For the last two years, Flickr user HK Man has been collecting old photos of Hong Kong, finding the exact spots at which they were taken, and taking them again. The result, from his first photo of Victoria Harbor to a more recent one of Nathan Road, comprises a chronicle of Hong Kong's unrestrained vertical development over the past few decades. In a similar vein, Gwulo is a community site for "for everyone that is interested in old Hong Kong" and includes photos, mysteries, and discussions -- such as this one about old Kai Tak Airport. [more inside]
posted by milquetoast on Aug 30, 2009 - 28 comments

In The Mood For Chris Doyle "The most Chinese white man to have ever lived...the incomparable, incredibly talented Chris Doyle... is a highly acclaimed, AFI Award-winning cinematographer, known for his use of extreme angles and vanguard color grading. He has won, amongst other accolades, the Cannes Technical Grand Prize, Golden Osella, the Golden Horse awards (four times), and Hong Kong Film Award (six times). Doyle is an affiliate of the Hong Kong Society of Cinematographers." (more)
posted by vronsky on Aug 25, 2009 - 30 comments

A zoomable, isometric map of Hong Kong
posted by juv3nal on Jul 13, 2009 - 33 comments

FRONTLINE: Ghana - Digital Dumping Ground On the outskirts of Ghana's biggest city sits a smoldering wasteland, a slum carved into the banks of the Korle Lagoon, one of the most polluted bodies of water on earth. The locals call it Sodom and Gomorrah. One of the biggest fallouts? Identity Theft.
posted by Christ, what an asshole on Jun 26, 2009 - 16 comments

You probably knew him as the evil drug kingpin, Mr. Han in Enter the Dragon. In Hong Kong he was an action movie legend. Sadly, the amazing Shek Kin, a true martial artist, is dead at 96.
posted by bwg on Jun 4, 2009 - 15 comments

Zombie Sushi Bar: A clip from the 1998 Hong Kong Horror-Comedy classic "Bio Zombie" (Sun faa Sau si) shows our intrepid heroine trying to blend in at a Undead Sushi Bar with delightfully disgusting results. NSFS (Not Safe For Squeamish) [more inside]
posted by The Whelk on Apr 11, 2009 - 29 comments

The Domestic Transformer: sliding walls and yellow light, a local architect's solution to the problem of scant living-space in Hong Kong. [more inside]
posted by grobstein on Jan 15, 2009 - 31 comments

In 2005, Margaret Pomeranz interviewed Wong Kar Wai. In 2007 GoldenDragonPictures posted the unedited footage to YouTube [parts 2 3 4 5 6] wherein he discusses his career to the point of 2046. [more inside]
posted by saturnine on Nov 12, 2008 - 13 comments

In the 1960s and 1970s Hong Kong had a thriving film industry, dominated by studios such as Cathay Studios. One of Cathay's most fabulous stars was Grace Chang (Ge Lan), referred to by some as the Marlene Dietrich of Hong Kong Chinese cinema. Her greatest hit was The Wild Wild Rose (Ye mei gui zhi lian), based on Bizet's Carmen. The showstopper is her version of Habanera (YT). [more inside]
posted by carter on Oct 21, 2008 - 16 comments

The Amazing Gift of Woo Lai Wah
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese on Sep 21, 2008 - 14 comments

The Hong Kong Lego Users Group created an exhibition called Lego Sport City, a recreation of the Olympic Village in Lego. It's 3m x 8m, and has over 300,000 bricks; you can read more about it here and here. Brickshelf has a very comprehensive collection of photos here, including a lot of shots showing the construction and the smaller details. [Via /.]
posted by Upton O'Good on Aug 18, 2008 - 8 comments

Tunnels no Minasan no Okage Desu is a Japanese game show where contestants strike poses to fit through cutouts in pink foam walls. International reproductions of this game show reveal much about national character; reproductions exist in Italy, Russia, France, Denmark, Hong Kong, Korea, and Australia. [more inside]
posted by Alison on Aug 13, 2008 - 20 comments

Alluring and haunting photographs of life in Hong Kong: lost laundry, bastard chairs, copy artists, sitting in China, back door, wildlife trade [disturbing]. Michael Wolf has been linked before for his amazing architecture of density and tiny apartments. He has also collected historical portraits and propaganda posters.
posted by nickyskye on Apr 5, 2007 - 18 comments

Poison Dart Machine Hidden at Hong Kong Race Track No good explanation for why and how someone dug up the turf at a Hong Kong racetrack and installed a machine capable of blowing poison darts at the horses. The Triads? (First link NYT)
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy on Mar 27, 2007 - 26 comments

This is not resolved! When a young man on a double decker bus in Hong Kong asked an older man to lower his voice whilst talking on the phone, the young man invariably became the receiving end of a torrent of half coherent phrase and insults about his mother. Naturally, you can watch it unfolding here since the entire event was captured by another passenger with his cell phone.

This video has become one of the most viewed clips on youtube, spawning remixes, rap, reenactments, new school yard sayings, and yes, t-shirts. And they say youtube is just a site for narcissistic kids and tv show clips. NSFW if you have co-workers who can understand Cantonese. And it's not the subtitle's fault, this guy really does rant off for a bit.
posted by phyrewerx on May 28, 2006 - 96 comments

Andrew Kissel, brother of murdered banker Robert Kissel was himself found murdered in the basement of his Greenwich, CT home yesterday. While the murder trial of Robert Kissel's wife, Nancy, provided a sordid look into the troubled life of an extremely rich Hong Kong expat investment banker, his wife, and her lover, the Andrew Kissel case has yet to unfold. Yet with a Andrew's criminal past, recent divorce, and speculation of a Mafia-style hit, this may turn out to be another interesting story of greed, abuse, and revenge.
posted by banishedimmortal on Apr 4, 2006 - 9 comments

Today is Jingzhe (驚蟄). Legend has it that on the day when insects and hibernating animals are awakening and the demon white tiger starts to seek its prey, the petty person would also start to offend others by making rude remarks. Therefore it is advisable to honor the white tiger with sacrifices and beat the petty person on this day.
From CXB: In the days of yore, the petty person you hated so much was beaten up for some good time by the professional beaters (about HK$50 per fix) with Chinese cloth shoes vigorously. But what a sad fact for your nemesis! These beaters these days use high heels, which in my opinion is ten times deadlier than cloth shoes.
posted by rxrfrx on Mar 6, 2006 - 15 comments

Images of daily life Photoessays of daily life in Morocco, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. [An update on a plep thread from 2003, and some nice armchair travel for a Sunday morning]
posted by carter on Dec 4, 2005 - 8 comments

Hong Kong court jails man for creating and posting torrents.
posted by plenty on Nov 7, 2005 - 20 comments

A normal person wouldn't steal pituitaries, and other actual Hong Kong film subtitles. T-shirts, too. How can you use my intestines as a gift?
posted by kirkaracha on Oct 28, 2003 - 5 comments

How bananas grow. And other photography from Hong Kong.
posted by yoga on Sep 19, 2003 - 7 comments

Hong Kong will take your breath away. With the burgeoning Sars epidemic spreading fear among travellers worldwide, the Hong Kong tourist board must be ruing the day it commissioned a series of magazine ads telling readers a visit to the city will "take your breath away".
posted by MintSauce on Apr 9, 2003 - 23 comments

Leslie Cheung has died. I have no idea how to express my grief, but I feel that this should be discussed here. Yet his death seems to go unmentioned. What could drive someone to do this, and how could the media ignore such a tragic event?
posted by son_of_minya on Apr 1, 2003 - 30 comments

The other war. Dispatches from the trenches, in the middle of the Hong Kong SARS outbreak. [may be annoying popups] [more inside]
posted by Slithy_Tove on Mar 21, 2003 - 9 comments

World-Wide Cost of Living Survey. Hong Kong has taken over as the world’s most expensive city, Moscow is in second place, followed by Tokyo. The least expensive city is Johannesburg.
posted by Frasermoo on Jul 29, 2002 - 37 comments

Honk Kong's reclaimation efforts for Disney are killing its fishing industry. Is this the proper way to reclaim land? It looks like HK would happily trade away its dwindling fishing industry for a Disney business opportunity. I can't decide if this is economic progress or a very risky trade between a market that produces goods (fish) and one that produces a service (entertainment). I can't read this and not think of Paris' Eurodisney disaster. I wonder how the one in Tokyo is doing.
posted by skallas on Nov 23, 2001 - 4 comments

A Hong Kong student has written her thesis about the world's oldest profession, and found that the ten 'subjects' she chose to follow are real people too, and ultimately befriended them, offering financial and legal assistance. Apart from the actual story, of interest in the tone of the writing of the piece which underlines that the 'class' structure still exists almost everywhere . . .
posted by feelinglistless on Oct 8, 2001 - 8 comments