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Magazine for migrants and domestic workers in Hong Kong sees ‘overwhelming’ demand for its first issue

Pangyao, an online resource for migrant workers, was launched in 2019, and last year its founders launched the Pangyao Android app. Now there’s a magazine

‘We’ve had people in the street stopping us to talk about it,’ says the co-founder of Pangyao magazine, intended as a showcase for migrants and domestic workers

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Pangyao gives a voice to the often under-represented sectors of Hong Kong society, says co-founder Aileen Alonzo-Hayward, pictured handing out copies in Central. Photo: courtesy of Pangyao Magazine

Published: 4:15pm, 14 Oct 2021Updated: 6:19pm, 14 Oct 2021

The co-founders of Pangyao – a lifestyle magazine launched this month to showcase Hong Kong’s migrant community – have hit a snag. They can’t keep up with demand.

“The response has been overwhelming,” says co-founder Aileen Alonzo-Hayward. “We’ve had businesses reach out to us saying they want to stock it and people in the street stopping us to talk about it.”

As if on cue, a staff member at Cafe 8 approaches and asks for more copies. The cafe, on the rooftop of Central’s Hong Kong Maritime Museum, is one of the outlets where the bimonthly magazine can be found. Others include the Philippine consulate, in Admiralty, PathFinders’ Jordan centre and several outlets in Chungking Mansions, in Tsim Sha Tsui.

“We printed 5,000, thinking that would be enough, but on the first day we headed to World-Wide House in Central where many domestic workers gather and handed out about 1,000 copies in an hour,” says co-founder Martin Turner. “The key for us now is trying to make it sustainable,” he says of their self-funded passion project. “We can easily double or triple the print number but to do that we need advertisers.”

Pangyao is a free magazine aimed at migrant and domestic workers in Hong Kong. Photo: courtesy of Pangyao Magazine

The free magazine is another branch to their Pangyao tree: in 2019 they set up Pangyao, an online resource for migrant workers and last year they launched the Pangyao Android app.