shenzhen, ahead of deployment to Hong Kong. Photo: Reuters
Opinion
Opinion
Then & Now
How Hong Kong’s handover passed the reins from one distant power base to the next
- Just as London called the shots pre-1997, local government seen to remain largely toothless with Beijing now pulling the city’s strings
- Viewed as a parallel police force, the use of gangsters to enforce public policy is not without precedent
PLA soldiers attend a farewell ceremony on June 30, 1997, in Shenzhen, ahead of deployment to Hong Kong. Photo: Reuters