https://www.scmp.com/rss/7186/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Jason Wordie Jason Wordie How does one even begin to describe a permanent yet intermittent love affair between a person and a place that has stretched on for decades? And do places cherished, somehow, in their own way, love one back? I think they do. Macau has been a much-loved constant in my life since my initial visit, aged not quite 22, back in 1988. From the very first day, I was strangely, mesmerisingly hooked by the place. That first night – spent at the gently crumbling Bela Vista Hotel – epitomised that... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3341645/rediscovering-macau-timeless-love-affair-city-hidden-charms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3341645/rediscovering-macau-timeless-love-affair-city-hidden-charms?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Feb 2026 06:01:40 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie Since the mid-19th century, Hong Kong has been famed for the extensive array of (mostly, but not exclusively, Chinese) curios available in speciality shops. A mainstay of the local tourism industry, generations of visitors have departed these shores with some appealingly “oriental” item tucked away in their baggage as a memento of their stay. While some are genuine antiques, most curios are recently manufactured. Porcelain items, jade and intricately carved netsuke remain popular, along with... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3313278/legacy-hong-kongs-signature-curio-shops?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3313278/legacy-hong-kongs-signature-curio-shops?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Jun 2025 11:00:08 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie Since the colony’s earliest years, the summer months of dankly humid weeks of near-constant rain, followed by a few baking-hot, magnificently clear days, punctuated by passing typhoons, have been the season to escape. But before air services expanded everyone’s travel horizons, where lay within reasonable reach by sea, offering pleasant, modern resort localities with warm daytime weather, fresh mornings and cool afternoons? Regional options were limited. In mainland China, modest hill stations,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3313153/interwar-hongkongers-summer-destination-choice-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3313153/interwar-hongkongers-summer-destination-choice-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Jun 2025 09:00:08 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie Cool-weather clothes in Hong Kong have long been chosen from classic styles that would not date too quickly. As only three or four months of the year are suitable for most temperate-climate garments – barely two for heavier items, such as tweed overcoats – winter clothes were expected to last for many years, and would only be replaced on periodic long leaves or when an individual’s body shape had changed too dramatically for alterations. Hong Kong’s torrid summer months with prolonged high... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3311976/how-hongkongers-protected-winter-wardrobes-perils-summer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3311976/how-hongkongers-protected-winter-wardrobes-perils-summer?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 May 2025 10:00:21 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie Urban Hong Kong is known across the globe as a vertical environment. Even those who have never visited will have some, mostly cinematic-driven, awareness of the city’s high-rise nature. The impacts of such spatial realities on everyday life are less widely known, however. For most residents, the ability to just “lok lau” (literally “go down [from] the building”) and find whatever they are looking for, all within a few minutes walk, is the single most important factor for a desirable living... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3310616/hong-kong-delivery-apps-once-took-different-more-physical-form?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3310616/hong-kong-delivery-apps-once-took-different-more-physical-form?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 May 2025 05:00:08 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie Technology’s steady advance has, for the most part, transformed daily life for the better. In particular, near-instantaneous communication from one corner of the world to another – whether by email or text, voice or video message – is now taken for granted. Once a practical way to send a brief message to the other side of the world, picture postcards these days are little more than collectors’ items. For more time-sensitive communications, there were telegrams, which did the job swiftly and... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3309967/how-postal-services-shaped-global-communication-internet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3309967/how-postal-services-shaped-global-communication-internet?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 May 2025 06:00:10 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie What best sums up local culture? Some mainstays are so taken for granted that they only become properly appreciated, valued and nurtured during times of uncertainty. From the beginning, an emergent local Hong Kong culture – quite distinct from anything found elsewhere in southern China – imported, adapted, then embraced an assortment of influences from across the world. Readily consumable, cliché examples abound. Crusty egg tarts from backstreet bakeries recall only faint traces of their... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3308693/how-scottish-settlers-brought-bagpipes-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3308693/how-scottish-settlers-brought-bagpipes-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 May 2025 22:00:08 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie Reduce, reuse, recycle; across the globe this mantra has become familiar to anyone with even a glimmer of environmental awareness. But how closely followed are these instructions, especially in Hong Kong, where effective recycling processes, rather than feel-good performative gestures, are easier said than done? No doubt to the surprise of many today, Hong Kong was a highly efficient recycling society a century ago. Everything had a secondary use, and much like today entire families derived... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3307913/hong-kongs-surprising-history-recycling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3307913/hong-kongs-surprising-history-recycling?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Apr 2025 12:00:08 +0000 From urban Hong Kong’s earliest years, hired conveyances have been a common sight. Whether in the heart of the city or in outlying rural districts, licensed taxis remain the most usual form – colour-coded red for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, green in the New Territories and pale blue for Lantau Island. Ride-hailing services, such as Uber and GoGoVan, have appeared in recent years, and the introduction of premium taxi fleets last month will further transform the local streetscape. The reason... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3306579/rickshaws-motor-vehicles-evolution-hong-kongs-taxis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3306579/rickshaws-motor-vehicles-evolution-hong-kongs-taxis?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Apr 2025 23:00:08 +0000 As the weather turns warmer, picnic gatherings in Hong Kong’s numerous countryside beauty spots – especially when combined with hiking, swimming and other outdoor activities – become a keenly anticipated, much-enjoyed seasonal pleasure. For many local urbanites, however, the mere prospect of time spent outdoors in the company of bugs, beetles, butterflies, moths and other countryside inhabitants – much less wasps and mosquitoes – is deeply unwelcome. For these fussy folk, wild birds are merely... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3305019/springtime-picnics-pleasure-scenic-side-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3305019/springtime-picnics-pleasure-scenic-side-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Apr 2025 01:00:17 +0000 Native to tropical Asia, Bombax ceiba, commonly known as kapok, is now so widespread locally that some mistakenly consider the species endemic. One of Hong Kong’s greatest annual pleasures is their sudden, short-lived burst of showy red or orange flowers. For a few short weeks, these appear everywhere from Aberdeen to Yuen Long, concurrent with early morning and late afternoon koel bird calls. Everyone has their preferred viewpoints; mine remain close to home at Shek Kong. Five years ago this... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3304196/bright-side-life-reflected-charming-resilience-kapok-tree?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3304196/bright-side-life-reflected-charming-resilience-kapok-tree?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Mar 2025 22:00:11 +0000 Interest groups of all kinds have a long history in Hong Kong. In terms of leisure-time pursuits, there has always been something for everyone. Whether for open-water swimming or night hiking, crafting model aeroplanes or finding artistic expression through pens, brushes and paints, a convivial group of like-minded enthusiasts will exist here somewhere. Newspaper notices from the 1850s record examples of public meetings convened by a few interested people to help locate other residents with... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3303635/growth-hong-kongs-art-clubs-hobby-groups-wartime-camps-and-post-wwii-success?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3303635/growth-hong-kongs-art-clubs-hobby-groups-wartime-camps-and-post-wwii-success?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Mar 2025 10:15:11 +0000 Since the late 19th century, Hong Kong’s high-quality English-medium schools have attracted a student population who originally hailed from elsewhere in Southeast Asia or southern China. Multi-faceted reasons, interwoven with broader regional realities, lay behind an individual family’s decision to send their children to study here. Spanish mestizo children from across the Philippines, French Eurasians from various parts of Indochina, and the mixed-race offspring of teak company employees in... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3302236/tracing-evolution-hong-kongs-elite-english-medium-schools?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3302236/tracing-evolution-hong-kongs-elite-english-medium-schools?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:15:08 +0000 All over the world, full employment equality, regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation, remains a long and winding journey, and Hong Kong is no exception. In these febrile times, the many gains that DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives have painstakingly achieved are under attack in certain parts of the world. Looming threats make it vitally important to remember that hard-gained individual rights – for others, as well as ourselves – must never be taken for granted.... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3301483/how-hong-kong-led-way-women-priests-1970s-ahead-even-uk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3301483/how-hong-kong-led-way-women-priests-1970s-ahead-even-uk?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Mar 2025 08:15:09 +0000 Crispy-skinned, juicy-fleshed pigeons have been a popular restaurant staple in Hong Kong, Macau and various towns around the Pearl River Delta, for several decades. But in many cities across the world, the mere thought of eating a pigeon is repellent. From London to Melbourne, feral birds are known – rightly – as “rats of the sky”, due to their omnivorous scavenging habits. London’s Trafalgar Square is world-famous – or notorious – for the mass gatherings of wild pigeons; and nearby pavements... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3300398/how-reverse-migration-turned-pigeon-culinary-staple-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3300398/how-reverse-migration-turned-pigeon-culinary-staple-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Mar 2025 01:15:07 +0000 For a place that can appear defiantly philistine, Hong Kong has regularly hosted well-attended literary events. From the late 19th century onwards, these affairs have typically been structured around a combined book signing and drinks party, where the author would also give a lecture (of sorts) on their latest title’s general subject matter. Depending on the individual’s public-speaking skills and overall personality, this event could be entertaining, fascinating and eagerly discussed for weeks... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3299397/has-hong-kong-ever-truly-been-home-any-famous-writers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3299397/has-hong-kong-ever-truly-been-home-any-famous-writers?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Feb 2025 22:15:07 +0000 Lavishly illustrated fashion magazine articles, scholarly monographs and museum exhibitions have extensively documented the social history of the cheongsam. Most research has focused on the perennially elegant female version popularised in Shanghai between the world wars, which enjoyed its Hong Kong heyday from the early 1950s to the 70s. But what about the male equivalent, which was just as widely worn? Also known as a cheongsam – the unisex Cantonese term means “long shirt” – the male version... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3298534/why-elegant-male-cheongsam-was-forgotten?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3298534/why-elegant-male-cheongsam-was-forgotten?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Feb 2025 05:15:13 +0000 While local vegetable cultivation remained widespread until the 1980s, even today, small farms across the New Territories produce a surprising quantity of fresh food. Most local agricultural output is – and always has been – vegetables; Hong Kong has historically produced little fruit. Seasonal specialities such as lychees and longans come and go at their usual times of year – typically May to July; imported varieties – mostly sourced from Malaysia and Thailand – enjoy a slightly longer exposure... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3297625/why-banana-king-hong-kong-fruit-stall?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3297625/why-banana-king-hong-kong-fruit-stall?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Feb 2025 00:15:08 +0000 Few traditions evolve more rapidly than food customs. Hong Kong is no exception. The popularity of variants on the once-humble poon choi (“basin dish”) meal demonstrates how tradition and modernity can find their meeting point, especially when marketed as an enhanced seasonal convenience. Communal meals are a key element to Hong Kong society. Extended families, who may be unable to meet regularly, typically gather during festival times, Lunar New Year being an essential opportunity that few... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3296106/lunar-new-year-poon-choi-feast-isnt-just-about-food-its-about-community?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3296106/lunar-new-year-poon-choi-feast-isnt-just-about-food-its-about-community?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jan 2025 08:00:15 +0000 Camping in Hong Kong has enjoyed a long history and steady evolution. Until the late 1940s, when stricter controls on privately owned firearms were legislated, camping was often accompanied by hunting. Bird shooting had become popular from the 1880s, and increased significantly in the years after the New Territories lease was signed in 1898. The mangrove forests and tidal marshlands along the Deep Bay coastline were (and remain) a haven for numerous migratory waterfowl species; the cooler... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3295202/getting-back-nature-tent-really-all-eco-friendly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3295202/getting-back-nature-tent-really-all-eco-friendly?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2025 09:15:09 +0000 When life’s stresses build up, the cumulative effects can leave one feeling run-down, cranky and out of sorts. At these times, as all but the most diehard hypochondriacs recognise, a medical consultation doesn’t help much. While getting more rest, drinking more water, eating more fresh food, taking regular exercise and so on are the most reliable remedies, medicinal tonics can help with certain symptoms – chronic indigestion, flatulence, constipation and bad breath, among others. From centuries... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3294221/how-chinese-medicinal-wines-became-just-tonic-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3294221/how-chinese-medicinal-wines-became-just-tonic-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Jan 2025 07:15:09 +0000 I was seven when we moved to Hong Kong from Sydney. What I remember most was my first day at Kennedy School. Australian terms are different; I was a late arrival, everyone had already made friends, and a Eurasian girl was tasked to help out. Afterwards I told my mother that there were other kids “like me”; there was an immediate sense of belonging. Much later, she said that she hadn’t realised, till then, that I was aware of being “different” in Australia, but clearly I had noticed! At home in... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3291675/award-winning-author-melanie-cheng-leaving-australia-hong-kong-and-juggling-writing-being-doctor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3291675/award-winning-author-melanie-cheng-leaving-australia-hong-kong-and-juggling-writing-being-doctor?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Jan 2025 10:15:08 +0000 During the weeks before Christmas, Hong Kong becomes hectic with seasonal shopping, bright decorations and strings of parties, which culminate in eagerly anticipated gatherings on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Religious services, family gatherings, traditional meals drawn from a variety of cultural backgrounds, and a secular public holiday merrily enjoyed by followers of any creed or none – all epitomise the festive period here. But for many families, that day also represents experiences of... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3291639/hong-kongs-darkest-december-brought-season-without-peace-or-goodwill?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3291639/hong-kongs-darkest-december-brought-season-without-peace-or-goodwill?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Dec 2024 22:15:07 +0000 Over the years, regular readers of this column will have noticed periodic references to Hong Kong’s local Portuguese community, and its many-faceted contributions to local society. Under-recognised and underappreciated, this ethnic group were among the first incomers to make their homes and lives here after British rule was established. The earliest permanent settlers came across from Macau with Captain Charles Elliot, and were present when the British flag was raised on Hong Kong Island on... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3290602/story-hong-kongs-portuguese-community-seen-new-exhibition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3290602/story-hong-kongs-portuguese-community-seen-new-exhibition?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Dec 2024 10:15:08 +0000 Until the early 20th century, few tourists took their own photographs – or had the requisite skills and equipment to do so. Cameras were expensive, bulky and temperamental. Photographic negatives, whether metal or glass daguerreotype plates, were fragile. Eventual chemical processing and printing required technical skill. In consequence, local photography shops typically produced and sold photograph albums that depicted popular Hong Kong views. From harbourfront and rural landscapes to city... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3290320/inside-evolution-travel-photography-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3290320/inside-evolution-travel-photography-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Dec 2024 11:15:10 +0000 Plant-hunting rambles are among Hong Kong’s more unexpected pleasures. An extraordinary variety of flora can be encountered within relatively short distances – often next to to heavily built-up areas, with strikingly different discoveries throughout the seasons. The first known European to botanise in the Hong Kong region was British naval surgeon Clarke Abel, who accompanied the Amherst diplomatic mission to China in 1816. On a scorching summer’s day in July, when his vessel, HMS Alceste, laid... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3289012/why-hong-kongs-nature-has-captivated-locals-and-visitors-centuries?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3289012/why-hong-kongs-nature-has-captivated-locals-and-visitors-centuries?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Dec 2024 13:00:13 +0000 All over the world, there is a popular pick-me-up as universally enjoyed in boardrooms and legislative assemblies as bustling marketplaces and private homes: a refreshing midafternoon cup of tea, prepared in whatever variant style that local custom prefers, served alongside “a little something” to bridge the gap that looms between lunch and dinner. But how did this civilised break from the workaday world evolve? China once had the monopoly on tea production, until tea seeds and seedlings were... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3288456/fancy-cuppa-how-afternoon-tea-became-hong-kong-staple?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3288456/fancy-cuppa-how-afternoon-tea-became-hong-kong-staple?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:20:03 +0000 As another winter whispers its arrival, Hong Kong’s barbecue season begins. From around now until after Lunar New Year, while the weather remains dry, barbecue pits near beaches and in more accessible corners of country parks will be in constant use. On weekends, more popular locations – those closest to a bus stop being in highest demand – get staked out well in advance; as the old military adage goes, “Time spent in recce is never wasted,” and so it is with sourcing the best barbecue spots. At... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3287369/hong-kongs-unique-winter-barbecue-season-through-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3287369/hong-kongs-unique-winter-barbecue-season-through-years?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Nov 2024 08:30:17 +0000 Since Covid-19 travel and quarantine restrictions were lifted in Hong Kong in early 2023, visitors from traditional medium- and long-haul tourist markets – Australasia, North America and Japan, in particular – have largely given Hong Kong a miss. While an interlocking series of understandable-yet-unfortunate overseas perceptions and local realities are partially responsible, the simple truth remains; despite various “relaunch” campaigns, visitor numbers from these places have not recovered to... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3286245/what-actually-matters-hong-kongs-push-muslim-visitors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3286245/what-actually-matters-hong-kongs-push-muslim-visitors?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Nov 2024 09:00:12 +0000 Hong Kong has long been globally famous for high-quality tailoring. While the heyday for custom-made men’s suits and women’s dressmaking has passed, echoes of the city’s earlier international reputation remain. In the popular imagination, the local tailoring business appears fully dominated by ethnic Indian – or more specifically, Sindhi – entrepreneurs. Walk along the southern end of Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, and it is almost impossible not to be approached by tailor-shop touts – especially... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3285253/how-hong-kongs-multicultural-tailors-served-sailors-expatriates-and-disciplinary-officers-through?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3285253/how-hong-kongs-multicultural-tailors-served-sailors-expatriates-and-disciplinary-officers-through?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Nov 2024 09:45:07 +0000 Recently, a long-forgotten rectangle of thick, cream-coloured card slipped out from between the pages of an equally long-ignored file – a solitary survivor from a batch of carte de visite printed in about 1989. Like any long-ago document viewed decades later, this discovery piqued some historical interest; in particular, the numerical code for the New Territories – zero, followed by the telephone number – immediately stood out, and brought back memories of those first years in Hong Kong, when so... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3284098/hong-kongs-telephone-system-smartphones-1920s-70s?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3284098/hong-kongs-telephone-system-smartphones-1920s-70s?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Oct 2024 22:15:07 +0000 Relative obscurity in one language group, and near-universal name recognition in another, has always been a hallmark of writing on Hong Kong. From the colony’s mid-19th century urban beginnings, local-studies enthusiasts of various stripes have typically worked in parallel obliviousness, with little crossover between Chinese-language and English-language research output. Exceptions exist; Lo Hsiang-lin and his pioneering Hong Kong and Western Cultures (1963) remain a rare early example of a... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3283520/meet-little-known-collector-anecdotes-who-wrote-about-underexplored-hong-kong-history-culture-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3283520/meet-little-known-collector-anecdotes-who-wrote-about-underexplored-hong-kong-history-culture-and?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Oct 2024 23:15:08 +0000 From Hong Kong’s mid-19th century urban beginnings, celebratory occasions have typically involved toasts. Across a variety of cultures, the ceremonial raising and clinking of glasses – whatever the contents may be – symbolises goodwill. The expressions used and the languages deployed have varied considerably over time. While usually little more than a polite indication to begin drinking on the part of the host, different layers of meaning are expressed in other circumstances. In earlier,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3282535/how-different-cultures-toast-good-health-yum-bui-old-fashioned-chin-chin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3282535/how-different-cultures-toast-good-health-yum-bui-old-fashioned-chin-chin?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2024 07:35:07 +0000 When commercial air services from Britain finally reached Hong Kong in 1936, the journey followed, almost completely, the maritime “All Red Route”. This called into British Empire ports and travelled through (or over) British-ruled territories. Once continental Europe was cleared, Alexandria, Basra, Karachi, Calcutta, Rangoon, Bangkok and Hong Kong were all integral parts of a week’s up-and-down-and-up-again air journey in an Imperial Airways Sunderland flying boat. Splash-down landings in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/article/3280802/inside-britain-and-americas-commercial-airline-race-1950s-when-stuffy-boac-competed-pan-am-and-twa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/article/3280802/inside-britain-and-americas-commercial-airline-race-1950s-when-stuffy-boac-competed-pan-am-and-twa?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Oct 2024 23:15:12 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie Perhaps to the surprise of some readers, today’s PostMag has been in continuous publication since 1989, albeit with changes to name and format sizes. Long-term fans may remember the first version, M magazine, which appeared from October 1989 to September 1993. The very first cover article related the stories of people still trapped in the wreckage of the stock market crash of 1987. From September 1993 to December 1996, the name shifted to Sunday Morning Post Magazine, and from January 1997 to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3279300/behold-postmag-latest-evolution-scmps-weekend-supplement-revamped-reach-todays-readers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3279300/behold-postmag-latest-evolution-scmps-weekend-supplement-revamped-reach-todays-readers?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Sep 2024 23:15:08 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie Sorting out long-ago files a few months ago, I realised with a jolt that – give or take a few short breaks – I have been writing historically based columns in the South China Morning Post – mostly in Post Magazine – for 25 years. Being confronted with a few dozen scrapbooks filled with yellowed, brittle clippings offers a milestone of sorts in anyone’s life, and the thought of that anniversary gave me pause. What have I written about, and how have my views on those subjects changed – or not – in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/culture/article/3278680/after-25-years-writing-south-china-morning-post-jason-wordie-tackles-editorial-elephant-room?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/culture/article/3278680/after-25-years-writing-south-china-morning-post-jason-wordie-tackles-editorial-elephant-room?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Sep 2024 06:45:07 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie Among the few old-fashioned clothing items habitually worn in the modern world is the men’s necktie. Proudly archaic Hong Kong remains one place where neckties are de rigueur in a wide array of social and professional contexts. For most men, ties remain an unwelcome nuisance – especially in humid summer weather. In The Road (1959), author Austin Coates describes an incident many men have experienced – the sudden requirement to wear a tie when social circumstances demand a more formal appearance... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/fashion/article/3277804/are-ties-officially-over-not-old-fashioned-hong-kong-where-gentlemans-unwelcome-nuisance-still-worn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/fashion/article/3277804/are-ties-officially-over-not-old-fashioned-hong-kong-where-gentlemans-unwelcome-nuisance-still-worn?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Sep 2024 03:15:08 +0000 In the interwar years, the label “Shanghai” epitomised emergent Chinese modernity and cosmopolitan style. When prominent in a product label or business description, “Shanghai” offered an immediate imprimatur of quality. By this particular logic, a Shanghai tailor or dressmaker guaranteed impeccable style and cut; a Shanghai barber or hairdresser could be relied upon to give high-quality, long-lasting permanent waves and colour tints to Chinese hair. Another lifestyle element were bathhouses and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3276992/when-shanghai-used-signify-quality-full-service-bathhouses-and-first-rate-pedicures?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3276992/when-shanghai-used-signify-quality-full-service-bathhouses-and-first-rate-pedicures?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Sep 2024 06:45:11 +0000 For several decades, some of Hong Kong’s best-known nightlife images featured slinky taxi dancers, known in Cantonese as mo lui. Invariably clad in figure-hugging cheongsam, these women were a key local ballroom attraction; the entire business model for these venues relied upon their nightly presence. A ballroom’s taxi-dancer system worked like this; a patron bought a set of dance coupons, which were each good for one dance set. He presented a ticket to his choice of partner, who then danced... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3276051/taxi-dancers-dancing-aunties-inside-hong-kongs-shadowy-underworld-paid-female-companions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3276051/taxi-dancers-dancing-aunties-inside-hong-kongs-shadowy-underworld-paid-female-companions?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Aug 2024 03:45:08 +0000 One formerly commonplace feature of local life that has almost vanished from contemporary Hong Kong is the burly Sikh doorman-guard stationed at the entrance to banks, hotels and department stores. And once upon a time, the gates of affluent private homes almost all had Sikh guards. From the British colony’s mid-19th century urban beginnings, Sikh guards were mostly sourced from the ranks of recently retired Hong Kong police. When these men retired on pension, many chose to remain in the city... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3275138/how-sikh-doormen-became-symbol-old-hong-kong-welcoming-visitors-banks-hotels-and-homes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3275138/how-sikh-doormen-became-symbol-old-hong-kong-welcoming-visitors-banks-hotels-and-homes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Aug 2024 04:43:05 +0000 Where and how did Cantopop begin? Not – as many would think – with Anita Mui Yim-fong, Jacky Cheung Hok-yau and Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, and all the other familiar Hong Kong Chinese superstars who burst onto the international entertainment scene in the early 1980s with a quintessentially Hong Kong music genre that combined catchy tunes with mixed-language, code-switching vocabularies and performance styles. The initial stirrings of this most characteristic local musical phenomenon happened much... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/3273492/how-cantopop-really-began-ren-da-silvas-diamond-records-helped-birth-hong-kongs-most-loved-music?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/3273492/how-cantopop-really-began-ren-da-silvas-diamond-records-helped-birth-hong-kongs-most-loved-music?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Aug 2024 06:45:10 +0000 Jason Wordie Jason Wordie The Paris Olympics are nearing their grand finale; that’s it for another four years. With the French capital having hosted the 1924 Games, the event’s return to France a century later makes an attractive symmetry. While athletes from Hong Kong have taken part in the Olympics since the interwar years, until 1948 they took part as Chinese national competitors under the Republic of China banner – not as a distinct regional entity. Teams and individuals from the People’s Republic of China, which... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3273568/when-did-hong-kong-first-compete-olympics-we-look-back-paris-2024-games-end?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3273568/when-did-hong-kong-first-compete-olympics-we-look-back-paris-2024-games-end?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Aug 2024 09:20:09 +0000 Summer in Hong Kong allows a scheduled break from everyday life for many residents and – should one’s circumstances permit – a welcome chance to head somewhere else for a well-earned holiday. Until recent decades, overseas leisure travel was only for the wealthy; while greatly expanded general affluence has made occasional sojourns possible for most families, general trends remain. Until quite recently, appropriate attire for holiday travel was both usual and expected – and infractions of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3272274/how-luxury-travellers-dressed-1950s-and-70s-compared-today-long-haul-flights-cruises?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3272274/how-luxury-travellers-dressed-1950s-and-70s-compared-today-long-haul-flights-cruises?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Jul 2024 06:11:30 +0000 From Hong Kong’s mid-19th century urban beginnings until quite recently, major department stores such as Lane Crawford and Whiteaway, Laidlaw & Co employed a dedicated European managerial staff member, colloquially known as a floorwalker, to circulate on their floors throughout the day. Mostly vanished from the modern retail world, floorwalkers were once ubiquitous, found in every sizeable establishment with pretensions to quality, everywhere from Manchester and Milwaukee, to Melbourne and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3271145/remember-hong-kongs-floorwalkers-men-certain-bearing-paid-walk-round-department-stores?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3271145/remember-hong-kongs-floorwalkers-men-certain-bearing-paid-walk-round-department-stores?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Jul 2024 00:45:08 +0000 For centuries, night markets have been a much-loved facet of life across Asia. Generations of patrons have visited, innumerable individual milestones hit. One’s first taste of an ice-cream, hearing a popular song or even a tentative glimpse of one’s future spouse might have occurred under the flaring lights and within the jostling throng at a local night market. From Calcutta to Singapore, Surabaya to Manila, night markets proved a popular feature of daily life. Hong Kong was no exception and on... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3269555/why-night-markets-are-quintessential-part-asian-nightlife-bangkok-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3269555/why-night-markets-are-quintessential-part-asian-nightlife-bangkok-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jul 2024 06:15:08 +0000 I was born in Macau in 1943 but don’t have any documentary proof of that; Chinese midwives didn’t keep such records in those days, and anyway, I was born during wartime, and everything was pretty disordered. Later on, I learned that our family lived above the “Jik Lei” bicycle shop on Rua do Cinco de Outubro, down on the Inner Harbour – it’s not very far from the Hong Kong Temple. We were five children in our family, but only four of us lived to be adults. Unfortunately, my oldest brother died... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3268462/he-swam-hong-kong-after-being-jailed-china-now-his-barrister-son-helps-refugees?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3268462/he-swam-hong-kong-after-being-jailed-china-now-his-barrister-son-helps-refugees?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Jul 2024 23:15:08 +0000 All over the world, a wander through local supermarket aisles offers fascinatingly unexpected insights into everyday consumer tastes. From locally produced seasonal foodstuffs to imported items sourced from across the globe, supermarkets allow glimpses into the broader cultures and societies they serve. But like other universal aspects of life now taken for granted, well-stocked supermarkets – in Hong Kong and elsewhere – are relatively recent innovations. These days, local supermarkets are... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3268210/democratic-now-supermarkets-hong-kong-once-served-english-speaking-elite?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3268210/democratic-now-supermarkets-hong-kong-once-served-english-speaking-elite?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Jun 2024 23:45:08 +0000 From early spring, swarming miasmas of ever-present, constantly biting mosquitoes are an inescapable fact of Hong Kong life, especially in the New Territories. In many locations, early morning and late afternoon outdoor activities become almost unbearable because of these pests, especially during periods of constant high humidity and periodic torrential rainfall. Seasonal conditions, which vary from year to year, affect the intensity of mosquito breeding and consequent nuisance. Relatively mild... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3267460/mosquito-plague-and-how-hong-kong-fought-it-sprays-kerosene-and-mosquito-nets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3267460/mosquito-plague-and-how-hong-kong-fought-it-sprays-kerosene-and-mosquito-nets?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Jun 2024 23:45:07 +0000 Cultural organisations that brought together otherwise disparate people through similar interests, shared backgrounds and common causes have a long history in Hong Kong. Some organisations flourished and continued for decades while others lasted only a few years. How these bodies came about, their original aims, the interesting personalities involved over time, and the variegated factors that caused them to eventually vanish, reveal much about Hong Kong society. Instituto Português de Hongkong... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3266844/diplomat-who-wanted-portuguese-hong-kong-celebrate-their-culture-left-disappointed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3266844/diplomat-who-wanted-portuguese-hong-kong-celebrate-their-culture-left-disappointed?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Jun 2024 00:45:12 +0000 “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me!” was a trite riposte that – once upon a time – was taught to bullied children, in a misguided attempt to deflect deeply felt pain caused by unwanted personal labels. And being habitually referred to by names not of one’s own choice does hurt. Some once-ubiquitous racial terms directed at certain ethnic groups, such as Chink (for Chinese), have now become unmentionable and – in some instances – unprintable: one immediately... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3265722/ghost-foreign-devil-cow-stink-racial-terms-chinese-others-used-europeans-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3265722/ghost-foreign-devil-cow-stink-racial-terms-chinese-others-used-europeans-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Jun 2024 00:15:09 +0000