A naked woman in Guangdong was rushed to the hospital last week with an odd predicament—a small dog had become stuck inside of her. The woman’s nine-year-old son came back from school earlier than scheduled and was stunned by what he saw in his mother’s bedroom. Sociologists pointed out that the tragedy marks a serious mental crisis of sexual frustration suffered by millions of married women in the countryside, where their husbands have left for jobs in the cities.
It is a Saturday afternoon and every neighborhood is packed with people, especially shopping areas such as Tsim Sha Tsui. If you wish to escape from the crowd, there is a great hideaway to visit: our local museums. Take the Museum of Art at the waterfront for example—the locale is famous for its solemn atmosphere and tranquility. But while the special exhibitions may attract visitors, the rooms housing permanent art collections such as calligraphy, are worryingly quiet.
The government recently rejected a corporatization proposal for the 14 public museums. How can the museums ever become popular when they continue to be managed under the civil service system?
A year into President Obama’s first term, the kid gloves are giving way to a fist, as Sino-US relations plunge faster than a glacier melting off from the North Pole. Arms sales to Taiwan, meetings with the Dalai Lama in the works, punitive tariff increases on made-in-China imports... One just wonders when Obama is going to treat Longhair and Christina Chan for lunch in the Oval Office to give them a formal thumbs-up for another round of besiegement on Chater Road.
It’s something most of us take for granted, but for Bibi and her mother, the simple task of opening a bank account has proved a frustrating struggle. Bibi was born and raised in Hong Kong and her mother has lived here for more than 20 years. They both have permanent residency, and both Pakistani and British National (Overseas) passports.
Hang Seng Bank recently refused to allow Pakistanis in Hong Kong to open bank accounts because of Pakistan’s link with terrorism. June Ng asks why the new racism law isn’t helping them.
James Cameron, director of the science-fiction epic “Avatar,” almost inadvertently started a tribal war in China after tourism chiefs in Hunan tried to cash in on the popularity of his smash-hit blockbuster by renaming a peak in their province “Hallelujah Mountain” after the floating rocks in the movie.
At the end of the noughties, a new species of protester was born in Hong Kong. They’re young, they care about society a lot more than their predecessors, they’re intellectual and they’re not afraid of criticism. They’ve dominated the news headlines but they’re not after their 15 minutes of fame. Who are they? They’re the Post-80s Generation.
June Ng and Winnie Yeung look into the decade’s first phenomenon—the rise of the Post-80s generation—and question if it’s all just hype. Photos by Keith Chan.
Chu Hoi-dick
You’ve seen them in the paper and heard their names discussed around town, but who are these people anyway? We meet these notable “Post-80s” protesters, and interview the “public face” of the movement, Christina Chan.
Not only has President Obama’s engagement strategy with Iran run aground, the olive branches he’s handed to China and Russia have been answered with snubs and contempt. Sidelined in Copenhagen and bullied by al-Qaeda, the former senator from Chicago seems to be a paper tiger destined to lead the American empire to its demise.
A British Airways strike over Christmas crippled flights out of London and provided additional costs to the airline, which is already suffering from an annual loss of some £400 million (more than HK$50 billion). Flight connections were badly disrupted, affecting more than a million British holidaymakers, who meted out a nickname for their national carrier with a typical sense of humor—ABBA, or “Anyone But British Airways.”
In defiance of condemnation from the West, Beijing sentenced human rights activist Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in jail on Christmas Day.
