Grandiose dreams can make us miserable
[2006-11-28 11:15]One late afternoon many years ago, my girlfriend and I went to our favourite beach to watch the sunset. The beach was accessible only by a long footpath winding down a steep slope. As usual, it was pretty much deserted when we got there.
Hong Kong in need of law for fair competition
[2006-11-18 05:51]The Hong Kong government has produced a paper on the proposed fair competition law for a three-month public consultation. Stephen Ip, secretary for economic development and labour, said that the government is "open-minded" on the "need" of the law.
Ode to a radiant city in the best of times
[2006-11-14 06:30]Early winter is the best of times in Shanghai.
Venturing out into my new city
[2006-11-07 06:28]There is nothing adventurous in me. Having lived and worked in Shanghai for nearly six months now, I have never been to any tourist attractions in this charming city, or visited any neighbouring water towns, famous for their old canals and arch bridges. I live about a 10 minutes walk from the Bund, the pride of Shanghai, adorned with imposing old buildings along the western bank of the Huangpu River. I've only seen it from inside a speeding taxi.
Civic quality brings order and harmony
[2006-10-31 05:40]Some months ago, I picked what was probably one of the worst days to return to Hong Kong. A tropical typhoon passed through the area on the day before, grounding all incoming and outgoing flights for more than 24 hours. Unsurprisingly, the airport was overwhelmed when flights were resumed on the day I flew.
To write well, one first must read well
[2006-10-24 05:51]Many young reporters have asked me how to improve their writing. That's most encouraging because they, at least, recognize their problems.
Preserve HK's natural treasures
[2006-10-21 05:32]Columnists love to write about the environment because it is such a safe topic. Having read countless columns on global warming, air pollution and toxic waste, I have come to the conclusion that you don't really need to know too much about the environment to produce a perfectly readable column on the subject.
Tsang offers good ideas, if little drama
[2006-10-17 05:41]Nobody expected much excitement from Chief Executive Donald Tsang's last policy speech in his present term of office, which ends in June 2007.
A little gov't help gives HK a boost
[2006-10-10 06:15]With the economic policy of positive non-interventionism pronounced dead by the Hong Kong government, some prominent economists and politicians are questioning whether it ever existed.
How to keep HK as a top financial hub
[2006-09-30 06:17]When Victor Fung speaks, businesspeople in Hong Kong listen.
In HK, job advancement matters more than living
[2006-09-26 10:53]Once I knew a young English gentleman. He's a writer with considerable talent, an amicable man well liked by his bosses and colleagues at the newspaper he worked for. Like many young Europeans and Americans, he came to China on his own expense to look for adventure. He was seen to be luckier than many because he landed a job that offered him a ring-side seat to watch the unfolding drama of China's economic development. To journalists around the world, this is one of the biggest stories on earth.
The written word in a digital age
[2006-09-19 09:36]Photography has been my hobby since childhood. I can still remember the Kodak box my father bought me when I was about eight years of age. It was nothing but a black box with a fixed aperture lens: you take pictures when there is sunlight and go home when the sun sets. Crude though it might have been, the little camera was my most precious possession for many years.
