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SCMP

Things are changing
“I’m not going to let high desire hijack my life, like buying a house, car, or starting a family.
“After getting up, I open the door and go for a walk, buy a bun, and then walk back. During the day, everyone chats and drinks coffee, and at night, we sing together, and then rest and sleep. Although I may not be that rich financially, the overall gain may be more for my life.”
- Pluto Mo, a Beijing native in her 20s living for brief spurts this year in various cities
A growing number of younger people in China are resenting the idea of struggling against economic problems, instead opting to join the so-called lying flat movement. Millions are also leaning more towards the life side of a work-life balance in the US.
In China, it’s lying flat. The US, gap years. Either way, things are changing
‘Impossible to get everyone’s approval’

“Why must we see this as a taboo? We are all people, we all need to make love. Why should we think this is something we should be ashamed of?”
- Hong Kong porn actress Erena So
The model and aspiring actress wants to change the city’s attitudes to sex, but experts say taboos are tough to break.
‘Why is it a taboo?’: Hong Kong model turned porn actress on city’s conservatism
Singapore’s leaders
“We think some degree of training is generally useful, some degree of experience is useful, before you become a minister or prime minister.”
- Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam
In a wide-ranging exclusive interview, the influential minister offered his views on the Greater Bay Area surrounding Hong Kong, Singapore’s tough anti-drug stance and the fourth-generation or “4G” leadership of the People’s Action Party.
‘Be prepared to debate’: Shanmugam on the drug war and alternative viewpoints
A temporary retreat
“With all the uncertainties, many are choosing to hold onto secure and stable jobs. But there’s also some who are like me in wanting to pause and rethink what I truly want in life.”
- Lu Zi, a young graduate who left a job with an e-commerce giant to live at a Buddhist temple
Anxious and stressed about their careers, young Chinese are flocking to temples. Some seek an escape from pressure and pray for good fortune, while others soak up “temple life” as volunteers for months.
Young Chinese seek to escape from career pressure and pray for good fortune
Now she’s thriving
“It was a nightmare; it didn’t feel real because I hadn’t heard the crash, I didn’t feel pain. How could I have gone from being on the beach to being paralysed?”
- Rabi Yim
A date changed Yim’s life forever – the man who had just professed his love for her crashed his car, leaving Yim in a wheelchair. She threw herself into rehab, learned how to drive and spent years working for wheelchair accessibility in Hong Kong. Now she wants to do “some fun things”.
A ‘nightmare’ first date left her in a wheelchair – but now she’s thriving
Struggling to survive
“At least a prisoner is guaranteed three meals a day, has a TV to watch and a bigger, nicer space to live in.”
- Franki Wong
Jobless and ailing, Wong has thought many times that being in prison would be better than life in his tiny “coffin home”. Life for the city’s poor has become more difficult with a host of hikes in everything from food prices to electricity rates and looming increases in transport fares too.
‘Life’s better in prison’: rising cost of living hits Hong Kong’s poor hard
A gifted comedian

“One cannot overstate his contributions to the local film industry and he will be missed forever.”
- Eric Tsang, actor and general manager of the free-to-air TV station TVB
Tributes poured in after the death of veteran actor Richard Ng Yiu-hon at the age of 83. He starred in some of the city’s most popular comedies throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and featured in more than 100 films.
Actor Richard Ng, who rose to fame in 1970s Hong Kong comedies, dies at age 83
Cantonese food enticing tourists
“We also have roasted meat on the mainland, but the taste I had here in Hong Kong is the best and original, which you won’t find elsewhere.”
- Linco Chen, a clerk from Shanghai visiting Hong Kong with her husband
Hong Kong is losing its global reputation as a shopping paradise, but its Cantonese food still gives the city a distinct advantage over rivals in the crowded Asian tourism market, visitors from mainland China and overseas have said.
Can Hong Kong’s Cantonese food save its tourism as shopping takes back seat?
A step forward
“Tonight would be another sleepless night [for celebration].”
- Song Yuntao, director of the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences
China’s “artificial sun” set a world record by generating and maintaining extremely hot, highly confined plasma for 403 seconds, breaking its previous record of 101 seconds in 2017 and marking another key step towards building high-efficiency, low-cost thermonuclear fusion reactors.
China’s ‘artificial sun’ breaks record in milestone for fusion reactors
Same pool of fish
“Everyone is fighting for the same pool of fish in the same pond.”
- Jerry Chang, managing director of executive search firm Barons & Company
Amid a brain drain, recruitment firms say their Hong Kong tech clients are increasingly open to the idea of hiring candidates from Southeast Asia.
Hong Kong tech firms turn to Southeast Asia to recruit talent amid brain drain


Swiss university to restrict Chinese applicants, Trump’s victory: SCMP’s 7 highlights

Tidal surge in China, AI power race, ‘time traveller’ emperor: 7 science highlights

The Malaysian dream of a UK education, spotlight on adult ADHD: 5 weekend reads you missed

North Korean defectors and Ukraine, Chinese celebrity transformation: SCMP’s 7 highlights

SCMP Highlights

SCMP’s week in quotes: 10 voices from the news this week

Rabi Yim at her home in Heng Fa Chuen. She want to focus on her design work in future. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Erena So hopes Hongkongers will not disrespect those who act in adult films or sell their own risqué photos. Photo: May Tse

Richard Ng in the 1989 film Mr. Sunshine. Photo: Handout

Chinese are ‘lying flat’, Americans are on gap years as pessimistic youth take a hard look at traditional jobs

A growing number of younger people in China are resenting the idea of struggling against economic problems, while in the US, millions are also leaning more towards the life side of a work-life balance. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Morgan Healey, 22, poses with children who she taught as a volunteer in Batase village in Nepal in February 2023. Photo: Morgan Healey

Hong Kong porn actress Erena So in Japan wants to change attitudes to sex, but experts say taboos tough to break

The announcement sparked a wave of support from Hongkongers, Erena So says. Photo: May Tse

Erena So hopes to change Hongkongers’ attitudes towards sex. Photo: May Tse

Erena So is believed to be Hong Kong’s first adult film actress in Japan. Photo: May Tse

‘Nightmare’ first date left her in a wheelchair, but she fought hard to reclaim her life – now she wants to help others like her do the same

Rabi Yim Chor-pik at her home. She was badly injured in a car accident in 1998 which left her in a wheelchair. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Yim in Paris in 1993. Photo: Rabi Yim

Yim in Greece in 1996. Photo: Rabi Yim

Yim in Paris in 1997. Photo: Rabi Yim

Yim with her family in Hong Kong in 1997. Photo: Rabi Yim

Yim with her brothers in 2001. Photo: Rabi Yim

Yim in a beach wheelchair. Photo: Rabi Yim

Yim gives a public talk. Photo: Rabi Yim

Yim working at home. Photo: Rabi Yim

Yim at her home in Heng Fa Chuen. She want to focus on her design work in future. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

News

Hong Kong

China

Asia

Lifestyle

From a woman whose life was changed forever by a date, to work-life balance shifting in China, here are some highlights from our recent reporting


From a woman whose life was changed forever by a date, to work-life balance shifting in China, here are some highlights from our recent reporting.
