Life Style

Given all the pianists out there who have been dubbed “poets of the keyboard”, the phrase has become a little tiresome. But its use is justified when applied to a musician of the calibre of 24-year-old Canadian pianist Tony Siqi Yun.Musical poetry was front and centre in Yun’s self-curated recital at Hong Kong City Hall on June 4 of works whose themes include death, madness and redemption.Yun began with Brahms’ lyrical Four Ballades Op. 10, which take a more literal approach to the genre than Chopin’s and were inspired by narrative poetry.The recent Juilliard School graduate and winner of the first prize in the inaugural China International Music Competition in 2019 delved deep in the opening “Edward” Andante, which takes its dark subject from a Scottish poem about patricide, playing with ...

If you live in or are visiting Hong Kong, you may have watched the Tai O Dragon Boat Water Parade from the fishing village’s stilt houses last week, or mastered the art of making cha kwo (steamed sticky rice dumpling). You may be heading to Sha Tin later this month to learn a paper-crafting technique, or make temple offerings at the Che Kung Festival.A plethora of such cultural experiences is being widely showcased at the moment – more than usual – because June is the inaugural Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Month.In addition to tours in six characteristic districts – Yau Tsim Mong, Tsuen Wan, Tai Po, Sha Tin, Eastern, and the Islands – there are carnivals, exhibitions, seminars and workshops being held across the city.Appreciating a culture’s heritage through its historic sites an...

Hong Kong pianist Aristo Sham Ching-tao has won the 2025 edition of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, putting him on track for global stardom.Sham, 29, is the first pianist from Hong Kong to win the competition, held in Fort Worth in the US state of Texas.The announcement on June 7 of his victory followed two-and-a-half weeks of intense anticipation. Live streams of the contest’s four gruelling rounds, which began on May 21 with 28 competitors from 15 countries, received a combined 20 million views from 145 countries.After Sham’s name was read out by jury chairman Paul Lewis to loud cheers in the packed Bass Performance Hall, the winner stepped onto the stage wearing a bow tie and a huge smile to receive his gold medal and trophy.Aristo Sham, of Hong Kong (right)...

The five Aces Go Places action comedies shot by production company Cinema City in the 1980s represent one of Hong Kong’s most successful film series.The first film, directed by Eric Tsang Chi-wai and starring Karl Maka, Sam Hui Koon-kit and Sylvia Chang Ai-chia, took a massive HK$27 million at the box office in 1982. A record number of people, equivalent to 40 per cent of Hong Kong’s population, bought tickets to see it.The film’s contemporary milieu and mix of dangerous stunts, action, slapstick, James Bond-like gadgets and goofy sitcom humour were new, and viewers loved its exaggerated characterisations.Maka’s fumbling but good-natured detective, Baldy, was especially popular, and he became a pop-culture icon as the series progressed.“Set against the backdrop of Hong Kong’s then-economic...

Who was Ha Bik-chuen, who died in Hong Kong in 2009? He was many things: autodidact, maverick artist, entrepreneur and hoarder.Much of what has been written about him, and many of the shows of his work, in the years since his death have focused on the materials found in his overflowing studio in To Kwa Wan in Kowloon, which during his time was an industrial area of Hong Kong.Photographs, clippings and pamphlets he felt were indicative of social changes in his time had accumulated there, as well as scrapbooks containing detailed records of exhibitions and art happenings he attended.The trove of objects he retained with such compulsive dedication is so large, and holds such promise of further illuminating Hong Kong’s history, that Michelle Wong Wun-ting has spent the past 11 years going thro...

Pressed duck, or canard à la presse, has historically been a grand culinary spectacle found only in luxury hotels and fine-dining restaurants.Part of the allure of the traditional French dish is its elaborate table-side preparation as the duck’s juices, blood and marrow are pressed out and added to a thick, rich sauce that is served with the meat.But many gastronomes have never tried the dish because so few restaurants offer it.A new bistro in Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pun neighbourhood aims to change this by introducing the dish to the masses.Whole roast dry-aged duck at Le Colvert. Photo: Jonathan WongAt Le Colvert, operated by a small French team including restaurant manager Hubert Dubouix and chef Guillaume Sejourne, pressed duck is the signature dish.

To maintain good health, the World Health Organization recommends regular exercise – 150 to 300 minutes of moderate aerobic physical activity, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of the two, throughout the week.Those too strapped for time or without the energy to exercise several times a week may prefer to exercise intensely at weekends, or two or three times a week.This “weekend warrior” pattern of exercise can be just as beneficial for health as exercise that is spread out over the week, a recent study suggests.Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, in the United States, wanted to learn if people who exercised 20 to 30 minutes most days of the week experienced greater benefits than those who went five or six days between longer...

Like many children, Emilia Li loves arts and crafts and hanging out at the beach.But what makes the Hong Kong eight-year-old stand out from the crowd is Shek O Beach Club, a tie-dye fashion brand she founded with the help of her mother, Jillian Xin.“I called it Shek O Beach Club because Shek O is one of my favourite places to visit,” says Emilia, referring to the beachside village in the southeast of Hong Kong Island.On a damp and grey afternoon in May, Emilia, her mother and her three-year-old sister, Aria, pay an after-school visit to the beach to talk about the brand that launched on International Women’s Day this year.Emilia Li on the beach in Shek O, a village in the southeast of Hong Kong Island that inspired the name of the tie-dye fashion business she started with the help of her m...

Rural and office-set romcoms are among the latest TV dramas announced and being cast in South Korea.1. Miss Undercover BossPark Shin-hye and Go Kyung-pyo may reunite for the office comedy-drama Miss Undercover Boss. The two last shared the screen in the 2013 K-drama Flower Boy Next Door.Set on the eve of the 1997 financial crisis that devastated the South Korean economy and led to International Monetary Fund intervention, the series will use as its location Yeouido, the skyscraper-dotted finance industry hub on an island in the Han River in Seoul.Go Kyung-pyo in a still from Frankly Speaking. Photo: zonlinePark, last seen in The Judge from Hell, has been offered the part of Hong Geum-bo, a fearsome financial regulator in her thirties who goes undercover as a fresh high-school graduate just...

Facing obstacles in Europe and North America, Hong Kong has, in recent years, sought non-traditional sources of business and investment opportunities, including countries in the Middle East.In the process of reaching out to these countries, there has been interest among some Hongkongers in learning about Islamic culture. Even if their motivation is unquestionably mercantile, it is not necessarily a bad thing. The world can certainly do with more awareness and understanding of different beliefs and ways of life.This weekend, Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha, “the Feast of Sacrifice”, a major festival in the Islamic calendar besides the more well-known Eid al-Fitr.Eid al-Adha commemorates the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim – known as Abraham in Jewish and Christian traditio...