https://www.scmp.com/rss/324594/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Every Sunday evening, prisoners across Hong Kong fall silent, earphones in, hoping to hear their letters read out by the host of Devoted to You. Broadcast on RTHK Radio One from 6.20pm to 8pm, the show offers a ray of hope and encouragement to inmates across the city, says former offender So Ha. So has been locked up three times in as many correctional institutions – Tai Lam Centre for Women, Lo Wu Correctional Institution and Chi Ma Wan Correctional Institution – each time on drug trafficking... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2116694/how-hong-kongs-prisoners-are-given-hope-selfless-pen-pals-and-local-radio?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2116694/how-hong-kongs-prisoners-are-given-hope-selfless-pen-pals-and-local-radio?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Oct 2017 11:15:48 +0000 “TOTAL BAN ON FIREWORKS; To Stop Bomb-Making,” ran the headline in the South China Morning Post on September 9, 1967. “Government introduced an emergency regulation yesterday banning the public from carrying or storing fireworks,” ran the story. “Immediate action was taken to withdraw fireworks from shops [...] “Altogether, about 30 tons of fireworks were removed.” Penalties for carrying or storing more than 22kg of fireworks without a licence increased from a fine of HK$2,000 and six months... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2111080/archives-how-1967-riots-led-hong-kong-fireworks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2111080/archives-how-1967-riots-led-hong-kong-fireworks?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Sep 2017 23:31:44 +0000 Bookworms drift along seat rows, slowly scanning book titles and occasionally picking one up to take home. About 2,300 people attended the seventh annual Book Crossing Festival last month at Youth Square in Chai Wan, where more than 8,000 books were available for exchange over two days. Book crossing, or book exchange, means leaving a book in a public place – not at an organised event – to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise. It’s not as established in Hong Kong as it is across... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2110834/why-public-book-sharing-hasnt-taken-hong-kong-and-what-says-about-citys?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2110834/why-public-book-sharing-hasnt-taken-hong-kong-and-what-says-about-citys?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Sep 2017 10:16:49 +0000 “Mark Six is the name of new numbers game”, ran a headline in the South China Morning Post on August 23, 1975. The accompanying story added that the new lottery would “be introduced by the Government on September 1” and “managed by the Royal Hongkong Jockey Club”. From our archives: the capture of Hong Kong’s Jars Killer “Each entry for the Mark Six will cost $10 or multiples of $10. To win, it is necessary to select six different numbers between one and 14 in the order in which they are... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2110141/mark-six-recalling-day-lottery-was-launched-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2110141/mark-six-recalling-day-lottery-was-launched-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Sep 2017 00:39:27 +0000 What did you do before starting the Golden Duck? Christopher Hwang: “We have each done five businesses so far. Some of them have been together, some independently. When we first met, five years ago, I was doing a business in education, and John [Jonathan Shen] in events and marketing. They were very different industries, but we said, ‘I really like the way you deal with your partners, your business ethics,’ so we felt we should try to do something together. Fast-forward three years, and we did.... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/2109996/salted-egg-yolk-chips-entrepreneurs-behind-very?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/2109996/salted-egg-yolk-chips-entrepreneurs-behind-very?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Sep 2017 04:46:18 +0000 “Diana’s body flown home”, ran a South China Morning Post headline on September 1, 1997. The story continued: “Prince Charles flew to Paris last night and brought home the body of his 36-year-old former wife, Princess Diana, as France launched a criminal investi­gation into her death in a car crash.” The princess had died of massive chest injuries after the accident in an expressway tunnel beside the River Seine. “Charles, accompanied by Diana’s two sisters, took delivery of the casket and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2109156/archives-aftermath-princess-dianas-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2109156/archives-aftermath-princess-dianas-death?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 Aug 2017 08:15:15 +0000 Women drivers are often the butt of chauvinistic jokes, so it’s not always an easy ride for Hong Kong’s female taxi drivers. Working in a typically male profession, they risk being picked on by cabbies of the opposite sex and shunned by sexist passengers. That’s been the experience of Anna Tam Choi-har, 72. Tam has been behind the wheel of a Kowloon red taxi for 45 years – longer than many men – and remembers when the flag fall was merely HK$1. Her male peers can be rude, she says, recalling an... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2108234/hong-kong-women-taxi-drivers-why-they-love-job-and-how-they-deal-sexist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2108234/hong-kong-women-taxi-drivers-why-they-love-job-and-how-they-deal-sexist?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Aug 2017 04:46:01 +0000 “Tragedy At Taipo Kau; Children And Students Killed By Suddenly Flooded Stream”, read a South China Morning Post headline on August 29, 1955. The report continued, “Twenty-one Chinese children and students are known to have been killed when they were swept away by a stream which suddenly turned into a torrent following a cloudburst at Taipo Kau, New Territories yesterday afternoon.” Victims “ranged in age from nine to 20” and included members of parties from the Kowloon-Canton Railway Staff Club... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2108187/when-picnic-tragedy-flash-flood-hong-kong-left?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2108187/when-picnic-tragedy-flash-flood-hong-kong-left?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Aug 2017 03:04:11 +0000 Grace Mugabe, wife of Zimbabwean presi­dent Robert Mugabe, was last week accused of assaulting 20-year-old model Gabriella Engels, who had been socialising with Mugabe’s sons in a Johannesburg hotel room. Hong Kong readers may recall the fiery first lady having been similarly accused back in 2009. “Police are investigating an alleged assault on a newspaper photographer by the wife of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe while she was on a shopping trip to the city,” the South China Morning Post... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2107142/archives-grace-mugabes-alleged-assault-echo-2009?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2107142/archives-grace-mugabes-alleged-assault-echo-2009?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Aug 2017 04:02:12 +0000 “Woman’s headfound in river”, ran a headline in the South China Morning Post on February 12, 1982. “Workers constructing a bridge at Shatin had the shock of their lives when they saw a woman’s head floating in the Shing Mun River.” Legs were also found, and the Post followed up the next day with news that two arms had been discovered. A six-month investigation followed and, on August 19, the Post reported that sus­pects had been arrested, including 27-year-old night-shift taxi driver Lam... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2106303/our-archives-capture-hong-kongs-jars-killer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2106303/our-archives-capture-hong-kongs-jars-killer?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Aug 2017 00:30:41 +0000 “Centuries Old Tomb Discovered In Kowloon”, ran a headline in the South China Morning Post on August 10, 1955. The story continued: “Workmen levelling hilly ground east of the Li Cheng Uk Resettlement Area at Tonkin Road, Kowloon, have unearthed what appears to be a centuries-old tomb. “Early yesterday, the workmen […] uncovered an opening in the hillside which was lined with faded red brick.” Tomb reveals secrets of ancient lives Though experts had yet to examine the site, preliminary... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2105244/when-hong-kong-workmen-dug-2000-year-old-tomb?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2105244/when-hong-kong-workmen-dug-2000-year-old-tomb?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Aug 2017 23:15:58 +0000 “Marilyn Monroe Found Dead,” ran the headline in the South China Morning Post on August 6, 1962. “Miss Marilyn Monroe, the film star, died today from an apparent overdose of barbiturates,” the news story continued. “[Her] housekeeper, Mrs Eunice Murray, told police she saw a light shining under her mistress’s bedroom door at midnight. When she saw the same light three hours later, she tried the door and found it locked.” Monroe’s physicians were called and, on gaining entry through a bedroom... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2104307/august-day-55-years-ago-when-marilyn-monroe-died?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2104307/august-day-55-years-ago-when-marilyn-monroe-died?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jul 2017 00:02:03 +0000 “A new chapter in Hongkong’s civil aviation history was written yesterday when a CPA DC-3 aircraft took off from Kai Tak airport at 8.30 p.m. officially to introduce night flying,” ran a story in the South China Morning Post on July 18, 1959. “On board the aircraft were newsmen and other guests who had a wonderful bird’s eye view of Hongkong by night. They also saw the airport’s approach and lead-in lights which guide aircraft on landing and take-off.” Ahead of the Cathay Pacific Airways... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2102459/when-hong-kongs-first-night-flight-took-kai-tak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2102459/when-hong-kongs-first-night-flight-took-kai-tak?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Jul 2017 23:17:13 +0000 “Film Star Dies In Gas-Filled Bedroom,” ran a headline in the South China Morning Post on July 18, 1964. The story continued: “Miss Lin Dai, the well-known Mandarin actress, was found unconscious in her gas-filled bedroom yesterday afternoon. She was certified dead on arrival in hospital.” The 29-year-old star – who had won the best actress award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival four times – had been discovered by her husband, Lung Shun-shing, at their home in Jardine’s Lookout. On returning to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2101483/archives-hong-kong-actress-lin-dais-tragic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2101483/archives-hong-kong-actress-lin-dais-tragic?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Jul 2017 00:16:17 +0000 Jo, a 16-year-old Hong Kong student, opened an Instagram account in May to offer her services as a part-time girlfriend. She’s trying to save HK$40,000 to buy a clarinet, she says, and made HK$3,000 in her first month. Jo meets clients, aged between 25 and 35, about twice a week at nighttime and during weekends, when she’s not studying. The phenomenon of part-time girlfriends – or PTGFs – for rent in Hong Kong has blossomed on social media in recent months. They offer services ranging from... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2100125/hong-kong-part-time-girlfriends-and-boyfriend-tell-their-stories-why-they?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2100125/hong-kong-part-time-girlfriends-and-boyfriend-tell-their-stories-why-they?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jun 2017 04:45:52 +0000 “Beyond singer in coma after fall in Japan”, ran the headline in the South China Morning Post on June 25, 1993. “Pop star Wong Ka-kui, lead vocalist for Hong Kong band Beyond, was in a coma last night, 19 hours after falling off a production set during the filming of a television variety show.”   Next day, the Post reported, “Wong, 31, plunged three metres and hit his head after slipping on water during filming of a slapstick fight scene for one of Japan’s most highly rated television comedy... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2099498/death-hong-kong-pop-star-when-city-mourned?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2099498/death-hong-kong-pop-star-when-city-mourned?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Jun 2017 00:15:46 +0000 “Worst deluge in 83 years hits Hongkong: Mid-Levels Flats Crash in a Day of Disaster; 78 squatter huts inundated in big landslide”, reported the South China Morning Post on June 19, 1972. “At least 200 people are believed dead in twin downpour disasters after a luxury skyscraper block last night toppled down the Mid-Levels [67 later confirmed dead] and a mudslide earlier in the day buried a squatter village in Sau Mau Ping [death toll 71]. At 3am today, under the brilliant glare of arc lights,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2098525/deadly-1972-twin-landslides-hong-kong-claimed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2098525/deadly-1972-twin-landslides-hong-kong-claimed?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Jun 2017 23:33:57 +0000