https://www.scmp.com/rss/519826/feed Cat Nelson is the editor of PostMag. Joining SCMP in 2024, she has over a decade of experience in lifestyle media with a background in food and drink writing. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Cat Nelson Cat Nelson One warm February evening in Shenzhen, Bryn Terfel stands centre stage and launches into “Son lo Spirito Che Nega” from Arrigo Boito’s 1868 opera Mefistofele, his voice filling the hall with theatrical force. Then, just as quickly, he undercuts the drama. “My three border collies go crazy when I sing this in Wales,” he tells the audience at Shenzhen Longgang International Art Centre, laughing. With a career spanning more than three decades at the world’s leading houses – from the Royal Opera... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3348515/bryn-terfel-bringing-drama-opera-stage-and-importance-listening?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3348515/bryn-terfel-bringing-drama-opera-stage-and-importance-listening?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:21 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Rahul Kadakia’s favourite gavel is not particularly beautiful. The lacquer has dulled, the wood is chipped with paint from the rostrum and the head sits slightly off-centre after cracking open during a Geneva sale, when a lot estimated at US$100,000 soared to US$1 million. It is, by any conventional standard, worn out. “This gavel has sold billions of dollars,” he says, with a small laugh at the incongruity. Newly appointed president of Christie’s Asia Pacific, Kadakia, 51, speaks quickly, with... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3347307/christies-auctioneer-rahul-kadakia-treasures-his-gift-gavel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3347307/christies-auctioneer-rahul-kadakia-treasures-his-gift-gavel?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Mar 2026 03:00:09 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson This issue means a lot to me (you’ll understand by the end). Choosing what goes in our annual Art Issue is no small feat. While we’re never short of story opportunities in Hong Kong, we’re practically drowning in them come March every year as the global art world descends on the city. But when we heard Spanish photographer and artist Coco Capitán was coming to town for “Imagination Investments”, a three-part exhibition that marks her first major presentation in the city, we knew we had to speak... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3347292/week-postmag-artists-spain-hong-kong-stockholm-and-farewell?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3347292/week-postmag-artists-spain-hong-kong-stockholm-and-farewell?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Mar 2026 04:45:19 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson In the early 1980s, coral carpeted the seabed under the Tolo Harbour in northeastern Hong Kong. Coverage reached as high as 70 to 80 per cent in some areas, comparable to what scientists now see in the city’s marine parks. Within a few years, almost all of it was gone. “Not a lot of people actually know about this,” says Dr Apple Chui Pui-yi, assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences at Chinese University. As nearby towns such as Sha Tin and Tai Po developed, pollution and sewage... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3346172/hong-kong-scientist-trying-revive-citys-coral-reefs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3346172/hong-kong-scientist-trying-revive-citys-coral-reefs?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Mar 2026 07:15:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Strong women run throughout this issue. It is International Women’s Day today, after all. In our cover story, Salomé Grouard meets filmmaker Elizabeth Lo, whose documentary Mistress Dispeller was shortlisted in December for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar – a first in the category for a Hong Kong director. The film explores China’s strange and little-known industry of “mistress dispellers”, professionals hired to end extramarital affairs. What I found extraordinary was the sensitivity with... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3345750/week-postmag-celebration-women-film-sport-science-and-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3345750/week-postmag-celebration-women-film-sport-science-and-life?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Mar 2026 04:45:11 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson It’s comforting – in an admittedly dystopian way – how well my algorithm gets me. Over the past few weeks, I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of horoscope content (both Eastern and Western) on Instagram. Wondering what the Year of the Fire Horse might hold for an Aquarius rabbit? My second-hand knowledge, absorbed from online pseudo gurus with questionable levels of expertise, can tell you (it’s looking bright, if you can believe them). I learned that the Fire Horse has something of a reputation. In... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3342591/week-postmag-lunar-new-year-and-meaning-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3342591/week-postmag-lunar-new-year-and-meaning-home?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Feb 2026 04:45:13 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson The first time I went to Macau was in 2017, and I spent an embarrassing amount of time lost inside The Venetian. Let me tell you, there’s something profoundly disorienting about a fake sky and canals indoors. I kept passing the same gondola, panic mounting. I suspect I’m not alone in this experience – or in the broader reality that many people never see much beyond Macau’s glitz and glam. It’s easy to visit for a weekend, stick to the resorts and come away thinking you’ve seen the city. But for... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3340967/week-postmag-many-layers-macau?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3340967/week-postmag-many-layers-macau?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Jan 2026 04:45:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Hello, January! I hope you survived the first proper work week of 2026. I’ve been going through the avalanche that is my inbox and am barely hanging on. Luckily, this week’s cover story offers a burst of energy as Hsiuwen Liu plunges into the Cantopop revival currently filling Hong Kong’s dance floors. She hits the tiles at Cantomania and finds what started as an underground party is now a full-blown movement, joining a wave of Cantopop nights around town. Cantomania’s DJ Fabsabs (real name Pete... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3339317/week-postmag-cantopop-dance-revival-and-dream-trip-bahamas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3339317/week-postmag-cantopop-dance-revival-and-dream-trip-bahamas?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Jan 2026 04:45:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson The first time I ate at Jean-Pierre, soon after it opened this spring, I counted 10 birthdays. By the third of the evening, my dinner companion and I exchanged a look. By the sixth, it was absurd. At eight and nine, the staff – bow ties, white shirts, the whole bit – delivered sparklers to adjoining tables in unison. Resistance was futile. The French bistro in Central has become a destination for celebrations. “It’s every night,” says Marc Hofmann, managing director of Black Sheep Restaurants... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3337277/jean-pierres-host-chief-christmas-alps-and-his-favourite-spots-celebrate-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3337277/jean-pierres-host-chief-christmas-alps-and-his-favourite-spots-celebrate-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Dec 2025 10:00:11 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson When we started putting together this year’s festive issue, Jean-Pierre – the new-ish French restaurant in Central – was an obvious pick. It’s maximalist, champagne-fuelled and intentionally chaotic in a way that feels very on-brand for the season. But speaking with the personality behind the madness, Marc Hofmann, what stuck with me wasn’t the excess; it was how unexpectedly sincere it all is. The restaurant is rooted in childhood memories and family gatherings, not just an excuse to pour... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3336209/week-postmag-festive-food-styling-and-cantopop-christmas-ballads?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3336209/week-postmag-festive-food-styling-and-cantopop-christmas-ballads?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Dec 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson I hope this is the hardest editor’s letter I ever have to write. Over the past 10 days, somewhere on the internet, you’ve likely already read any sentiment I’d like to type. Or you’ve heard it in conversation. Tragic, devastating, heavy. I’ve grasped for other words, if only for variety’s sake, but these are the ones I keep coming back to, like everybody else. They’re accurate and true. When news of the Tai Po fire broke on November 26, we were in the midst of sending off pages for that... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3335316/week-postmag-standing-together-people-tai-po?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3335316/week-postmag-standing-together-people-tai-po?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Dec 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Slow, scrappy creativity isn’t exactly the first thing that jumps to mind when you think of Hong Kong. This is a city of speed and polish – not hand-stapled booklets and photocopied pages. But in some ways that’s exactly why the rise of local zine culture feels so right. Space is tight, rents are high and everything feels optimised, so a little scrappy resistance makes sense. Zines are small, personal and defiantly lo-fi. And increasingly, they’re everywhere. The Zine Yo! Fest, a multi-week... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3332798/week-postmag-hong-kongs-zine-culture-macau-noir-and-wild-tasmania?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3332798/week-postmag-hong-kongs-zine-culture-macau-noir-and-wild-tasmania?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Nov 2025 04:45:10 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson To be entirely honest, we started calling this edition The Power Issue in passing, and then the name just stuck. And really, it fits. What else do you call a line-up that includes a basketball icon turned business juggernaut, three of Hong Kong’s most influential finance leaders and a world No 1 tennis star who is not afraid to talk a little trash? Let’s start with Shaq. Mathew Scott heads to Macau, where the sports legend is front and centre for the NBA’s return to China after a six-year pause.... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3331035/week-postmag-women-charge-shaquille-oneal-and-aryna-sabalenka?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3331035/week-postmag-women-charge-shaquille-oneal-and-aryna-sabalenka?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Nov 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson In most global financial centres, women chief executives remain a rarity. In Hong Kong, they are increasingly part of the landscape. Among them are Amy Lo Choi-wan of UBS, Mary Huen Wai-yi of Standard Chartered and Bonnie Chan Yiting of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, members of Women Chief Executives Hong Kong (WCE) and co-organisers of Monday’s Women Chief Executives Summit in the city. Lo describes the beginnings of WCE as spontaneous, just a handful of women meeting over lunch. “We thought... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3330914/ubs-hkex-and-standard-chartereds-women-ceos-blazing-trail-and-finding-balance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3330914/ubs-hkex-and-standard-chartereds-women-ceos-blazing-trail-and-finding-balance?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Nov 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Cat Nelson,Sumnima Kandangwa Cat Nelson,Sumnima Kandangwa Three vintage watch collectors share the origins of their passion and offer advice for those toying with starting their own timepiece trove. Mervin Ling There is something very meditative about winding a watch for me. To those unfamiliar with the world of horology, it may seem as if collectors wear their timepieces purely as a status symbol or display of wealth, but that’s often not the case. At least not for me. My fascination with watches began in childhood. My dad, who rarely wore... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330191/patek-philippe-cartier-fp-journe-why-these-collectors-cant-stop-buying?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330191/patek-philippe-cartier-fp-journe-why-these-collectors-cant-stop-buying?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Oct 2025 13:00:09 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Welcome to our first collecting issue. What drives someone to build a collection? That’s the question, in part, we set out to answer. I am, admittedly and decidedly, an amasser of things but not a collector. I’ve got half of the equation (sentimentality) but lack the intentionality required in curating a set of objects. I open the door and let it all in. But the people in our stories have a much more deliberate approach. We spoke with vinyl obsessives, watch nerds and furniture fanatics – I say... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330208/week-postmag-collection-obsessions-rare-vinyl-vintage-watches-and-bespoke-furniture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330208/week-postmag-collection-obsessions-rare-vinyl-vintage-watches-and-bespoke-furniture?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Oct 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson I’m firmly a millennial, and honestly, I can’t complain. Sure, we’re avocado-toast-shamed into oblivion and blamed for killing everything from diamonds to department stores. But we’ve also had the rare privilege of growing up in a strange and specific in-between. I remember life before tech was everywhere. I knew how to burn a CD before I ever touched a touch screen. I was well acquainted with the pre-iPhone internet and actual boredom. That perspective – one foot in the analogue, the other... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3329395/week-postmag-tech-inspired-art-sex-tape-and-fading-neon-signs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3329395/week-postmag-tech-inspired-art-sex-tape-and-fading-neon-signs?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Oct 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson The first time I stayed at a Kimpton was this past spring, on a trip to Koh Samui, Thailand. The vibe? Lush, laid-back and “ridiculously personal”, just as I learned their tagline promises. I left well-fed, mildly sunburned, slightly obsessed and thrilled to discover a Hong Kong outpost was in the works. It was only later that I heard the local debut already had its own prequel (I’m new here, remember?), one that involved scaffolding, smoke and a skyline-lit blaze that made headlines in March... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3328519/week-postmag-mariners-club-returns-bistros-boom-and-miffy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3328519/week-postmag-mariners-club-returns-bistros-boom-and-miffy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Oct 2025 03:03:54 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson It’s a twisted truth that it’s always when a venue’s closing that everyone suddenly remembers how much they loved it. On September 27, the Metropol Restaurant shut its doors after 35 years, and the public reaction has been, unsurprisingly, intense. Our cover feature this issue joins the crowd. Over several visits in its final weeks, photographer Jocelyn Tam captured the Admiralty restaurant’s slow wind-down. Her images convey, as associate editor Gavin Yeung writes in his intro, “a relic of Hong... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3327771/week-postmag-macaus-revitalised-kam-pek-market-and-farewell-metropol-restaurant?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3327771/week-postmag-macaus-revitalised-kam-pek-market-and-farewell-metropol-restaurant?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Oct 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Have you ever wanted to pack it all away and move to the farm? I certainly have, usually around the 10th consecutive hour in front of a screen. It’s tempting to romanticise rural life. Fewer emails. More trees. Cute farm animals. Reality, of course, is rarely so idyllic. In this week’s cover story, Joyce Yip visits Nam Chung, where Kit-ching has spent the last decade building a life as a full-time farmer. Her August was supposed to be a break. Instead, typhoons tore through the area, flattening... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3326997/week-postmag-stories-rural-resilience-and-aura-farming-phenomenon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3326997/week-postmag-stories-rural-resilience-and-aura-farming-phenomenon?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Sep 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson One of my childhood regrets is never learning how to jump double Dutch. By the 1990s, I’m not sure it still guaranteed you cool-kid status (a few decades earlier, I imagine it might have). Still, there’s something undeniably impressive about skipping rope. There’s a level of agility that suggests you might just be a little more on it than everyone else. Skipping came back into my life in my mid-20s during a short stint of boxing training. Never have I felt so clumsy. Strange how often things... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326119/week-postmag-making-rope-skipping-cool-and-rediscovering-goa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326119/week-postmag-making-rope-skipping-cool-and-rediscovering-goa?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Sep 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Corporate awards tend to promise more than they deliver. So, when I arrived in Osaka for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Impact Awards in May, I kept my expectations in check. Still, the week that also marked the opening of the Women’s Pavilion at Expo 2025 offered more than window dressing. Designed by Japanese architect Yuko Nagayama and British artist Es Devlin, and backed by Cartier, the pavilion champions gender equality. The ceremony itself was part of a broader effort. Launched in 2006,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3325325/week-postmag-sustainable-luxury-and-tea-steeped-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3325325/week-postmag-sustainable-luxury-and-tea-steeped-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Sep 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson What better time to start planning your next holiday than the end of summer? Yes, yes I know, we’re only just back from a slow-paced August. I managed to escape Hong Kong’s brutal heat with a weeklong trip to Yunnan province last month, but I’m already plotting the next getaway. That’s the thing about travel, isn’t it? It’s addictive. The change in place, in pace and in tastes. It’s hard to get enough. So, in the spirit of escapism (and a soft landing back into real life), we’re kicking off... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3324483/week-postmag-swimming-holidays-and-cyborg-cockroaches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3324483/week-postmag-swimming-holidays-and-cyborg-cockroaches?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Sep 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson It was August 1939 and World War II would break out only weeks later. That month, Horst P. Horst photographed what would become his most iconic image, Mainbocher Corset. “He describes finishing the shoot at 4am,” says Duncan Forbes, head of photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. “He then went to Le Havre and jumped on the SS Normandie at 7am, which was the last ship to New York, and then Europe was finished.” Born in Germany in 1906 and based for much of his life in Paris and... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3323331/photographer-style-horst-p-horst-showcased-macau-exhibition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3323331/photographer-style-horst-p-horst-showcased-macau-exhibition?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Aug 2025 11:00:10 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Get ready to get hungry. That was my main takeaway from reading this week’s cover story. Rice noodles topped with roast meat. Pepper-fried squid. Steamed fish with dried mandarin peel. Vanessa Lee traces the history of Tanka cuisine, once cooked aboard sampans docked in the harbours of Aberdeen, Shau Kei Wan and Tai O, and the families keeping it alive. The Tanka are one of Hong Kong’s original indigenous communities, and their cuisine grew out of life on the water: fresh catch, preserved... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3322795/week-postmag-treats-tanka-table-and-asian-comedians?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3322795/week-postmag-treats-tanka-table-and-asian-comedians?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Aug 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson The best stories are often the ones hiding in plain sight: half-obscured and easy to overlook. That’s the starting point for our cover story this week, on Hong Kong’s ghost signs. It’s a spooky, slightly mysterious term, but you know them – hand-painted shopfronts, weather-worn billboards and bits of calligraphy that have somehow survived decades of redevelopment and repainting. The project is the work of designer Billy Potts and photographer Ben Marans, who have spent the past few years... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3321219/week-postmag-ghostly-signs-hong-kong-and-old-master-q?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3321219/week-postmag-ghostly-signs-hong-kong-and-old-master-q?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Aug 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson One of the first things I ever loved was a Hello Kitty diary. Yes, there were stuffed animals (Snuffy the bear, RIP), sticker books and an American Girl doll or two, but it’s the red Sanrio diary from 1993 that’s somehow become a core memory. The lock, shaped like Hello Kitty’s head, was cute but flimsy at best. Inside? Kindergarten confessionals, scrawled in shaky handwriting and even shakier grammar. Things escalated in Grade 2 when Miki moved from Japan to our sleepy California town. With... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3319783/week-postmag-hello-kitty-creator-sanrio-and-south-african-safari?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3319783/week-postmag-hello-kitty-creator-sanrio-and-south-african-safari?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Jul 2025 02:29:58 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson As I read our cover feature this week, I started thinking about the overlap between a bamboo scaffolding master’s craft and my own as the editor of a magazine. Hear me out for a second. They’re both tactile endeavours, requiring craftsmanship and an attention to the little things. Each of us takes building blocks – words and images or poles and ties – to construct something greater than the sum of its parts. And most of all, both have an unmistakable human touch. “There’s always a human hand... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3318708/week-postmag-hong-kongs-bamboo-scaffolding-and-bali-bone-healer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3318708/week-postmag-hong-kongs-bamboo-scaffolding-and-bali-bone-healer?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Jul 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson A cheese omakase shouldn’t work. Or at least that’s what I told myself as I sat down in the polished back room of Roucou, Jeremy Evrard’s exuberant new restaurant-slash-love-letter to dairy. Course after course of … cheese? Surely that’s a recipe for indigestion, even for the lactose tolerant. But then came a thick smear of Brillat-Savarin wrapped in nori and topped with caviar. Next, a tower of Parmigiano Reggiano crisps with herring and a whisper of lemon. Then a savoury shellfish bisque with... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3317808/week-postmag-racing-le-mans-healthy-obsession-cheese-and-drop-bordeaux?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3317808/week-postmag-racing-le-mans-healthy-obsession-cheese-and-drop-bordeaux?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Jul 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Before she was an Oscar winner, Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng was flying through glass panels and landing kicks in cult Hong Kong action films, shot without doubles, rewrites or much in the way of safety precautions. Somehow I missed that part of her career until now. In our cover feature, Sean Tierney dives into the wild, improvisational heyday of late 1980s and early 90s Hong Kong action, when the industry’s “get it done” ethos collided with an era of boundless energy, in a genre aptly named Girls... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3316024/week-postmag-girls-guns-trip-wanfenglin-and-peak-japanese-luxury?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3316024/week-postmag-girls-guns-trip-wanfenglin-and-peak-japanese-luxury?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Jun 2025 23:30:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson PostMag was recognised with two honours at the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) 2025 Awards for Editorial Excellence in a ceremony last night at the JW Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong. The SOPA Awards, widely regarded as the region’s most prestigious journalism accolades, celebrate outstanding editorial work across the Asia-Pacific. In the Excellence in Magazine Design category, PostMag received the top honour. “An elegant, ‘quiet’ design which allows the wonderful photography to drive the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3316077/postmag-wins-2-sopa-2025-awards-culture-reporting-and-design?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3316077/postmag-wins-2-sopa-2025-awards-culture-reporting-and-design?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Jun 2025 07:42:11 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Last weekend, I was riding the tram (I know – a dead giveaway that I’m new here and have a kid under five) when I noticed some old lettering on a building I’ve passed dozens of times. It was the name of a stamp company that occupied the space decades ago. There’s a lot of that in Hong Kong: traces of the past that fade into the background, until something makes you look again. In a way, this issue’s cover story picks up where last week’s feature on Hong Kong’s tiles left off. Both explore the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3315180/week-postmag-art-deco-hong-kong-meditative-martial-arts-and-street-dance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3315180/week-postmag-art-deco-hong-kong-meditative-martial-arts-and-street-dance?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Jun 2025 05:00:08 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson This week’s main feature is a lesson in how almost every quotidian – might I say, boring – detail actually holds a fascinating story. You’ve been to many a cha chaan teng, but how often have you given any thought to the mismatched tiles plastering the walls? For artist Adrian Wong Ho-yin, Hong Kong’s off-kilter tiles became the inspiration for his current show at Oil Street Art Space in North Point. He describes how these ceramic pieces evoked the feeling of “looking through a wormhole into the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3314280/week-postmag-art-tiles-getting-lost-translation-and-marathon-star?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3314280/week-postmag-art-tiles-getting-lost-translation-and-marathon-star?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jun 2025 22:15:07 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Throughout my life, I’ve been lucky to feel like I belong – at least as much as anyone can hope to. I grew up on the central coast of California, where ethnic ambiguity didn’t raise any eyebrows. I was never made to feel different or like an outsider. “People saw me as white, so that was how I felt,” wrote my colleague, and fellow half-Asian, Shea Driscoll, in a recent essay exploring his own evolving sense of identity. That hit home. And though I didn’t explicitly think of myself as white, I... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3313309/week-postmag-queer-friendly-football-team-innsbruck-and-michelin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3313309/week-postmag-queer-friendly-football-team-innsbruck-and-michelin?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Jun 2025 01:00:20 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson One of the saddest things about becoming an adult is losing summer. Of course, there’s still the season, which honestly I’d happily lose in Hong Kong, its oppressive humidity and all. But the deliciously lazy six to eight weeks of nothingness and boredom I remember from childhood vanish for most of us in the workforce. (Though, perhaps they’ve already disappeared for the modern era’s chronically overscheduled children, too.) Somewhere in the midst of these lazy weeks, there might be a family... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3312421/week-postmag-bangkok-japan-silk-road-and-more-top-travel-ideas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3312421/week-postmag-bangkok-japan-silk-road-and-more-top-travel-ideas?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 31 May 2025 04:00:09 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson I WAS BORN IN St Petersburg, Florida, in 1984. My mum called me Mr Sparkles or Mr Showman. I was always putting on a show. I was always entertaining whoever was around. I definitely had something. That’s why I think they encouraged me to go into theatre. There was just something a little different. They recognised something special. NO ONE KNEW I could sing until I was probably nine or 10. When they heard me sing in the school choir, that was when it turned into “put him in lessons and let’s... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3312418/coming-full-circle-artistic-director-cirque-du-soleils-kooza?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3312418/coming-full-circle-artistic-director-cirque-du-soleils-kooza?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 May 2025 22:00:19 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson My best ideas always come when I’m in motion. For years, that movement came through cycling through Shanghai’s tree-lined streets, legs pumping until I arrived either at some kind of breakthrough or my destination, whichever came first. Now, my most productive brainstorming is relegated to the interminably long walks underground on either end of my commute. (Getting out for a proper Hong Kong hike is on my list, promise.) But like many things, it turns out that my experience is, in fact, far... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/article/3311485/week-postmag-milans-chinatown-nomads-malaysian-borneo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/article/3311485/week-postmag-milans-chinatown-nomads-malaysian-borneo?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 May 2025 09:00:09 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Over the decade I lived in mainland China, one of the most exciting things was witnessing the rise of a new generation of Chinese chefs. In 2013 Beijing, contemporary fine dining meant course after course generously showered in black truffle, accompanied by thick medallions of foie gras or, should the kitchen be quite forward-thinking, perhaps there would be hints of molecular gastronomy present on the plate. It was almost definitely Western or perhaps it was Dong Zhenxiang at Da Dong – most... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3310566/week-postmag-hks-underground-ballroom-scene-and-chinese-fine-dining?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3310566/week-postmag-hks-underground-ballroom-scene-and-chinese-fine-dining?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 May 2025 00:00:09 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson How do you write anything profound about mothers and motherhood in an editor’s letter? I think the answer – after many attempts and much struggle – is that you don’t. As good as they get, the mother-child relationship is a complicated, wild beast. It’s impossible to fit in the space of a few paragraphs and a single column. Thank goodness this is not a Mother’s Day issue. (That’s for next year, then.) And yet, we do have the art world mother-son power duo of Rosamond and Ben Brown gracing our... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3309708/week-postmag-mother-son-art-duo-and-philippines-surfing-capital?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3309708/week-postmag-mother-son-art-duo-and-philippines-surfing-capital?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 May 2025 09:00:09 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Seven years since it last came to town, Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza is returning to Hong Kong from May 21 to June 22. This marks the first stop of the troupe’s Asia tour, bringing its signature Big Top tent to the Central Harbourfront Event Space with a 54-strong cast from around the world. Premiered in 2007, Kooza was written and directed by American clown David Shiner. Unlike Cirque’s more abstract shows, the show leans into the traditions of classic circus, with plenty of slapstick humour. There... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3309646/hong-kong-first-stop-cirque-do-soleils-kooza-asia-tour?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3309646/hong-kong-first-stop-cirque-do-soleils-kooza-asia-tour?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 May 2025 06:00:14 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson It’s a rare sunny afternoon in Seattle, in the United States, and Angelo Lyerzkysky Rodriguez is parked on the pavement in a camping chair, shirt off, eyes half-closed behind sunglasses, peacefully soaking up the warmth. It’s a striking contrast to how I saw the 37-year-old Colombian circus performer the night before: also shirtless, but mid-flight, hurtling through the air to great dramatic effect as part of Kooza’s Wheel of Death – a high-stakes, high-speed act that elicits gasps of disbelief... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/article/3308634/cirque-du-soleils-kooza-comes-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/article/3308634/cirque-du-soleils-kooza-comes-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 May 2025 22:00:24 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Face paint and the stage were never my thing, so when I found myself with a face full of circus make-up (rosy red cheeks and all) on a brisk Seattle afternoon in early March, I was surprised how I felt. I was ready for my moment. I could feel myself morphing into someone different – less guarded, less self-conscious. More free. Maybe I should have been a theatre kid. That’s the power of a mask for you. In advance of its Hong Kong tour stop this month, Cirque du Soleil had invited PostMag... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3308798/week-postmag-behind-scenes-cirque-du-soleil-and-hk-cinema?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3308798/week-postmag-behind-scenes-cirque-du-soleil-and-hk-cinema?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 May 2025 06:00:22 +0000 In this day and age, doing a sustainability issue is treacherous territory. I’ll be honest, we had fierce debates in our editorial meetings. Should we? Shouldn’t we? There were arguments for both sides. So much is greenwashed, all marketing and no substance. The word itself has been co-opted by every brand imaginable – and even if you try to sidestep it and approach the subject with more nuance as a business, you can’t because SEO. And yet, writing off any and all attempts at lessening our... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3307884/week-postmag-upcycled-eggshells-and-eco-friendly-practices?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3307884/week-postmag-upcycled-eggshells-and-eco-friendly-practices?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Apr 2025 01:00:14 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson I’ll let you in on a little secret: I still haven’t been to Yardbird. And that makes me feel … ashamed? I know, I know – perhaps that’s overstating it. It is only a restaurant after all. But it’s a place that seems to have played an outsized role in Hong Kong’s modern food scene. Even living in Beijing more than a decade ago, I’d heard about a fun, funky new yakitori spot called Yardbird. Much like a certain band who came through town this past week, it has its ardent fans, and its fervent... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3306159/week-postmag-yardbird-founders-new-concept-and-wong-fei-hung?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3306159/week-postmag-yardbird-founders-new-concept-and-wong-fei-hung?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Apr 2025 01:00:13 +0000 I was scrolling through Instagram, as one does, when a particularly arresting image stopped me. Roughly hewn wooden beams and rafters holding up a high ceiling. Puffs of steam caught in the light. A floor blanketed in white snow-like powder. “I really thought this was AI or game art” read one comment. In fact, it was a photograph of a salt well in Sichuan province posted by Shanghai-based writer Christopher St. Cavish – the first in a carousel of photos from a week-long research trip to Zigong,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3305179/week-postmag-chinas-salt-capital-and-cruise-mighty-mekong-river?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3305179/week-postmag-chinas-salt-capital-and-cruise-mighty-mekong-river?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Apr 2025 07:00:09 +0000 Occasionally, there is one thing in the magazine that I just can’t stop thinking about. This issue, it’s the photo of Jason Li in My Life. Everything about that image is unexpected. How is he suspended in mid-air, completely horizontal and almost a metre from the ground? The pieces of a deconstructed taxi cab in the garage behind him just add to the improbability of the photograph. A great part of this job is these Easter eggs that land on my desk and leave me in awe – both of the subject and... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3304254/week-postmag-andre-fus-designs-stem-cell-therapy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3304254/week-postmag-andre-fus-designs-stem-cell-therapy?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Mar 2025 04:00:09 +0000 We simply couldn’t have let this week pass without an arts special, could we? Perhaps it’s just the infectious energy percolating through the city right now as Art Basel and Art Central arrive, but I’m excited to share this issue with you. For one, there’s our cover – a special creation by Takashi Murakami. (There are two, in fact.) The Japanese artist has taken original works from his 2024 show “Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo (feat. Takashi Murakami)” at New York’s Brooklyn Museum and... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3303299/week-postmag-art-everywhere-throughout-hong-kong-european-museums-tour-and-more?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3303299/week-postmag-art-everywhere-throughout-hong-kong-european-museums-tour-and-more?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Mar 2025 11:30:08 +0000 With all the 40 under 40 lists (don’t get me started on 30 under 30) and the perennial spotlight on “emerging” talent, it’s easy to feel like you’re late to the party. At least, it’s a constant battle I fight. It’s not even a question of “am I too late for my big break?” but “am I too old to try something new?” This issue’s cover feature is a welcome reminder that no, it’s not. “My muscles were sleeping until I was 60,” one of the senior dancers in Hong Kong Ballet’s Silver Ballet community... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3302363/week-postmag-senior-ballerinas-canadian-chinese-fusion-and-more?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3302363/week-postmag-senior-ballerinas-canadian-chinese-fusion-and-more?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Mar 2025 04:45:08 +0000 PostMag meets five women who are at the top of their game and pushing the boundaries of scientific and technological discovery in Hong Kong. Here, editor Cat Nelson talks to Florence Chan, co-founder and CEO of AI Guided; Angela Wu, a professor at HKUST’s division of life science and department of chemical and biological engineering; Wendy Lam, founder of EzyGreenPak; Gina Jiang, managing director of the Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology; and Megan Lam, co-founder of Neurum Health. Wendy Lam:... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3301395/women-stem-round-table-bias-barriers-and-breakthroughs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3301395/women-stem-round-table-bias-barriers-and-breakthroughs?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Mar 2025 06:00:21 +0000 I was 18 when I founded Breer in 2020. I had barely started university. What I struggled with most was having to fit the shoes of an entrepreneur very early on. Everything happened so quickly, which was a good thing for Breer, a food upcycling craft beer brand, but meant I had to accelerate my pace of learning to keep up. I didn’t know much about setting up a company. I didn’t know how you maintain business relations. I went from pitching to friends and having them try the beers we were making... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3301404/meet-brewer-breaking-gender-and-age-barriers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3301404/meet-brewer-breaking-gender-and-age-barriers?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Mar 2025 02:45:07 +0000