https://www.scmp.com/rss/317796/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Andrea Lo Andrea Lo Hong Kong’s international schools talk a great deal about preparing students for university. Increasingly, they are also building spaces with this in mind. Rather than functioning simply as a backdrop to academic programmes, the physical environment is envisioned as a tool to shape behaviour. In new campuses, students are encouraged to practise independence, engage in collaborative work and build the self-management skills they will need beyond school. Stamford American School’s West Kowloon... https://www.scmp.com/special-reports/article/3348636/how-hong-kong-schools-are-transforming-mirror-university-style-spaces?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/special-reports/article/3348636/how-hong-kong-schools-are-transforming-mirror-university-style-spaces?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:15:07 +0000 Andrea Lo Andrea Lo Step away from the high-rise blur of Central and Hong Kong Island life loosens its tie a little. The energy shifts as the city skyline gives way to sea views, hills and even stillness in some places. Perennially coveted, Mid-Levels remains one of Hong Kong’s most prestigious addresses. Elevated both literally and symbolically, it offers some of the city’s most dramatic vistas, as well as urban seclusion. Completed in 2025, The Legacy at 8 Castle Road, developed by Henderson Land, is a notable... https://www.scmp.com/directories/luxe-homes/article/3348347/hong-kongs-luxury-living-evolution-mid-levels-chai-wan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/directories/luxe-homes/article/3348347/hong-kongs-luxury-living-evolution-mid-levels-chai-wan?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Mar 2026 09:00:08 +0000 Andrea Lo Andrea Lo Step into Jeffrey Lee’s 10,000 sq ft office-slash-warehouse-slash-personal museum in Kwai Chung, and the first problem is purely logistical: where do you look first? The place has the bones of a warehouse – grey carpet, metal racks, long corridors – but it’s lit like a slightly feverish ballroom. The light hits glass, plastic and brass; it catches on badges, buttons and the glossy eyes of plush toys. One room is dedicated to military uniforms – a showroom of garment-bagged jackets, mannequins... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3348127/jeffrey-lees-extraordinary-museum-plush-toys-and-military-memorabilia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3348127/jeffrey-lees-extraordinary-museum-plush-toys-and-military-memorabilia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Mar 2026 10:00:17 +0000 Andrea Lo Andrea Lo Hong Kong has seen a striking rise in the number of students identified with special educational needs (SEN) over the past decade. There are nearly 60,000 SEN primary and secondary students in Hong Kong, more than double the number a decade ago, according to The Social and Emotional Support for SEN Children Adapting to Primary School Survey, a 2023 report by Hong Kong Christian Service. The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) alone among Hong Kong children aged six to 17 is now... https://www.scmp.com/special-reports/article/3340362/hong-kong-tackles-sen-technology-set-bigger-role-assessment-intervention?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/special-reports/article/3340362/hong-kong-tackles-sen-technology-set-bigger-role-assessment-intervention?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Jan 2026 02:28:32 +0000 Andrea Lo Andrea Lo It’s late afternoon and at the Gillman Barracks, an art enclave in downtown Singapore, the light is beginning to shift. People lingering outside one of the converted military buildings chat quietly before heading inside. One gallery’s bold murals consist of letters twisted into abstract forms, graffiti turned into a language of energy and rhythm. In another, a luminous canvas hums with colour and texture, a quiet riot of abstraction. The energy in the air isn’t the buzz of an opening night but... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3339168/what-see-singapores-galleries-and-studios-art-week-2026-approaches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3339168/what-see-singapores-galleries-and-studios-art-week-2026-approaches?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Jan 2026 02:00:11 +0000 Andrea Lo Andrea Lo I’M A TRUE HONG KONG BOY. I was born and raised here. I’m 73. MY FAMILY BUSINESS has a 183-year history. I’m the fifth generation to run it. It started in Guangzhou around the time the Treaty of Nanking was signed (in 1842). My ancestor (who started the business) was stupider than a pig; starting a shop during a war – how would anyone make money that way? He wrote a couplet that reads, “New additions bring prosperity and style; determined colours reveal elegance and grace.” The couplet talks... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3337576/yau-yiu-wai-fifth-gen-owner-hong-kong-umbrella-store-shutting-shop-despite-his-lifelong-obsession?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3337576/yau-yiu-wai-fifth-gen-owner-hong-kong-umbrella-store-shutting-shop-despite-his-lifelong-obsession?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Dec 2025 07:15:07 +0000 Andrea Lo Andrea Lo I have always felt confused by early arrivals at dinner parties. My family always show up hours before the meal is supposed to start. When I joined my mum at dinner parties hosted by a close friend, we were encouraged to arrive early. Any guests who enter my home before the appointed hour, however, will find me in a state of barely concealed hysteria – sauce still reducing, candles unlit, playlist half-finished. You’ll be handed whatever wine I panic-bought at 7-Eleven and deposited on my sofa... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3336045/impossible-art-being-good-guest-hong-kong-christmas-gathering?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3336045/impossible-art-being-good-guest-hong-kong-christmas-gathering?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:00:11 +0000 BEFORE THE STORM I grew up with three sisters and three brothers. My father was Cambodian and my mum came from Chaozhou (in Guangdong province); we were raised to speak Cambodian and Teochew. I have many good memories of Cambodia before the war. My siblings listened to Elvis Presley on their eight-track tapes. We dressed up for Chinese New Year and got red envelopes full of money. I was five when the Khmer Rouge took over the country. There were days when we were kept from school. Now, looking... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1886384/how-i-survived-khmer-rouge-cambodian-activist-loung-ung?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1886384/how-i-survived-khmer-rouge-cambodian-activist-loung-ung?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Dec 2015 14:45:15 +0000 How you dress and present yourself tend to dictate how other people perceive you - but what if your face says it all? I ask this question because every now and then I get weird comments from beauty therapists. My eyebrow specialist, for example, recently told me that the natural shape of my brows would bring "bad luck". "They're too rounded and it looks like two knives cutting into your face," she said. At a lunchtime foot massage with a group of work mates, I was again singled out, this time... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/health-beauty/article/1883494/face-reading-judging-book-its-cover-so-ancient?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/health-beauty/article/1883494/face-reading-judging-book-its-cover-so-ancient?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Nov 2015 15:00:00 +0000 Are Hongkongers becoming less squeamish about sex? The answer is yes and no, judging by a range of "massagers" that were launched in Watsons last month. Yes, Hongkongers have been using back massagers for, er, other purposes for a while, but these toys are more explicit about their raison d'etre, as their names demonstrate. The Frenchman, described as a "cunning linguist", is shaped like a tongue, The Tennis Coach has a rounded tip and The Millionaire comes in a classic bullet shape. Retailing... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1875914/all-smiles-hong-kong-vibrators-hit-shelves-watsons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1875914/all-smiles-hong-kong-vibrators-hit-shelves-watsons?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Nov 2015 13:00:15 +0000 The newly crowned Miss Hong Kong, 23-year-old Louisa Mak Ming-sze, rued in an interview last month the fact that she can't afford to move out of her parents' home, thanks to the city's prohibitive property prices. "If you don't even have a place to sleep, how can you talk about dreams and aspirations?" she said. I admire Mak for speaking out. As a 20-something Hong Kong Chinese living at home, I know how she feels. Your 20s are supposed to be a time when you become independent, but living at... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1863146/kids-arent-alright-trauma-young-adults-still-living-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1863146/kids-arent-alright-trauma-young-adults-still-living-their?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Oct 2015 15:17:38 +0000 THE SIMPLE LIFE My father came from China and my mother was born in Hong Kong. There were seven of us in the family. I spent my school years in Yau Ma Tei and Sham Shui Po. We were street kids, we rode bikes, got into fights and played football. Everyone was poor but they still thought of ways to look after each other. People didn't have high expectations. Having new clothes for Lunar New Year, eating chicken during Mid-Autumn Festival - these things made us really happy. Nobody talked about... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1863136/interview-outspoken-hong-kong-talk-show-host-albert-cheng?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1863136/interview-outspoken-hong-kong-talk-show-host-albert-cheng?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Oct 2015 05:00:15 +0000 Britain's Prince Philip once wisely said: "If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it." He's right, which is probably why I can't stand picky eaters: people who won't try a food because they don't like the sound of it (is pig's ear really worse than the back fat bacon is made from?); who refuse to order an item as basic as chicken wings because, "I don't eat meat off the bone"; who won't eat seafood. They... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1702756/picky-eaters-dont-you-just-hate-them?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1702756/picky-eaters-dont-you-just-hate-them?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Feb 2015 14:31:56 +0000