https://www.scmp.com/rss/318920/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Antagonism knows no bounds – witness the current situation in politically sensitive Hong Kong. Of late, for example, many people have challenged the viability, quality and feasibility of using simplified Chinese characters in Hong Kong society. We should encourage rational debate about how this originally alien language could find a foothold in the community, such as how it can be balanced with traditional Chinese writing in our education system, or when is the best time for young people to be... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1985708/interests-diversity-can-role-be-found-simplified-characters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1985708/interests-diversity-can-role-be-found-simplified-characters?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Jul 2016 03:41:24 +0000 There are usually no winners in controversies about nationality, especially those that seek to impose one view over another. This is exactly what happened in the recent row over Taiwanese teen pop star Chou Tzu-yu – who was forced to apologise after waving the island’s flag on a South Korean TV show – and many other disputes about “Chineseness” in Hong Kong, Taiwan and on the mainland. READ MORE: Taiwan’s teen pop star Chou Tzu-yu: how a wave of a flag caused a great flap in China We often... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1912384/people-mainland-china-hong-kong-and-taiwan-should-realise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1912384/people-mainland-china-hong-kong-and-taiwan-should-realise?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Feb 2016 00:30:48 +0000 One should never underestimate pop culture and the sense of belonging it can cultivate for a community. Indeed, Hong Kong serves as a good example of this. The 1970s and 1980s were the heyday of Hong Kong cinema, television and other popular cultural products. It was also the time when many Hongkongers would rush home early because they couldn’t resist watching a local beauty contest, or didn’t want to miss the final episode of their favourite drama. Such Hong Kong productions often bypassed... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1902833/hong-kong-should-be-celebrating-its-popular-culture-much?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1902833/hong-kong-should-be-celebrating-its-popular-culture-much?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jan 2016 07:17:26 +0000 History must be subject to regular scrutiny; everyone needs a past to make the present meaningful and substantial. The issue is whether such scrutiny answers the needs of the community. Shying away from the pain and suffering of the past does the community no good at all. Through reflection, we can heal the scars of past trauma The past may appear fixed and stable, yet it is always inconclusive, or new interpretations would fail to rejuvenate our imagination. Here in Hong Kong, historical... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1868396/history-complex-hong-kong-needs-rekindle-its-curiosity-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1868396/history-complex-hong-kong-needs-rekindle-its-curiosity-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Oct 2015 02:30:23 +0000 Ethnicity has always been a precarious concept. On the surface, it is the basis for imagining identity and culture through similarities and differences in language, food and fashion. Sometimes what we say and eat can be emblematic of a community, especially in a globalised world in which tourism is booming. However, ethnicity is powerful not just in the way it brands a community or nation, but also in its ability to influence social upheaval. Post-colonial Asia offers many examples. When... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1859381/how-ethnic-identity-can-be-hijacked-politics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1859381/how-ethnic-identity-can-be-hijacked-politics?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Sep 2015 02:00:28 +0000 A sense of inverted logic in what being victimised means, appears to have taken hold of Hong Kong society. If being a self-described victim is no different from being a hero, then something has gone very wrong in this community. When a female protester was found guilty of assaulting a police officer by using her breast as a "weapon" to justify her alleged molestation by the officer, many protested against her conviction, arguing that a breast couldn't possibly be a weapon. That argument misses... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1846750/virus-play-victim-afflicting-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1846750/virus-play-victim-afflicting-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Aug 2015 08:45:30 +0000 There is no such thing as Hong Kong "natives" if their nativism is bred from a reactionary womb that resists a vast array of invented and questionable rivalries, including against the local and central governments, throngs of mainland tourists and even street performers. Though I can't say which materials will be used to sculpt the next invented enemy of Hong Kong, if this is really the only way the so-called localism or nativism movement can be initiated, then the situation is truly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1833336/hong-kong-nativists-constant-need-find-next-enemy-makes-no?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1833336/hong-kong-nativists-constant-need-find-next-enemy-makes-no?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Jul 2015 06:29:11 +0000 When did Hong Kong's school calendar become so politically sensitive? During summer breaks, local parents and teachers usually devote their resources and creativity to occupying youngsters with internships, study tours and other forms of extra-curricular activity. As summer arrives this year, they'll also need to try to keep their children away from potential street protests. Every political movement, including Occupy Central, uses slogans to unify believers and rouse emotions. These are usually... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1814429/hong-kongs-protesting-youth-seek-freedom-different-kind?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1814429/hong-kongs-protesting-youth-seek-freedom-different-kind?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Jun 2015 06:30:50 +0000 Forgetting is a luxury best avoided if, sooner or later, one has to pay dearly for the loss. Hong Kong is going through this painful, seemingly never-ending, process. If one had to find an attribute that sums up this politically split, economically nostalgic yet culturally confused community, perhaps it is the ephemeral Hong Kong memory. In fact, when we talk about our so-called "collective memory", we think of something that unifies us. But, really, it is nothing more than shattered pieces of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1779993/going-going-hong-kongs-collective-memory-just-passing-phase?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1779993/going-going-hong-kongs-collective-memory-just-passing-phase?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Apr 2015 04:06:23 +0000