Founder of Beertopia Jonathan So was missing the beer festivals of his Canadian hometown when he realized he could just organize one of his own, right here in Hong Kong. The Torontonian tells Victoria Wong how he became a pioneer of the city’s craft beer movement.
I was born in Hong Kong. My mum is from Australia and my dad is from New Zealand. They came here over 30 years ago and they have been living here ever since. My brother and I were both born and raised here.
A singer and actress who was born and raised in Hong Kong, Corinna Chamberlain shot to fame after performing in the TVB series “Inbound Troubles”—in fluent Cantonese. In her first ever English media interview, the 31-year-old tells Andrea Lo about her childhood, her views on Hong Kong culture and her career.
HK Magazine: So, is pencil art your day job?
Paul Lung: I have been working full-time at my own design firm [Comma Ltd.] for 20 years but I don’t have anything to do with design, as I’m responsible for the consulting and marketing work. I love drawing as a personal interest. I haven’t had any formal training but I’ve been drawing since childhood. When I was young, I went to City Hall Public Library to borrow books of famous art, and I mimicked the drawings. Nowadays the internet is more convenient and I prefer to browse artwork online.
Paul Lung is an internationally acclaimed photorealistic pencil artist who has practiced the art of the mechanical pencil for a decade. He sketches out a history of his career to Mark Yuen.
HK: How did you get started in rugby?
Cado Lee: I started playing when I was in high school in England. When I returned to Hong Kong for my university studies, I managed to get into the Under 20s team and have been training and playing progressively since then.
Kevin Kaho Tsui chats up seven players from Hong Kong's local squad, The Hong Kong Dragons.
I grew up in London. I came to Hong Kong [following] a mixed marriage.
As a child I wanted to be an opera singer. If you told me I was going to be married to a Chinese man and doing what I am doing today in Hong Kong, I would have said you might as well say I am going to fly to the moon. But how lucky was I that I had the opportunity to come to Hong Kong and make a life here.
The founder of the Hong Kong Cancer Fund, Sally Lo has been working for the community at large for over two decades, providing care and support for cancer patients in Hong Kong. She talks to Andrea Lo about her work for the fund, her experiences, as well as her vision.
HK: What kind of setup do you need for villain hitting?
Villain hitting, widely known as “da siu yan,” is a popular type of folk sorcery in Guangdong and Hong Kong. The ritual is particularly popular during Jingzhe, a day in the traditional Chinese calendar which marks the awakening of insects. During this period, which usually falls at the beginning of March, many people gather in different parts of the city to carry out the villain hitting ritual in the hopes of bringing fortune to themselves—and bad luck to others. Miss Law , who has been performing the ritual under the Canal Road Flyover for years, talks about the tradition with Mark Yuen. Video by Dannie Ranck.
We are in a bubble. The correct approach to a bubble is to not buy into it, but to be patient. The market is really sending you a signal if the bank tells you that you can’t afford a home. And if we try too hard [to buy a home] we’ll end up like the U.S. housing market with large-scale defaults and foreclosures.
I think that prices will come down when interest rates start going up. It might be three years but there will be a point when you can see that roadblock at the end of the tunnel, as it were.
The founder of webb-site.com, former banker David Webb is a prominent advocate for better transparency and corporate governance in Hong Kong. His database of who’s who in Hong Kong contains more than 100,000 names and tracks appointments to government advisory bodies, shedding light on potential conflicts of interest. He talks to Sarah Fung about the competition law, the housing bubble and the economic future of Hong Kong and the mainland.
HK Magazine: MAP Office is based out of Hong Kong, despite the fact that as its creators you originate from Morocco and France. What made you choose to work here and base your artistic projects around this city?
The Sovereign Asian Art Prize is this continent’s largest and longest-standing art award, this year awarding a healthy USD $30,000 (HKD $232,683) to the most esteemed among a shortlist of 300 works from more than 25 countries. When the winner was announced last month, the check was handed over to Hong Kong’s MAP Office: the multi-disciplinary duo better known to their students as Laurent Gutierrez and Valerie Portefaix. The prize-winning piece focused on the voyage taken by a cargo ship from Shenzhen to Hong Kong. The two tell Sean Hebert about their craft, the intentions behind their work, and the city that inspires it.
HK Magazine: How did you first get into the field?
Maggie Chan: I’ve been a full-time TV producer for the past 13 years. I’ve always believed that one person doesn’t have to just do only one thing in his or her whole life. Besides my full-time job, I try to do something else to keep myself excited.
Founder of Lilliput Tales Maggie Chan started her mossarium (an aquarium of miniature moss-based landscapes) business last October. She tells Mark Yuen how she came up with the idea.
HK Magazine: How did Shaolin Fez first come into being?
Led by Samuel Ferrer and singer Jennifer Palor, Shaolin Fez is a 22-strong ensemble that places a unique take on jazz and symphonic disco. Prior to the band’s March performance, titled “Live and Let Die: The Music of James Bond, Mission Impossible, and more…,” the duo sits down with Andrea Lo to talk about the band, their influences, as well as their upcoming gig.
