https://www.scmp.com/rss/519836/feed Hsiuwen has written for Billboard and Los Angeles Times, among other outlets. She was formerly a senior reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek's Chinese edition, covering the intersection of business and politics within mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Hsiuwen Liu Hsiuwen Liu Early last year, I started noticing friends posting Instagram stories from a roaming club night called Cantomania. Under dim, shifting lights, the DJ spun Cantopop classics such as Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing’s 1984 hit “Monica” alongside cartoon theme songs from Digimon Adventure and Hamtaro, even the Donki jingle, while the crowd shouted the choruses in unison. The man behind the deck was DJ Fabsabs, real name Pete Sabine, a Hong Kong-born gweilo whose sets have become a celebration of the city’s... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3339157/cantomania-dj-night-driving-hong-kongs-cantopop-comeback?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3339157/cantomania-dj-night-driving-hong-kongs-cantopop-comeback?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Jan 2026 02:00:14 +0000 Hsiuwen Liu Hsiuwen Liu Wings are unfurled. Horns glint under purple lights. Figures strut and spin down a narrow runway as music throbs and cheers echo off the walls in a studio tucked away in Kennedy Town. It is a balmy Saturday night in April, and this is no ordinary costume party. Forbidden Forest Ball is a performance and queer self-expression in Hong Kong’s growing underground ballroom scene, a subculture grown from the marginalised queer and transgender communities of 1970s Harlem in New York, offering sanctuary... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3310608/queer-liberation-hong-kongs-burgeoning-underground-drag-and-performance-scene?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3310608/queer-liberation-hong-kongs-burgeoning-underground-drag-and-performance-scene?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 May 2025 07:00:08 +0000 Jason Lee always imagines an arc, an invisible trajectory between one hand and the other, every time he sends his juggling balls flying over his head. It is an art of precision, and little errors have big consequences, especially in front of an audience. To perfect the art, jugglers repeat the same motions until the voices – “Can I catch it?”, “Will I drop it?”, “Did I leave the stove on?” – fade into silence. Now 26, Lee has been mastering this inner quietude for more than a decade. His journey... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3294948/why-juggler-decided-let-ball-drop?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3294948/why-juggler-decided-let-ball-drop?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jan 2025 07:15:08 +0000 Hsiuwen Liu Hsiuwen Liu A low, sonorous tone ripples from the back of the concert hall, a deep, rolling hum from someplace out of time, somewhere primordial. As the audience turns their heads towards the source, the towering figure of William Barton, world-renowned Australian didgeridoo player, appears, walking down the aisle towards the stage, where Hong Kong sheng master Loo Sze-wang is waiting. Together with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Barton and Loo are presenting the world premiere of Dylan Crismani’s concerto for... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3280154/sheng-vs-didgeridoo-night-2-worlds-oldest-wind-instruments-went-head-head-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3280154/sheng-vs-didgeridoo-night-2-worlds-oldest-wind-instruments-went-head-head-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Sep 2024 04:45:07 +0000