Reminiscences

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions I re-watched a TVB drama series that first aired in 1990, called "Blood of Good and Evil."  In this series, the protagonist is torn between loyalty and love for his surrogate father, a gang leader involved in money laundering and other criminal activities, and his biological father, a cop reputed for his dutifulness and moral righteousness. In the end, he reconciles with his biological father, from whom he has been estranged for many years, whereas the gang leader commits suicide.  I enjoyed more time I did last time, and it was a couple of years since I last re-watched it. I did not pay attention to what made the series so popular and critically acclaimed: the relatively straightforward plotline, very real and likeable characters, and intricacies of their emotions portrayed. Whereas the son is obviously and understandably grateful to the gangster-father, he is tortured by his new-f...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions I finally found time to write about Keung To, a singer and main vocalist of the Hong Kong boy band club known as "Mirror."  I normally do not spare time for singers and actors in Hong Kong, except those who impress me somehow.  The fact that many of those artistes-would-be are of the lowest quality, in terms of talent and looks, has almost never bothered me. Yet this Keung To is a complete farce, whereas his fans and admirers, many of whom are women past middle age, and who have long formed a cult reminiscent of zombies in apocalyptic movies, are annoying and worrisome enough to warrant a blog post. *** While Keung To's lack of natural talent may not be his fault, the fact that he seemingly has not improved over the past few days and still sings and dances at the abysmal level is shocking. l watched a couple of his live performances.  What perplexed me was that he often cou...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions   Fujian/Hokkien fried rice--one of my favorite dishes at Chinese restaurants. Where should I begin? While I was at Vancouver's  ETEA , I remembered another family-run restaurant, called  "No. 10 Restaurant,"   at 10 Hogarth Place, London , which I visited multiple times in March 2023. It is in a hectic district in the capital of my great motherland. When I was at it, the restaurant was very small. It had only a few tables, with seats for about 20 people in total.  The Chinese name of the place was 粗茶淡飯, which can be literally translated as "plain (or even more literally--coarse) tea, bland rice," a very humble and self-deprecating expression alluding to the host's admission that he or she doesn't have a lot of money and resources and so can only afford cheap ingredients to prepare food for the guests.  (This was how it looked like this before renovation.) I ord...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions Back in 2006/7, lecturers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong were already advised by their superiors not to anger students coming from Mainland China who happened to be ultra-nationalistic (To be very fair, not all of them were/are!) by introducing controversial materials that they deemed offensive and triggering. What happened in 2019 might have come as a shock to many. Yet in hindsight it was not a complete surprise. Since 2020, Hong Kong has dropped to the bottom 10-20 % of the Academic Freedom Index , published by researchers at the  Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg  and the  V-Dem Institute , making it on par with authoritarian countries such as Yemen and Pakistan. *** What was surprising for me was that the catastrophic changes to the former British colony have not deterred Western-born people from flocking to it: indeed, many have gladly settled there...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions 我鍾情西方文，不過得承認，中文比英文優勝之一，為中文名字大多數由兩個單字組成，再加上姓氏，可以變化多端，父母為孩子改名，可以發揮無限創意。近年香港有報章發現，本地父母卻似乎創意奉欠，因此有些名字經常出現。當然，名字多人用，像變得庸俗，不代表改壞名，相反，很可能因為既悅耳又有意思，才會如此受歡迎。不過要是講求創意，大概不喜歡這個情況出現了。 為了取得好名，有父母翻查古書和、小說，也有人聘請相士。這裡提供的只是建議，啟發你取一個有意思、有品味的名字。如果你是信奉命理，大可在這裡取得啟發和靈感，並取了數個稱心的選擇後，再請教命理師，評價哪個名字才是最好。 (一) 姓氏為自然景象或動物 如果你姓林或江之類，因為是大自然景象，便很容易配合姓氏取一個詩情畫意，或氣勢磅礡的名字，令人印象難忘。香港信報前老闆姓林名「山木」，子女分別名為「在山」和「外山」，字夠清簡，但絕對是意境深遠、厚實的好名。姓江的，取個「雪橋」或「雨橋」，女孩懂事後多數會喜歡。以前認識朋友姓馬，名「東城」，很有氣勢。若擁有這類姓氏，在改名時要多加利用。 (二) 運用姓氏本身意思 大多數姓氏跟自然景象並無關係，但本身都有含意(「劉」﹑「廖」也許是少數除了是姓氏外，縱使不是零意義，也無甚意義的字)。因此大可以承接姓氏本身意思來取個有優雅﹑有意思的美名。 以姓「徐」為例，本身具有「緩慢」的含義。名「而敏」或「亦敏」，便可表達既隱重又敏捷之意，塑造既溫文爾雅且細膩敏感的形象。又如姓「許」，名「諾行」，也是好名，但為有一諾千金，一言既出，駟馬難追的含意。甚至姓「陳」，本身也有「陳述」「陳列」意思，叫「不盡」，陳之不盡，無窮無盡，特別得叫人一聽難忘。 不少人奉信相學命理，在此提醒：信命理和發揮創意兩者並無矛盾，在這裡取得啟發靈感，取數個稱心名字後，仍然可以請教命理師，再選個最好，而不是完全依賴師傅，接受很可能是怪異或無美感的名字，又或者讓陌生人為自己或子女作出如此個人的人生決定。 (三) 表現立體性格優點 很多姓氏除了是姓氏之外，本身無甚意思，如「劉」和「廖」等等，不能善用對上兩則的建議。再且，有些父母也許不喜歡他們認為是「標奇立異」的...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions It's been a whole week since Joseph Lam, or Lam Chok 林作, was arrested in Hong Kong for his alleged involvement in what is known as the JPEX scam .  Since I am no expert in finance and the police are still investigating the case, I would not comment on its legal issues. I have found the netizens' reactions to his arrest highly amusing though: "All that education..." they cried. Some saw what seems to be the downfall of an Oxford graduate as a sign that an Oxford education, of which Lam has always boasted, carries little value if one's character is bad. It is not even a sign of intelligence or accomplishment, or he would not have broken the law and got himself in trouble, so they said. Others said Lam's conduct tainted his alma mater's reputation. In fact, a couple of years ago, a Hong Kong director surnamed Cheung (who later emigrated to the U.K.), mocked Lam Cho...