I discovered a theory of life while making chow mein. Mix the flour and water and let the dough rest. Pull the dough and the dough also sticks you. Boil the noodles and then fry with beef and vegetable. We always turn the dry things into wet, and wet things into dry. I am a…
Category: musings
Poetry Speaks: Cheng Tim Tim’s Selections—Reading Felix Chow, Reading Hong Kong
Connecting the Dots I never knew English poetry could look like this, something so close to daily life. I invite you to read the poem below aloud, which contains the sounds from many Hongkongers’ teenage years: So MKby Felix Chow They sat on mallside bannisterssmoking IQOS. Screaming spring.Contact-covered eyes behinda greasy, fringy frame. Bright-haired street…
Poetry Speaks: Nicole Chui’s Selection
On Timeby Faye New York is 3 hours ahead of California,but it does not make California slow.Someone graduated at the age of 22,but waited 5 years before securing a good job!Someone became a CEO at 25,and died at 50.While another became a CEO at 50,and lived to 90 years.Someone is still single,while someone else got…
Poetry Speaks: James Au’s Selection
題西林壁Written on the Wall at West Forest Temple (1084) 橫看成嶺側成峯，It’s a range viewed in face and peaks viewed from the side, 遠近高低各不同。Assuming different shapes viewed from far and wide. 不識廬山真面目，Of Mountain Lu we cannot make out the true face, 只緣身在此山中。For we are lost in the heart of the very place[1]. These days the poem of…
“What I Am Thankful For?” by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho
Last week, I was asked by Albert Wan, friend and co-owner of Bleak House Books, to tell him what I am thankful for this year. He asked others in Hong Kong as well, such as Antony Dapiran (author of City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong), Louise Law (author of As If), Pete Spurrier…
Poetry Speaks: Jason S Polley’s Selection
On Shakespeare, Proust, Loss, and Longingby Jason S Polley The equally sonorous and reflective opening two lines of Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 30”, “When to the sessions of sweet silent thought, / I summon up remembrance of things past,” cannot help but conjure Marcel Proust’s inimitable seven-volume novel À la recherche du temps perdu, a title that…
Poetry Speaks: John Wakefield’s Selection
This is an anti-war, anti-group-identity song that I listened to more times than I can count during my junior high and high school years growing up in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is by the British band Pink Floyd from their album The Dark Side of the Moon. The lyrics are by Roger Waters. 1. The first…
Poetry Speaks: Sarah Lee’s Selection
What connections do we, in 21st century Hong Kong, have with a poem written by an American more than 50 years ago? An animation by the Poetry Foundation of Muriel Rukeyser’s “I Lived in the First Century of World Wars” (1968) illustrates this ingeniously by putting side by side images from 1968 and 2018, enabling…
Poetry Speaks: Emily Chow-Quesada’s Selection
The feeling of loneliness might be straightforward for some, but it can also be paradoxical. The pandemic and social distancing has kept a lot of people confined to their homes. Some find themselves literally alone while others are crowded in tiny flats with their parents, siblings, children, partners, and pets. Those are the people you…
Poetry Speaks: Lian-Hee Wee’s Selection
Tang Yin (1470-1524), commonly known as Tong Pak Fu in Hong Kong, was a Ming Dynasty poet. Contrary to the popular belief that he was an affluent philanderer, his talents and arrogance in his youth brought him only a miserable life, reducing him to selling pornographic paintings at brothels to make ends meet. His poems, calligraphy and…
“The Poet’s Obligations Toward Freedom” by Lian-Hee Wee
• What do I understand to be freedom in the context of politics? I am an anarchist. It took me much longer than it should have to realise that. My feelings and thoughts and values had always been what Noam Chomsky would describe as “socialist libertarian”. My understanding of that term in a nutshell is a…
Pride of Place: James Au
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] I was at first hesitant when asked to write about Hong Kong. My…
Pride of Place: Nicola Chan Oi Ching
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Victoria Park It is surrounded by ‘Metropark’, ‘Rosedale’, ‘Jesus is God’, and many…
Pride of Place: Benedict Rowlett
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] . . I have often liked to see myself as itinerant and adventurous,…
Pride of Place: Stuart Christie
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] . . Pride —for Genevieve (upon the occasion of her birthday) . All…
Pride of Place: Vincent Cheng
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] . . Spaces. Places. A space has, in itself, no meaning. A place,…
Pride of Place: Jimmy Chan
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] . When I was a secondary schooler, I would usually head down to…
Pride of Place: William Ng
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] . Pride entails variations of a shared exclusivity. It emerges as one observes…
Pride of Place: Sylvia Hou
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] . One time in Admiralty station, my friend said passengers rushing to the Island Line look…
Pride of Place: GiGi To Man Chee
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] My favourite place in Hong Kong . is…your heart. Just kidding. I don’t…
Pride of Place: Jessica Siu-yin Yeung
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Stanley is a spatial sign associated with affluence and expats for Hongkongers. I went there with…
Pride of Place: Cecilia Lee
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] In 2007, Victoria Prison was opened to visitors for the first time since…
Pride of Place: Buster Leung
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Hong Kong, a Port City Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient, is…
Pride of Place: Yannie Lee
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Nathan Road: Where Flânerie Begins To me, flânerie is neither a class-conscious nor…
Pride of Place: Justin Yeung
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] The River That Reeks Of Memories To most people, the Shing Mun River…
Pride of Place: Charlie Mong
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] It was a late afternoon in January when I hadn’t, again, any mood…
Pride of Place: Jason S Polley
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] I’d be squinting, barely able to see, to see anything beyond just too…
Pride of Place: Nicole Lai
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Some of us work hard inside it For different reasons Some of us…
Pride of Place: Grace Wong
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] There are four official paths from the road (where the bus stops are)…
Pride of Place: John Wakefield
Pride of Place: A series in which teaching staff and students from the English Department reflect on a place in Hong Kong. [Read all entries.] [Revisit the “Pet Sounds” series.] [Revisit the “Headspace” series.] [Revisit the “Ongoing” series.] [Revisit the “Interrogative” series.] Dark green waters brushed with tinges of orange from the setting sun. Damp…
Department of English, Hong Kong Baptist University 