by Samanwita Sen One of the memories I look back upon fondly happens to be tucked away in the cozy little enclave of a bus seat, lit by the scintillating bobs that blurred outside as we drove past and the shadows of strangers bouncing off the window. I let myself fade into the lull of […]
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by Martin Yip ‘Imagine there’s no countries / It isn’t hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too.’ So passionately sang John Lennon in Imagine. The imagery of peace and harmony was appealing: if only the physical and psychological barriers between people could come down, we would all […]
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by Tobias Thornes The representative of the Vietnamese travel company was most apologetic. ‘We could not get your ticket to Beijing,’ she said. ‘Only to Nanning. You can buy the Beijing ticket in Nanning. We will refund your Beijing ticket.’ So that was that. It was nine o’clock at night; the Nanning train would leave […]
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by Jonathon Yeung I was barely a year old on June 30th, 1997. In the final hours before China regained sovereignty at midnight, the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, gave his farewell address on a windswept stage in the heart of the city. Amidst the pouring rain, he offered a message of hope, […]
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by Tobias Thornes A wide and enticing country brews, always, just beyond our western comprehension, like a cauldron of constant change the taste of whose broth we never can be sure. Such is the allure of tantalising China: a rich civilisation veiled behind a mist of mystery. And I, like so many awe-stricken adventurers, am […]
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by Jonathan Yeung Hong Kong has two official languages: English and Chinese. Legally, both languages are meant to have equal status. This is clearest on the streets, where all road signs are bilingual; English on top, Chinese on the bottom. Before 1997, when Hong Kong was a Crown colony, English was the language of government, […]
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by ZX Taiwan’s president-elect, Tsai Ing-wen, is a skilled politician who brought her party from its worst scandal to its greatest electoral victory, and she is the first woman to officially lead a Chinese-speaking nation since the eighth century. Ms Tsai, who was introduced in one British newspaper as a ‘democracy campaigner, gay rights champion, […]
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by Peter Gent When I first moved to Beijing to study, one of my worst fears involved taking taxis and getting lost. This of course happened soon after I arrived. Trying to get home one day, I flagged down a taxi and handed the driver my address written in Chinese, hoping he understood what I […]
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by Emily Smith Last summer I was fairly determined to leave the UK. Taking advantage of that gloriously low effort skill of speaking one’s own native language, I headed to Nanchang, Jianxi in China where I taught English to high school and university students. I learnt a lot, but one thing I really didn’t learn […]
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by ZX The recent flurry of trade deals between China and the UK has drawn criticism on several fronts. Critics are concerned that Britain is in danger of making itself too reliant on one country at the expense of other relationships, and at the risk of compromising national security. They also accuse Britain for being […]
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The following are two fictional monologues, written from the point of view of two prominent figures in Hong Kong. Benny Tai is a professor of constitutional law at the University of Hong Kong and the initiator of the Occupy Central Civil Disobedience movement. Jasper Tsang is the President of the Legislative Council. Please note: the […]
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The Poor Print 