https://www.scmp.com/rss/519635/feed The things that make life worth living. Entrepreneurship, collecting, social impact and more en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Gavin Yeung Gavin Yeung In the hours leading up to this year’s International Women’s Day, on March 8, The New York Times published explosive revelations of workplace abuse at legendary Copenhagen restaurant Noma under the watch of chef-founder René Redzepi. There is a certain poetic justice to be had that, at the same time, a group of 11 female hospitality professionals from around the world concluded a weeklong residency at Rosewood Hong Kong centred specifically on writing a new, women-led chapter in the toxic,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3350865/rosewood-throws-its-weight-behind-female-empowerment-hospitality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3350865/rosewood-throws-its-weight-behind-female-empowerment-hospitality?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:17 +0000 Jianne Soriano Jianne Soriano Enzo Cheng’s upbringing was the varied one of a Hong Kong kid who juggled different extracurricular activities. “My mother helped me find my passion, but we weren’t able to find one specific thing that I was really good at. That might be why I’m someone who has multiple interests today, which I try to connect together,” says Cheng, the chief executive of Noc. It was during his college years that he finally hit his stride at being a jack of all trades. “When I was 18 years old, I moved to the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3350502/head-noc-coffee-his-live-slow-philosophy-weekends?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3350502/head-noc-coffee-his-live-slow-philosophy-weekends?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:15 +0000 Annemarie Evans Annemarie Evans I was born in Plympton, Devon (southwest England), in 1943. My family moved to London because of my father’s work and then to Glasgow, where I was in a preparatory school, Belmont House School, in Newton Mearns. That’s where I learned to play rugby. I went with the school team to Murrayfield (Stadium in Edinburgh) to watch Scotland play. My father was in the packaging business and he was the managing director of the Scotland part of the organisation. My mother was a physiotherapist. We had a... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3349401/former-hong-kong-rugby-team-captain-reflects-first-sevens-tournament-1976?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3349401/former-hong-kong-rugby-team-captain-reflects-first-sevens-tournament-1976?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:09 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Growing up in Zimbabwe, Innocent Mutanga harboured a childhood love for Hong Kong films starring the likes of Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow Sing-chi. They painted a picture of a city buzzing with energy – “the place to be” for anyone wanting to make it big – but little did he expect that he would call this city home one day. Today, he is fully embedded in the fabric of Hong Kong, juggling a career in investment banking, founding and running the Africa Centre, an NGO that fosters cross-cultural... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3350068/cross-cultural-love-story-forms-heart-africa-centre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3350068/cross-cultural-love-story-forms-heart-africa-centre?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:24 +0000 Alexander Mak Alexander Mak Since the whistle was first blown on March 28, 1976, the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament has grown from a regional invitational into a global spectacle, expanding from 12 teams in its inaugural edition to 30, competing in three distinct competitions, in 2026. In those 50 years – from the early days at the Hong Kong Football Club, in Happy Valley, through the Hong Kong Stadium era to games at its current home, the Kai Tak Sports Park – the contest has transformed dramatically, a pair of... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3349385/pictures-50-years-mud-sweat-and-beers-hong-kong-rugby-sevens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3349385/pictures-50-years-mud-sweat-and-beers-hong-kong-rugby-sevens?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:00:10 +0000 David Frazier David Frazier Doi Chiang Dao is one of Thailand’s most stunning mountains, a 2,175-metre limestone peak that rises like a behemoth from flat farmland. Every February, it becomes the backdrop to a 10-day festival called Shambhala in Your Heart. Organised by a group of silver-haired, 1960s purist Japanese hippies, the event is set in an Edenic campsite in northern Thailand, where shade trees flank a cool running stream and open-air hot springs are just a 10-minute walk away. In recent years, Shambhala has... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3349356/chinese-youths-find-freedom-thailands-shambhala-festival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3349356/chinese-youths-find-freedom-thailands-shambhala-festival?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Apr 2026 07:15:40 +0000 Andrea Lo Andrea Lo Step into Jeffrey Lee’s 10,000 sq ft office-slash-warehouse-slash-personal museum in Kwai Chung, and the first problem is purely logistical: where do you look first? The place has the bones of a warehouse – grey carpet, metal racks, long corridors – but it’s lit like a slightly feverish ballroom. The light hits glass, plastic and brass; it catches on badges, buttons and the glossy eyes of plush toys. One room is dedicated to military uniforms – a showroom of garment-bagged jackets, mannequins... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3348127/jeffrey-lees-extraordinary-museum-plush-toys-and-military-memorabilia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3348127/jeffrey-lees-extraordinary-museum-plush-toys-and-military-memorabilia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Mar 2026 10:00:17 +0000 Gavin Yeung Gavin Yeung I WAS BORN outside Philadelphia and I lived a typical American East Coast suburban childhood. My grandparents had a business selling African violets, so we would help out in the greenhouses on school holidays. It wasn’t so much art, but it was very much about putting something beautiful into people’s lives. I WENT TO an all-boys’ Jesuit high school in Philadelphia, then I went to Duke University, in North Carolina, as an undergrad. My major was literature and history, but I started to study... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3348136/philip-tinari-his-journey-through-art-and-culture-and-tai-kwuns-potential?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3348136/philip-tinari-his-journey-through-art-and-culture-and-tai-kwuns-potential?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:00:12 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Rahul Kadakia’s favourite gavel is not particularly beautiful. The lacquer has dulled, the wood is chipped with paint from the rostrum and the head sits slightly off-centre after cracking open during a Geneva sale, when a lot estimated at US$100,000 soared to US$1 million. It is, by any conventional standard, worn out. “This gavel has sold billions of dollars,” he says, with a small laugh at the incongruity. Newly appointed president of Christie’s Asia Pacific, Kadakia, 51, speaks quickly, with... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3347307/christies-auctioneer-rahul-kadakia-treasures-his-gift-gavel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3347307/christies-auctioneer-rahul-kadakia-treasures-his-gift-gavel?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Mar 2026 03:00:09 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson In the early 1980s, coral carpeted the seabed under the Tolo Harbour in northeastern Hong Kong. Coverage reached as high as 70 to 80 per cent in some areas, comparable to what scientists now see in the city’s marine parks. Within a few years, almost all of it was gone. “Not a lot of people actually know about this,” says Dr Apple Chui Pui-yi, assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences at Chinese University. As nearby towns such as Sha Tin and Tai Po developed, pollution and sewage... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3346172/hong-kong-scientist-trying-revive-citys-coral-reefs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3346172/hong-kong-scientist-trying-revive-citys-coral-reefs?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Mar 2026 07:15:08 +0000 Joyce Yip Joyce Yip Summer Wong Man-ting, 31, was ready to sprint into her final race at the 2025 World Obstacle – UIPM OCR World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, last September. Coming off a race in Barbados less than a month before, however, she was still recovering from both jet lag and injuries, and the relentless rain and 12-degree Celsius temperature had aggravated her cold. The horn blared, and the chorus of Banners’ “Someone to You” ripped through the tense air. Wong had one shot against Melia Ochsner,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3345559/meet-summer-wong-face-hong-kongs-growing-ocr-scene?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3345559/meet-summer-wong-face-hong-kongs-growing-ocr-scene?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Mar 2026 05:00:09 +0000 Annemarie Evans Annemarie Evans I WAS BORN IN LONDON, but my father got a job in the Hallé orchestra as a clarinettist, so we all moved up to Manchester. My childhood was spent mostly in the town of Wilmslow, Cheshire, and I went to a specialist secondary school called Chetham’s School of Music, in central Manchester. My parents were both professional classical musicians, so I had a very bohemian upbringing. People sometimes ask me where I get my discipline from. I guess it was from that school, where we had to practise for... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3345711/jane-houng-her-dedication-womens-safety-after-murder-her-daughter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3345711/jane-houng-her-dedication-womens-safety-after-murder-her-daughter?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Mar 2026 07:00:07 +0000 Alexander Mak Alexander Mak Horse riding in Hong Kong has long been the preserve of the upper crust, with the high cost of keeping a horse limiting it primarily to the wealthy in this densely populated, space-starved city. In the 1970s, the Hong Kong Jockey Club took a pioneering step to democratise the sport, establishing public riding schools, including the Pok Fu Lam Riding School (established in 1978) and later, the Tuen Mun Riding School (opened in 1994). These schools were designed to provide access to horse riding... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3345658/pictures-horse-play-hong-kong-1970s-2000s?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3345658/pictures-horse-play-hong-kong-1970s-2000s?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2026 03:00:09 +0000 Lavender Au Lavender Au I WAS BORN in Guangzhou in 1979. In the 1980s and 90s, Guangzhou was a relatively special city in China. Many of my classmates had relatives in Hong Kong. It was more open, more connected to the outside world. People generally valued profit and were practically minded. The direct comparison with Hong Kong coupled with the continuous transmission of a kind of folk culture means that Guangdong has always had a very secular society. Even during the political movements of the 50s, 60s and 70s,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3342638/author-hu-anyan-work-writing-and-overcoming-inferiority-complex?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3342638/author-hu-anyan-work-writing-and-overcoming-inferiority-complex?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Feb 2026 07:00:09 +0000 Faye Bradley Faye Bradley Guess how old she is,” says Naveen Sadhwani – who goes by Nick – gesturing towards a sprightly street cleaner we have just finished chatting with after handing her a meal of stir-fried noodles, a sponge cake, a bottle of water and a mooncake, this being just before the Mid-Autumn Festival. She’d beamed at us, alert, cheerful and radiating optimism. “Sixty or 70?” I guess, struck by her lively demeanour and upright posture. “Seventy-five?” offers another volunteer. Nick smiles. “She’s 85.” We all... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3340989/father-and-daughter-duo-philanthropy-form-family-bonding?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3340989/father-and-daughter-duo-philanthropy-form-family-bonding?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:09 +0000 Aidyn Fitzpatrick Aidyn Fitzpatrick Macau, made for high rollers, isn’t short on flashy experiences. After a night at the MGM Cotai Supreme Room, where a million-pataca chip stack looks paltry, you can toast your winnings at Robuchon au Dôme at the Grand Lisboa and pop open a vintage wine that will set you back 250,000 patacas, before resting your head in one of 14 invitation-only David Beckham Suites at The Londoner. But one experience trumps all these because it cannot be bought: to climb into a blue Mini and be taken on a... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3340789/meet-goncalo-cesar-de-sa-journalist-who-got-scoop-macaus-return-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3340789/meet-goncalo-cesar-de-sa-journalist-who-got-scoop-macaus-return-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jan 2026 04:00:09 +0000 Annemarie Evans Annemarie Evans I WAS BORN IN a small city in the north of Mozambique called Nampula in 1962. My parents were living in Mozambique. My father was a soldier and the capital was called Lourenco Marques (present-day Maputo). It was, of course, a colony of Portugal. We moved to Portugal when I was four. My father became a merchant and he travelled a lot, so I seldom saw him. I stayed with my grandparents in Porto and then lived with my mother again in Lisbon a few years later. By then, she was separated from my... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3341202/ricardo-pinto-covering-macau-through-decades-and-launching-literary-festival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3341202/ricardo-pinto-covering-macau-through-decades-and-launching-literary-festival?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Jan 2026 09:00:10 +0000 Annemarie Evans Annemarie Evans I GREW UP IN A theatrical family. My mother was also on the stage and had just begun to really make a name for herself when she married my father (Leslie Sarony). Then we saw a little bit of his true character because he said, “There’s only one star in this family,” and she was told she couldn’t work any more. We used to go to wherever my father was playing summer seasons. He was half of The Two Leslies, which was the partnership that he began in, I think, 1937. I grew up watching them on stage.... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3339357/meet-neville-sarony-hong-kong-barrister-who-also-writes-acts-and-sings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3339357/meet-neville-sarony-hong-kong-barrister-who-also-writes-acts-and-sings?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Jan 2026 07:00:12 +0000 Andrea Lo Andrea Lo I’M A TRUE HONG KONG BOY. I was born and raised here. I’m 73. MY FAMILY BUSINESS has a 183-year history. I’m the fifth generation to run it. It started in Guangzhou around the time the Treaty of Nanking was signed (in 1842). My ancestor (who started the business) was stupider than a pig; starting a shop during a war – how would anyone make money that way? He wrote a couplet that reads, “New additions bring prosperity and style; determined colours reveal elegance and grace.” The couplet talks... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3337576/yau-yiu-wai-fifth-gen-owner-hong-kong-umbrella-store-shutting-shop-despite-his-lifelong-obsession?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3337576/yau-yiu-wai-fifth-gen-owner-hong-kong-umbrella-store-shutting-shop-despite-his-lifelong-obsession?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Dec 2025 07:15:07 +0000 Salomé Grouard Salomé Grouard For many, the holiday season is a complex ritual. Tucked 359 days after our last good resolution, Christmas promises to be the perfect time for reflection, celebration and gratitude. ’Tis the season to be jolly after all … But is it really? Christmas lights sparkle across Hong Kong, but this year, my festive spirit is choked with sadness. Less than a month before the celebration, Hong Kong lost hundreds of lives in the Tai Po fire: lives that were young and old, some far from home, others... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3337618/celebrating-christmas-amid-news-war-climate-change-and-tragedy-it-possible?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3337618/celebrating-christmas-amid-news-war-climate-change-and-tragedy-it-possible?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Dec 2025 00:00:09 +0000 Sumnima Kandangwa Sumnima Kandangwa Chefs United for Tai Po Six chefs from Jia Group restaurants – Ando, Mono, Louise, 22 Ships, Leela and Estro – are coming together for a seven-course charity dinner featuring an exclusive selection of rare wines by the bottle. Tickets are HK$3,888 per person with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to the Hong Kong Red Cross. December 9, from 6pm, Louise, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central. To book, go to sevenrooms.com/experiences/louise Top Swop The vintage and second-hand clothes swap event... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3335288/4-ways-help-tai-po-fire-relief-efforts-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3335288/4-ways-help-tai-po-fire-relief-efforts-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Dec 2025 07:15:13 +0000 Andrew Sun Andrew Sun MY HONG KONG CHILDHOOD was very typical. I’m the oldest of five girls. From a young age, I carried the responsibility of helping my mum look after my sisters, so I developed a big sister mentality. That sense of looking after people is deeply rooted in my personality. Hospitality was introduced to me through one incident at my first job, selling advertising for a woman’s magazine. I met the PR manager of a hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. I was very young and my first impression was she’s so beautiful,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3334742/peninsula-hong-kongs-first-female-general-manager-rainy-chan-burnout-and-joy-reinvention?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3334742/peninsula-hong-kongs-first-female-general-manager-rainy-chan-burnout-and-joy-reinvention?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Dec 2025 07:15:08 +0000 Aaina Bhargava Aaina Bhargava If there’s one piece of advice Andre Agassi offers, it’s to dream while awake. “It’s way too easy to dream when you’re sleeping,” says the American tennis legend. “Don’t be scared to dream big because it takes as much effort to dream big as it does small.” He advises choosing your definition of success carefully. Even if you achieve it, it might not feel the way you expected. Fresh off his run as Laver Cup captain, Agassi was in Hong Kong in October for the Prudential NextGen Aces event, a panel... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3334499/andre-agassi-hong-kong-his-comeback-and-learning-live-present?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3334499/andre-agassi-hong-kong-his-comeback-and-learning-live-present?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Nov 2025 21:00:08 +0000 Chris Dobson Chris Dobson I’M ONE OF FOUR SIBLINGS and the only one born in England, in 1972. My sister was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, my brother was born in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and my other brother in the Philippines. My father was in tobacco, so he travelled all over the world. He met my mother, who was with the Foreign Office in Bangkok. Then they lived in Chiang Mai, Kaohsiung, Tanzania and Manila. My grandparents met in Hong Kong at the Happy Valley racetrack in the 1930s, so I have a family history of being... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3333046/dominic-johnson-hill-started-hong-kong-art-walk-he-was-star-chinese-television?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3333046/dominic-johnson-hill-started-hong-kong-art-walk-he-was-star-chinese-television?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Nov 2025 02:00:11 +0000 Salomé Grouard Salomé Grouard For Maria Nemy Lou Rocio, a Filipino domestic helper who has been journaling since the age of six, writing has always been her refuge. “From best to worst, writing truly carried me through life,” she says. “It helped me process being abused by my adoptive family, excitedly document my first crushes, face suicidal despair when I wrote my ‘last letter’ …” In 2017, when she moved to Hong Kong, a city that often reduces Rocio and her peers to their jobs as domestic helpers, she decided to channel... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3332817/how-hong-kongs-zine-making-movement-helping-people-heal-and-be-heard?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3332817/how-hong-kongs-zine-making-movement-helping-people-heal-and-be-heard?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Nov 2025 02:00:16 +0000 Karen Cheung Karen Cheung I WAS BORN in 1974, and grew up in Kwun Tong. I attended Sam Yuk Middle School (now Hong Kong Adventist College), a coed boarding school in Clear Water Bay. My father is an alumnus. It’s a Christian school in a red brick building, and the meals were vegetarian. Sometimes, after lights out at 10pm, my classmates and I would leave our beds and snack on cans of twice-cooked pork. WHEN I WAS 12, I was listening to The Checkers, so I would wear checked shirts I had bought from the Ladies’ Market. I... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3331128/experimental-hong-kong-musician-nerve-his-fearless-approach-sound?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3331128/experimental-hong-kong-musician-nerve-his-fearless-approach-sound?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Nov 2025 02:00:11 +0000 Lauren James Lauren James A stumble on a step, a Yorkshire-lilted “ohh noh”, and world-famous Jarvis Cocker clatters down the stairs from The Listening Room. The frontman of 1990s Britpop phenom Pulp is mostly OK, but will headline Clockenflap the following evening a little less snake-hipped than usual, after breaking two ribs in this innocent attempt at returning to ground level after shopping for records. Rob Deal, the owner of the Tsim Sha Tsui emporium where Cocker, then pushing 60, had been browsing before his 2023... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330450/how-did-jarvis-cockers-trip-hong-kong-record-shop-boost-vinyl-revival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330450/how-did-jarvis-cockers-trip-hong-kong-record-shop-boost-vinyl-revival?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Oct 2025 07:15:08 +0000 Andrew Sun Andrew Sun I GREW UP IN a traditional Chinese family in the Philippines. My dad was a businessman working with his brothers. My mother was a homemaker, but in true Chinese fashion, if there was a shortage of staff, she had to help out. When a new business opened, she worked alongside my aunts. THE FAMILY BUSINESS grew and now we’re the biggest snacks and drinks producer in the Philippines. We also have shopping malls, digital banking and some media. That’s where I trained to run a media company and be an... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330060/journalist-art-investor-how-kitty-go-built-her-second-act-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330060/journalist-art-investor-how-kitty-go-built-her-second-act-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Oct 2025 02:00:14 +0000 Fionnuala McHugh Fionnuala McHugh One dank, unlovely morning in January, Ross Urwin sloshed around a Brussels market looking for mid-20th century furniture. He was sourcing pieces for Lane Crawford, which was planning an in-store exhibition during this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong. Urwin, who is a consultant for the store, says, “It was so bloody cold, so depressing and rainy. But it’s what I do.” From 2003 until 2007, he’d been buying director for Liberty of London, and would regularly find himself at dawn clutching a flashlight... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330211/treasure-hunting-ross-urwin-lifetime-collecting-design-icons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330211/treasure-hunting-ross-urwin-lifetime-collecting-design-icons?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Oct 2025 22:00:19 +0000 Cat Nelson,Sumnima Kandangwa Cat Nelson,Sumnima Kandangwa Three vintage watch collectors share the origins of their passion and offer advice for those toying with starting their own timepiece trove. Mervin Ling There is something very meditative about winding a watch for me. To those unfamiliar with the world of horology, it may seem as if collectors wear their timepieces purely as a status symbol or display of wealth, but that’s often not the case. At least not for me. My fascination with watches began in childhood. My dad, who rarely wore... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330191/patek-philippe-cartier-fp-journe-why-these-collectors-cant-stop-buying?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330191/patek-philippe-cartier-fp-journe-why-these-collectors-cant-stop-buying?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Oct 2025 13:00:09 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson Welcome to our first collecting issue. What drives someone to build a collection? That’s the question, in part, we set out to answer. I am, admittedly and decidedly, an amasser of things but not a collector. I’ve got half of the equation (sentimentality) but lack the intentionality required in curating a set of objects. I open the door and let it all in. But the people in our stories have a much more deliberate approach. We spoke with vinyl obsessives, watch nerds and furniture fanatics – I say... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330208/week-postmag-collection-obsessions-rare-vinyl-vintage-watches-and-bespoke-furniture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330208/week-postmag-collection-obsessions-rare-vinyl-vintage-watches-and-bespoke-furniture?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Oct 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Aaina Bhargava Aaina Bhargava Aryna Sabalenka is living her best tennis life – travelling the world, eating well, soaking up the sun and winning big. Most recently, she took home the 2025 US Open title after a season marked by triumphs and near misses. “It’s a great feeling,” says the world No 1. “It’s just fun to be here, to travel around the world, to compete and win. All of it. I’m just really enjoying my tennis life.” Sabalenka is in Hong Kong for the Prudential NextGen Aces panel and exhibition match, speaking about... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330242/aryna-sabalenka-loving-hong-kong-steffi-graf-and-inspiring-young-players?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3330242/aryna-sabalenka-loving-hong-kong-steffi-graf-and-inspiring-young-players?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Oct 2025 10:32:11 +0000 Annemarie Evans Annemarie Evans MY PARENTS WERE married in Hong Kong in 1949. My mother, who is 98 years old, was also born in Hong Kong, in 1926. I was told by my grandfather that his wife, Tehmi Pheroz Pavri, was the first Parsi married lady to live in Hong Kong on a permanent basis. Prior to that, all married Parsi women were left in Bombay (Mumbai). For some reason, my grandfather, who was already in Hong Kong with his father, brought her out from Bombay after marriage. I think she was all of 17 or 18 years old when she... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3329648/jimmy-minoo-master-life-fourth-generation-parsi-hongkonger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3329648/jimmy-minoo-master-life-fourth-generation-parsi-hongkonger?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Oct 2025 10:15:13 +0000 Annemarie Evans Annemarie Evans I WAS BORN in 1967 in Caloocan, just north of Manila, in the Philippines. I have three siblings. I’m the eldest. My father had a much bigger clan, 10 siblings. Imagine the reunions we have on my father’s side! My family went into different kinds of businesses: textiles, poultry, restaurants. At one time we were an egg distributor, so we gathered them from nearby provinces wholesale and retailed them in the city. Whenever my dad had a new venture, I’d be there observing and sometimes I’d be the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3328771/noel-de-guzman-painting-fire-and-silent-power-smile?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3328771/noel-de-guzman-painting-fire-and-silent-power-smile?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Oct 2025 10:15:08 +0000 Faye Bradley Faye Bradley Just days before Christmas 2023, Lili Gleason, a 45-year-old homemaker in Hong Kong, was scrolling through Facebook when a post on the Lifelong Animal Protection (LAP) Charity page stopped her in her tracks: “600+ days and still counting … We’re not optimistic about getting Loyal and Pascal adopted unless a miracle happens and someone who doesn’t mind them being shy pops up. Would that be you?” Loyal and Pascal had been in the shelter for 760 and 600 days, respectively. Toilet trained, friendly... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326925/digital-age-single-post-can-change-dogs-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326925/digital-age-single-post-can-change-dogs-life?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Sep 2025 06:15:08 +0000 Annemarie Evans Annemarie Evans I WAS BORN in 1955, in Liverpool’s Sefton General Hospital. I grew up on the Wirral (in northwest England). My dad was in the Royal Air Force and after that he was a chemical engineer with Dunlop. They used to make golf balls and things. I know that because we had golf balls all over the house. I have a sister and a brother. When I was 13, I went to Wellington School (a private day school) and I spent a lot of time studying all the wrong things. I joined the Army Cadets at a young age. I enjoyed... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326077/steve-vickers-50-years-battling-hong-kongs-criminal-underworld?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326077/steve-vickers-50-years-battling-hong-kongs-criminal-underworld?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Sep 2025 07:15:09 +0000 Cat Nelson Cat Nelson One of my childhood regrets is never learning how to jump double Dutch. By the 1990s, I’m not sure it still guaranteed you cool-kid status (a few decades earlier, I imagine it might have). Still, there’s something undeniably impressive about skipping rope. There’s a level of agility that suggests you might just be a little more on it than everyone else. Skipping came back into my life in my mid-20s during a short stint of boxing training. Never have I felt so clumsy. Strange how often things... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326119/week-postmag-making-rope-skipping-cool-and-rediscovering-goa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326119/week-postmag-making-rope-skipping-cool-and-rediscovering-goa?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Sep 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Gavin Yeung Gavin Yeung Steven Bartlett may be only 33 years old, but the British entrepreneur has already accomplished more than many tycoons, having created a media and investment empire on the back of a chart-topping podcast. And on Sunday, September 28, Bartlett is set to share his hard-earned lessons with Hong Kong audiences on his “Business & Life Speaking Tour”. Born in Botswana to a Nigerian mother and an English father, and raised in Plymouth, southern England, Bartlett was determined from an early age to walk... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326079/diary-ceo-podcast-host-steven-bartlett-hosting-business-speaking-tour-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326079/diary-ceo-podcast-host-steven-bartlett-hosting-business-speaking-tour-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Sep 2025 12:15:08 +0000 Salomé Grouard Salomé Grouard The air at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai thrummed with the rhythmic slap of ropes against the ground. Hip-hop blasted from speakers and the crowd roared as 400 of the top rope-skipping athletes from Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Macau and mainland China converged for a friendly showdown in July, before the World Championships in Kawasaki, Japan. It was the Hong Kong team’s last chance to perfect techniques and choreography under the watchful eyes of officials such... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326065/can-hong-kong-make-rope-skipping-olympic-sport?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3326065/can-hong-kong-make-rope-skipping-olympic-sport?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Sep 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Andrew Sun Andrew Sun MY GRANDPA CAME to Hong Kong in the 1960s. My dad followed suit in the 70s. I was born here in 1985 so I’m a third-generation Hongkonger. We lived in Hung Hom then To Kwa Wan, two very grass-roots districts. I’m of Indian descent but have never lived in India. I’m a minority even among Hong Kong Indians; they are predominantly northerners. We come from the south. I speak Tamil, I have darker skin, plus I’m a Christian. I WENT TO a segregated local school. Growing up, the discrimination I saw... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3325814/jeffrey-andrews-turned-teenage-arrest-life-advocacy-and-change?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3325814/jeffrey-andrews-turned-teenage-arrest-life-advocacy-and-change?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Sep 2025 22:15:07 +0000 Sarah Keenlyside Sarah Keenlyside It’s the turn of the millennium and a twenty-something Canadian named Kresse Wesling waits patiently in a meeting room at The Peninsula Hong Kong. Opposite her, the hotel’s purchasing manager is painstakingly ripping sheets from a roll of toilet paper to check whether they will tear cleanly. And not just a few sheets. Every. Single. One. “I just sat there while he de-sheeted an entire roll,” recalls Wesling. “I was like, ‘He’s got to stop at some point, this is a big roll. We’re going to be here... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3324906/kresse-weslings-radical-brand-turns-discarded-firehoses-sustainable-fashion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3324906/kresse-weslings-radical-brand-turns-discarded-firehoses-sustainable-fashion?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:00:14 +0000 Annemarie Evans Annemarie Evans I WAS BORN IN 1949 in Kent, southeast England. I have a twin sister, Pamela, and an older sister, Jenny, and our playground was the orchards of Kent. So trees are everything for me. There were a lot of apples, peaches and pears. We picked them for the farmers and received some for free. My twin sister and I, we don’t look like one another. We’re the complete opposite. MY MOTHER WAS a nurse and my father was in local government in Kent. My twin sister studied botany. My older sister became a... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3324823/botanical-artist-sally-grace-bunkers-journey-garden-england-hong-kongs-countryside?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3324823/botanical-artist-sally-grace-bunkers-journey-garden-england-hong-kongs-countryside?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Sep 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg Hong Kong property tycoon Albert Yeung is selling a wine collection valued at more than HK$10 million (US$1.3 million) in a public auction. The 82-year-old chairman of Emperor Group is offering 426 bottles of fine wine at Sotheby’s on September 10, according to the auction house’s website. The collection, titled “The Majestic Cellar of Dr Albert Yeung,” includes selections from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Petrus and Château Palmer. “This is not a high-volume cellar, but one with an emphasis on... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3323622/hong-kong-property-mogul-albert-yeung-auctioning-his-us13-million-wine-collection?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3323622/hong-kong-property-mogul-albert-yeung-auctioning-his-us13-million-wine-collection?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Aug 2025 09:00:08 +0000 Faye Bradley Faye Bradley There were no birds onstage at the University of Hong Kong last weekend, but the sounds – trills, hoots, warbles – suggested otherwise. In the city’s first-ever bird call competition, participants took turns mimicking the songs of local species, from the chestnut-winged cuckoo to the Asian barred owlet. Some wore feathered costumes, others brought props. Many sounded, to the untrained ear, uncannily real. Held on August 23 as part of a conservation awareness campaign, the Hong Kong Bird Call... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3323670/hong-kongs-bird-call-contest-mimicry-handfluters-and-viral-moments?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3323670/hong-kongs-bird-call-contest-mimicry-handfluters-and-viral-moments?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Aug 2025 11:00:14 +0000 Karen Chiang Karen Chiang In a design world where aesthetics often compete with ethics, a new generation of makers is proving you can have both. Across Hong Kong and the region, independent brands are creating products that don’t just look good, but are built with intention. These pieces are built to last, made with care and designed for how we live now. Bamboa – Silky Bliss bamboo bedding set Spun from 100 per cent bamboo fibre, this set is softer and more breathable than bedding made from conventional cotton, a crop... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3322234/7-sustainable-designs-hong-kong-and-asia-are-stylish-and-smart?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3322234/7-sustainable-designs-hong-kong-and-asia-are-stylish-and-smart?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:30:15 +0000 Sarah Keenlyside Sarah Keenlyside It’s May 2024 and Joe Wong – bespectacled and dressed in an outfit casual enough for a grocery run – bounds onto a stage on New York’s Upper East Side. Before he tells his first joke, he notices a phone raised in the front row. “Oh, you’re taking pictures?” he asks. With exquisite comic timing, he strikes the one pose guaranteed to land: a rigid smile, frozen in place, flashing the Asian V-sign. The crowd erupts, and he’s off. “I’m an immigrant parent,” he begins after the laughter dies down.... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3321727/after-decades-fringe-asian-comedians-are-getting-last-laugh?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3321727/after-decades-fringe-asian-comedians-are-getting-last-laugh?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Aug 2025 09:55:38 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg Depending on your perspective, the verdict delivered by art services and technology company Winston Artory Group was either very good or very bad. A print that had recently been appraised for US$1 million was, the company determined earlier this month, now worth just US$300,000 – a 70 per cent decline in possible value. These were happy tidings for the insurance company that requested the appraisal, and potentially devastating for the print’s owner. “The insurance company loved it,” says Winston... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3320011/dont-know-how-much-your-art-really-worth-youre-not-alone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3320011/dont-know-how-much-your-art-really-worth-youre-not-alone?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Jul 2025 10:13:42 +0000 Sumnima Kandangwa Sumnima Kandangwa This month, Hong Kong hosts the much-anticipated Hong Kong Football Festival 2025 at the newly opened Kai Tak Stadium. Bringing together four of Europe’s most high-profile clubs – Liverpool, AC Milan, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur – it’s the city’s latest stab at a large-scale sporting event, following the now infamous Messi-less exhibition match played between Inter Miami CF and Hong Kong League XI in February 2024. The two headlining matches see AC Milan and Liverpool competing for the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3318678/counting-down-hong-kong-football-festival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3318678/counting-down-hong-kong-football-festival?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Jul 2025 04:45:08 +0000 Vanessa Lee Vanessa Lee Almost everyone in Hong Kong knows Laughing Cow: the grinning red cow on a round blue-and-white box, packed with foil-wrapped triangles of soft, tangy cheese with an unmistakably artificial plastic sheen. Surprisingly, it’s also beloved in France, the land of strict appellations and strong opinions on dairy. For Jeremy Evrard, owner of the much-buzzed-about cheese omakase Roucou, that was where the obsession started. “My mother would buy La Vache qui rit at the supermarket. I always kept the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3318079/behind-counter-hong-kongs-first-cheese-omakase?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3318079/behind-counter-hong-kongs-first-cheese-omakase?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Jul 2025 22:00:07 +0000 Matthew Marsh Matthew Marsh “The first night session couldn’t have been more stressful if there were snakes in the car and meteorites falling from the sky.” Antares Au isn’t new to 24-hour racing – he’s won his class at Belgium’s Spa and Germany’s Nürburgring – but nothing, he says, quite prepares you for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Last month marked his debut at France’s legendary endurance race, alongside fellow Hongkonger Jonathan Hui Kin-tak. They were two drivers on the 62 teams competing at this year’s race, and for a... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3317839/meet-one-track-minds-behind-le-mans-24-hour-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3317839/meet-one-track-minds-behind-le-mans-24-hour-race?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Jul 2025 22:15:07 +0000