In Hong Kong, public housing has been one of the major government policies since the 1950’s – about 30 percent of the city’s 7.8 million population currently lives in one of these affordable apartments. Read more
Sha Tin Public Housing Estates
From Hong Kong
Former British colony (China SAR)
Oi Man Estate in Hong Kong
In the 1950’s Hong Kong had a problem – facing a surge of immigration from Mainland China it didn’t have enough affordable housing stock. In 1953 the problems were compounded when a fire burned down a large slum area in Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, leaving thousands homeless. Read more
Neon Hong Kong
As long-term readers will know I have a bit of an obsession about the neon signage which gives many cities in Asia their unique and seductive streetscapes. The epitome of this has to be Hong Kong where the dense and chaotic texture of its neon have brought the city to life at night since the 1950s. Read more
Kings Road Then & Now
King’s Road (英皇道) in Hong Kong is the major street which runs east-west along the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, extending all the way from Causeway Bay to Sai Wan Ho. If you visit HK you’ll likely end up travelling along the street at some point, whether it be by foot, bus or tram above ground or MTR underground. Read more
Quarry Bay Then & Now
During my two years in Hong Kong I lived on the east side of Hong Kong Island in an apartment complex called Kornhill which lies within Quarry Bay. It wasn’t until shortly before I left in March this year that I discovered the area has an interesting history and I decided to take a closer look… Read more
Kowloon Walled City Rebuilt in Japan
If you don’t know anything about Kowloon Walled City (九龍城寨) then have a read of my earlier posts where I looked at what it was (a lawless area of Hong Kong) and what it is today 20 years later (now redeveloped as a park). It’s a fascinating story which was confined to the pages of history until recently when a games company in Japan decided it would make the perfect backdrop to a new arcade they were building in Kawasaki (川崎市 – located between Tokyo and Yokohama). Read more
Kowloon Walled City: 20 Years Later
The South China Morning Post recently marked the 20th anniversary of the demolition of Kowloon Walled City with a wonderful article about its history and stories from some former residents including many photos which I’d never seen before and a nice cross-section infographic: Read more
So Long, My Hong Kong
Not made by me but feels apt today.
Makible 3D Printers
Last week I visited the offices of Makible – an interesting hardware startup based in Hong Kong developing affordable 3D printers for people to design and build their own products or prototypes. 3D printing works by laying down successive layers of extruded plastic in a series of cross sections generated by a CAD model until the final shape is created.
The technology has been around in manufacturing since the late 1980’s but it’s only been in recent years that it has become accessible to individuals through projects like the OpenSource RepRap which formed the basis of the original MakerBot and Makible’s upcoming MakiBox A6 (they really need to differentiate the names better!).
The MakiBox A6’s biggest selling point seems to be its price, which at around $300 is considerably cheaper than its competitors.
Quality of Life: Hong Kong vs Shenzhen
From mid 2008 to the end of 2010 I lived in Shenzhen before moving to Hong Kong at the beginning of 2011. Now that I’ve spent almost two years in both places respectively I thought it was about time to reflect on the differences in lifestyle between these two mega cities in the hope that it might be useful for anyone considering a similar move (in either direction). Read more