Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Song without words:

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Local hospital, out-patients department

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Roadrunner

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Widescreen!

King Hui: The Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong

Jonathan Chamberlain, an ex long-term resident of a little island in the South China Sea, has written a biography of a man known as Peter Hui.

The book will shift copies on its title alone: the Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong. How long did that fortunate state of affairs endure? Five minutes or five hours? Enquiring minds need to know.

And yet this book is not just one man’s story. It is the story of a time and place -- colonial Hong Kong, Portuguese Macao and the south China hinterland between Hong Kong and Canton -- seen from the unique point of view of a man who was at home at all levels of society. There are, for example, no other published accounts of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong as seen from the non-combatant Chinese perspective.

King Hui goes on sale in early December. However, if you order the book before 30 November 2007, Jonathan will sign yr copy! More details about the author, King Hui, and ordering: blacksmith books

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Pedestrian

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Basketball players

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District Council elections today. Staking out one of the polling stations on a little island sitting in the South China Sea are some members of the DAB.

Leonard Bernstein/Richard Wilbur: Candide

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Glitter and Be Gay? Kristin Chenoweth:

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Agit-prop for Sunday's district council elections

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The card game

Reading matters

Hold Everything Dear: Surviving The Nights And Imagining A New Day, by John Berger: zmag

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Street corner

Hong Kong: some measures for the common good

Tomorrow (13 November 2007) in Legco, Wong Kwok-hing proposes the following motion:

"That, in order to fully utilise human and land resources, develop diversified hawking and bazaar economic activities to enhance the attractiveness of tourism in Hong Kong, as well as to further revitalise on-street economy and diversified economic activities in remote new towns, this Council urges the Government to:

(a) preserve existing bazaars which have local economic, cultural and native characteristics, and assist in the sustainable development of such bazaars;

(b) establish and develop new marketplaces with various characteristics, such as creativity bazaars and marketplaces for organic fishery and agricultural produce;

(c) set up designated zones for street art performance, arts fairs and the like in order to encourage and promote the culture of street art performance, preserve collective memories, and maintain, discover and nurture the culture and talents of folk art performance;

(d) set up various types of dawn markets and night markets at suitable locations so that those running small businesses who are self-reliant and self-supporting can have a way out;

(e) explore the setting up of on-street cooked food designated zones featuring specialty food and drinks;

(f) expeditiously conduct a comprehensive review on the policies for hawker licensing and management to tie in with the objective of promoting diversified hawking and bazaar economic activities; and

(g) proactively explore with various District Councils to implement the above measures and means for revitalising the diversified economy and culture in the districts,

so as to provide the grass-roots with opportunities for starting up small businesses and employment."

Now that's urban renewal.

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Navigator

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Family

Björk and PJ Harvey: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Cool blue:

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Snap shot

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Cargo boat

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Waterfront, a gaze returned

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Late night diners

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Out-patients department, pharmacy

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Ten-thirty ferry

Sally Yeh: Night Breeze (晚風)

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

For taxi dancers and other travellers, a shapely Latin rhumba rhythm:

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Waterfront, dim sum and roast meat takeaway

Reading matters

Thailand & Ghosts, an interview with John Burdett (Bangkok 8): rain taxi

Talking into Being, an interview with Michael Hardt (Multitude): rain taxi

Reading matters

The demolition of Star Ferry Pier -- urban reclamation versus cultural heritage in Hong Kong, by Hilary Tsui: eurozine/dérive