Author and blogger Jason Y. Ng has a knack for making the familiar both fascinating and funny. Three years after his bestselling début HONG KONG State of Mind, the razor-sharp observer returns with a sequel that is bigger and every bit as poignant. No City for Slow Men is a collection of 36 essays that examine some of the pressing [...]
Rachel Cartland came to Hong Kong in 1972 as one of just two female expatriates in the Hong Kong Government’s elite administrative grade. Before she retired in 2006, her life was shaped by the momentous events that rocked Hong Kong during those action-packed years: corruption and the police mutiny, the growth of the new towns, the currency crisis of 1983, [...]
Our artist Lorette Roberts, currently in Hong Kong and signing books at Dymocks Sai Kung tomorrow, is featured in the SCMP's Young Post. Her passion for drawing dates back to her childhood. "As a child, I drew before I wrote. I used to draw a picture when I couldn't spell a word," she says. She first got hooked on Asia, [...]
Our favourite artist Lorette E. Roberts will be signing copies of her book Sketches of Sai Kung on Saturday 19th October, 10am-1pm, at the Dymocks bookshop in Sai Kung town. Address: 7 Man Nin Street, Sai Kung, N.T., tel 2791 9110. Hope to see you there!
The World Policy Journal has published this wide-ranging interview with Alex Kuo, the author of My Private China. Your newest book, My Private China, is a remarkable glimpse into the vibrancy and diversity of China today. You’ve described the book as showing us, “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” of contemporary China. What was it about these negative elements [...]
We're pleased to see Feng Chi-shun's crime collection Hong Kong Noir featured in Discovery, Cathay Pacific's inflight magazine! Click to see at larger size.
Watch this video interview with photographer Tom Carter in ChinaFile, the Asia Society's online magazine. Backpacking photographer Tom Carter somehow succeeded in circumnavigating over 35,000 miles (56,000 kilometers) across all 33 provinces in China during a 2-year period, the first foreigner on record ever to do so. What Carter found along the way, and what his photographs ultimately reveal, is [...]
Join us at the Hong Kong launch of Unsavory Elements: a riveting anthology of vivid stories and essays from some of the most celebrated writers to have ever lived in China. "Westerners are flocking to the PRC in increasing numbers to chase their dreams even as Chinese emigrants seek their own dreams abroad. Life as an outsider in China has [...]
What do normal people in China look forward to when they get up in the morning? What is the mentor of Lang Lang like? What about the personal friend of Chairman Mao – and how does his granddaughter relate to him after the murderous Cultural Revolution? What do the numerous evangelical Americans really think of the Chinese? How does the [...]
We've just spent three days cooking, shooting and eating over 70 dishes from Yunnan province, the most diverse in China for both food and people. Linda has brought some hard-to-find ingredients from the province; we've been to various shops and markets in Wan Chai; and Linda has cooked up the dishes with Annabel in her Hong Kong kitchen. See a [...]
From Peter Wood, husband of author Pam Shookman: At the beginning of September 2009 Pam was diagnosed with Stage 4 bladder cancer. That afternoon we stumbled out of the urologist’s office into the unreal bustle of Central and headed straight for the Joel Robuchon café. There was only one possible response to cancer, Pam announced: cakes from the café and [...]
From Murray Gunn, author of Dragon Bones: Two Years Beneath the Skin of a Himalayan Kingdom: I tried very hard to allow the Bhutanese people in Dragon Bones to tell their own stories and to minimise the bias created by my beliefs, my mood and other aspects of my life. I knew it was an impossible task before I began [...]
The Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong is holding a wall exhibition of Ira Chaplain's photos from Kowloon: Unknown Territory. "In my 19 years spent in various parts of Hong Kong, I have never lived in Kowloon. Before I took this assignment, like so many in this city, my life existed largely on Hong Kong side. I never knew the [...]
As we count down the final four weeks to Christmas, come and get your Hong Kong gift books signed at Bookazine. We’ve brought together 14 Blacksmith authors who have all written about Hong Kong. Come and meet them over a festive glass of wine, and get your books signed by: Jonathan Chamberlain, author of King Hui: The Man Who Owned [...]
What do "deep water pier", "nine dragons city" and "mandarin's lake" have in common with "Wong Tai Sin", the name of a Taoist deity? They're all districts in Kowloon. This new book is an exploration of what is often seen as Hong Kong's shadow-side, from the viewpoints of community, consumerism, art, food, fashion and sex – 15 years after the [...]
Asians have a powerful sense of humour with a long history, a study says. But the region lost its ability to laugh 60 years ago and is only now regaining it. Self-deprecating humour, associated with Jewish and British comedy, existed in Asia for more than 1,000 years. In ancient China, aristocrats kept comedians in their homes, and in India, taxpayers [...]