Labelling myself as a writer didn't come naturally, but over time I realized that I often found myself in the thralls of words. As talkative as I may be in real life, I found that I also thoroughly enjoy using my written words in service of other people, whether it's through features, profiles or event coverage.
Fittingly, over the past three years, I've been a culture reporter at the South China Morning Post, one of Hong Kong's biggest English-language newspapers. For the Post, I've covered everything from food and travel to entertainment and the arts, and I've also written for the newspaper's weekend Post Magazine. My articles include cover stories on Hong Kong Olympian Siobhan Haughey and the late 20th-century Chinese artist Chang Dai-chien.
That said, as someone from Hong Kong, some of the most personally meaningful stories I’ve written involve exploring Hong Kong culture, the Cantonese diaspora and the intersection between history, culture and identity. Such articles include one that I wrote about a candy maker who specialises in two of Hong Kong’s vanishing sweet treats, dragon’s beard candy and ding ding candy, and another about a New York coffee shop called Land to Sea, whose Hong Kong-inspired decor is a homage to the founders' Asian American upbringing.
Find links to my writing below.
Long Reads
Swimming sensation Siobhan Haughey takes the Post through the process that led to her becoming the most accomplished Hongkonger of all time in the pool. (pdf)
A new documentary lifts the veil on the life of Chang Dai-chien after he left China in 1949, revealing his journey and how he reconnected with his family. (pdf)
While much of Joseph Hotung's collection of Chinese jades and Yuan and Ming dynasty porcelains is already on display, now his private cache is coming to light. (pdf)
When her father, an optical engineer who was her hero, died, Alexandra Chan began writing a memoir of him and discovered her grief ran far deeper than his death. (pdf)
Food & Drink
By day, Land to Sea serves Asian-inspired drinks; in the evenings, it moonlights as a creative venue, hosting events such as mahjong nights and art workshops. The co-founders wanted to pay homage to their Hong Kong and northern China families through its design – think neon, Chinese newspapers and porcelain tea cups. (pdf)
Mimi Wong, who learned to cook with her grandmother in Hong Kong, is showcasing Asian cuisine amid the ups and downs of reality cooking show. (pdf)
One of Hong Kong's last remaining candy makers talks us through the labour-intensive way dragon's beard candy and ding ding tong are made. (pdf)
Arts & Culture
Kelvin Chan, who learned lion dancing in the UK before honing his skills in Hong Kong, will appear in the 2025 documentary Heart of the Lion. (pdf)
Michelle Siu has been blind since she was a baby but that has not stopped her rise as a singer – and in February she will perform in her first solo concert. She reveals how her parents gave her a normal life, why Hong Kong schools have a long way to go when it comes to inclusiveness, and her hopes for the future. (pdf)
The World Press Photo Contest winners show is back in Hong Kong, although not without a late change of venue, as happened with the exhibition in 2021. Shown "in the context of press freedom", curator says, the winning entries cover the Ukraine war, life in Afghanistan, LGBTQ rights, climate change and more. (pdf)
"Hope", Patricia Piccinini’s first Hong Kong solo show, includes grotesque but cute transgenic works designed to be at once repulsive and endearing. The artist intends many of her ambiguous works to cause reflection on how we as humans use animals to benefit our lives, and the responsibility we have to them. (pdf)
Film & Entertainment
On May 13, 1969, riots broke out in Kuala Lumpur that left as many as 600 civilians dead, mostly ethnic Chinese, with few who survived willing to talk about it. Director Chong Keat Aun reveals the many challenges in making the film and how it is yet to pass Malaysia’s censors, despite having been shown worldwide. (pdf)
Fathima "Paji" Mohamed and Iasmin Lumibao, who grew up in Macau, make funny Instagram skits focused on Cantonese and podcast about being third-culture kids. They have over 45,000 Instagram followers but also a few haters, some of whom think they shouldn’t make Cantonese content because they're not ethnically Chinese. (pdf)
"Cross My Mind" is an English-language series about a man in Los Angeles and a woman in Hong Kong who can communicate through their connected minds. The series touches on Cantonese and Asian-American culture, and how those identities contrast and overlap through the characters’ mentalities and environments. (pdf)
Health & Wellness
Newlywed Hongkonger Keren Goldman, 49, has known for months she will soon die – and laments the lack of options in the city for those at the end of their lives. "I don’t want to die," she says. "But I also don’t want to be here on machines for days on end when I have no control of my life." (pdf)
Travel & Leisure
A night walk at the 148-hectare Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden reveals some rarely seen native species, from snakes to birds and mammals. (pdf)
Expect "six, seven-star" service on The World cruise ship, which has on board 165 residences that cost up to US$15 million each to own. (pdf)