Society

“A Path to Glory - Jin Yong’s Centennial Memorial '', an exhibition celebrating the 100th birthday of the famous Hong Kong writer Jin Yong opened in Central on Friday, free to the public. Fans can immerse in the fictional narratives with sculptures, calligraphy, and augmented reality. 10 sculptures made of bronze or stainless steel featured in the exhibition held in Edinburgh Palace, worth a total of HK$100 million, are on loan without charge from their creator, mainland Chinese artist Ren Zhe. The exhibition will open until July 2. "Seeing these sculptures in person is more shocking than watching them on TV,"  said Joyce Cai, 63, who has read all the novels by Jin Yong. She came from Kwun Tong, which is an hour's drive away. “The expressions of these characters are so real.” Speaking at the opening ceremony on Friday, the centenary of Jin Yong’s birth, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said people worldwide are familiar with Jin Yong’s 15 novels which have become a “golden-plated signboard” for Hong Kong. Jin Yong, also known as Louis Cha, is a prominent Chinese martial arts novelist and writer, whose 15 volumes of works have been translated into 14 languages and whose books have sold more than 300 million copies, with 1,400 characters created. Zoey Siu, 55, a photographer, has read all of Jin Yong’s novels. “Jin Young’s novel is the collective memory of Hong Kong,” she said.”Once Jin Yong's works were published, the whole city seemed to be quieter at that time because everyone was reading his stories.” Siu was deeply impressed by Jin Yong’s style of writing and attracted by his psychological and detailed descriptions. "Many foreigners are able to read Chinese and history probably because they read Jin Yong novels," said Chong Tai-leung, 55, executive director of Chinese University of …

The 10th Vegetarian Food Asia held from Friday to Sunday featured the second VegCoffee Mix & Match Competition, with a combination of cafe culture and vegan culture which attracted many non-vegetarians. This year's competition highlighted a vegan and coffee theme, requiring competitors to make desserts and coffee within an hour. The organizer of this event, the Hong Kong Roasters and Coffee Commissioners Association, said this is the only live competition in Hong Kong where coffee and roasting are held at the same time. Lei Bui-dak, 45, chairman of the Vegan Coffee Creation Competition organizing committee, said they wanted to further promote vegan culture through the growing popularity of the cafe culture in Asia. "We wanted to explore how well vegan and cafe cultures could be integrated so that the vegan culture will become widely known as a lifestyle. We were happy to see that the competition did succeed in attracting many non-vegetarians who came because they were interested,” he said. “I came to this exhibition after seeing the Coffee Association's promotion on Facebook​​,” said Cheung Ming-wing, a coffee lover, who specifically came to watch this competition. “I’m not a vegetarian, but I think I might try going vegan after this exhibition,” he said. Lim Sze-han and Chan Sung-ming participated in the VegCoffee Mix & Match competition, presenting a work called "The Hong Kong Tea Set". "The theme of our work is a very classic Hong Kong afternoon tea with pineapple buns and coffee, and all the ingredients of the pineapple bun are vegan," Lim said. “We are not vegetarians. We came to this contest because we were curious about vegan culture and our desire to help spread it for the better,” said Lim and Chan. Lim said that they had made a lot of efforts before the competition, such as …

The Home Affairs Department organised the "Searching for Sham Shui Po" Literati Bazaar at the activity space underneath the Tung Chau Street Flyover on Saturday. It is one of the events under the "District 18 is Colourful Day and Night in 2024" programme, aiming to drive people to understand and immerse themselves in local design products and Sham Shui Po textile culture while promoting itself to become the core area of ​​the innovative economy. The bazaar marked the first time for Sham Shui Po to host an event of this scale, with more than 30 stalls featuring local original works such as fabrics, leathers, and cultural and creative products. The bazaar also promotes city walking activities.After registering for admission, visitors will receive a printed eco-cup as a gift. Shadow Lee, 28, a handmade stall owner, said she was happy that the government has given  young literary youths a platform to promote their work. Cindy Chen, 26, a ceramic craftsman, said that as a resident of Sham Shui Po since childhood, she is honoured to contribute to the development of this area's culture. "Although the economy here is not well developed, the culture of cloth and handicrafts has always been very distinctive, and in recent years, I can feel that the government is emphasising these cultures," said Chen. Effie Zhu, 21, a visitor to the bazaar, said it is her first time participating in such type of bazaar in Sham Shui Po,“ I did not expect that there would be so many visitors, not only some literary youth but also many old people and children joined today’s bazaar.” Karlssen Wong, 7, said his favourite part of the whole fair was the stamping and punching of cards in the fair, where there were all sorts of prizes to be won. “I was …