Books
‘Exceed expectations, you’re not always rewarded’: Anna Karenina’s message
Reading Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy’s novel of ‘immense beauty’, taught Lynn Fung, director of a Hong Kong museum founded by her father, lessons about family dynamics and what others expect of you.
Why ordering a Chinese meal is ‘like a symphony’ for author Fuchsia Dunlop
Fuchsia Dunlop, award-winning cook and writer, wants people around the world to understand that when they eat Chinese food they are enjoying ‘a very sophisticated cuisine’. It’s the theme of her latest book.
Why is this sustainable fashion marketplace founder rereading Shakespeare?
Laura Williamson, founder of Hong Kong-based sustainable fashion marketplace Plantdays, is going back over the complete works of Shakespeare because it ‘really forces you to think’.
Chinese text that helped Gay Games Hong Kong co-chair embrace being a lesbian
Lisa Lam, co-chair of the Gay Games Hong Kong, says the Zhuangzi, a foundational work of Chinese philosophy and literature, gave her perspective on being a lesbian.
Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum founder on a challenge to how he saw nature
Benoit Guénard of the Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum explains how botanist Francis Hallé’s ‘In Praise of Plants’ made him realise we need to think in different ways for different species.
‘She would not eat so she could buy a pen’: NGO founder on her inspiration
Alicia Lui, founder of Women In Sports Empowered Hong Kong, talks about how her life changed when she read the diary of a poor Chinese schoolgirl from a remote region of Ningxia.
Should we allow designer babies? Nobel laureate’s work troubles blind CEO
Chong Chan-yau, CEO of Hong Kong NGO CarbonCare InnoLab, who has been blind since he was six, talks about how a book about a CRISPR gene-editing pioneer changed his life.
‘It’s not just a cookbook’: eye-opening tome on Indian royal cuisine
Palash Mitra, who gained a Michelin star when heading Hong Kong’s New Punjab Club, talks about how ‘Dining with the Nawabs’ goes deep into all aspects of Indian royal cuisine.
John le Carré’s time in Hong Kong, and a detail about it that he got wrong
Characters the British writer met in Hong Kong made it into one of his Cold War spy novels, as did an error he admitted cribbing from an out-of-date guidebook and which taught him to get the small stuff right.
Then & Now | A Hong Kong amateur historian dead 35 years but whose work still resonates
Hong Kong-born Portuguese scholar José Maria ‘Jack’ Braga was one of a group of amateur historians, including Austin Coates, whose spadework dug up unexpected riches for later authors to utilise.
Why British author Simon Winchester would sleep with one of his critics’ wives
British author and journalist Simon Winchester talks about his childhood beatings, being imprisoned during the Falklands war, missing Hong Kong and how one critic got under his skin.
A Chinese artist made Tintin less racist, became one of Hergé’s best friends
The bond between the creator of beloved boy reporter Tintin and a prominent Chinese artist was a meeting of great minds.
‘I was in tears’: how Questions for Ada changed this NGO director’s life
In Questions for Ada, Nigerian poet Ijeoma Umebinyuo talks about women’s experiences and being away from home. Manisha Wijesinghe cried the first time she read the collection, and often returns to the book.
They sold ‘honey’: prostitutes and ‘kept women’ in 19th century Hong Kong
For a foreigner to have a mistress was common in 19th century Hong Kong, and many of these relationships played a part in moulding the city’s personality, an excerpt from Vaudine England’s latest book reveals.
‘I’m drawn to absence’: the book that changed artist Sharon Lee’s life
Contemporary artist Sharon Lee focuses on themes of disappearance and transience. Reading a book about how cultural clichés can erase a place such as Hong Kong helped her with her work.
‘This essay has influenced a lot of artists’ – and 2 Hong Kong gallerists
The co-founders of experimental art gallery PHD in Hong Kong reveal how the 1986 essay ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ by Ursula K. Le Guin changed their lives.
Then & Now | The Hong Kong legal eagle whose bravery as a POW is stuff of local legend
Christopher D’Almada e Castro of Hong Kong’s Portuguese community was a distinguished lawyer who assisted British intelligence at great personal risk while in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
Profile | Why first Lonely Planet Thailand guide author fell in love with the country
Joe Cummings, a travel writer, musician and long-time Thailand resident, talks about his rootless youth, mastering Thai and how he got to write the country’s first Lonely Planet guide.
Why aren’t cookbooks dead yet? ‘It isn’t only about the cooking,’ chef says
Cookbooks are still valued by a wide range of readers, including professional chefs, in the digital age as sources of inspiration and windows on the culture of a community, be it local or somewhere far away.
Food and fashion ‘the 2 things most indicative of the art of living’
Food and fashion are inextricably linked in our culture, and a collection of essays highlights moments in history when the two have been harnessed to communicate values and make statements.