Category: Love Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Photo Contest 2021 Winners

The winners of The Hong Kong Photo Contest 2021 organised by National Geographic – for photos taken in Hong Kong before 3 December 2021 – have been announced. There is no overall winner, just winners in each of the six categories: City; Wildlife; Landscape; People; Mobile and Short Video.

“It has allowed me to once again renew my perspective on Hong Kong’s urban, cultural and natural features,” said National Geographic Documentary director Andrew Yao about judging the entries. “A video entry that chronicled the Yau Ma Tei Car Park Building before its demolition impressed me the most this year. Using time-lapse photography, the videographer [So Ka Chun] succinctly captured the tenseness of Hong Kong’s daily life as well as the monotonous, if not mechanical pace of the city. It is a requiem for historical buildings, which when combined with its wonderful ending and soulful soundtracks, makes for a touching and deeply impressive piece of video work.”

There is a virtual exhibition of the winning entries at hkphotocontest.com/exhibition.asp which is online until 31 July 2022.

Instagram links to winners added – some beautiful images of Hong Kong.

City Winner: Cheung Chun Him, Jeremy – Man in the Mirrors

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/The-Hong-Kong-Photo-Contest-2021/i-PM3XWBW

Wildlife Winner: Lee Ying Wah – Caught It!

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/The-Hong-Kong-Photo-Contest-2021/i-Q8Bb3V4

Landscape Winner: Tse Hon Ming – Blossom in the Sea

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/The-Hong-Kong-Photo-Contest-2021/i-rj8fn3t

People Winner: Leung Hon Shing – Duty

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/The-Hong-Kong-Photo-Contest-2021/i-Bz9bKNn

Mobile Winner: Chiu Bong Chi, Dominic – Crimson Tide

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/The-Hong-Kong-Photo-Contest-2021/i-pvszWt2

Short Video Winner: So Ka Chun – Stay

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/The-Hong-Kong-Photo-Contest-2021/i-LndLmMP

An exhibition of winning entries will be held at Gallery by the Harbour, Harbour City dates to be confirmed.

Vice News HK Triads Video Geo-Blocked

An informative VICE News video on Hong Kong’s Organized Crime Societies (often known as triads) and the 721 Yuen Long attack that was uploaded to YouTube on 26 March 2022 is now geo-blocked.

It’s an informative video about Hong Kong’s triads – how they originated and have evolved from community support groups to the profit-driven enterprises of today.
Today however the link appears to be geo-blocked – whether this is by Vice or the HK Government is not clear. We have asked Vice why the video is no longer available in Hong Kong and will update this article when/if we receive a reply.
At the moment to watch the video in Hong Kong will need a vpn or similar.  The simplest way is to do this is to download and use a browser called Opera and turn on the built-in VPN.

American Lawyer Samuel Bickett Deported

American lawyer Samuel Bickett who was convicted of ‘assaulting’ an undercover policeman who denied he was a cop – has been released from jail and deported.

Cotten Tree Messages of Hope

An old lady in Diamond Hill is using fallen cotton tree flowers to create colourful messages of hope.

Originally from India the Tree Cotton – Scientific Name 學名: Bombax ceiba – is known as “Hero Trees” in Chinese.

You can read more about the plant in the HK Plant Database.

cotton tree flowers message

Image: andthenHK

RTHK Blacklists Pro-Democracy Musicians

Ten politically vocal singers and groups, including Denise Ho and Anthony Wong Yiu-ming, have been removed from RTHK playlists.

DJs have apparently been instructed by senior RTHK management to stop playing any new or old songs by: RubberBand, C AllStar, Dear Jane, Serrini, Kay Tse, Charmaine Fong, Alfred Hui, Denise Ho, Anthony Wong Yiu-ming.

An RTHK spokesman told Ming Pao that “the broadcaster is supporting the development of Chinese-language pop music locally, and program hosts would select appropriate songs to feature from a professional perspective.”

A DJ told Ming Pao that the black-list was handed down by management at the beginning of this year and that it will affect program production as many of the artist’s songs are classics that have nothing to do with politics.

When asked about the ban, Alfred Hui said he was not worried. “Music fans can find the kind of music they want to listen to on various platforms and channels these days. Music can also be released as NFTs (non-fungible tokens). I still plan to release two albums this year.”

RubberBand and C AllStar have been ‘banned’ in China since 2019.

image: as1.entertainment 

Say No to Shark Fin Endorsing Michelin Stars

The 2022 edition of the Michelin Guide for Hong Kong and Macau was launched yesterday.

Sadly the Michelin Guide continues to award ‘stars’ and endorse and promote restaurants that sell sharks fin.

bc magazine refuses to knowingly support any restaurant or organisation that sells or promotes eating sharks fin!

Say NO to Sharks Fin!

Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals Data 2021

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has released the visitor arrivals data for December 2021 and the year as a whole.

In December 2021 there were 9,448 arrivals (6.475 from the mainland, 2,973 non-mainland) a 94% rise year on year. But a 90+% drop from 2019.

Arrivals for 2021 were 91,368 (65,694 from the mainland, 25,704 non-mainland) a 97% drop from 2020.

Hong Kong New Year Countdown Concert 2021-22

A slew of local artists including AGA, Alfred Hui, Gin Lee, Jay Fung, Joyce Cheng, MIRROR, Edan Lui and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra created a distinctly Hong Kong style Countdown Concert in West Kowloon.

Live music has been one of the industries hardest hit by Covid and after a 2021 almost devoid of concerts, we can only hope that the Countdown Concert is the start of a year full of gigs and the uplifting feeling and happiness that sharing live music brings.

The concert was live-streamed on New Year’s Eve and is now available on the HKTB youtube channel.

https://youtu.be/5o_SCHF5Ak0

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/Hong-Kong-Countdown-Concert-West-Kowloon-31-December-2021/i-T2X9s6B

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/Hong-Kong-Countdown-Concert-West-Kowloon-31-December-2021/i-rsFHkjQ

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/Hong-Kong-Countdown-Concert-West-Kowloon-31-December-2021/i-74BN29d

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/Hong-Kong-Countdown-Concert-West-Kowloon-31-December-2021/i-bd7Hd7D

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/Hong-Kong-Countdown-Concert-West-Kowloon-31-December-2021/i-HPhPb6q

Hong Kong New Year Countdown Concert – Set list

1.《＠princejoyce》鄭欣宜 (Joyce Cheng)
2.《Megahit》Anson Lo@MIRROR
3.《喘息空間》 Gin Lee
4.《金星女孩》Anson Kong@MIRROR
5.《Wonderful U》AGA
6.《So Called Love Song》AGA
7.《理性與任性之間》AGA
8.《開始倒數》AGA、 Jay Fung
9.《3am》AGA、 Jay Fung
10.《冬日寂寞考》Jay Fung
11.《思念即地獄》Jay Fung
12《另一個諾貝爾》陳卓賢@MIRROR
13.《狂人日記》Jer@MIRROR
14.《Tonight》AGA x 香港管弦樂團 (HK Philharmonic Orchestra)
15.《一步一悔過》Jay Fung x 香港管弦樂團 (HK Philharmonic Orchestra)
16.《女神》鄭欣宜 (Joyce Cheng) x 香港管弦樂團 (HK Philharmonic Orchestra)
17.《e先生連環不幸事件》Edan x 香港管弦樂團 (HK Philharmonic Orchestra)
18.《日出時讓街燈安睡》GinLee x 香港管弦樂團 (HK Philharmonic Orchestra)
19.《青春頌》許廷鏗 (Alfred Hui) x 香港管弦樂團 (HK Philharmonic Orchestra)
20.《IDK》Gin Lee
21.《幸福門》Gin Lee
22.《先哭為敬》Gin Lee、《很堅強》鄭欣宜 (Joyce Cheng)
23.《最難行的路》鄭欣宜 (Joyce Cheng)
24.《天下無雙》許廷鏗 x Jay Fung
25.《我的快樂時代》許廷鏗 (Alfred Hui) x Jay Fung
26.《修羅場》許廷鏗 (Alfred Hui)
27.《佛系人生》許廷鏗 (Alfred Hui)
28.《停半分鐘聽一闋歌》許廷鏗 (Alfred Hui)
29. 《鏡中鏡》姜濤
30. 《12》MIRROR
31.《BOSS》MIRROR
32《IGNITED》MIRROR

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/Hong-Kong-Countdown-Concert-West-Kowloon-31-December-2021/i-F3NbqsH

photos: HKTB