Hong Kong’s population and building density are among the highest anywhere in the world. According to government figures, we have 6,930 people per square kilometre. Every living and non-living thing is fighting for space. We build taller and live highe...

The so-called Korean wave of popular entertainment, driven by South Korean movies, TV shows, and pop music, has been growing in influence across Asia since the 1980s. It has now burgeoned into being a global phenomenon fuelled by the internet and soci...

June is marked by large numbers of people around the world as “Pride Month”. This event is celebrated by members of the LGBTQ+ community and many others as a positive affirmation of diversity and an assertion of equality under the law for everyone, reg...

Despite the fact that in Hong Kong Covid-19 vaccinations are easily accessible and free, the vaccination programme, launched more than three months ago, has resulted in only about 24% of the total population receiving a first dose, with just 17% being ...

Liberal Studies was introduced in Hong Kong in 2009 as one of four senior secondary core subjects. The first liberal studies examinations were held in 2012. When introducing the subject, the government said its goals were to equip future generations “...

Hong Kong’s public healthcare system has been under pressure for some time. A growing ageing population, seasonal flu outbreaks, SARS and now Covid-19 have exacerbated the problems of long waiting times, mainly because of insufficient manpower and a sh...

The horrific images of rockets raining down on both Arab and Jewish citizens in recent weeks represent yet another round in the seemingly unending circle of violence that has surround the Israeli Palestinian conflict for at least seven decades – and ar...

Last Saturday, police arrested two people, an Indian engineer and his girlfriend, for giving the authorities misleading and insufficient information about their contact history to health authorities after the Centre for Health Protection managed to tra...

Last Thursday, Hong Kong recorded the first local infections of the highly transmissible Covid-19 N501Y mutant strain. The first known cases involve a domestic helper and a 10-month-old baby in her care from a residential building in Tung Chung. Thousa...

In mid-2006, the government initiated what it described as a “comprehensive rewrite” of the Companies Ordinance with the aim of modernising Hong Kong’s company law. In March 2014 the new Companies Ordinance came into effect. It has been described as on...

It’s been more than a year since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and despite some signs of optimism, the general situation remains volatile and unpredictable. Hong Kong’s average number of daily new cases has dropped to single digits, and restr...

On Tuesday, the government unveiled more details of the proposed changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system. The Improving Electoral System Bill includes dividing the current five geographical constituencies in the Legislative Council election into ten co...

Chief Executive Carrie Lam says that with three elections to be held in the coming year under the new electoral rules, the government is making every effort to accelerate the task of amending more than 20 pieces of primary and subsidiary legislation. O...

On Tuesday, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee unanimously passed legislation amend Hong Kong’s electoral system. The new laws covers the selection of the Chief Executive, the formation of the Election Committee and a wholesale reform of...

Last Tuesday, a lone gunman attacked three spas in Atlanta, Georgia and killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women. These murders have again brought to the fore concerns about complex and deep-rooted prejudice against Asians in the United States...

Three days after the National People’s Congress decided to enact electoral reforms for Hong Kong, mainland officials came to Hong Kong with the stated aim of hearing views from more than 1,000 people. The deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affa...

Hello, and welcome to The Pulse. It’s hardly news to say that there’s been an avalanche of changes in Hong Kong since the introduction of the National Security Law. Beijing has made it clear that it is determined to fully implement the principle of “p...

When Hong Kong’s new National Security Law was implemented last year, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the purpose of the legislation was not just to punish, but also to “deter people from committing the serious offences” jeopardising national security....

On Wednesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan delivered his Budget for the coming year. In the midst of a pandemic and with the jobless rate at 7%, the highest in 17 years, many Hongkongers were hoping for decisive measures to help them through this diff...

Hello and welcome to The Pulse coming to you in a rather different format matching the rather strange times we are now facing, not least for some of us who have been working at RTHK’s Television House where a hair stylist was found to have contracted C...

Kung Hey Fat Choi. Hello and welcome to The Pulse. It’s fair to say that for many, in Hong Kong as around the world, the Year of the Rat hasn’t been one of the best, so it’s not be surprising if we enter the Year of the Ox with some trepidation. Even t...

Myanmar, previously known as Burma, was under military rule for more than half a century. In 1962, General Ne Win staged a coup leading the country into a 26-year era of one-party rule. It wasn’t until 2011 that the military junta was officially dissol...

Last Saturday marked a year since the first pandemic lockdown in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei, China. And here we are again, exactly one year later, with the Hong Kong government enforcing a two-day lockdown of its own in the densely packed neighbou...

As James Hacker, the fictional Minister for Administrative Affairs in the acclaimed British political comedy, “Yes, Minister” once said, “The three articles of Civil Service faith: It takes longer to do things quickly, it's more expensive to do them ch...