To celebrate this year’s Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the Morning Brew show with Phil Whelan on RTHK Radio 3 will be broadcasting four more excerpts from Paul French’s book Destination Shanghai, read by the author... Monday 9/11 - 11.40am - Florence Broadhurst Teaches Shanghai to Dance (1926) Tuesday 10/11 - 11.40am - Langston Hughes’s Shanghai Sojourn (1935) Wednesday 11/11 [...]
Confessions of a Hong Kong Naturalist is a natural history memoir, tracing the journey from novice to expert of aspiring naturalist Graham Reels as he follows a trail of discovery into the miraculously fascinating and diverse world of Hong Kong’s wildlife. Read this excerpt from his book. It is taken from Chapter 9, Far-flung Shores. Graham says: “The background is [...]
Here we present an excerpt from Hong Kong Noir, an anthology of noir stories set in Hong Kong and written by a dozen authors. Each story takes place in a different district of the city. This one, by Carmen Suen, is set in Wah Fu, a housing estate on the southwest coast of Hong Kong Island. Co-editor Susan Blumberg-Kason says: [...]
Ahead of his appearance at the Shanghai International Literary Festival this month, Paul French shares a snippet of his new book, Destination Shanghai. He'll be presenting a session on March 23 at 4pm. How well do you know your old Shanghai sojourners? Over the decades so many foreigners – rich, poor; famous, infamous; European, American; dodgy, legit – came to Shanghai. It’s hard to [...]
In this excerpted chapter from Hong Kong Confidential, author David T. K. Wong recounts his time as Hong Kong’s deputy postmaster general in 1980, and explains what scheme Special Branch were operating in the basement of the GPO. Chapter 16 The Q List When I was installed as the Deputy Postmaster General at the General Post Office at Connaught [...]
Here we present a chapter from Chinese Ghosts, Charles Emmons' cornucopia of ghost stories and experiences he collected in Hong Kong in the early 1980s. He updated the book for a new edition last year. Chapter 9: Anatomy of a Legend This is a very interesting case that helps illustrate the social processes involved in rumor, and sometimes eventually [...]
In this excerpt from Street Life Hong Kong, Aberdeen harbour fisherman Kwok Shu-Tai talks about his life and work in his own words. The interviews in the book were carried out by Nicole Chabot and are accompanied by photographs from Michael Perini. I KNOW EVERYBODY IN ABERDEEN and everybody here knows me. They call me by a nickname – ‘Ah-Q’, [...]
From Other Voices, Other Eyes by David Nunan Chapter 4 One for the road Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, she became a butterfly. — Barbara Haines Howett She was feeling the strain before they left Yung Shue Wan Main Street. They had left the Central Ferry Pier late, all because of Howard, who had been detained [...]
Fred Schneiter spent 30 years working in and around China, and came to recognise the value of keeping an open mind and learning something new every day. You’re likely to learn something too if you read this excerpt from his book, Getting Along with the Chinese. Chinese Mice Don’t Eat Cheese IN THE EARLY DAYS of our wheat food [...]
Read this excerpt from The Yunnan Cookbook by Annabel Jackson & Linda Chia -- an interview with a woman from the Wa ethnic group of the southwestern Chinese province. It's followed by a recipe for Yunnan ham with broad beans and goat cheese. The Wa Cheesemaker Lincang, Yunnan. Photo: San Lin As little as 25 years ago, the [...]
Fred Schneiter, author of The Taste of Old Hong Kong, has many food-related tales to tell from his 30 years on the China coast… THE BEST RIBS IN TOWN One of the most momentous events in the history of Hong Kong occurred in 1984 when British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher called on Beijing to discuss the 1997 expiration of Britain’s [...]
Learn some Cantonese words for the Mid Autumn Festival, thanks to Hong Kong Unveiled! Will you be enjoying a yewt beng tonight? Mid Autumn Festival, Juung Chow Jeet, 中秋節 15th day of 8th lunar month, September An important day for family reunions. People finish work early to have dinner with the whole family. Married couples must either separate and go [...]
Even four decades after the passing of Asian martial-arts superstar Bruce Lee, his achievements still attract adoration from millions of movie fans. The biggest fan of all may be Jon Benn, who befriended the high-kicking hero while playing “the Big Boss”, a villain in Lee’s acclaimed 1972 movie The Way of the Dragon. In Remembering Bruce Lee, a tell-tale autobiography, [...]
Fred Schneiter moved to Hong Kong in the 1960s and wasted no time in getting to know the food. Here’s a story and a recipe for Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce from his new book, The Taste of Old Hong Kong. If unaccustomed to chopsticks you’ll find the going easier—in initial encounters—simply by maintaining an affirmative attitude. Dismiss any thought [...]
Dai grilled fish scented with lemongrass and fresh herbs is one of the great fish dishes of China's Yunnan province, alongside the Bai fish stew made with carp from Dali’s commanding Erhai Lake. The fish from Yunnan’s majestic lakes are generally highly prized. It is a land-locked province, and so it is unusual to find seafood and salt-water fish, but [...]
Fred Schneiter moved to Hong Kong in the 1960s and wasted no time in getting to know the food. Here's a recipe (and a reminiscence) from the old Causeway Bay typhoon shelter. It appears in his new book, The Taste of Old Hong Kong. Living in one of the world’s major tourist destinations, the culinary epicenter of the China Seas [...]
Our newest book, Hong Kong Noir: Fifteen true tales from the dark side of the city, has been on the South China Morning Post’s top five bestseller list since Christmas. Author Feng Chi-shun has been interviewed by RTHK Radio 3 and HK Magazine, and the book has been reviewed by Susan Blumberg-Kason, the SCMP and Asia Times, which said: Who [...]
The issue of mainland Chinese mothers coming to Hong Kong to give birth is much in the news lately, with some people hoping new chief executive Leung Chun-ying will take steps to limit the number of beds available to mainland mothers. I thought it was a good time to excerpt this story from Yeeshan Yang’s book Whispers and Moans — [...]