Meet the Bamboo Scaffolder Who Took the Job Nobody Wanted
How an unexpected journey led to the most complicated job of a scaffolder’s life...
Big Stories
Born From the Waves of the Sea: Land Reclamation in Hong Kong
How Hong Kong has been shaped and reshaped by the constant creation of new land...
The Cantonese Pacific, Part II: Chinatown is Changing
A new way of looking at Cantonese migration and the transnational networks it created...
The Cantonese Pacific, Part I: How Hong Kong Became a Global City
A new way of looking at Cantonese migration and the transnational networks it created...
Hong Kong’s Ocean Giant, Part III: Broken on the Beach
The formerly Hong Kong-owned Seawise Giant, the biggest ship on the planet, finally touches land again – but only by sailing headlong into its own doom...
Hong Kong’s Ocean Giant, Part II: Sea of Fire
The formerly Hong Kong-owned Seawise Giant, the biggest ship on the planet, finally touches land again — but only by sailing headlong into its own doom....
All About Ching Ming, Hong Kong’s Tomb-Sweeping Day
What's the story behind Ching Ming, one of the most important holidays on the Chinese calendar? ...
How Hong Kong’s Biggest Swamp Became Happy Valley
Malaria scuttled plans for a grand new civic centre, opening the door to the Happy Valley we know today...
Art History: Lee Kai-chung and the Underbelly of Hong Kong History
Armed with deep research and artistic imagination, The Narrow Road to the Deep Sea dives into unexpected corners of history...
70 Years Ago, Shek Kip Mei Burned – And a New Hong Kong Was Born
How the Shek Kip Mei fire of 1953 was a turning point for colonial Hong Kong...
Hong Kong Reads: Colonialism in All its Guises
Three books capture the good, the bad and the beautiful of Hong Kong’s colonial era...
Hong Kong’s Maritime Trade, Part V: The Shipping Tycoons
How shipping magnates like Pao Yue-kong and Tung Chee-hwa made Hong Kong into the city it is today...
Hong Kong’s Maritime Trade, Part IV: Opium
Was Hong Kong the world’s original narco state?...
Inside the Wattis Collection: Hong Kong’s First Governor
Henry Pottinger the man who turned Hong Kong into a colony...
Hong Kong’s Maritime Trade, Part III: The French (Indochina) Connection
Hong Kong once had a thriving trading relationship with French Indochina – and it wasn't just goods that made their way between the two colonies...
Hong Kong’s Maritime Trade, Part II: Foreign Junks on the Pearl River
Hong Kong was as much a river port as a seaport – thanks partly to its role as a tax haven...
Hong Kong’s Maritime Trade, Part I: Bubbly Beginnings
For thousands of years, Hong Kong has been a lynchpin of maritime trade to and from China...
A City in the Sky: Hong Kong’s Aviation History, Part I
How Hong Kong became one of the world’s most important air hubs...
Tin Hau Festival: Celebrating the Birthday of Hong Kong’s Supreme Goddess
From a Fujianese fishing village to the streets of Hong Kong: the story behind Tin Hau, Hong Kong's most popular deity. ...
The Flower Boat Girl: Inside the Life of Pirate Queen Cheng I Sao
A new novel by Hong Kong author and cartoonist Larry Feign delves into the complicated life of notorious pirate Cheng I Sao. ...
Sir Catchick Paul Chater: How a Calcutta Orphan Became Hong Kong’s Most Important Man
Few people shaped Hong Kong as much as Paul Chater, and yet he remains little known to most Hongkongers...
Fighting Until the End: Hong Kong’s Vietnamese Refugees
Hong Kong still hasn't reckoned with the painful experience of the Vietnamese refugees who fled to its shores. ...
Hong Kong’s History Is Kept Overseas: Wong Kan-tai Delves Into Archives
An acclaimed photographer wonders whether Hongkongers will ever be able to access the documents that define their own history....
Hong Kong’s Industrial History, Part VIII: The Ill Fate of Rennie’s Mill, AKA Little Taiwan
The story of an unlucky Canadian who opened a flour mill – and how it eventually became a bastion of support for the Kuomintang...
The Date That Must Not Be Named: Stage 64 Looks at the Tiananmen Square Massacre
The founder of a theatre company dedicated to the memory of June 4 opens up about the struggle of keeping the flame alive in Hong Kong...
Neighbourhood Guide: Tai Ping Shan, An Old Soul With a Trendy Heart
A traditional neighbourhood is thriving thanks to an infusion of fresh energy....
How Football Found a Home in Hong Kong
The beautiful game has been on the frontlines of Hong Kong history, from colonial-era segregation to Cold War political rivalries....
Hong Kong Crime Wave: Why the 1990s Were a Decade of Famous Gangsters and Spectacular Robberies
Broken Tooth, Big Spender, Teeth Dog – these were just some of the larger-than-life criminals who turned Hong Kong streets into shooting galleries....
1967: When the Bank of China Building Became a Giant Propaganda Machine
As the 1967 riots gripped Hong Kong, a familiar landmark suddenly transformed into a giant billboard for the Cultural Revolution. ...
Hong Kong the Pirate Capital – Part V: Hijacked on the High Seas
The hijacking of the SS Namoa awakened Hong Kong to a terrifying new reality: that a great steamship under the protection of the British Empire could be seized by pirates almost within sight of the colony....
Hong Kong the Pirate Capital – Part IV: Piracy and Prejudice
Early Hong Kong saw the spectacular rise and fall of one of the colony’s most mysterious characters, the maybe-Eurasian, maybe-pirate Daniel Richard Caldwell....
Hong Kong the Pirate Capital – Part III: The Worst Generation
The last generation of Hong Kong pirates went out with a bang, not a whimper....
December 1941: Hong Kong’s Christmas Tragedy
The Battle of Hong Kong cost 10,000 lives and plunged the city into a brutal occupation – and yet little is done to commemorate it....
Hong Kong the Pirate Capital – Part II: Cheung Po Tsai and the World’s Largest Pirate Fleet
At the turn of the 19th century Hong Kong was home port to the world's most daunting pirate fleets and the scene of devastating battles with the Chinese and foreign navies....
Hong Kong the Pirate Capital – Part I: The Beginning
How a closed-off China inadvertently helped piracy flourish along its shorelines. ...
Why Do Hong Kong Restaurants Serve Borscht? The Overlooked History of Russian Hong Kong
As many as 20,000 Russian refugees passed through Hong Kong in the 20th century. They left behind a fascinating historic legacy....
How Hong Kong’s Once-Thriving Portuguese Community Nearly Vanished
The Portuguese were one of the most important ethnic groups in Hong Kong. Now the community has nearly disappeared. What happened?...
A Snapshot of Hong Kong History – Part III: Across the Harbour, the early days of Kowloon
"From stonecutters" villages to a Portuguese enclave - the overlooked history of the Kowloon peninsula...
A Snapshot of Hong Kong History – Part II: Thirst
How Hong Kong's thirst for water led to its eventual handover to China....
A Snapshot of Hong Kong History – Part I: Beginnings
Part I: The making of the fragrant harbour
Context: When the Portuguese established Macao as a permanent trading settlement with the permission of the local Chinese mandarinate in about 1557, the face of South China trade changed. ...