Life Style

Each year, paddlers gather at waterways around Hong Kong to race to the sound of beating drums for the annual Dragon Boat Festival. Also called the Tuen Ng Festival, it is observed on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, this year on May 31.The festival is a time to indulge in zongzi – pyramid-shaped, bamboo-leaf-wrapped glutinous rice dumplings that can be steamed or boiled, with fillings sweet and savoury.Legend has it that 2,000 years ago, Chinese poet and patriot Qu Yuan drowned himself in protest against the imperial government, much to the horror of local villagers. To stop the fish from eating his body, they threw sticky rice dumplings into the water. Today, zongzi are synonymous with the Dragon Boat Festival.In Hong Kong, the most common zongzi are Cantonese-style sticky rice du...

Chinatowns are often portrayed as gritty underworlds riddled with prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking. Some of this is rooted in truth, but that unfair depiction is largely the result of rampant xenophobia and cultural ignorance, especially in the West.In a series of articles, the Post explores the historical and social significance of major Chinatowns around the world and the communities that shape them.Sydney’s Chinatown is a reflection of how the Chinese-Australian community helped shape the city’s identity.Its story mirrors Australia’s complex relationship with immigration, from the “White Australia” policy to today’s celebration of multiculturalism and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.From its humble beginnings in The Rocks to its current home in Haymarket, Chinatown has...

4/5 starsIn It Was Just An Accident, women in Iran can choose to appear and work in public without headscarves, and wear Western-style bridal dresses in the open. Modern bookshops do brisk business, and – perhaps most strikingly – paroled dissidents can rebuild their lives without hassle from the authorities.In contrast to his previous films, the twice imprisoned Jafar Panahi – who is now allowed to work and travel freely after having his convictions overturned by Iranian courts – seems to have set It Was Just An Accident somewhere in an imagined, brighter future, when authoritarianism and religious dogma have receded into the distance.As suppressed anguish takes over, however, the film turns into one dark nightmare. Could past traumas be so easily forgotten – and how should those who suff...

In the first episode of television series Mr Lyan’s Taste Trips, the eponymous British bartender goes behind the scenes at the first malt whisky distillery to open in Japan a century ago.The host, whose actual name is Ryan Chetiyawardana, meets Shinji Fukuyo, master blender at Yamazaki Distillery in Osaka.He also chats to Hidetsugu Ueno, one of Japan’s best known bartenders, who makes him a White Lady cocktail at his Bar High Five in Tokyo, and visits a convenience store to recommend his pick of RTDs (ready-to-drink cocktails).Chetiyawardana, who has won dozens of bartending awards, owns multiple bars. His Dandelyan establishment, now closed, topped the World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2018.Ryan Chetiyawardana, host of Mr Lyan’s Taste Trips, samples a dram of whisky with Yamazaki Distillery’s ...

Nguyen Thi Thanh, the Vietnamese woman whose food was praised by celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain – who nicknamed her “Lunch Lady” – has died at the age of 58 in Toronto, Canada.Nguyen Thi Thanh had just arrived in Toronto, Canada, to help prepare for the opening of the Lunch Lady restaurant there on June 3 when she went into cardiac arrest and medical personnel were unable to revive her, according to the social media post.The post said Thanh was with loved ones when she died.“We were ready to welcome her. To honour her. To celebrate this moment together. And now, we are mourning an immeasurable loss,” it read.“Cô Thanh wasn’t just the heart and soul of The Lunch Lady. She was a mother figure, a mentor, a quiet master of her craft. Her food told stories. Her presence made people feel seen. ...

The influential Chinese social media platform RedNote – also known as Xiaohongshu – can easily make a business and has turned some Hong Kong restaurants into must-see attractions for visitors from mainland China.But can users of the platform also break a business?This past month, a minor online tempest brewed when mainland Chinese tourists who dined at Kau Kee, a Hong Kong beef brisket noodle joint on Gough Street in Sheung Wan, complained about the experience they had while patronising the tiny venue.The negative comments ranged from the noodles and brisket being hard and inedible to dismissive staff who ignored the frustrated guests’ complaints.It seems enough users concurred with the reviews that a local news site reporting on the social media controversy called it a “firestorm”.People ...

The thumbs up gesture has long ruled the internet and has had a major impact on social media engagement – so who came up with it and why?

K-pop girl group I-dle, formerly known as (G)I-DLE, are starting a new chapter.Their latest album, We Are, was released this week, their first since the group renewed contracts with their agency and officially changed their name.The five-member act – Soyeon, Minnie, Yuqi, Miyeon and Shuhua – debuted in 2018 with the breakout hit “Latata”. The group reaffirmed their future in 2024 when all members renewed their contracts with Cube Entertainment.On May 2, the band announced they would drop the “(G)” from their name in time for their seventh anniversary.“The group will no longer be defined by ‘girl’, ‘gender’ or any other label,” Cube had said, promising “limitless” music and concepts moving forward.The members say the change was long overdue. Miyeon recalled that the members had long discuss...

Lead cast: Choi Soo-young, Gong MyungLatest Nielsen rating: 3 per centSecond Shot at Love, a new rural romantic comedy starring Choi Soo-young of Girls’ Generation and Gong Myung (recently seen in Way Back Love), opens with a young doctor making a presentation about the dangers of alcohol in Korean society.The doctor, played by Gong, talks about how tolerant South Korea is of alcohol, with few – if any – restrictions as to when and where you can drink. He goes on to highlight how drinking is woven into the social fabric and work culture, where there are many high-functioning alcoholics who drink their way through successful careers.Though rarely identified as such, Korean dramas are littered with these high-functioning alcoholics – leading characters who excel at their jobs during the day ...

The name and first pictures of Peppa Pig’s baby sister have been revealed as the family welcome a new member.The animated show, which has told the story of Peppa, Daddy Pig, Mummy Pig, and her little brother George for more than two decades, announced the pregnancy in February.ITV’s Good Morning Britain presenter Richard Arnold on May 20 shared the first photographs of baby Evie.Arnold said: “Daddy Pig has just shared these pictures with me of Peppa’s brand new baby sister Evie, named after Mummy Pig’s Aunt Evie, she was born at 5.34am [0434 GMT] this morning.”The gender of the baby was revealed in April when the chimneys of Battersea Power Station were lit up in pink to show Mummy Pig was expecting another girl.The animated show later announced an hour-long “Peppa Meets The Baby”, which i...