News Analysis

Hong Kong and racism , sounds like something that happens only through the expats coming to Hong Kong. At least that’s what most people will probably assume, because the only people who can be racist are “white” people. Sorry to burst your bubble but Asia as a whole is extremely racist, towards other countries, be they white people, other Chinese people or other Asians, and they blatantly show their favouritism in their laws and in public. In Hong Kong for instance there are several names that get used by Hong Kongers to describe those around them who aren’t Hong Kong Chinese, such as gweilo meaning to describe a white person. The funny thing about that is the fact that that word has now been adopted by those who it used to describe and make feel bad about themselves. I personally say to my friends when I’m at home that I am a gweilo and it has become part of a joke, “who is that gweilo I see?”, “oh it’s Milena”, I own the word, but the word does not own me. There is nothing more inf...

Hong Kong while not necessarily famous for its hiking trails , does have many trails all over the islands and small section of mainland that make up the small country. There are several hiking marathons done each year with the MacLehose Trail race being the one best known.   The article of this week looks at how Hong Kong’s nature parks and hiking trails have been transformed through the removal of bins along the hiking trail, forcing those who have rubbish which they need to throw away to carry it home where they can dispose of it there. At least that is what is being implied by the article.  Hikers welcomed the change. James Lam, 36, said it was “natural for us to take our litter home” and noted that “litter could harm wild animals”. “But if they know enough about the planning of the bins, most nature lovers and hikers would not mind the small trouble of taking trash home,” Huang said. The article then goes on to say that since the removal of the bins the amount ...

Going back four years to the year of 2013, Hong Kong experienced a mostly peaceful protest in which those taking part in it were sitting and blocking a large amount of area. What were they protesting? Well, the online TIME magazine has a very concise explanation of what happened and why .   TomoNews Us Since then what has happened? Several people have been identified and arrested and convicted of “ unlawful assembly ” and “ inciting subversion of state power ” among other things. The latest of a series of people being sentenced since the OccupyCentral protest , Cheung Kai-yin, Ma Po-kwan, Wong Lai-wan, and Yeung Ho-wah, were let off lightly.   They will not be spending several years behind bars but instead will be forced to pay HKD10,000 (around 110 Euros) each as a fine as well as having a suspended jail sentence. Mr Justice Chan gave Ma six months to pay the fine, having considered his “unstable income”. The other three had to settle the fine in three months. T...

Hi, I guess. Here I am sitting at my laptop staring at the screen thinking 'why didn't I deal with this earlier? It's time for me to go to bed and yet I still can't figure out what to write.' So this is what happened. Let me introduce myself (great now I sound like a whiny teenager in some young adult novel wondering when my 'mysterious' hero is going to save me) and give you a general overview on what I am planning on writing here. My name is Milena, I'm German but have never lived in Germany or anywhere in Europe, and on that same note I have exclusively lived in Asia my whole life, most of which I've spent in Hong Kong. What's it like to live in Hong Kong you ask? Well, I guess normal? What am I supposed to compare it to? China? I've only lived there for 2 years when I was 5 until 7 so all I can really say on that matter is: I feel safer in Hong Kong; people don't stare at me when I'm walking around and it's cleaner in a s...