A Budding Poet

January 3, 2023

Eric Yip Chun-wai has become the youngest winner in the National Poetry Competition in the United Kingdom for his poem “Fricatives”. (Photo courtesy of Eric Yip Chun-wai)

By Victoria Fong

Eric Yip Chun-wai has become the youngest winner of the National Poetry Competition held by the Poetry Society in the United Kingdom.

Yip was informed that he won the award in February 2022. Instead of sharing the good news right away, Yip kept it a secret, even to his family.

He received messages in his family group chat on WhatsApp during his trip back to Cambridge after attending the award ceremony in London on 31 March 2022. He then revealed his victory to his family when they asked if he had become a headline.

“I feel really bad not being the first to tell my family, but I was very naïve, and I thought no one in Hong Kong would care about it and I could still be the first to tell them about a day after the ceremony,” says Yip.

“I was curious about poetry competitions in the UK when I first arrived, so I googled it. The National Poetry Competition came as the first finding result, so I thought I’d give it a try,” he recalls.

In his winning poem “Fricatives”, Yip attempts to explore ideas about language and submission within a Hong Kong subtext. He wrote the poem mainly during September 2021 before learning about the competition and revised it on and off for weeks before the competition deadline, 31 October 2021.

According to the Poetry Society, the National Poetry Competition 2021 had 16,729 poems entering the competition with 7,012 poets from 100 countries. The competition has been running since 1978, and judges read all the entries anonymously before selecting the winning poems.

He also read some analysis of his poem “Fricatives” online posted on Facebook.

“Sometimes, when people discuss the poem, they say, ‘Eric did this…’. That makes me feel like someone is shining a flashlight in my face,” says Yip, who is now studying Economics at the University of Cambridge.

“It’s very interesting to read different perspectives. I have my own thoughts with the poem, and some people read it in a way that I don’t necessarily agree with, but that’s fine. Once the poem is published, I don’t have the authority on how it is meant to be read,” the Year Two university student says.

Eric Yip Chun-wai attending an event with Hong Kong novelist Yin Lo (right) at The Common Press in London. (Photo courtesy of Eric Yip Chun-wai)

New opportunities

Since winning the competition, Yip has befriended other poets including Hong Kong poets Jennifer Wong and Mary Jean Chan. He also did a virtual reading with Chinese American poet Chen Chen and English poet Andrew McMillan.

“The opportunity to talk to other poets and to meet other poets is surreal to me. Before the competition, I could have never imagined this happening,” he says.

“I was really starstruck. It’s very lucky for me to be able to chat with the poets whose work I love and respect. It’s just great to have someone who also clearly loves poetry and knows a lot about poetry,” he says.

While Yip finds these discussions insightful, he also describes them as “nerdy”. “We talk about poets we like and geek out about poetry and books,” he says.

Eric Yip Chun-wai attending an event with Hong Kong novelist Yin Lo (middle) at The Common Press in London. (Photo courtesy of Eric Yip Chun-wai)

As a person who has never published any poems before, Yip thinks the poets he met has helped him learn how to become a poet.

“I’ve been trying to learn more about the ‘logistics’ of poetry such as submitting to journals and attending poetry readings. I think the poets have a lot more experience since they have published poems and books before,” he says.

How it began

Yip stumbled upon Hong Kong-British poet Sarah Howe’s work online around 2018 when he was 16 years old. Howe’s debut collection Loop of Jade, which won the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry in 2015 held by the UK organization Poetry Book Society, inspired him to write English poetry about Hong Kong.

“There are some poems in her collection describing life and sceneries in Hong Kong. That was my first-time seeing Hong Kong being described in an English poem. I feel like that gave me permission to write about Hong Kong in English poetry,” he adds.

When Yip was in Hong Kong, he used to translate English poems into Cantonese to his mother, who particularly enjoyed poems written by Sarah Howe. “Sarah Howe’s poems about tenement buildings in Hong Kong or shared kitchens and communal spaces evoke a lot of personal memories for my mum. She would say, ‘Oh, I recognize what she is talking about! A lot of the essence and the humanity of poetry are not bounded by language,” he says.

Encouraging young poets

Yip hopes he can be an encouragement to aspiring poets in Hong Kong.

“There is a part of me that hopes if there is someone who writes poem and feels like no one cares about this, and perhaps when they hear the news about a Hong Kong teenager winning a competition in the UK, they will feel encouraged to know there are other people from Hong Kong who also read and write poetry,” he says.

Yip stores his poems in a Google Drive and does not have an urgent plan to publish a book.

“I feel like I am not ready because I don’t think my poems are at a level that I want them to be. I get dissatisfied with my work very easily. I know that one of the biggest mistakes one can make is to rush things.”

“I think a book of poems is a milestone. That is something I want to work towards, but I wouldn’t put a date on this,” he says.

Edited by Gloria Chan

Sub-edited by Jack Deng

Dim Future for Hong Kong’s Rural Industries

December 31, 2022

front door — Turbo Ice Limited has stood in Tuen Mun for 27 years and supplies around one-third of ice used in Hong Kong. But its facing closure as its plot of land will be seized by 2025.

By Leopold Chen

Turbo Ice is facing difficulty as the government plans to seize its land for housing projects.

Workers of an ice factory in Tuen Mun work 24 hours a day on bags of ice and have them delivered across Hong Kong, but they may lose their jobs soon.

Chan Hin-hang, executive director of Turbo Ice Limited, says they knew that their land might be seized back in 2014, but the government did not take any action or have a timetable.

“On October 5 this year, the government delivered us a letter and told us that our plot of land will be seized by 2025,” Chan says.

According to a document submitted to Tuen Mun District Council in August 2021, the factory located by Ng Lau Road will be converted into public housing buildings.

Applicants have to wait six years on average for a public housing unit, and the government has vowed to halve the waiting time, according to the Housing Authority.

About 234,600 applicants were on the public housing waiting list as of this September, while only 11,400 applicants settled in public housing units in the third quarter of 2022, says the Housing Authority on its website.

“I agree with the government that we need more public housing flats. But it is equally important to address our concerns. The government just updates its development plan on the gazette without having any discussion with us,” Chan says.

Established in 1982 in an industrial building, the ice factory moved to its current location for sufficient water and power supplies to increase productivity in 1995.

“In the past, with limited water and power, we produced 1,000 bags of ice per day at most. But now, we can have 2,000 bags per hour, with 10 kilograms per bag,” Chan says.

The company can deliver ice to anywhere with traffic roads in Hong Kong, according to Chan, and it takes up around one-third of the ice supply across the city.

Ice is poured into a truck, ready to be delivered.

“It is impossible for Hong Kong to live one day without ice, and for my business, it is impossible to stop for even one day. Cold drinks, seafood at wet markets, and even concrete for construction… none of them can be made available without ice,” Chan says.

“Should we stop our production for just one day, ice supply across the city will be overwhelmed,” he adds.

The ice factory is not alone, other rural industries are also trapped in similar situations.

Chi Kee Sawmill & Timber, the last sawmill in Hong Kong located in northern Sheung Shui, folded on September 13 2022 because its plot of land was seized by the government for development purposes.

“Our hope is to remain here longer. The government might think keeping us here hinders the process of construction. That is why even if we gain support from media and political figures, our wish still cannot come true. What a pity,” a sawmill’s spokesman wrote on Facebook on the last operation date of the sawmill.

Yuet Wo, an 80-year-old seasoning producer, located just next to the last sawmill, is also facing possible closure.

The 80-year-old Yuet Wo is another factory facing closure as it falls within the range of a development area in Sheung Shui.

“Our land is just a small part of the development project, while many residents and operators in the area are affected too. As long as we stay, we insist on telling our story well,” the factory wrote on Facebook on November 19.

Government Response

Speaking at a press conference on October 20, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho vowed that the government has plans to seize 500 hectares of land for public housing development in the coming five years.

As compensation, Linn promised to allow affected business operators to rent multi-story industrial building units, which are expected to be available in 2027, at concession prices.

The government personnel had marked on the factory’s wall to identify the range of land to be seized.

In response to Varsity’s enquiry, the Development Bureau says that thorough research is conducted before a plot of land is zoned for development.

“In selecting sites for development and determining development scale, the government adopts a planning-led strategy, having regard to factors including the overall spatial layout, infrastructure capacity, and urban-rural integration, etc.,” the bureau says in an email.

“(We will also) make available more suitable vacant government land for letting to brownfield operators affected to be affected by government projects by way of Short-term Tenancy (STT) through restricted tender,” it adds.

STT refers to the leasing of unallocated lands for temporary use for a fixed term of one to five years, the government decides whether a next term should be granted afterward.

Delicate but Indispensable

Brian Wong Shiu-hung, a member of the Liber Research Community, who specialises in housing and planning research in Hong Kong, questions the feasibility of the government’s relocation measures.

“That (STT) is not a guarantee for rural industries to work without worry, and it makes more rural industries reluctant to be relocated because that adds more uncertainty in their operation,” Wong says.

Brian Wong Shiu-hung of Liber Research Community believes that the government’s relocation measures cannot genuinely help industries to relocate.

He has observed that the government chooses to redevelop industrial land in rural areas because these factories lack bargaining power.

He points out that the government tends to avoid underutilised plots controlled by village gentries and land banks of property developers when it tries to resume lands for urban development.

“What remains after we deduct these two groups of land are the non-indigenous villages and plots occupied by some rural industries. These become easy targets of the government because of the political convenience, as they are less powerful and have less bargaining power in the decision-making process,” he says.

Wong points out that industries in rural areas are essential to keep Hong Kong resilient at critical times.

“When the logistics are interrupted, and there is no import, the local production of daily necessities becomes indispensable to stabilise pricing,” he says.

“If the government only focuses on urban development and ignores the value of these rural industries, it would not be a kind of sustainable development that the government is expounding,” he adds.

Sub-edited by Gloria Chan

Fearless Revolution: Iranian Women Cry for Freedom

December 31, 2022

63934a3f8de16 — Protesting Iranian women are fighting for their freedom

Women in Iran have launched a “Hijab Revolution” to fight for their own freedom.

By Kossy Chen

Iranian student Nasrin Riahi enjoys freedom and liberty in Hong Kong while women in her home country are still fighting for basic human rights.

“I’m smart with good grades in school and good English, so I just applied to study in Hong Kong to start a new life,” says Riahi, who came to Hong Kong in September 2022.

Riahi thinks that women in Iran have been tortured by inequalities all their lives.

“My mom never wanted to bring a girl into this world because she thought a girl would not live happily in Iran. I felt sad at first, but now I think she is right. I don’t think there is anything harder in the world than being a girl in Iran,” the 23-year-old Hong Kong university student says.

“In Iran, women can’t ride bicycles since the posture may evoke men’s sexual desire. Women are not allowed to dance or sing. Women can’t drink alcohol. If others smell alcohol from our breath, we will get eighty lashes. Women also can’t divorce or go abroad without their husband’s permission,” she explains.

An Iranian woman cut her hair and yelled slogans outside the Iranian Embassy in Seoul, South Korea (Photo courtesy of an authorized website).

The business major student says The Islamic Republic of Iran uses religion as a tool to rule the people, and controls have become tighter as some people have started to ignore these rules and live the way they like.

“We were born to be Muslims with no choice. The regime has instructed morality police to force women to wear hijab better. My mom has warned me to wear a hijab properly whenever I go out. And how can I have fun at beaches with a hijab? I’m done with that!” she says.

A Women-Led Uprising: A Spark to Start a Great Fire

A few days after Riahi’s departure to Hong Kong, the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16th ignited public anger in Iran.

Amini failed to cover her head properly and died in custody after being detained by the morality police. She was 22 and just had been admitted to a university.

Protesters have vented their anger at the country’s mandatory hijab laws and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, despite crackdowns from authorities like Internet shutdowns.

Iranian demonstrators take to the streets of Tehran (Photo courtesy of an authorized website).

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, at least 458 people including 63 children have been killed by security forces in the nationwide protests before December 7th.

The report also shows protesters have been killed in 26 provinces.

We Need Help

Zahra Fakerzad, a student at Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology, was at the heart of anti-government protests and crackdowns in early October.

“We thought security forces were going to kill us! They used guns, batons, and teargas,” Fakerzad recalls.

“I had friends who were killed or went missing at universities across the country. Those who were arrested and released said they were tortured so much in jail that they wanted to commit suicide,” the 22-year-old says.

“The military never stands by the people and always tells lies. They rape women before killing them because it is forbidden in Islam to kill a virgin, then they tell people that victims kill themselves due to depression,” she says.

But Fakerzad is still hopeful and finds unity from her fellow Iranians.

“Even though our families urge us not to take part in the protests, we still try to go. We boycott classes, shout ‘women, life, freedom’ and wear no hijab. We even cut our hair which signifies protests in ancient times,” she says.

“We want freedom! The issue of women’s rights is to add a small fire to start a big fire, so it is not just about hijab or feminism but about overthrowing the regime. Iranian protestors—men and women worldwide also join us—and we have never been this close before,” she continues.

But she is upset about Iran’s helpless situation in the international community.

“Many countries ignore this Middle Eastern chaos. They find it beneficial for our government to stay because they can buy our oil at the lowest price, so they say, ‘we strongly condemn the violence’, but take no action to stop it,” she says.

“Our protest deserves more media coverage by the international community. There is a saying that the darkness does not always stay. Even if the Islamic Republic may not fall now, it will be toppled in the next five to ten years,” she adds.

No Way to Turn Back

Another Iranian woman, Leila Salles, has been protesting since September 16, 2022, the day Mahsa Amini’s first photo was posted on social media. She quit her auditor job in late October to devote herself to protests.

“I don’t wear hijab anymore as an activist. I also share news of protests and research on how we should protest in advance,” the 22-year-old from Tehran says.

“Every day around 9 p.m., protesters chant ‘death to the dictator’ targeting the supreme leader. Our group used to go to the roof, but one time I was scared when I saw someone taking pictures, so we returned home and turned off the lights to chant loudly. Everybody wants Ayatollah Khamenei to leave!” Salles says.

“We don’t want to reform. We want a new revolution and voting for the next election. Who wants a ridiculous government basically run by sexual predators?” she says.

Pro-Iranian protesters wave posters at Paris’ Place de la Republique on October 29, 2022 (Photo courtesy of an authorized website).

Salles is aware that what she is doing is dangerous. “I can’t go anywhere alone because I can feel the eyes on me. Some men look at me differently. I suppose they are from plainclothes Basiji force (a volunteer force under the umbrella of the Islamic regime) looking for protestors’ heads for execution,” she says.

“Actually, they can always find an excuse to kill, even if you are just a passerby. If the government doesn’t care about people’s lives, everything you do puts you in danger,” she adds.

Her parents became increasingly enraged with the regime after hearing screams from a fire that broke out at Evin prison, a facility known for housing political prisoners, near their home on October 15.

“They believe the government is to be blamed (for this incident), but my mother is a teacher and my father is a doctor, so they are powerless to protest since they rely on government institutions for a living,” she says.

She tried applying to universities abroad but has decided to stay until changes are made.

“I don’t want to leave my family behind. When Iran’s Internet is still blocked, how can I tell if security forces raided my sister’s school or killed everyone?” she adds.

Force to a Change

Fatemeh Aman, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, believes that current protests respond to 40 years of discrimination and violations of women’s rights.

“Iranian women…were stripped of their rights after the 1979 revolution. Currently, the majority of young people with higher education in Iran are women, and these women want more than some old leaders are willing to offer them. They demand freedom,” she says.

“Back then (during the International Women’s Day protests in Tehran in 1979), men were not widely supportive of the protests. Right now, women—often schoolgirls—are leading the protests, and men are supporting them,” she adds.

Fatemeh admits the future of protests is unpredictable.

“We were born to be Muslims with no choice… And how can I have fun at beaches with a hijab? I’m done with that!”

“The truth is that the regime will not be toppled simply by protests. For a positive outcome, the protests should stay non-violent, steady and continuous with all sectors’ participation,” she points out.

“The regime change requires strikes, especially from the oil and energy industries and the regime base. If they join the protests, the regime may be forced to bow to the women’s demands,” she adds.

*Name changed at the request of the interviewee.

Edited by Jack Deng
Sub-edited by Gabriella Lynn

The Singing Medical Student

December 31, 2022

Chiu Siu-ting pursues her dream of becoming both a doctor and a singer.

By Phoebe Chu

Medical student, YouTuber, Instagram singer and part-time TV artist, Chiu Siu-ting has a jam-packed schedule every day.

The 21-year-old University of Hong Kong student spends 70 per cent of her time studying and the rest 30 per cent on singing-related activities. And she has 43,200 subscribers on her YouTube channel and 41,500 followers on Instagram.

Her YouTube channel “Pam Chiu” has more than 2.1 million views for the 34 videos she has created since four years ago. Other than singing covers of popular songs, she has produced 20 videos regarding tips and skills to thrive in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education.

Chiu Siu-ting owns a YouTube channel with about 43,000 subscribers.

On Instagram, she has shared hundreds of songs she covered in Cantonese, Putonghua, English and Korean since 2015.

“My phone is always on “Do Not Disturb” mode, even if notifications pop up, I just ignore it,” Chiu says.

Her schedule is different every week.“Sometimes I spend three days doing shootings and four days on school work. I have to do online classes while I am on my way to do shooting at a site,” the Year Four student adds.

The part-time TV artist says she has to practice dancing for shows at the Television Broadcast Limited (TVB) sometimes.

“But I always make sure I can have enough sleep, so I usually go to bed at 2 a.m. If I have lectures at 12 p.m., I wake up at 10 a.m.,” she adds.

Chiu believes self-discipline is the key to managing her time. “Make sure you have completed your work before having fun,” she says.

She loves social gatherings with her secondary school friends but seldom sees them. “Even when I have time, I have to spend it on studying rather than meeting my friends,” she says.

Chiu Siu-ting studies during her TVB shooting break times.
(Photo Courtesy of Chiu Siu-ting)

“I believe a little progress each day adds up to big results. I am glad to be gifted with the ability to sing and study but a lot of effort is needed to gain achievements,” she says.

This year, she joined STARS Academy 2, a talent competition hosted by TVB, and made it to the top five.

“I struggled for a long time before submitting the registration form. I was very unsure till the very last moment. I feared I would not be able to manage my time if I joined the competition. I thought of giving up singing. My family told me to sign up for the contest when I was struggling,” she says.

Chiu Siu-ting made it to the top five in STARS Academy 2 hosted by TVB. (Photo Courtesy of Chiu Siu-ting)

In a bid to keep up with her studies while joining the competition, Chiu started revising part of her lectures even before the semester began.

“My study has always been my top priority and I seldom skip classes even if I have shootings after the competition. Sometimes, I feel insecure when my classmates devote all their time to their studies, while I spend time on singing-related work,” she says.

Chiu will become a doctor after graduation in two years. She hopes to sing as long as she can manage her time well. “Being a doctor and singer is not contradictory, it is common for people to have a slash career nowadays. I hope I can have my own song instead of just covering others’ songs in the future,” Chiu says.

Sub-edited by Gloria Chan

Pandemic Inactive Students

December 30, 2022

students stopped exercising due to covid — Under the COVID-19 pandemic, secondary school students have stopped exercising.

Hong Kong secondary students are doing less exercise due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Yap Ying Ye

Ashley Wong Wui-yin has gained six to eight kilograms since 2020, as she has become less active during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am less toned and look so much chubbier now. I am embarrassed to wear a swimsuit these days,” the Form 3 student says.

The student stopped her habit of doing sports and stayed at home all day since the pandemic struck Hong Kong in 2020.

“I stopped swimming regularly since 2020 as swimming pools were closed. I did not have a Netflix account before the pandemic, but I started eating and watching Netflix everyday during the pandemic,” Wong says.

“Training sessions of the table tennis team and tennis team were all cancelled due to social distancing measures, so I stopped doing exercise during the pandemic,” the 15-year-old adds.

Ashley Wong Wui-yin stopped doing exercise such as tennis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Photo courtesy of Ashley Wong Wui-yin)

The Hong Kong student thinks that social distancing measures makes her think that going out is meaningless.

“It is so easy to get lazy and stop taking care of myself. I stopped moving because I had little reason to go out. I just stayed in my room all day watching Netflix, browsing the internet and eating,” she adds.

Wong adds her fear of possible infection and social distancing measures have made her stop exercising in public venues.

“I was worried about germs at public sports facilities, or if water at public swimming pool was dirty. So I dared not go out,” she says.

Wong’s eating habits have also changed for the worse due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I had started eating a lot more takeaway like McDonalds when social distancing rules were in place. I became a lot lazier and did not want to cook my meals,” Wong says.

When social distancing restrictions were in place, Wong started watching Netflix and eating junk food.

Based on a study conducted by the University of Hong Kong which surveyed 1,140 students in 2021, only five per cent of students met the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on children’s physical activity time, and secondary school students did only 15 minutes of exercise per day.

The WHO recommends at least 60 minutes a day. The study also found that the amount of time spent on physical activities by secondary students dropped by 50 per cent during the pandemic.

The Education Bureau launched the “Active Students, Active People” Campaign (“ASAP” Campaign) in the 2021/22 school year. “Vitality Fitness Walking/Running Challenge”, for example, was held under the campaign to encourage students to walk for at least 30 minutes a day.

Fong Ka-kui, a physical education (PE) teacher at Buddhist Hung Sean Chau Memorial College observes a drop in his students’ physical abilities after resuming in-person lessons.

“Most of their abilities have decreased or not improved. My students did not have the opportunity to exercise outside or attend PE lessons when school was suspended and there were anti-COVID measures in place,” he says.

Fong points out that restrictions such as mandatory mask-wearing also affects his students’ physical abilities.

“The school has stopped all long runs because we think it is dangerous for students to do high intensity exercise with a mask on,” he says.

Fong says it is difficult for students to engage in online PE lessons during the pandemic.

“Some students do not have a lot of space at home. They have a lot of clutter around them. It was not very safe for them to follow along with my workouts. After a while, we stopped having online PE lessons altogether,” he says,

His school has hosted fitness activities to try to get students to stay active and take care of their physical health during the school suspension.

“I taught students how to create an eating and diet plan, how to count and plan out their calories. The school also hosts lunchtime or after school sports exercises for students,” he says.

The Education Bureau launched the “Active Students, Active People” (ASAP) campaign in efforts to encourage students to exercise more.
(Photo courtesy of the Education Bureau)

Charlotte Li, an instructor from Pure Yoga recommends people to do outdoor exercise when strict social restrictions are in place.

“People can go out to parks and walk or move around in open space. It is good to get some sunshine and get motivated to move rather than being in a confined space,” she says.

Li stresses that exercise is important not only for students’ physical health, but also their mental health.

”Exercising can be a time in a day where you can really focus on yourself. It can improve your mood. Exercise is also important for flexibility, agility, coordination, and posture. If students do not have exercise, it can affect their ability to carry out simple tasks such as running and walking in the long run,” she says.

Chow Chi-ngan, an assistant lecturer from the department of Sports Science and Physical Education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong warns of the negative impact on physical development amongst students if they do not get enough exercise.

“Lack of exercise will affect our cardio health, muscular strength, body fat ratio, and our neuromuscular fitness levels will also be lowered,” she says.

Chow stresses that the negative impacts are particularly dire on younger children.

“[Students’] bodies are still growing. So the lack of exercise will be detrimental to their fundamental health development. They will be more susceptible to illnesses such as strokes, heart diseases and high cholesterol,” she says.

The university sports science instructor encourages students to turn exercising into a social activity to motivate themselves.

“Exercising is tiring and difficult, so students need to put in effort and discipline. It will be easier for them to do so if they can find an activity they enjoy and make exercising fun. Students can plan an activity to do with their friends which will give them more motivation,” she says.

Chow also urges teachers and parents to exercise with their children.

“Teachers and parents need to create a habit of exercising at school and at home. This will motivate children to exercise together,” she says.

Sub-edited by Felicia Lam

A Rising Star

December 30, 2022

Hong Kong actor Ling Man-lung talks about his journey to rise and shine in the performing arts industry.

By Esme Lam

Having defeated popular Japanese and Thai actors including Yokohama Ryusei from The Journalist and Dew Jirawat Sutivanichsak from F4 Thailand, Ling Man-lung has been crowned as the first Hong Kong winner of the Best Rising Star at Busan’s Asia Contents Awards.

Ling Man-lung has been crowned the Best Rising Star at the 4th Asia Contents Awards in Busan, South Korea. (Photo Courtesy of Ling Man-lung)

“I was amazed. Who could have imagined that the globally-renowned judges would have watched In Geek We Trust, which is just a small TV drama production in Hong Kong? I am also thrilled that my hard work of 14 years is finally recognised,” says the 36 years-old actor who received the award on October 8 2022.

“My family and my friends sent me messages to congratulate me that night. The nomination is already a great achievement for me,” he says.

The ViuTV drama, which made Ling a household name, was broadcasted in January 2022. He plays the role of Shun, a CEO of a startup company.

In Geek We Trust, which made Ling Man-lung a household name, was broadcasted in January 2022. (Screen Capture from Viu TV’s website)

He was nominated for both Best Actor and Best New Performer for his role in Tomorrow Is Another Day at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2018 and won the latter.

Ling fell in love with acting when he was a Form Four student.

He decided to study performance after joining a drama production and attending acting courses at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). He was 15 years old.

“I was amazed. I did not know that acting could be trained before attending the courses. I wanted to continue to learn from those teachers,” he says.

Instead of joining an artiste training class held by a television station, he decided to study performance at the HKAPA.

“People in Hong Kong categorise actors as movie actors, stage drama actors and TV drama actors. To me, they are the same. They all act,” the actor says.

His parents used to worry about him, fearing he could not make a living after graduation, but they supported him to pursue his dream anyhow.

“My mum told me not to regret my own decision. No matter what decision I make, she will always support me,” he says.

“After gaining more acting experience in my secondary school and HKAPA, I find acting more and more attractive,” the actor says.

After graduating from HKAPA in 2008, he started his journey of acting by joining Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, a troupe founded in 1977.

He starred in the Hong Kong movie Tomorrow Is Another Day in 2017 after working as a stage drama actor for 10 years.

“Teresa Mo Shun-kwan, a locally renowned actress, was impressed by my performance after watching a stage drama The Sin Family in 2016. Then she recommended me to the director of the movie,” Ling says.

Mo acted with Ling in another leading role as Wong Kam Fa, the mother of Ling’s character Kwong in Tomorrow Is Another Day.

“Even though I have been in the troupe for nearly ten years, I rarely get the chance to play the leading role. So this opportunity is really precious to me,” he adds.

To better portray the character Kwong, who suffers from autism and mild intellectual disability, the actor did research about the medical condition to prepare for the role.

“I read a lot of research about symptoms and behaviours of autistic patients to gain more understanding of my character,” he recalls.

Although Ling enjoys acting a lot, he admits that there are some difficulties in being an actor.

“I deny myself easily. As an actor, I am always ready to take criticism. The feeling of the audience is always directly reflected in their faces and comments. The only solution is to be more positive,” Ling says.

Unstable income is also a problem. To make a living during the pandemic, Ling has held workshops to teach acting since last year.

“I had no job for a period of time due to the pandemic. Then I decided to learn how to hold acting classes from my mentor Chan Suk-yi, who is the acting dean of the School of Drama in HKAPA, a drama actor and a director, so that I can sustain my living by holding acting classes,” Ling says.

Apart from acting, Ling Man-lung has held workshops to teach acting since last year. (Screen Capture from Ling Man-lung’s Instagram account)

His students are mainly new actors, and some are Youtubers such as Locker Lam Ka-hei from Trial Or Error and Angela Yuen Lai-lam.

Through the preparation of teaching materials and designs of the curriculum, the actor also sharpens his own acting.

“Every time I prepare for my workshop, I can revise some basic acting knowledge and techniques I have learned. Also, I can learn new things from my students. I also want to join acting workshops hosted in Europe to polish my acting if I have the opportunity to,” the actor says.

Ling says he does not really have a career plan.

“I will just take things as they come and keep learning and appreciating my own value. I hope I can continue producing and creating not only as an actor, but maybe as a director or a screenwriter,” he says.

Ling thinks that it will be great if Hong Kong can collaborate with other countries more. He also thinks audiences’ input is important to the industry.

“Creators and audiences have to grow up together. Audiences can give more comments and advice. Producers in the industry can create better work by taking in their views,” he adds.

Edited by Felicia Lam
Sub-edited by Ella Lang

Quick-Sketching to Spread Joy

December 29, 2022

Lui was sketching while waiting for the next MTR train (Photo Courtesy of Josh Lee Kwan-lok)

By Karmen Yip

Every weekend, Charlotte Lui Cheuk-nok draws passengers in the MTR with a few notepad-sized papers and a black marker.

“I usually finish a sketch within four MTR stations. I have to complete the sketches fast so that I can give them to the passengers I drew before they leave the train. It always gives me an adrenaline rush because I am competing against time,” she says.

She sees giving sketches and bringing smiles to commuters as a motivation for her to continue drawing commuters every weekend.

“I feel satisfied immediately after I successfully give the sketches to the passengers. I am especially exhilarated when it comes off as unexpected to the passengers and brings bright smiles to their faces,” she explains.

Lui, an alumnus who graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts of the Hong Kong Baptist University in 2019, started drawing the lives of MTR commuters when she started a new job last year.

“I used to spend four hours commuting to work every day. The long and draining commute made me realise that I did not have any spare time to draw so I started sketching people in the MTR during the commute,” the 25-year-old artist says.

Spreading positivity with artworks

At first, she only posted the artworks on Instagram page “Moving Drawing”, which was created in March 2021. In January 2022, she began giving sketches to commuters with inspiration from Devon Rodriguez, an American artist who draws subway passengers in New York.

“Many friends sent me Rodriguez’s videos and suggested me to give my sketches to Hong Kong commuters. So I gave it a go and began giving my sketches to the commuters earlier this year when the local pandemic situation improved,” she adds.

Lui was finding new inspirations and sketching at the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade. (Photo Courtesy of Josh Lee Kwan-lok)

Lui hopes gifting sketches to commuters can spread positivity to Hongkongers.

“A lot of Hongkongers feel stagnant and depressed after the political turmoil in 2019 followed by the pandemic. I wanted to cheer locals up through my art by giving my sketches as gifts to weekend commuters,” she says.

“I have always loved spreading happiness through my art and I find sheer joy through gifting sketches to other people. It is always an unforgettable experience whenever I meet and give sketches as presents to Hongkongers,” she adds.

Her Instagram page gained visibility after a video of her drawing a train cleaner went viral. The post has received almost 80,000 likes and 1,000 comments on Instagram.

“I posted the video in June 2022. I passed by a train cleaner who was working in the MTR on a busy day. She was sanitising the escalator handrail and I wanted to appreciate her hard work, so I gifted her the sketch,” she says.

In her sketch, a girl gives thumbs-ups with both hands to the cleaner. The artist also wrote “Thank you” in Chinese and English on it.

Feeling astonished to see her artworks gaining popularity on social media, she says, “I was lost and uncertain about what I should do in the future before the video came out. Then that video suddenly went viral and it opened the door for me to become a full-time artist.”

The illustrator has now garnered over 75,000 Instagram followers and collaborated with brands like Mirabell and the MTR Corporation.

“Humans incorporate all sorts of emotions through different life experiences so I use drawing as a cathartic outlet to express my sentiments. I did not anticipate so many people will notice my art,” she says.

She credits Man Pak-lap, her art teacher, as a crucial contributor to her project’s success.

“Mr Man has been my art teacher since Form 6 when I was 17 years old. I started taking his art classes when I was preparing for my high school art diploma exam,” she says.

“He welcomed me into the world of art and introduced the habit of drawing a sketch every day. Mr Man also reminded me not to get easily defeated by criticisms. His teachings have been constantly helpful throughout my artistic pursuits,” she explains.

Not all kindness is accepted

Lui held her sketch that features the North Indian family.(Photo Courtesy of Charlotte Lui Cheuk-nok)

Although Lui’s drawings are happily accepted by many MTR passengers, she was turned down by a few.

“I was once rejected by a Northern Indian family. They just ignored me when I handed them the sketch and they waved their hands to signal they were not interested in keeping the sketch,” she says.

The millennial says she was shocked when rejected because she never expected such a reaction.

“I was confused by why they rejected me, so I felt a bit upset after the incident,” she says, adding that she posted a video about the incident on her Instagram account.

“A person who knows the family messaged me on Instagram and told me that the family had just arrived in Hong Kong from Northern India. He said the family does not know English and is not familiar with the Hong Kong culture so he told me not to blame them for the rejection,” she explains.

The Hong Kong Baptist University graduate who majored in painting and printmaking says she reflected on how she should approach passengers after being rejected.

“I might not express my intentions well, so some people may be confused when I give them my sketches. They may have misunderstood that I was asking for money for the drawing and were not sure that the drawing was for them to keep,” she says.

“I am more careful about what I say before approaching passengers so that I can express my intentions more clearly,” she explains.

Looking into the future

Lui aims to maintain her habit of drawing a sketch every day and continue spreading joy to others. But her long-term goal is to become an oil painter in Hong Kong, drawing with paint brushes instead of a black marker.

The full-time artist says she hopes to draw more oil paintings and share them on her Instagram page – “Moving Drawing” to reach her long-term goal.

Lui devotes more time to practising oil painting nowadays.
(Photo Courtesy of Charlotte Lui Cheuk-nok)

Despite having a clear future goal, she has some doubts.

“Van Gogh’s art is only appreciated by others after his death but not when he was alive. So I do not know if I can become a successful oil painter in my twenties since painters usually become renowned at a very old age. That is why I have the perception that it takes years of practice to be a good enough painter,” she says.

“I am not sure if I will be a recognised painter very soon, but I will paint every day and fulfil my promise to myself,” she adds.

The aspiring painter thinks that Hong Kong artists should not think too much when creating art.

“Art-making itself is a healing process. If you do not feel happy when you draw, it will be harder for your artworks to impact a wider audience,” she explains.

In the near future, Lui says she wishes to draw subway passengers from other countries when she travels overseas.

“I hope to reach a global audience by travelling elsewhere and draw commuters in other countries. Since my act of giving sketches to commuters was inspired by Rodriguez, it will be fun if we can draw portraits of each other in the subway someday,” she says.

Sub-edited by Felicia lam

Caring for the Deceased and Living

December 29, 2022

Pasu Ng Kwai-lun founded RIP88 to answer the city’s calling: a lack of alternative undertaker service providers.

By Lesley Lam

Pasu Ng Kwai-lun quitted his job as the manager of the dissection laboratory at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2020. When he was struggling to stay or leave Hong Kong, the success of his social enterprise proposal submitted to the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) made him stay.

“The proposal is actually designed based on my final year project when I studied art and design for my top-up degree at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The funeral market is confined by traditions and rituals. No one (in Hong Kong) have thought of the need for alternative funeral services. I want to change that,” says Ng, whose proposal is the prototype of “RIP88”.

The social enterprise provides affordable, simple and dignified after-death services and emotional support to low-income families to bid final farewells to their deceased family members.

“ ‘88’ in Cantonese means ‘bye-bye’, and RIP88 is about how to say a good farewell,” says Ng, who set up his social enterprise in April 2020.

Apart from being a social enterprise founder, Ng is also a certified embalmer. He is an awardee of the 2020 Hong Kong Humanity Award and the Top Ten Outstanding Young Persons for 2019, as well as the founding president of the Hong Kong Life and Death Studies Association.

Ng started working as a body embalmer when he was 24. Holding a higher diploma in applied arts, he finds his work as an embalmer who preserves and recovers bodies in line with his background.

“I think helping to recover a deceased’s appearance is somehow quite similar to artwork which is related to my studies,” he says.

Ng had his first grief counselling training at the Centre on Behaviour Health at the University of Hong Kong after working as an embalmer for around seven years.

“I gradually realise that there is little I can do to comfort friends and relatives of the deceased. But I want to be of help,” he says.

RIP88, Pasu Ng Kwai-lun’s social enterprise, also serves as a life-and-death education bookstore.

Ng points out that funeral directors in other countries such as the United Kingdom are well-trained in counselling, and there are licenses, qualifications framework, and codes of ethics that govern the industry.

Yet the funeral industry in Hong Kong is run by traditions, rather than a professional and knowledge-based system.

“Some say that undertakers in Hong Kong profit off the dead. That is true in a sense when the pricing is intransparent in the industry. Some may even demand for extra charges after the funeral service is completed,” he says.

He is determined to make a difference with RIP88, which is situated across the street from the Kowloon Deaths Registry. It takes up half of the floor of a commercial building and is not only a funeral home but also a life and death education bookstore.

Ng talks about how the office of his funeral home is designed during the interview.

“This place looks like other hipster-style stores in Sham Shui Po. Customers find this environment more comfortable. They do not have to see a lot of coffins on display like those traditional funeral homes do,” he says.

Pasu Ng Kwai-lun introduces different types of urns available at RIP88.

There are different types of urns in the office including necklaces, bracelets, crystal balls, and keychains that can be tailor-made.

“This is to cater to different people’s preferences when it comes to keeping their loved ones with them,” he points out.

Ng’s funeral home also provides non-traditional funeral planning services.

“Rituals can help easing the grief, but relying too much on it will make the ceremony highly religious, especially in Daoism for Hong Kong. But in reality, many of the deceased here are not religious,” Ng says.

Modern-style funeral featuring tailor-made service is an important alternative that Ng wishes to provide. He recalls one of the memorable ones he has planned for a mother of two.

“The deceased was a designer with two sons. Her husband chose pictures she designed to be printed on her paper coffin,” he says.

The paper coffin with the deceased designer’s designs printed on it.

The sons were in primary school at the time their mother left them in her forties. A farewell this early for the boys left a remarkable impression on Ng.

Asked if he has had compassion fatigue or feeling burnt out having handled so many heartbreaking cases for years, Ng thinks that his rational personality helps.

“I am a rational person. Of course, I am motivated by emotional causes and I act upon them, but I am also strongly rational and introverted when it comes to working,” he says.

He describes himself as someone with an entrepreneurial spirit and sense, and this side of him prompts him to be active on social media platforms as well as doing a lot of interviews with multiple news outlets.

Pasu Ng Kwai-lun has been featured in various media outlets and is active on his social media accounts.

“Word of mouth is important in this business. The reason why I post on Facebook every day is to reach out to people. Also, since the underprivileged in Hong Kong relies greatly on the recommendation from hospital social workers to make funeral plans, keeping a media presence can help build trust with social workers so that they will consider recommending us to clients,” he explains.

About half of the clients of RIP88 are less well-off families, most of which are living on welfare dole.

Ng hopes he can also continue to host talks and workshops on life and death education.

The funeral home has developed faster than Ng expected. Sadly, the pandemic brought a lot of unexpected and hard farewells.

Combined with immigration waves and an ageing population in Hong Kong, Ng advises Hong Kong people to bring death to the table for discussion.

“If there are elderly in a household, what to do at the end of their lives is a topic that should be discussed. It is important to plan end-of-life care because living and dying is a process that is not cut in two by the occurrence of death. End-of-life care is done so that during this whole process, families and friends of the soon-deceased person can face their passing away,” Ng says.

“The ultimate goal of funerals and ceremonies is for the friends and families to say a good farewell. Funeral homes seem to serve the deceased, but we are actually serving the living ones,” he adds.

Sub-edited by Gabriella Lynn

Can We Settle Down?

December 29, 2022

Tenants of transitional housing keep moving while waiting for public rental housing to settle down.

By Iris Jiang

Oi Chan* felt lucky when she was allowed to move into a transitional housing unit in Sham Shui Po after living in a subdivided flat in the same district for more than six years with a serious water seepage problem.

“My two children used to do their homework in bed, but now they have a proper table and chairs,” says Chan, one of the 89 tenants being chosen from over 400 applications for the Nam Cheong 220 transitional housing project.

The project is coordinated by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, a non-governmental organisation that promotes social welfare and development, with the site provided by the Henderson Land Group, a large real estate developer.

Nam Cheong 220 is the first transitional housing project built with a modular integrated construction method with 89 tenants.

With a two-year rental period, Chan and her children moved in on 24 August 2020 as the first batch of tenants.

When the rental period ended, only 25.5 per cent of the tenants were able to get a public rental housing placement. While 62.8 per cent of them moved to other transitional housing, the remaining 11.7 per cent were forced to settle themselves back into the private market, like renting a subdivided flat and living with friends or families, according to the Task Force on Transitional Housing under Housing Bureau.

On 17 September 2022, Chan and her two children moved to another transitional housing in the same district on Yen Chow Street.

“I had applied for three other transitional housing projects before moving out. Luckily, we are now assigned to the same district, but we are still waiting for a public housing unit,” she adds.

“Why should I keep moving?”

Susan Hung*, also a tenant of Nam Cheong 220, has to move to another transitional housing in Tai Po with her husband and their three-year-old child.

“It was tiring moving around. My child has to change schools due to the distant relocation and I need time to adapt to the new environment too,” Hung says, adding that the family has been lining up for a public housing flat for seven years.

The family also needs to pay a security deposit of about HKD$10,000 (US$1280.70) just to settle down, temporarily again.

View looking out from the window from one of the units of Nam Cheong 220.

Before moving into Nam Cheong 220, Hung and her family lived in a 100 square feet subdivided flat in To Kwa Wan with a monthly rent of more than HKD$5,000 (US$642.28). They had waited for public housing for five years at that time.

While living in Nam Cheong 220, they paid around HKD$3000 (US$385.92) for a 200 square feet unit. They enjoyed cheaper rental prices and a larger living area for two years.

“I thought we could definitely get a public rental housing placement within that period, so we decided to move in. Unfortunately, we still cannot get it after waiting for seven years,” the full-time housewife says.

“Why should I keep moving? I would have rather stayed in my original subdivided flat if I knew I could not get public housing,” says Hung.

“I am really stressed worrying we might still have to move around. I just wish that we can get a public housing unit to settle down,” she adds.

“Why should I keep moving? I would have rather stayed in my original subdivided flat if I knew I could not get public housing!”

When Can One Settle Down?

According to the Hong Kong Housing Authority, there were about 144,200 general applications for public rental housing as of June 2022.

The average waiting time is six years at the end of June 2022, while the average waiting time is just 3.4 years in 2015.

According to a special analysis from the authority, changes in applicants’ household circumstances, including change of district choice, household particular and location preference, might have affected the timing of the first flat offer.

It also states that the pace of public rental housing flat allocation work had been largely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic especially in 2020. Chun Yeung Estate in Fo Tan was used as a quarantine centre since February 2020 while Fai Ming Estate in Fanling was damaged in January 2020. People were allowed to move into these two housing estates from late 2020 onwards.

To achieve the target of providing the first flat offer to general applicants at around three years on average, the government has identified about 350 hectares of land to produce around 330,000 public housing units for the coming ten-year period. It hopes the demand for around 301,000 public housing units can be met.

One of the living units of Nam Cheong 220, a transitional housing project.

The government is currently offering 5,215 units of transitional housing, while building more than 20,000 units in a bid to meet people’s housing needs, according to the Secretary of Transport and Housing Bureau Frank Chan Fan’s blog post on 28 May 2022.

Meet the Purpose of Transiting People to Public Rental Housing

Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of the Society for Community Organisation, says the original initiative of transitional housing is to provide a better living environment to people who are waiting for public housing while living in inadequate housing.

“Building transitional housing can be way faster than building public housing. It takes a small piece of land and around one to two years to build transitional housing, while for public housing, it can take more than ten years,” says Sze.

She says the government expects transitional housing tenants to a public housing placement within the two-year rental period.

“The government also does not know the possibility of moving back to a subdivided flat or relocating to other districts can cause strong concern from tenants,” she adds.

“People living in transitional housing can have a better living standard for two years. But if they unfortunately have to move to transitional housing in another district and need to change their jobs or schools, that will definitely be tragic,” Sze says.

She notes the government should extend the rental period by learning from the experience of the Nam Cheong 220 project.

“It will be better if tenants are allowed to live in transitional housing until they get public rental housing. Otherwise the programme fails to meet its purpose,” Sze says.

Hung, as a tenant under the project, echoes with this comment.

“It is nonsense to keep moving. What is the point of building transitional housing if it cannot transit us to public rental housing,” she says with a sigh.

“It will be better if tenants are allowed to live in transitional housing until they get public rental housing. Otherwise the programme fails to meet its purpose.”

*Name changed at interviewee’s request

Sub-edited by Felicia Lam

Fancy But Affordable: A New Dining Style

December 29, 2022

More customers are enjoying casual dining that offers quality food at affordable prices.

By Charlie Chun

Audrey Yung Ho-yan goes to casual dining restaurants to search for quality food and reduce infection risks during the pandemic.

“I avoid restaurants reported with confirmed cases before and I avoid eating in large-scale restaurants to avoid cluster infection,” she says.

“Fewer customers are dining at one table in casual dining restaurants. Infection risk is lower at this kind of small restaurant. I do not want to pose any risk to my grandparents who are living with me,” the university student majoring in medicine says.

As a food lover who shares her dining experiences on Instagram with more than 15,000 followers, Yung goes to casual dining restaurants around 18 times a month.

Casual dining restaurants’ average pricing is about USD $15 (HK $117), according to The Walnut Room, an American restaurant under Macy’s Inc., one of the premier retailers in the United States.

“I spend around HK $300 to 400 (USD $38.46 to 51.28) per meal. The price is lower than eating in a fine dining restaurant which takes around HK $1,500 (USD $192.31), and the food quality is better than chain restaurants,” she says.

Yung studies the hygiene conditions of casual dining restaurants when choosing which one to go to.

“I look for recommendations on social media such as Instagram to avoid stumbling into the bad ones,” she says.

Standing Out From The Crowd

According to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the number of general license restaurants increased from 11,448 in 2019 to 12,914 in July 2022. Casual dining restaurants are required to register under the general license.

Riding on the trend of casual dining, Wong Ka-kei opened up his restaurant with two partners in February 2022 amid the COVID-19 pandemic when many eateries shut down.

Chef Wong Ka-kei owns a casual dining restaurant in Soho, Central.
(Photo courtesy of Wong Ka-kei)

Located in Soho, Central, Wong’s casual dining restaurant serves seasonal seafood and champagne mainly targeting female customers aged 25-34.

Before opening this casual dining restaurant, Wong worked in the one-star Michelin Dome Antwerp in Belgium, and the one-star Michelin VEA Restaurant in Hong Kong, which ranked 63rd out of 100 restaurants in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Award, created by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant Academy, in 2022.

“Fine dining serves the best part of ingredients to customers, which causes a lot of food waste. Casual dining has less restrictions in comparison.”

His restaurant has recorded a growth of 600 per cent in sales since the relaxation of social distancing measures in April 2022.

“We only have 18 seats in total with nine tables. Our small business scale helps control costs. It is easier to calculate the costs as we do not serve many people throughout the day. We have around 15 to 20 customers every night now,” the 28-year-old chef says.

“We are only open for weekend brunch and dinners from Wednesday to Sunday. We can serve a maximum of 36 customers in two rounds of dining sessions,” he adds.

Wong’s restaurant can only serve 18 customers per seating.

Business Under The Pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government banned dine-in services at catering businesses from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. between 7 January 2022 and 20 April 2022.

When dining was banned at night, Wong’s restaurant mainly served lunch and takeaway featuring food items such as pasta and burgers.

“These food items are easy to take out, but we only get a few hundred dollars of sales from takeaways,” he says.

Despite earning little from the takeaway sales due to the restaurant opening time restrictions, the casual dining restaurant owner thinks that the small operation scale lets him catch up with the ever-changing government policies during the pandemic quickly.

“The advantage of my restaurant is that we only sell seafood and can calculate our cost precisely. Food ingredients will not be wasted,” he says.

Industry Reformation

Lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, who represents the catering functional constituency, says restaurant owners want to keep operation costs low in order to stay in business.

“Owners would rather operate their restaurants by themselves instead of hiring a bunch of workers. Plus, they can put less food stock in the fridge under small-scale operation,” he says.

More than 1,200 restaurants have suspended their business due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to other media outlets.

Cheung adds that the catering industry relies heavily on tourism.

“The catering industry will not be able to revive without Hong Kong opening up the borders with Mainland China. It is just like introducing the Individual Visit Scheme in 2003 to help revive the economy after the SARS outbreak,” he says.

Edited by Chaelim Kim
Sub-edited by Gabriella Lynn