What makes you a Hongkonger? Is it the number of stars on your I.D. card? Does it matter whether you’ve been in this city for 60 years or for six? Or perhaps being a Hongkonger is all about attitude. We asked locals from all walks of life to share their views, and hopefully shed a little light on this complicated question.
A Love-Hate Relationship
We live in a city of contradictions. We love its energy but detest its sometimes-overwhelming intensity. Yes, our relationship with our city is a complicated one.

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With all the international productions that arrive in Hong Kong each year, it can be easy to forget that our city has its very own flourishing theater scene. In celebration of our local acting community, On & On Theatre Workshop has produced a big-scale homegrown theater event: Sidekick Theatre Festival 2009, where local small theater collectives present their scripts to a judging panel, which picks five outstanding submissions to be performed live onstage.

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Mamma Mia

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How we love Le French May. This annual arts festival takes place throughout the month of May, and is a joyous celebration of art and culture—not just of our Gallic friends, but of our local artists too. Tickets have already gone on sale, so act fast to secure a seat at the hottest events. Here are our top picks:

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Moriarty
This Franco-American band floats between folk, blues, country and cabaret. Their “Folk N’ Blues” tour is led by singer Rosemary (not the local model) and her luminous honey vocals. Special performance by our local singer/songwriter Chet Lam as well.
Wed, May 27, 8pm. HK City Hall Concert Hall.

“ArtWalk is one of the few art events where the participants are the ones who really make it happen,” says John Batten, organizer of ArtWalk, the annual event in which galleries all over Hong Kong throw open their doors and invite the public to come and admire their works over a glass of wine and a plate of nibbles. Since its launch in 2000, ArtWalk’s participants have grown in number from 700 to 2,000. It returns this year on March 11 with 65 galleries and more than 50 food and beverage outlets taking part. And as always, all proceeds go to charity.

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Hong Kong’s biggest annual film festival is back. From March 22 to April 13, celebrities including director Oliver Stone and actor William Hurt will be pouring into town for the 33rd Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF).

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HK Magazine: Tell us something about the three works you are showing.
Tim Crouch: “My Arm” is about a boy who holds his arm above his head and never takes it down. “An Oak Tree” is about two men meeting after a terrible accident, two men destroyed by grief, needing each other to move forward. “England” is about a heart transplant. Perhaps they are unorthodox in the forms they use, but they are also traditional in that each one tells a story.

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Home
Some say Home Base isn’t the depraved, dirty after-hours hole it used to be. Why don’t you try the Home Lounge instead. On V-day, they have Red Temptation: four glasses of champagne and a generous bowl of chocolate-covered strawberries for $280. It’s meant for couples but they certainly won’t mind if you want to down all four glasses of champagne and all the strawberries alone. Just to remind: Home Lounge is 6pm to midnight; Home Base is… everything godforsaken after that!

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If you’re looking for a more rustic Cantonese dining experience, visit a walled village in the New Territories. Locals feast on poon choi, a time-honored village dish with layers of ingredients served in a metal basin. Customarily eaten on festival days, poon choi symbolizes prosperity and abundance.

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