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 — [...]
Robert Wang spoke about Hong Kong's tycoons on RTHK Radio 3's "Money for Nothing" programme. The show's name is a nice reflection of something top tycoon Li Ka-shing once said to the author: "Robert, there is so much money lying on the ground, I don't have the time to bend down and pick it all up." Photo courtesy of RTHK. [...]
Robert Wang's Walking the Tycoons' Rope got off to a great start -- No. 1 on the South China Morning Post's best-sellers list on its first week of release. Well done Robert, and we hope it stays there!
Author Robert Wang spoke about his new book on Radio 3 yesterday, and you can now listen to the interview online. Hear how he fled from civil-war Shanghai in 1949 and took a perilous journey to Hong Kong, jumping from the train when it came under attack. Robert's memoir of his incredible life, Walking The Tycoons' Rope, is Dymocks' book [...]
Come and hear from longtime Lantau resident Cecilie Gamst Berg as she ploughs through the non-stop surreal-fest that is today’s China, stopping occasionally to ruminate about the travails of trying to make Cantonese a world language, and how the Chinese have invented a new English: Manglish. You’ll find answers to everything you wanted to know about China, such as: What [...]
Blacksmith publisher Pete Spurrier was among four writers who shared their insights with Hong Kong members of the Asian American Journalists Association on the evening of April 3. Pete has written guidebooks to Hong Kong, while the other authors -- Cameron Dueck, Michelle Yu and Blossom Kan -- have written travelogues and novels, so there were different perspectives and a [...]
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!
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 [...]