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Society

Sales at Lunar New Year Fairs fail to match pre-pandemic level

  Hong Kong’s biggest Lunar New Year's Fair at Victoria Park is selling hot food and dry goods again after four years of restrictions, but some vendors said sales are not as good as they were before the pandemic. The fairs launched on Sunday at 15 locations across the city, such as Kwai Chung and Kwun Tong, are surrounded by crowds. Candice Li Man-shuen, a vendor selling dog accessories who joined the fair several years before the pandemic, said the atmosphere was less lively than she had expected. “People are here today mainly because it is Sunday and there are other nearby events, but they didn’t come here intentionally,” Li added. Wong Kin-fan, a vendor from the mochi stall who has had a stall at the fair for several years, had sold half of her mochi by the afternoon of the first day. That brought her roughly HK$10,000 in sales revenue by the afternoon of the first day.   “Sales aren’t what they were before 2020,” Wong said. “However, the rental cost of the stall is correspondingly low. My boss decided to return to this fair again because it is cheaper.” Shirley Lau, 51, a local retailer visiting the fair every year, said there were fewer fast food stalls than before COVID-19. According to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, the size of the fast food stalls in 2019 was 56.48 square metres, compared to 40 square metres this year at Victoria Park. Liu Wing-ting, currently working in the hospitality industry, said she felt the variety of goods and food at this fair was less compared to last time when there were fast food stalls. Liu has visited Lunar New Year fairs many times in other districts, but it’s her first time at Victoria Park. She thought people weren’t buying much …

Society

Largest outdoor cinema in Hong Kong reopens after one-year closure

Hong Kong’s biggest outdoor cinema, The Grounds, welcomed guests again on Thursday after Covid-19 rules forced its suspension a year ago. The cinema is at Central AIA Vitality Park. “It’s very challenging to build this event and put it together in Hong Kong. We just try to reopen this cinema as soon as we can,” said Simon Wilson, managing director and co-founder of The Grounds. The government announced a relaxation of social distance measures starting from Oct. 20, including allowing live performances and outdoor eating at some premises such as theme parks. This cinema can accommodate up to 380 people in 100 upgraded private garden pods. The audience can remove face masks in their booths. But only up to four people are allowed in each booth in order to comply with social distancing rules. Guests can order food from a web-based app. The menu offers Vietnamese food, tacos and wines. Three different types of tickets are available, depending on the location and the types of seats, with prices ranging from HK$200 to HK$900. Only classic and nostalgic movies are playing this season, including Forrest Gump and the Harry Potter series.  Wilson said that movies in different Languages would be shown this season. The Grounds collaborated with Golden Scene Cinema to start the outdoor shows in 2021, and has shown  local movies, including Suk Suk. The cinema is opened for three months each year and the current season will end on Dec. 30. “Actually I have seen today’s movie before. It is a good romantic comedy,”  said Angela Shih, who invited four of her friends along. “ We just planned to spend our girls’ night here. I am really excited and looking forward to it.” Wilson said they had a great response in ticket sales, especially for musicals and blockbuster films. …

Culture & Leisure

Wong Tai sin temple Lantern festival fair reopens after a one-year suspension

The lantern carnival and temple fair in Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple embraced the peak of visitors on the Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrating the temple’s centenary at the same time. Due to the overwhelming number of visitors, the opening time of the fair was shortened for an hour and a half. Citizens reveal satisfaction as well as complaints about the arrangement.  

Culture & Leisure

Art Basel returns to Hong Kong, smaller with more local artists

  • The Young Reporter
  • By: KOO Chi Tung 顧知桐、WANG YichunEdited by: WANG Yichun
  • 2021-05-29

Art Basel Hong Kong returned to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre last week for the first time in two years with a hybrid exhibition of online activities and a smaller display. The annual art exhibition featured 104 galleries from 23 countries with more local and Asian art this year. “This fair seems to have a kind of feeling of excitement maybe. It’s like a lot of people are feeling the spring time and they want to come out,” said Kaitlin Chan, an associate at Empty Gallery. According to Ms Chan, the attendance this year was strong. “The circumstances of having an art fair at this stage amid the pandemic is that people are eager to do something different from their usual routine,” she added. Mrs Ren, 74, an art lover and collector from Taiwan, said she attends the exhibition every year to learn and purchase modern art pieces by young artists. “Because these antique paintings should be kept in museums for appreciation, they cannot affect your life. So I discovered paintings by young people create an environment affecting emotions,” she said.

Culture & Leisure

Art exhibition calls Hong Kong people to reflect on the meaning of migration

The Cypher Vol. 10: Migration A Self-Return Show exhibits works from five local artist units, calling people to reflect on the significance of migration. The art exhibition takes place at Negative Space in Wan Chai from Jan. 16 to Jan. 30. It is co-organised by Video Cypher, a platform that gathers local video creators since 2017. The 15-day exhibition is a sequel to the online screening last November, where five local artist units were invited to produce a video on the topic "Migration". Installations and decorations shown in the exhibition are a self-reflection of the artists as a form of continuation to their work. S Chan, the curator of the exhibition, mentioned that the artists emphasized the change of physical distance in their work of their own accord.  Ms Chan therefore decided to conduct the exhibition in a home-like area to illustrate a sense of familiarity for people to reflect on migration. The exhibition area is paved with foot massager pads to convey a sense of painfulness to the visitors. "The foot massager pads are associated with the sea water background on the poster, through which we would like to analogize the difficulty of migration," Ms Chan explained. The first artwork, "Road to Nowhere", is a two minute animation made by Ziki Cheung Kit-yin. The animation makes people reflect if migration is still a good option for people to escape from the problems in their home country and have a fresh start in a new place even when there are problems all around the globe.  An installation of bowling pins placed in front of a television with the ball is set in front of the screen, which Ms Cheung created to further evolve the message presented in her animation. "The bowling pins are associated with the television which trapped the …

Society

Hong Kong celebrates 'Once In a Blue Moon' Halloween amid COVID-19

Traditionally, Halloween has been a festival for people to dress up as different characters and go trick-or-treating. But, the Halloween of 2020 has been a different one: Hong Kong is celebrating the festival under COVID-19, along with a 'blue moon'. The blue moon phenomenon, which refers to the second full moon in the same calendar month, is also the origin of the English phrase 'once in a blue moon'. The first blue moon appeared during the Mid-Autumn festival in early October.  "We are excited to see what everybody is talking about, and also looking forward to seeing it [the blue moon]," said Alex Nathan, 45, who came to the West Kowloon Cultural District to take part in Halloween activities such as face painting. Mr. Nathan also brought four other children to the District, with all of them dressed up as different characters, including a vampire and ballerina.   "The blue moon is making the day more special," said Will Mok To-Wing, 31, and Rebecca Cho Miu-Kwan, 24. Mr. Mok and Ms. Cho decorated their gathering venue with outdoor chairs and pumpkin lanterns, while also sharing food with their friends. Under the blue moon were a group of adults and children dressed as the hit Japanese game character Mario, which were bought from an online shopping platform for less than HK$500.  "We wanted to dress up at a low cost and with clothes that can have different recognizable colours, so we chose Mario," said Cuby Lau Pui-Yu, 32, who put on a green Mario costume, along with her former classmates and their children. Apart from the costumes, Mr. Nathan, Mr. Mok, Ms. Cho, and Ms. Lau also carried face masks and hand sanitizers in their bags, with the pandemic still looming large in the city.  Due to COVID-19 and unstable weather in …

Society

Halloween brings large crowds to Lan Kwai Fong amid COVID-19

Hundreds dressed in costumes gathered at Lan Kwai Fong for a night of partying on Halloween, with packed streets and long queues accumulating for bars and nightclubs, amid the city's on-again, off-again social distancing measures.  "We can't take off our masks at all, take proper photos or completely enjoy ourselves," said Sparsh Goyal, 20, a university student in Hong Kong who came to celebrate Halloween with her friends, while having to sanitize her hands frequently to enforce self-hygiene and remain safe. Up until Friday, bars, restaurants, and clubs were only allowed to operate at a half-full capacity, with a maximum of four people per table allowed at restaurants, two at bars, and a required midnight closing time.  On Friday, the government announced it would ease measures with the limit of people at restaurants raised from four to six and from two to four at bars. Clubs and bars were also allowed to operate at a 75% capacity till 2am, a two-hour increase for party-goers.  Police took extensive measures to ensure crowd control. Signs were hung at every corner to guide people through designated entrances and exits, as well as to make sure they were following social distancing measures. Some were not so worried about the risk of contracting the disease even while being present amongst such a large crowd. "There is not a big chance of catching COVID while just walking around [Lan Kwai Fong]," said Chan Yu-Hon, 34, who said it was his first time celebrating Halloween at the city's prime party street. Most bars and clubs followed anti-epidemic measures such as temperature checks upon entry and providing hand sanitizing gel.  "It's kind of surprising and unusual to see this many people together now," said Aidan Cheung, 23, referring to the large crowds. Since the start of the pandemic, …

Society

Art exhibition disCONNECT HK takes over tenement building to reflect on COVID-19

Fourteen artists will showcase their works in an exhibition about connection, belonging, isolation, and the role of technology under the pandemic by taking over a restored 1950s Hong Kong historic tenement building. Local non-profit arts organisation, HKwalls is collaborating with Schoeni Projects, a contemporary art project based in Hong Kong and London to launch disCONNECT HK from October 11 to November 29, featuring artists from Hong Kong, the UK, Germany, Italy, Iran, Portugal, and Spain.  "Everyone needs a bit of art and everyone is craving it, especially when we are having such a hard time now," said Jason Dembski, 39, founder of HKwalls.  Organisers decided to hold disCONNECT HK at a rehabilitated tenement building to inherit most of disCONNECT LDN, the original project which took place at an 1850s Victorian townhouse in South West London from July to August this year.  The three-floor exhibition in Causeway Bay is open to the public for free, but appointments have to be made online in advance. To further allow the public to access the exhibition, HKwalls is also offering a 3D virtual tour at Hysan Place, which enables visitors to revisit disCONNECT LDN digitally. Despite the exhibition situated in the centre of the city, it has not been capturing much attention.  "When we invite visitors to the 3D tour,  people usually hesitate," said Hui Wai-sze, 28, an assistant curator from the Schoeni Projects.  Ms Hui believes that education in Hong Kong has a huge impact on how people view art, in particular, street art. “A lot of us were educated that street art is not as presentable as other forms of art, and is not a proper medium to express our feelings and thoughts,” she added.  She hopes through holding more family-friendly arts events like disCONNECT HK, the general public could have a …

Health & Environment

Flexitarian: an easy way to go green

  • The Young Reporter
  • By: Sharon Pun、Candice WongEdited by: Richelia Yeung、Ellen He
  • 2017-11-21

To become a flexible vegetarian in Hong Kong "I'd like to have the Pesto Chicken Salad, but please take away the chicken," said Ms. Chan at a bakery cafe. Her friend surprisingly asked her, "What? You're taking away the best part of the dish!" This is a situation often encountered by Chan Wun, but her diet habit is different from that of traditional "vegetarians". She is a member of a rising group, "flexitarians", a combination of "flexible" and "vegetarians". The number of flexitarians rose from 5% in 2008 to 22% in 2016, while vegetarians only account for 3% of Hong Kong's population. Up till 2017, over 1,000 restaurants in Hong Kong have joined an initiative programme to offer vegetarian-friendly menus, according to a social startup, Green Monday. "In order to lose weight, I had become a vegetarian for around two months during high school," said Ms. Chan, an 18-year-old university student. She had no choice but to constantly ordered Indian curry since it was the only vegetarian choice at school. Things become more difficult during family gatherings. When Ms. Chan's mother cooks vegetarian meals for her non-vegetarian father and brother often complain that the meals lacked protein. "It is difficult to avoid eating meat especially when we are living in Chinese culture where specific cuisines and dishes will be offered during celebratory events and festivals," said Ms. Chan. "Then I decided to quit because of inconvenience, time cost and expense." Instead of being a strict vegetarian, she opted for a flexitarian-style diet. In fact, the problem was not faced just by Ms. Chan when she was a vegetarian. To Hiu-yan, 20, a university student who has been a vegetarian for two years, said that the once-athlete started this eating habit to keep fit.   Ms. To said she faced limited …

Silent voice of Russian graffiti

  • 2017-10-12
  • The Young Reporter
  • By: Nicole Kwok、Daisy LeeEdited by: Nicole Kwok、Daisy Lee
  • 2017-10-12

Street art is never welcomed in Russia. With high level of censorship, the authoritarian country does not allow much expression amid the existence of discontented undercurrents. Some said russian graffiti first took off in the days when the Western influences, especially American cultures, were introduced in the USSR. To be exact, breakdancing, derived from American hip-hop movies, partially brought the beginning of Russian graffiti subculture in the 1980s. Breakdancers became graffiti artists as they have to create eye-catching backdrops for performances. At the same time in late Soviet period, graffiti became a rebellious medium for the public, especially youth, to express non-conformity. Russian hippies use walls to share ideas of peace and kindness, while pacifists and anti-war groups began to use graffiti as a way to spread moral wrongs of war and their opposition to the Soviet Union in declaring war in Afghanistan. Russian graffiti artist Dmitri Aske once wrote, "A city is a large sandbox, and graffiti is one of the ways of existing within that sandbox." He thinks that street arts, graffitis or patriotic drawings on the facade or fences of Russia reflects currents events of the place. In Russia, ‘Bombing' is an important expressing method for local graffiti artists. It is a technique of quickly covering large areas with graffiti by tagging public transports, such as trains, or simply a whole street. Legal liability is one of the crucial concerns for graffitists all over the world. Though there is no typical law regulating graffiti in Russia, some Russian lawyers pointed out that anyone who is caught for painting graffiti can still be penalised by law enforcement under criminal code. Hurriyet Daily News reported in 2013 that Russian police had pressed charges of vandalism and graffiti which mocked Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia.  According to the law, …