Has it ever occurred to you that at practically every conference you attend almost all of the speakers are terribly boring? When you yourself made your last presentation did people come up to you afterwards to talk to you? Are you sure you made an impression? The irony is that almost all speakers have probably been advised or trained to [...]
Mild-mannered photographer Bernd Hagemann tiptoes around Shanghai with his camera. He has to keep quiet to avoid waking his snoring subjects. But despite his low profile, his photo website Sleeping Chinese has been getting a lot of attention from media as far afield as Apple Daily and La Repubblica. Britain's Daily Telegraph reports: "Bernd Hagemann moved to the Far East [...]
Once shunned as the result of forbidden liaisons, and confined to set roles in society, Eurasians are now celebrated as models and actors, and find themselves ideally placed to take advantage of the growing commercial and cultural exchanges between Asia and the rest of the world. You might call it a Eu-turn in fortunes. Kirsteen Zimmern is a Hong Kong-born [...]
Hong Kong movie star Francis Ng Chun-yu (吳鎮宇) is more than an award-winning actor… he’s also a director, scriptwriter and now the author of Tibetan fairy tale Pelma’s Tears. What led city-born Francis to write about people and events on the far-off Tibetan plateau? The idea came to him when a visit to monasteries and orphanages in the region was [...]
It’s interesting how a new book can single-handedly open up a new section of the market. We always publish in the Asian niche, but the publication of Wing Chun Warrior has suddenly brought interest from a host of Chinese-language bookshops that we’ve not previously sold through. The key to this was an appearance by author Ken Ing on RTHK Radio [...]
It was some decade. The universities were closed. Students were at war. Poetry was banned. And the word “love,” unless applied to Mao, was expressly forbidden. Artists were denounced, and many opted for suicide. This is the time — its madness, its passion, its complexity — that Xujun Eberlein brings vividly to life in Apologies Forthcoming, her moving collection of [...]
Chinese fung shui tells us there is a dragon inhabiting every green valley, protective of the mountains and its route to the sea. Hiking into the hills of Hong Kong for a weekend picnic, Siu Ming and his parents suddenly find their path blocked by a forest fire. Can the mountain dragon help? Or is the mythical creature equally at [...]
Scandal and corruption, drugs and pirates, triads and flower boats; the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and the Communist takeover of Canton. Peter Hui was there. He knew everybody and saw everything. This is the real story of Hong Kong, told with the rich flavours of the street. If Peter had been only a little bit different he could have [...]
From Clearwater Bay to Tai Long Wan, the Sai Kung Peninsula is Hong Kong’s back garden – a place where people go to swim, hike, eat seafood alfresco, and otherwise escape the city. But besides the popular beaches and waterfront restaurants, there is an abundance of hidden attractions, and artist Lorette Roberts has discovered them for this book. Such is [...]
Author Muhammad Cohen appeared on television twice during September to talk about his new novel, Hong Kong On Air. Click on the links to watch the clips from TDM Macau with Herbert Ramos and Bloomberg with Bernard Lo.
Excited spectators gathered with their camera phones today to watch daredevil Alain Robert scale the 88-storey Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai. The 420-metre ascent ended in arrest for the fearless Frenchman, but he took it in his stride: having climbed the world's three tallest buildings barehanded, he wasn't about to let the fourth-tallest pass him by. Reuters has the story: [...]
Asian publishing pundit Nury Vittachi says of our spy thriller: IN TERMS OF geopolitical value for money, Paul Ulrich’s new book Saudi Match Point has it all: Al-Qaeda, the Chinese government, oil wars, a high level US conspiracy, a hostage crisis and the battle between radical Islam and modern mores. Paul's based in Hong Kong. The plot: The US government [...]