A guest blog post from business veteran Jack Leblanc, whose entertaining book Business Republic of China is now available on Kindle, Nook and other e-readers! * * * Once upon a time Mr. Mayo, a smart businessman who headed a three-generation-old European company producing deep-frozen French Fries and other iced delicacies, decided that the time was ripe to head for [...]
The author of Master of None was interviewed at length by Ming Pao, the Hong Kong newspaper. The translated text is reproduced below. (To read it in the original Chinese, click the image on the right). Freedom Behind Bars – John Hung “Human beings created justice, as well as injustice,” he said. A man who has been treated unfairly in [...]
From the South China Morning Post Lai See column: A flyer came across our desk yesterday inviting us to a booksigning event featuring John Hung’s book Master of None, How a Hong Kong High- Flyer Overcame the Devastating Experience of Imprisonment. Hung, it will be recalled, not so long ago stepped out of Stanley Prison after a 16-month sojourn for [...]
For families, there is nothing worse than trekking out to a particular place for a day out, bringing all the paraphernalia required for travelling with children, not to mention the children themselves, only to find the opening times, details or directions you were given were wrong or incomplete. That’s the view of Cindy Miller Stephens, an expat mother-of-three who spent [...]
Click the images to see at larger size!
In the latest issue of Cha, the excellent Hong Kong-based online literary journal which publishes fiction, creative non-fiction, reviews and photography, I've shared some insights from what I've learned about publishing over the past seven years in business. People often express amazement that English-language publishers can survive in Hong Kong. I share their surprise. Hong Kong is a small place, [...]
Kathryn Chua is a 17-year-old author; the latest – and youngest – in the wave of rising stars from Asia writing in English. Midnight Walking is her first published novel. Come and meet Kathryn on the 19th November at Bookazine in Central, Hong Kong! Click the invite to see at larger size. Drinks and snacks will be served. Free scary [...]
Does a man need a stint in jail to complete his life experiences? When John T. Hung was writing his book “Master of None” from inside Stanley Prison, apart from the experience of imprisonment, he also recounted the many events and people that have affected his life. The most dramatic changes in Hong Kong took place from 1970 to the [...]
Thanks to everybody who came to our launch party in the Stanley Street cha chan tang last night. The owners were pleased as they sold 100+ bottles of cheap beer. Author Cecilie Gamst Berg has now made a movie to explain what you'll learn by reading the book!
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Cantonese can be difficult, and people are often put off learning it. But Norwegian Cantonese teacher Cecilie Gamst Berg has hit on the best strategy: she avoids boring classrooms and teaches Cantonese in the places you will actually need it -- in shops, taxis and bars. OK, mostly in bars, but sometimes in cha chaan teng (local Chinese cafés) too. [...]
Thanks to the South China Morning Post for a great review of Chris Thrall's crystal meth memoir! A triad-controlled nightclub, of course, is not a clever place to work if you're addicted to a drug with a tendency to induce horrifying paranoia. A lot of bad stuff is going to happen and it's very easy for an Ice-addled mind to [...]
Walking is the best way to get to know any city, and Macau — the former Portuguese colony returned to China in 1999 — is made for walking. Only seven miles square, one can easily walk from the Border Gate to the A-Ma Temple at the tip of Macau in a day. Todd Crowell’s guidebook Explore Macau describes eight routes [...]
Chris Thrall's Eating Smoke, his memoir of a wild year spent in the gritty underbelly of Hong Kong -- a true story of drugs, crime and psychosis -- is now on the shelves of local bookshops! Chris Thrall left the Royal Marines to find his fortune in Hong Kong, but instead found himself homeless and hooked on crystal meth. Soon [...]
In the run-up to the 2011 Hong Kong Book Fair, which opens this week, Blacksmith Books is featured in a Hong Kong Trader story about publishing in Asia. Hong Kong has always been viewed by the publishing world as a place to print books rather than to have them published. That's changing due to shifting global focus on Asia. At [...]
Find out by reading this interview with the author of King Hui and the new Alphabet of Vietnam. What is your most recent book? Tell us a bit about it. My latest book is a novel called The Alphabet of Vietnam. Vietnam is a word that simultaneously conjures up a country and a war – and not just any war. [...]